
Noteworthy Shareware turned Freeware – May 2011
Another installment of this series (see Feb, Mar, and April 2011). Not a bad collection this time around, although (a) some of these didn’t actually turn freeware but rather have become more “freely accessible” (#1 and #2), and (b) I am not sure if some of these switches took place in May; will not worry [...]

Handy Shortcuts: create desktop shortcuts to frequently used Windows functions
Do you ever wish there was a simple shortcut on the desktop to “safely remove hardware” rather than having to go hunt for it in the system tray menu? Or maybe you would like to toggle the screensaver from a shortcut on the desktop or you could use quick, one-click access to the device manager, [...]

DropIt: a magical little file sorter on your desktop
Imagine this: you have a video file on the desktop that you’d like to move to your video folder on D:\; you drag and drop it over an icon hovering on your desktop and *poof* , the file is moved. You then would like to extract a zip archive from your download folder onto your [...]

XBMC: a slick interface makes your computer a media hub
XBMC, renamed to its abbreviation from its XBox Media Center roots, has a niche use case but if it’s what you’re looking for, it performs impressively. XBMC provides an interface that is more intuitive and more polished that ties the media collection on your PC together in order to be everything you need in a [...]

Jumplist Extender: enhance jumplists on the Windows 7 taskbar with custom entries
If you want a quick way to launch frequently performed actions from the taskbar consider this: Jumplist Extender is a small free tool that can insert user-defined entries in the right-click program jumplists that appear in the Windows 7 taskbar (see screenshot above). It also lets you pin any folder or file within any program [...]

Play Angry Birds for free in your (Chrome) browser
If you’d like to enjoy the unadulterated addictive fun of Angry Birds on your desktop for free (or if you simply like to destroy little green pigs), you now can. All you need to do is install Google’s Chrome browser, have (or get) a free Google or gmail account, then visit the Chrome App store, [...]

