Archives for the ‘Windows’ Category

Add More Functionality to the Windows Title Bar

Windows only I've seen a bunch of different apps that add buttons to the title bar of your windows, but I think Chameleon Window Manager may be the one that has all the right actions.

July 28th, 2011
Add More Functionality to the Windows Title Bar

Prevent Apps from Restarting Windows

Windows only Have you ever been working on something only to have another app try and abruptly shutdown or restart your computer? If that sounds like something you've encountered before I recommend taking a look at ShutdownGuard.

July 27th, 2011
Prevent Apps from Restarting Windows

Use Portable Apps as the Default “Open With” Programs

Windows only The interface for managing the default "open with" programs in Windows isn't the best, and in the past we've recommended utilities that make managing the default apps a little easier.

July 20th, 2011
Use Portable Apps as the Default “Open With” Programs

How to Search and View Wikipedia Results in Windows Explorer

One of the things Microsoft added to Windows 7 is Search Connectors, which gives users the ability to search sites and view the results directly in Windows Explorer. It probably isn't something that everyone will use, but I can see it being useful in certain scenarios.

July 15th, 2011
How to Search and View Wikipedia Results in Windows Explorer

Open Dozens of Different Files with Free Opener

Windows only It is a dream to think that there could be just one program that can view all of your different types of files, but Free Opener is getting darn close. It currently supports over 70 different files ranging from videos all the way to Office documents and compressed files (ZIP and 7Z).

July 14th, 2011
Open Dozens of Different Files with Free Opener

Hotkey to Hide the Windows Taskbar

Windows only Sometimes all it takes to make a great application is to develop a simple program that users clearly know whether it is something they will want to use. Taskbar Hider is that app.

July 12th, 2011
Hotkey to Hide the Windows Taskbar

Clementine is a Free Cross-Platform Music Player

Windows; Mac; Linux Many of you have likely heard of Amarok which is a popular cross-platform music player, and Clementine is a cross platform player that is benefiting from its open source nature. To me it has a clean interface the features people are looking for, such as iPhone syncing.

July 8th, 2011
Clementine is a Free Cross-Platform Music Player

How to Quickly Share Screenshots

Windows; Mac There are a multitude of screenshot utilities out there, but the nice thing with Puush is that it really only focuses on one thing: sharing screenshots. This is your kind of app if you're the type of person that merely snaps a screenshot and immediately sends it to someone.

July 7th, 2011
How to Quickly Share Screenshots

Connect to an SFTP Server in Windows Explorer

Windows only In Windows you can make connections to FTP clients, but when it comes to connecting to an SFTP server you'll need to turn to a third-party application. Swish tries to bring the missing SFTP integration to Windows Explorer with a fast and free download.

July 6th, 2011
Connect to an SFTP Server in Windows Explorer

Free Bulk Image Compressor for Windows

Windows only Personally I've never needed to compress a large number of images before, but if I did I'd definitely be using Caesium. The interface is easy to understand, and the dual-pane previews along the right side make it easy to see the before/after comparison so that you can get the right compression ratio.

July 5th, 2011
Free Bulk Image Compressor for Windows

How to Start Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook in Safe Mode

Often times people complain about the performance of a Microsoft Office application and often place the blame on an add-on or something else that may not have settled right with Office.

July 1st, 2011
How to Start Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook in Safe Mode

Find Large Duplicate Files on Your Computer

Windows only I'm sure we all have hundreds if not thousands of duplicate files on our computers because of apps that make unnecessary copies of files. I'm sure we've all seen the multitude of duplicate file finders out there that help eliminate these duplicates, and I'd say Duplicate Commander deserves to be near the top of that list.

June 30th, 2011
Find Large Duplicate Files on Your Computer

Portable CD/DVD Burning App for Windows 7

Windows only With services like Dropbox out there I find myself barely ever needing to burn a CD or DVD anymore, but the need still arises from time to time. These days most utilities like Nero are so overkill and bloated for what I need to do that I gravitate towards apps that are much simpler... and free. In the past my app of choice was CDBurnerXP, but 7Burn is also a great alternative.

June 29th, 2011
Portable CD/DVD Burning App for Windows 7

Windows CMD Alternative with Easy Copy/Paste, Tabs, and More

Windows only The Windows command prompt is one area Microsoft didn't get around to updating until they starting rolling out PowerShell as an integrated part of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 a few years ago.

June 28th, 2011
Windows CMD Alternative with Easy Copy/Paste, Tabs, and More

Bulk Download Songs from Grooveshark

Windows only I'm an undeniable fan of Grooveshark and have gotten quite a few people hooked on their free web-based interface for listening to their favorite tunes. Not everyone likes to stream music though, and that's when they turn to the free GrooveDown app to provide search and download capabilities powered by Grooveshark's vast library.

June 24th, 2011
Bulk Download Songs from Grooveshark

Paste Clipboard as Plain Text

Windows only There are several applications that I use on a regular basis that don't have a "paste as plain text" option in them. I'm sure most of you have experienced this at some time or another, and generally what I do in those situations is fire up Notepad, paste in the stuff I just copied, and then re-copy it from Notepad. It's not ideal, but it works.

June 22nd, 2011
Paste Clipboard as Plain Text

Quickly Switch Your Primary Monitor with Dual Monitor Tools

Windows only Once you've had the pleasure of using dual monitors it can be tough trying to go back to a single screen. There are, however, some things that Windows doesn't handle so gracefully.

June 17th, 2011
Quickly Switch Your Primary Monitor with Dual Monitor Tools

SuperF4 Creates Hotkey to Kill Unresponsive Apps

Windows only It's always annoying when a program becomes unresponsive where you have to pull up the Task Manager to kill it, but it can be even worse when some of the fullscreen games start to freeze. That's how one developer felt, and so they decided to do something about it.

June 15th, 2011
SuperF4 Creates Hotkey to Kill Unresponsive Apps

Real-time Windows Backup Software

Windows only When it comes to my most important files I always have several copies distributed between multiple hard drives and offsite locations. This means I do a lot of backups, and an app called Bvckup has serious potential at making my onsite operations much easier.

June 14th, 2011
Real-time Windows Backup Software

Dexpot Adds a Little Mac-Style to Virtual Desktop Switching

Windows only I consider Dexpot to be one of the only viable virtual desktop applications available on Windows because it's constantly being improved and has many of the features you look for in a program like this.

June 10th, 2011
Dexpot Adds a Little Mac-Style to Virtual Desktop Switching