The Best Must-Have Programs for Windows

 
   
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* Unless otherwise indicated everything here is free.
Defraggler
Eusing
CCleaner
Xleaner - Addictive Tips says it's stronger than CCleaner
Advanced SystemCare
WinPatrol
IOBit Uninstaller Batch Uninstall - less granular than Revo (below) but batch is the clincher
Revo Uninstaller
FileHippo Updater
Xentient Labels (see preview instead of generic file extension type tabs)
Ad-Aware
ProcessHacker
AVG
WizMouse - lets you scroll where that's not enabled
WinWarden - allows transparency and other manipulations
StartClock - changes "Start" button to a clock
TaskSwitchXP Pro - Alt+Tab replacement - not for Windows 7
PickMeApp - reinstalls programs with all preferences and settings intact

___________________________
Nitro
Adobe - can't write in PDF's (like Nitro can) but can copy text
Launchy
Google Desktop
PDFsam - Free, open source PDF split and merge ("sam")
Dexpot - multiple desktops
ReNamer - Batch re-namer with rules - very useful
Find duplicate files - LifeHacker recommended:
Fast Duplicate File Finder - checks duplicates so they can be deleted or moved with one click

EasyDuplicateFinder - clearer interface
Also WinMerge is a good option for all kinds of files
F.lux adjusts screen brightness according to the time of day or night - I really like this (the degree of change can be altered according to taste)
TheSage is a really good desktop dictionary and thesaurus
Fences - really nice organizer for desktop shortcuts

Media
uMusic - Makes WAV files from mp3 and images
Audacity
Free YouTube to MP3 Converter
FreeRip - Free CD Ripper
uTIPu - Screencasts with audio, drawing and notes
TeamViewer - best free remote access program

LogMeIn

Hamachi - LogMeIn's VPN - LogMeIn gives you a trial of "Pro" then locks you out unless you buy

Visual
PhotoWipe - takes things out of photos (From AllMyApps)
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Orzeszek - Really simple timer
CoolTimer - looks nicer than Orzeszek (above) and has more options but also more buggy and harder to use
Yahoo Widgets

Misc.
CalendarLabs - Online free, customizable, downloadable calendars in .rtf format

Online resources
WhatTheFont - Upload images to identify fonts
_________________________________
Untested but interesting:
ProcessKO (From CNet: ProcessKO is a small utility that can quickly kill a running process or application, especially when Task Manager can't.)
Process Explorer 

OCR from screenshot converter

Freeware
From:
OCR Image to Ascii Desktop Converter 1.0.0 download page:
http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Programming/Misc__Programming_Tools/OCR_Image_to_Ascii_Desktop_Converter_Download.html

I found this at:
http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Best/free-screen-ocr.html

Quick batch downloads

I'm always looking for apps which will quickly batch download all (or most) of my most-used apps.

I have used http://allmyapps.com/ before - works pretty well.

I've just discovered FreeApp - at http://www.freenew.net/

I wonder if it's better?

Any thoughts?

Simple but useful

Some people might know this already, but I just found this out and thought that others may benefit from this.

I have often wanted to open several documents as the same time but didn’t know how.

I just figured it out and it’s really easy. Here’s how.

1. Go to the relevant folder – e.g. My Documents

2. Hold down either one of the Control buttons

3. While you are doing that, select any number of documents which will then become highlighted.

4. Put the cursor over one of them and right click (it won’t work if the cursor’s not over one of the highlighted documents)

5. Hit “open” from the menu

6. All the selected documents all open up

That’s it! Simple.

Jason

P.S. If you highlight a document in error just click on it again while holding down the Control key and it will un-highlight

You must hold down the control key for all selections or un-selections, otherwise the previously highlighted documents will un-highlight and you'll have to start again.

And just to state the obvious … you don’t have to hold down the control button if you’re not currently selecting a file only when (before and during) you are selecting files

Keeping up to date - Update Checker from FileHippo

How many times have you been in the midst of trying to do something trivial like open certain websites or use a program, or open a file only to be told that you don’t have the most recent version of whatever program is needed to do what you want to do?

True, you can usually find the relevant update and download and install it. But isn’t it better to be pro-active and do all this when you have time and patience, not in the middle of some important or enjoyable browsing session.

