Software Update: Winaero Tweaker 0.18

Winaero has released version 0.18 of its Tweaker program. This program contains a collection of ‘tweaks’ that can adjust the functionality and appearance of certain functions of Windows, such as the number of rows and columns in the Alt+Tab switcher, customizing the context menu or what the extra function keys do on the keyboard. The changelog for version 0.18 looks like this:

Windows 10 version 20b support

Winaero Tweaker now supports Windows 10 version 20b properly. (I hope) It is now able to differentiate version 2004, and version 20b.

Disable Web Search in Windows 10 Taskbar in version 2004/20b

following the recent changes made by Microsoft, I have updated the appropriate option in Winaero Tweaker. Now you can use it to disable web results in Windows Search.

Customize rows and columns in the classic Alt+Tab switcher

You can now change the number of icon rows and columns displayed by the classic Alt+Tab dialog when you enable it. This feature works in all supported Windows versions by Tweaker, including Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.

Change what App Keys do for the keyboard

One more new feature available for all the supported Windows versions – the ability to change the action for extra buttons available on many modern keyboards, such as Calculator, Computer, Browser, Mail, and so on. Microsoft Natural keyboards, for example, have plenty of them. Here you can reconfigure the buttons. The list of available keys is limited to ‘known’ buttons that Windows usually recognizes without extra drivers.

Default apps context menu

This new feature adds the “Default apps” page of Settings to the context menu (details can be found here). This can be useful for checking your default app associations quickly.

Remove Share with Skype

Winaero Tweaker now allows removing the Share with Skype context menu entry. The option can be found under Context Menu Remove Default Menu Entries.

Create shortcut to a PS1 file that runs it directly

There is a new shortcut tool in version 0.18 that allows saving your precious time by creating a shortcut that will directly launch a PS1 file. The shortcut target will run the PS interpreter with -NoExit and -ExecutionPolicy Bypass options, so use it carefully.

About box

Surprisingly, plenty of users were not happy with the former app behavior, when it returned to the “Information” page in the tweak list once you click on the Help > About menu item. After receiving a ton of complaints, I decided to add an extra dialog to the app.

Fixes

There is also a number of various issues resolved in this release. Most notable are.

• Fixed the broken update check. No idea when it started to happen, but it was caused by a combination of my legacy code and recent web site changes. I’ve refreshed the update check routine.
• Fixed wrong links for “how this tweak works” for a number of Tweaker options.