I learned about this from a comment on the RocketDock post that read “best launcher ever – RUNit 2.0.1b!” (thanks to reader “rws”). So I searched for and found it and … I really, really like it.

As launchers go the unique aspect of RUNit is the way it is accessed, by right clicking on the upper edge of the screen (or alternately you can enable shift-right-clicking anywhere on the screen or simply ctrl+shift). Which isn’t quite revolutionary, except that it can be accessed extremely quickly and somehow delivers a really nice user experience. Here are more notes:

• Set up different lists: you can create wholly different lists of items and specify different shortcuts for accessing them. For example you can set it up such that right clicking the top edge of the screen can display your apps while right clicking the bottom edge displays favorite URLs or whatever.
• Drag and drop: to add items, simply drag shortcuts, files, URLs or pretty much anything from anywhere to the RUNit setup dialog. The setup has a button that can reconcile shortcuts automatically, though I am not sure why the user has to actually “press it” for this to take place.
• Customizable: you can select large or different icons, change the font used, edit the order of items, launch apps minimized or maximized, and even set the coordinated on screen where you want a particular app to be placed when launched.
• Cascading menu structure: is supported; use dividers and create folders and subfolders within your menu.
• Portable: unzip and run; does not write to the registry.
• Source code: is available for download.

The verdict: the RUNit site states that “no one who has ever tried it could live without it anymore”, and after trying it I can see that there’s a lot of truth to that statement. A very nice launcher indeed.

Version Tested: 2.1beta6a

Compatibility: WinAll; no info on Vista.

Go to program home page to download the latest version (approx 67K).

I have a soft spot for little apps that access to favorite items on-the-fly. JumpTo provides access to folders, files, apps, and URLs from anywhere and can be displayed in any program. It is very similar to previously mentioned Folder Menu, with some differences. Here’s a list of pros and cons.

PROS:

• Launch your favorite folders, files, apps, or URLs from anywhere: simply launch the app via its keyboard shortcut and you can be quickly on your way.
• Memos: JumpTo also includes a simple notes app. It can quickly
• Create your own submenus: which is to say it lets you create and organize the cascading menu entries as you like.
• Adding items: can be performed via the context menu entry, by highlighting an item and pressing Alt+shift+S, or by opening the add items dialog and dragging and dropping items into it.
• Less than 4 megs in memory: makes this program truly lightweight.
• Extra functions: via the "extra functions" context menu entry launch a run box, insert dates dynamically into your text, or strip any text in the clipboard from any formatting. You can also hide and display windows.
• Portable version: is available for download on the site.

CONS:

• Does not provide access to favorite folders in Windows open/save dialogs: unlike for example similar apps such as Folder Menu.
• Does not support icons: which is to say your app shortcuts and other shortcuts will be represented using text only. Not a big deal, but could have looked better with icons.

The verdict: a nice little app that and is truly lightweight. It has room for improvement in terms of accessing folders in open/save dialogs but as it is it can be extremely useful and a huge time saver.

JumpTo video Tutorial:

Version Tested: 1.0

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 787K).

I was looking for a simple tray-based launcher when I found this. I’ve reviewed similar launchers before (see the ’verdict’ section below), but wanted a simple system-tray based launcher with the ability to add apps and files by dragging and dropping icons. It also had to look good. MedalFolders delivers on both counts, even if its somewhat old and hasn’t been updated for a while.

Here’s a list of what this program can do:

• Interface: looks good. Displays the app of file icon in the list by default.
• Support: opens programs, files (including URLs), or folders
• Import/Export: allows exporting and importing menus, such that you could exchange your menus if need be or transport them to other computers.
• Drag and drop: open the program interface then add items by dragging and dropping icons.
• Reconciles shortcuts: i.e. if you add an item to the list by dragging and dropping a shortcut then remove that shortcut, Medalfolders will still find the original program or file that the shortcut points to.
• Ordering of items: alphabetical. No user control provided. MedalFolders will place apps in an "Applications" section and everything else in a "Files and Folders" section.
• Memory use: around 20 megs in memory. Seems like is should have been less, but not a whole lot of memory nonetheless.

What it does NOT do:

• Cascading menus: does not support cascading menus for folders. Clicking on a folder entry will
  simply open the folder in explorer.
• Custom folders/ordering: does not allow for manual ordering of items or creation of custom folders. Entries will either be in the "Applications" or "Files and Folders" sections, sorted alphabetically.

The verdict: a nice little launcher if you just want something simple and straightforward, and works great for launching URLs. For similar launchers with more bells and whistles check out Kana Launcher or LaunchOnFly.

Do you know of other system tray based launchers that you like? Let us know in the comments!

Version Tested: 2.0.0.503

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 2.74 megs).