There is a solution …

I discovered a really useful application by Filehippo – a reliable site which links to the most recent (as well as older) versions of most worthwhile software. The application is called “Update Checker” and can be downloaded here.

Filehippo Update Checker runs in the system tray at startup and scans your hard drive to see if you have the most up-to-date versions of pretty much all your programs.

Here (below) is the list Update Checker generated for me last time it scanned my PC. (Gray arrows = programs I already downloaded – by clicking the arrow, Green means not yet downloaded)

(Click on the image to see a larger version)

As you can see below there are different configuration options (I recommend NOT showing Beta versions)

There image below shows the options for each program – I chose different options for different programs so you can see the choices.

(Click on the image to see a larger version)

When you’re done you see a pick canary

which means you can now enjoy hassle free browsing or whatever.

It also means that you have the most secure, bug free versions of all your great free programs.

Enjoy!

Jason

Taking Control of Windows – Part 2

In Part 1 I explained some of the uses of WinWarden.   Now I want to explain what is the main use – transparency.

You might think that transparency looks really cool, but that’s not what’s best about it.  What is best about transparency is the added functionality it gives you.

You can work on one project, say editing a document and at the same time see if something else you are doing e.g. installing a program has finished by having the document on top and making it semi-transparent so that you can see what is going on behind it.

I often use transparency when I want to see some text and copy from it or modify it somewhere else.  I can simply open a text editor on top of the program , enable transparency and read the information underneath as I work on the new document.

Alternatively you might have a desktop widget which you are watching (e.g. stocks and shares, the weather etc.).  Transparency allows you to see the relevant information while you’re working on something else.

Or you may just love your desktop wallpaper and want to see it while you work.

WinWarden allows you to control the degree of transparency which is important as you may need different levels of transparency for different tasks, or depending whether what’s on top or what’s underneath is more important.

Here’s what 20% transparency looks like:

And here’s 80% transparency:

To make a window transparent, just right click on the WinWarden icon, move the mouse to “transparency” and move to the desired percentage and click (left click).

If you want WinWarden to keep that setting for that window until you override the command, right click on the WinWarden icon again and select “Remember”.

Another useful feature of WinWarden is the “Always on top” feature which keeps a window on top of all others.  I find this useful when I want to take notes say from a website.  I’ll open a Word document, and make it small.  With “Always on top” my little Word window stays put when I go back to the website (or another document) to scroll up and down, click a link or whatever.

As I said I have found this functionality really useful.  

I hope you will to.

Jason

Using Launchy and Google Desktop together

In a previous post I explained the virtues of Launchy.  (Launchy is a free program which lets you launch any program, and even folders or files really easily).

Launchy can be taught what certain abbreviations mean and this learning function is really useful.

Here’s an example.  the first time I wrote in Word, Launchy guessed many different things, among them was Microsoft Wordpad.  There’s nothing wrong with Wordpad; it’s just that I meant “Microsoft WORD”.  So I actually wrote “Microsoft Word” in the search bar which Launchy then recognized.  I selected that entry and Word opened.  I then closed Word, called up Launchy again (by hitting Left ALT + Space – the default hotkeys for Launchy) and wrote “Word".  Launchy now knew that I meant Microsoft Word because I had just used it.  In fact I don’t use other programs beginning with “w” much so just hitting “w” has Launchy guessing “Word” and I just hit enter and it opens up.

In a similar way I taught Launchy that “g.” means Google Video, “ppt” means “Microsoft PowerPoint etc. – you get the picture. 

While Launchy can find individual documents (if you add “.doc”, “.txt” etc. to the extensions which Launch catalogs) it can’t find documents based in words that appear in the body of the document.

But that’s OK because there’s another great free utility which does that really well, as well as it does it on the web:  Google Desktop.  (Once installed, Google Desktop opens when you hit the left control button twice)

Google desktop is great at finding document names and words or phrases within documents.

Once I realized this, I had Launchy ONLY catalog programs (.exe) and program shortcuts (.lnk) and folders (.directory) because Launch, as I explained above is smart and can learn abbreviations I use it only for programs and folders.  I use Google Desktop to find individual files by file name and by words and phrases within files – a wining combo – each – Launchy and Google Desktop doing what it does best.

