AllChars
allchars.zwolnet.com
AllChars lets you type foreign characters such as ñ or ü in any application. Just tap the program's hot key (Right Ctrl or any other shift-style key) followed by two characters such as n and the tilde or u and a double quotation mark, and the combined character you want appears in your document. It can also type boilerplate text such as your name or address.
AnalogX MaxMem
www.maxmem.com
AnalogX MaxMem is the cure for when your older, slower system has the hiccups and needs a reboot. It saves you this annoyance by freeing up memory with just a click, giving your computer its second wind.
AutoHotkey
www.autohotkey.com
The open-source AutoHotkey lets you automate all of your repetitive tasks. Scripts can be compiled so you can share them with people who don't have the app. Not ready to create your own? You'll find dozens of user-contributed scripts on the Web site.
Clipomatic
www.mlin.net
Clipomatic is the most compact and usable of dozens of clipboard extenders. It stores text that you copy to the Windows clipboard for pasting into any application. You can also store boilerplate text such as names and phone numbers. But avoid it if you use version 7 of Acrobat or Adobe Reader, because it blocks them from saving to the clipboard.
eCleaner
ecleaner.tripod.com
Ever need to extract text from an e-mail message or Web discussion, but the message is full of angle brackets (>) or other symbols? Or maybe it's got little bits of HTML strewn about. eCleaner quickly goes through these files and strips out the detritus. It's not fancy, but it works.
FileZilla
filezilla.sourceforge.net
FileZilla is a full-featured FTP client that supports Secure FTP, SSL, and other protocols in a slick interface, complete with a tree-structured site manager that lets you store settings for multiple sites. An option to set speed limits can prevent download quotas from being triggered on networks that monitor bandwidth usage.
Foxit Reader
www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php
Adobe Acrobat, the ubiquitous software for PDF viewing, can slow older systems to a crawl—or even crash them. Foxit Reader lets you get your PDF goodness without the Adobe bloat. It runs small and swift, either as a standalone app or from within your browser.
Gaim
gaim.sourceforge.net
Gaim hooks into most any chat service you could possibly want. It's a multiprotocol instant-messaging client that works with Google Talk, AIM and ICQ (Oscar protocol), MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, SILC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, Lotus Sametime, and Zephyr networks. With Gaim, you can talk with your boyfriend on AIM while chatting with a "friend" on Yahoo! Messenger.
Google Desktop
desktop.google.com
Google Desktop includes a huge collection of widgets for displaying weather, news, file searches, Gmail, translation services, and more. Google's hard drive index searches only standard file formats.
Mozy
www.mozy.com
Mozy is a Web-based backup system that gives you 2GB of free storage, or 30 GB for $4.95 a month. Sign up with an e-mail address at which you won't mind getting a Mozy newsletter, download the client, and let it automatically back up My Documents and any other folder you choose.
MWSnap
www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html
MWSnap doesn't let you capture scrolling windows or have all the features of the best capture tool out there—SnagIt—but it gives you a lot more control than Windows' native capture utility, and it throws in some cool tools, such as a screen ruler and color picker.
PopTray
www.poptray.org
PopTray is the premier pop-up mail checker for standard POP3 and IMAP mail accounts, including Gmail, and it can be coaxed to work with HTML-only mail such as Hotmail by following the instructions at the PopTray site. PopTray lives in the system tray, pops up reports of new messages, can be controlled entirely from the keyboard, and can be customized.
 |
RoboForm
www.roboform.com
RoboForm automatically fills in username and password fields in your browser, with an option to password-protect some or all of the passwords it stores. So you get better protection than you do from the storage features in IE and Firefox. Its SafeNotes feature stores credit card numbers or other secret data. The free version stores ten log-ins; a $29.95 Pro version stores an unlimited number.
Tweak UI
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
Microsoft's super-tweaker tool for Windows XP is the program to install immediately after installing XP. Tweak UI fine-tunes Start Menu and Taskbar settings, helps specify which icons appear on your desktop, sets auto log-in so you can skip entering a password, and much more.
Ultimate Boot CD for Windows
www.ubcd4win.com
This program helps you create a CD that boots into its own copy of Windows. The disc contains tons of useful utilities, from antivirus and antispyware to network and disk-repair tools. And if you're stuck, there's PacMan and Asteroids to pass the time. Rumor has it you can use UBCD4Win to create a bootable USB drive, too.
WinMerge
www.winmerge.org
WinMerge is for programmers who know that as code grows, it gets harder and harder to spot the differences between versions. WinMerge quickly compares two text files or two folders (including subfolders), highlighting all the differences and letting you keep everything in sync.
WnBrowse
www.ngthomas.co.uk
WnBrowse adds a super-fast, no-frills file viewer to Windows' right-click menus. It displays plain text or hex data—no formatted documents, spreadsheets, or graphics—but that's often all you need, and it opens instantly.
Yahoo! Desktop Search
desktop.yahoo.com
If you want to index everything on your system, get Yahoo! Desktop Search. It does a brilliant job of sorting, characterizing, and helping you to find all your files and e-mail.
No comments:
Post a Comment