Comments on: WinExt: a horizontal docking launcher for all your apps, files, and folders

By: realityloop

realityloop — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 05:24:18 +0000

I also just realised as a registered user of TrueLaunch Bar, I can use TLB to do everything it does anyway

By: realityloop

realityloop — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 05:23:17 +0000

I emailled some requests and got the following reply:

Hi Brian

Thank you for using my program WinExt. Unfortunately I have chosen not to develop more new features for the program for some time. I have alot of projects and I need to choose which ones I will focus my energy on. But I plan to clean up the program a bit during the fall and release the program as open source. Then somebody else might continue the development of the program.

Regards
Kim Jensen
http://software.hulubulu.net

By: Guy

Guy — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:45:17 +0000

You can make any folder into a “Launch Bar” just by dragging it to any open wall of your desktop then drop it. It’s easier to show in person but I will try to explain.

1. Make a folder on your Desktop called “Launchbar”.

2. Assuming your Taskbar is on the bottom of the screen, drag the Launchbar folder to the very top of the screen and drop it. You need to be able to desktop for it to work (minimize all windows).

3. You should now have a toolbar on the top of the screen. You can resize it or dock it to left or right on your screen by drag and dropping using the beveled “grip” on the left of the toolbar.

4. You can create another toolbar by dragging another folder to an open wall (try your C: drive) then drag the new toolbar onto the first toolbar.

5. You can opt to display the toolbar name, the icon names, icon size and auto hide from the toolbar’s context menu. Right click on an empty area of the toolbar or the grip.

There you have it! A launch bar without any additional programs or excessive memory usage. It can’t do everything the featured program can do but if all you need is a launch bar you’re all set.

By: Craig M. Rosenblum

Craig M. Rosenblum — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:49:48 +0000

I really like winext, been using it to make an ubuntu kind of app, places, system bar.

Just wish there were more options, and configuration…

And i scanned the app with nod32, and it says clean.

By: Vishy

Vishy — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:10:09 +0000

Yes Sridhar, only the advanced version TLB(True Launch Bar) allows virtual folders, I suppose. I shall try out WinExt for this feature alone sooner or perhaps later (when the bugs, as pointed out by Samer, are fixed).

By: TEILLU

TEILLU — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:08:08 +0000

WinExt contains malware:

winext.exe
Worm / Mail trojan
Alters Win.ini. The worm is encrypted. It propagates to users who earlier has mailed the user of the infected computer.

Removal: Winext.exe is removed by RegRun.

WinExt keeps trying to launch at the startup. Be careful.

By: Rarst

Rarst — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:06:53 +0000

Horizontal is deal-breaker for me in this case. For widescreen monitors vertical screen space is pure gold.

By: jfjb

jfjb — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:06:33 +0000

Qline Hotkeys is for me the simplest and the fastest to setup and use.

I have extensive computer programming and design background, I can read arid manuals before breakfast, but sometimes too much is too much.
My take, of course.
The good old KISS principle works for me.

You guys at FreeGenius are doing a consistent good job at helping us skim through the crap (can I say that?) too often found under only bells and whistles.

By: Marc M

Marc M — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:52:31 +0000

I use Rocketdock myself; low memory consumption and lots of options, plus it can use some docklets from other docking programs. http://rocketdock.com/

By: Sridhar Katakam

Sridhar Katakam — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:44:06 +0000

Vishy: FLB doesn’t support Virtual Folders. I think virtual folders are the cascading menus from a folder.

By: hari

hari — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:31:12 +0000

Similar thing like you manage shortcuts to certain applications and or documents in a folder (with sub folder if necessary).
Then from task bar create a new toolbar, linked to that folder (only one click extra).
In this case, if we move original application folder somewhere else, at least windows will help to find the new place.

By: Vishy

Vishy — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:19:39 +0000

Yes, I use powerpro also “extensively” but not for quicklaunch bars as it does not have the easy integration (with taskbar) and other features which FLB (freelaunchbar) provides effortlessly.

Otherwise, in general, Powerpro is mighty mighty big becos with just one program, you can accomplish tasks of very many diff. programs put together. Plus, it gives many features which are not available at all in any software. But, one has to dig very deep to learn and implement all the varieties of things it offers. Great stuff for programmers though… to keep exploring it.

By: Roman ShaRP

Roman ShaRP — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:42:54 +0000

Freeware Windows PowerPro is better and mightier, I think.

And consumes less memory.

By: Vishy

Vishy — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:08:12 +0000

Hi!

FreeLaunchBar (http://www.freelaunchbar.com) does this beautifully.

You can do LOTs of things by right-clicking the menu items (both w.r.t customising the menus and also the menu items in various ways AND executing the regular explorer right-click options). There is an advanced version too but FLB(freelaunchbar) itself is quite great…

Once I got this 8 months back, my productivity has zoomed. there is absolutely no need for desktop icons at all. I had tried atleast 20 launchers prior to FLB. FLB was the only one which finally satisfied my needs in the simplest and efficient manner possible. You can have the bar both at the top and the bottom (or even in the sides) simultaneously, if one wishes to.

by the by, thanks for your wonderful service, samer. I am a regular reader ever since I got to know about freewaregenius.

I did not venture to try out WinExt since you have written that it does not support Right-Click context-menu operations.

Regards
B.Viswanathan

By: Fred Thompson

Fred Thompson — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 06:37:58 +0000

I use SideSlide for very similar reasons and the Start menu is also highly sorted by functional groups. Don’t know how the non-link aspects of SideSlide compare.