Jason

P.S. the search window for both Launchy and Google Desktop appear and disappear via the same key combinations.

For Launchy that is Left Alt + the Space bar - hit this combination once and the searhc window appears, hit it agina and it disappears.

For Googe Desktop that is the left "Ctrl" (Control) button - hit this combination once and the searhc window appears, hit it agina and it disappears.

P.S.  If your Launchy closes, which happens sometimes and you start it up again and discover that the directory was wiped out (if you type something and Launchy has no suggestions you know this has happened) just open Launchy and right click just under the Launchy window.  Hit “options” and “catalog” and then select “rescan catalog” and Launchy will rebuild the catalog.  (You may have to teach it again as per the explanation above)

Taking Control of Windows

As I’ve shown repeatedly in this blog, Windows can be improved in many ways.

There's a nice free program called WinWarden.  (Actually there are lots of great free programs at the same website – worth checking out)

Some things WinWarden does can be done without it.  E.g.:

You can change the shape and size of any window in Windows by clicking the middle of the three icons in the top left-hand corner of any window.

 

in particular THIS one:

And dragging the edges of the window to get the desired size.

With WInWarden you can re-size windows quickly to certain useful sizes.

Right-clicking on the WinWarden icon

 

brings up the following menu:

Hovering the mouse over “Cover” brings up another menu:

I find this very useful whenever I need to compare two documents or copy between them.

Select e.g. “Right Half” for one document and “Left Half” for another

(the menu works for the currently active window) and within a couple of clicks you have a divided screen with one document on each of the two halves of the screen.  (If you prefer “Top Half” and “Bottom Half” – same idea).

Now THIS is new … after having chosen “Right Ha;f” (or “Left Half”) right click on the WinWarden system tray menu again and hit “Remember”.  Now, even if you go to something else in the meantime, when you come back to the relevant document(s) the settings will be as before.

Here’s an example of two files locked into the right and left halves of the screen:

There are other functionality enhancements that come with WinWarden but more on that next time.

Jason

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Making the most out of GMail – Part 1

GMail is a great, easy-to-use free webmail client and it works pretty well.

But it can work even better with a few tweaks.  I will be showing you some of the more important ones.

FIRST of all, you need to enable “Labs”.

Go to “settings” in the top right hand corner and enable the “labs” function.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll see an image of a green conical flask on the right of “settings.”

Click on it and “labs” will open up.  The title should read:

“Gmail Labs: our testing ground for experimental features”

Google say that because these features are in Beta they may not work perfectly.

(See ** at the end of the blog for Google’s emergency exit if something goes wrong)

I think however that the simpler features – the ones I have been using - should work fine.  I haven’t had any problems with any of them.

The most useful I have found is “Quick Links” (by Dan P).

Open any email and click on “Add Quick Link” as shown in the picture above. 

A window will then appear showing the actual path for the email – which you will want to change because it looks something like this:

Change the name (in the text box) to something you’ll remember, e.g.:

The link to that email will now appear in the Quick links box on the right hand side:

Whenever you click the link, that specific email, or email stream (it doesn’t take you to a specific email within a stream) that email will open up.

(The quick links appear in chronological NOT alphabetical order)

Whenever you want to delete the link (this doesn't delete the email) just click the “X” to the right of the quick link.

That’s it!

This is probably the most useful lab feature.

Jason

_______________________________

**Google’s emergency advice:

If (when) a Labs feature breaks, and you're having trouble getting into your account, there's an escape hatch -- just go tohttps://mail.google.com/mail/?labs=0 and Labs will be temporarily disabled.

Keeping your programs up-to-date - the easy way

Trying to keep all your programs up-to-date can seem like an endless task.

The annoyance is amplified by unwanted notifications that your don't have the latest version of some program which is needed to do what you need to do right now, usually when you have no time to mess around downloading or updating programs.

Enter FileHippo.com Update Checker - a program (in Beta although it seems to work fine) which you can have running all the time which sits in your system tray and lets you know when (and how many) updates are available for your programs. I just updated about ten programs to the latest versions. (It also notifies you when new Beta versions are available - you can turn this off if you want).

