New App Picker in Windows 11

[+Elі Subscriber²]

Not sure if this has been discussed before, I did a quick search and couldn't find anything.

 

Anyway, as it is the case for many Windows 11 Dev channel builds, there are  sometimes hidden features that Microsoft has decided to not yet show.  This time, there's a new App Picker that can be enabled in Windows 11 Build 22563. The App Picker is that small pop up window that comes up when you attempt to open a file of a type which is not associated with any application in your system. This App picker allows you to select which app to use to open this file.

 

The current App Picker app has not been updated since the Windows 8 era, and it appears that it will very soon also receive a refresh.

 

To activate the hidden feature with the new App Picker, please follow the following instructions:

 

1. Download and install the ViveTool app from here. 
2. Extract the content of the .zip file to C:\Windows\System32 (You will need Admin privileges)
3. Open a command prompt window as Administrator
4. Type the following:  

   vivetool addconfig 36302090 2

 

 

If you don't want to extract the ViveTool into your System32 folder, you may just use it temporarily by extracting it anywhere then navigating to its location using the command prompt window to execute the above command. You may later on discard the content of the folder.

 

Once you have done that, you should be able to see the new App Picker feature whenever you try to open a file type not associated with any app.

 

 

Source

 

 

[George P Global Moderator]

I saw a twitter post about it a few days ago but didn't bring it up.   It's about time they changed it and they also need to update the UAC popup that's still stuck in Windows 8.x UI land as well.

[+Elі Subscriber²]

On 26/02/2022 at 10:02, George P said:

I saw a twitter post about it a few days ago but didn't bring it up.   It's about time they changed it and they also need to update the UAC popup that's still stuck in Windows 8.x UI land as well.

Yeah, I love how they are slowing  transforming all those small little details that will produce a very consistent GUI at the end.