You can also customize results by right-clicking the system tray icon and selecting (not surprisingly!) "customize results".  This lets you exclude programs from FileHippo's search.  Selections can also be reversed.

Worth downloading I think.

Jason

How to send a free SMS from your PC - USA only!

Once upon a time you could send an email to cell-phone-number@teleflip.com and the message would reach its destination.

But alas that doesn't work anymore.

But there is still a way - albeit slightly more cumbersome - to achieve this result.

By the way if you know a more elegant way to do this please let me know!

All carriers (I think) have a service to receive SMS messages from email. So if you send an email to them all, you will definitely get a few error messages but at least one will reach your desired destination.

There are THREE stages.

1.

Copy this list of all the carriers into a WORD document (or text editor of your choice with the cut and paste function)

Xx@vtext.com, Xx@txt.att.net, Xx@messaging.sprintpcs.com, Xx@tmomail.net, Xx@messaging.nextel.com, Xx@cingularme.com

2.

In the "find and replace" function enter "Xx" as above in the "find" window and the cell phone number you want to reach in the "replace" window.

NOW you have a list of all the carriers with the cell phone number before the "@"

e.g.

Cell.number.you.want@vtext.com, Cell.number.you.want@txt.att.net, Cell.number.you.want@messaging.sprintpcs.com, Cell.number.you.want@tmomail.net, Cell.number.you.want@messaging.nextel.com, Cell.number.you.want@cingularme.com

3.

Paste the list into the "To" line in an email, compose your email (keep it short, its an SMS!) and hit SEND.

This method is fool proof.

Good luck!

Jason

P.S. Google say they will be adding a new feature to Labs which will let you "send SMS text messages right from Gmail."

It was pulled because it wasn't working properly. If it gets rolled out AND I try it and find that it works better than the method I've discussed here, I will update the blog.

P.S. There are companies which claim they can tell you which service provider the number you want to contact uses, but seeing as numbers are no longer tied to carriers - remember you can keep your number when you change carriers - the system can't be perfect. At best it can tell you the ORIGINAL carrier, but that may or may not be the person's CURRENT carrier.

While this list is for the USA only, you can probably make a similar list for any country and then do all the same things.

Google Chrome vs. Firefox

Having taken Google Chrome for a test drive for a few weeks now I think I have a settled opinion (for now).

The bottom line is that I use chrome (especially the Stand-Alone Desktop Apps) quite a lot.  But there are plenty of things that Firefox (still?) does better.  See below for more

Here is my evaluation so far.

1. It's fast.  Without actually timing loading times it seems to open most sites quicker than Firefox 3.0.3 (and of course a lot quicker than Internet Explorer 7

2. It has some neat features

For example:

You can move around the tabs and change their order by dragging them out of the line of tabs and then back in, or simply across the row.

You can save websites or applications from the Gmail suite as stand alone desktop applications which go right to that URL and provide a nice icon on your desktop by which to identify that specific website.

I have found this handy e.g. when I want to go straight to GCal or Google Docs and instead of having to open GMail and navigate to these applications pressing on the icon takes me straight there.

(Clicking the document icon on the top right hand side and selecting "create application shortcuts" will do this)

Also, the sparse design maximizes screen real estate and gives a clean no-nonsense look.  Bycontrast opening Firefox afterwards makes one feel like it's a bit cluttered.

However this advantage is in some ways a disadvantage as a lot of the control which Firefox's fuller dashboard affords is missing from Chrome.

For some reason the way the web app works is that it makes a desktop looking program out of the web app.  This means that there are no navigation controls so if you want to open a new tab you need to remember the keyboard command "Cntrl" + "t" which then opens the chrome. browser in a separate window.  Each time you hit "Cntrl" + "t from the web app window it will open another tab in the other Google Chrome window.  This is all a little strange.  It would be more convenient if the web app window had some controls and if the new tabs opened up in the same window rather than in a different one.

There are some key areas of functionality lacking from the Chrome Browser at this point which will hopefully be addressed soon.

Firstly, whereas you can always open Internet Explorer for those (annoying) websites which only work with IE inside Firefox without opening another program or window, there is no such option for Chrome.  So I find myself having to open Firefox and copy the URL from Chrome when this happens.

The integrated Google Notebook in Firefox is really good and makes it a breeze to open and add new entries, whether URL's or highlighted text with a neat little sidebar to allow navigation between folders.

In Chrome, although the notebook can be placed in the bookmarks bar, (it appears as an icon of a page with the words "Note This" next to it) the navigation is a hassle.

Also, without the functionality of  Firefox's tabs open relative extension, Chrome opens all new tabs at the end.  So although you can drag them around, as I mentioned above, they don't open where you want them.

Also the Save and Exit and Quick Restart buttons which are so useful in Firefox are sorely missed in Chrome.  This is especially true of the former.  I find myself having simply to keep Chrome open when I have opened lots of tabs and don't want to loose the session.

More generally, you can't yet get all the essential buttons I've discussed for Firefox which is a significant drawback.

And that's not to mention all the themes and other goodies like colorful tabs which make Firefox a visually pleasing experience.  Not to mention cool enhancements like CoolIris

If lots of developers jump on the bandwagon and address the issues I mention here then Google Chrome has a bright future.  But as of now for all the reasons I mentioned above it can't be my default browser.

Keyboard shortcuts you'll actually use

First of all, let's state the obvious. Doing things with the keyboard takes less mental energy than using the mouse because you don't need to look for any icons and it's also much quicker.

There are lots of keyboards shortcuts but most of us don't have a chance of remembering them all.

So ... while you are sure to find MORE keyboard shortcuts elsewhere in the web e.g. here or here, the point of this post is to share the few REALLY ESSENTIAL ONES.

Here goes ...
- works with either right or left versions of the relevant keys

The "Windows" key (see below)






Windows + "D" minimizes all windows and shows the desktop
(useful e.g. if you want to see a widget on the desktop for a second or find a shortcut to a file or a program there - see here for how to avoid the need)
Windows + "D" also takes you from the desktop back to the program you were in just before
Windows + "L" locks your computer (if you have screen lock set up)


**The FOLLOWING keyboard shortcuts work in Microsoft Office programs (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
(Thanks to "Dan A." for pointing this out)

The "control" or "Ctrl" key (see below)





Control + "A" selects all the text in the window or program
(e.g. pressing Ctrl + "A" in Word will highlight everything in the document)
Control + "C" copies whatever you have just selected
Control + "V" pastes everything you copied.
*(I use Ctrl + A then + C then + V very often - it’s a winning combination)
Control + "F" brings up a search box in whatever program you're in ("F" and in "find")

STYLE functions:
- repeating the strokes reverses the action

Control + "B" makes any selected text .... BOLD
Control + "U" makes any selected text .... Underlined
Control + "I" makes any selected text .... Italic


The "Alt" key (see below)





Alt + "Tab" cycles through all open windows
My next post will discuss a good program which replaces the default Windows XP Alt Tab function.
For the nimble of finger:
Alt + Shift + Tab cycles through the windows BACKWARDS (useful if you've got lots of windows open and you just went past the one you want.)
Alt + Shift is the default combination for switching languages IF you have more than one language in use


In Microsoft "Word" ...

Shift + the "F3" key will change any highlighted text to;
all lower case, all upper case, title case (First letter of sentence upper case, rest lower case) in sequence if you keep pressing tat combination.
Control + Alt + "F" creates a new footnote

See here for more shortcuts.

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Mozy - Reliable back-up - no need for any additional hardware

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Reliable back-up without the need for an external hard drive from a company called "Mozy."
Up to 2 GB free or $4.95 per month for unlimited storage.
It's very customizable for those able and inclined to play around a little, but pretty straightforward for the uninitiated as well.

(From a preliminary comparison Carbonite might be a little easier to use - I haven't tried it - but Mozy has many more features)

I use it and it seems to work very well.

Here's their homepage:

http://mozy.com/

Here's a screenshot of Mozy doing a back-up. (Below)
As you can see there's a lot of potential for customization - e.g. the sliding control on the bottom which defines how much bandwidth Mozy uses during back-ups.


Thanks to Ted R. for this info.

Comments, Questions, Suggestions …


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