A reader asked me about how he could launch a number of different apps using a single shortcut, and Lacuna Launcher is the small freeware program that I found that can do this. As an example, you may find that you always launch and work with your image editor, screen capturing program, and HTML editor together, and would like the ability to simply click on a single shortcut to launch all three simultaneously.

How to use this app: here’s an example that illustrates how Lacuna Launcher works.

1. Download and unzip: let’s say that the location is “D:\Lacuna Launcher”
2. Create a list of items: using your favorite text editor, enter the full path for each item you want to launch, one per line. Save it somewhere (say as “D:’Lacuna Launcher’newlist.txt’”
3. Create a shortcut for Lacuna Launcher: right-click on the executable (ll.exe) and select “create shortcut”.
4. Customize the new shortcut: right click properties, then edit the “target” field such that the path to the exe is followed by the path to your new text file. Both paths need to be inside quotes. You can (optionally) add two numbers after the paths; the first to specify the number of seconds to wait before the items should start running, and the second to specify the number of seconds to wait before running the next item. The following is an example where the apps launch immediately after and wait one second before each successive item (of course you can skip the numbers altogether for instant launches).
   • example: “D:\Lacuna Launcher\ll.exe” “D:\Lacuna Launcher\newlist.txt” 0 1
5. Modify the shortcut name and icon: if you want. Right click properties/change icon to change the icon in XP, rename the shortcut, then place it in the desired location (e.g. the desktop)
6. That’s it. Your new shortcut will now launch all the items on your list specified in your text file. Note that you can make as many lists and create as many shortcuts as you want.

Supported file types: Lacuna Launcher will launch executables (.exe’s), shortcuts (.lnk), internet shortcuts (.url), or anything that can be opened on your system (image files, music files, movies, etc.)

Usage from the command line interface: is supported.

The verdict: a nice, simple, freeware that gets the job done. What I like is that you can make as many lists as you like and as many shortcuts that all point to the single executable on your hard drive. Although a GUI for this where users could drag and drop shortcuts would be nice, as it is the program is very easy to use and you will be up and running within minutes of downloading. Recommended.

Version Tested: 1.0.0

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 234K).

[Editor’s note: this review was written by Freewaregenius contributor Jason H. Check out his tech blog: 404techsupport.com].

Mouse Gestures serve much the same purpose as keyboard shortcuts; they’re supposed to make you faster, more productive, more efficient, and more comfortable. Instead of switching hands from mouse to keyboard and back or minimizing everything to the desktop, mouse gestures allow you to perform actions or start programs all from the mouse with a few swift movements. High Sign comes pre-loaded with a number of gestures, some work for all applications like closing or minimizing a window.

You can create your own gestures by entering a Training mode. High Sign starts in Training mode by default or right-click on the system tray icon to find the option to toggle. Anything you draw (by holding down the right-click) in training will prompt and ask what you drew. You can specify an existing gesture or create a new gesture. The prompt offers what it thinks the closest existing gesture is. This is a good function because it can let you know if the gestures are too much alike where a different action might occur because your gesturing was a little sloppy. For example, when I drew the number 4 below, it prompted with a pre-existing gesture ’H’. When you toggle out of Training Mode, it will just perform any actions that are associated with the gestures you’ve drawn.

High Sign seems to be very forgiving and very accurate when it comes to getting the correct gesture from what you drew. When you create a new gesture, you can specify the action that it takes to come from a list of preset functions like sending a hotkey, sending a keystroke, running a command, opening a web browser or others. You can choose to affect a select program by choosing from those processes running at the time. To send keystrokes, you use the Send Keys syntax. You can do a quick Google Search to find the Send Keys syntax. As an example, the keystroke Alt-D would be %D, Ctrl-C would be ^C, and taking a screenshot of the active window (Alt + Print Screen) would be %{PRTSC}. For some more tips on using High Sign, read the brief wiki article on the High Sign page.

High Sign, by default, does not start up with Windows. It has a system tray icon that allows you access to all the different functions. You can find the preferences and preconfigured actions and gestures. High Sign comes as 820 KB installer and a 50 MB process when running. You can’t easily toggle HighSign off or on, but you can close the program from the system tray.

The preferences allow you to customize a lot of the different options. You can change the color of your line and startup options. It also allows a sneak peak at some upcoming features that could be pretty cool like opacity control and an “Ignore” key option.

While High Sign is only a 2nd alpha preview release, it’s fully functional. If the program continues to see development time, I have to believe that it’s going to be made into one stellar program as far as mouse gesture programs can go. It was originally created as a StrokeIt replacement but the developer has changed his goals to be more ambitious than just recreating StrokeIt. High Sign is open source and hosted by CodePlex, a site and repository for open-source projects.

Version Tested: Alpha Preview 2

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 2.09 megs).

There is an impressive range of excellent freeware Windows enhancements and tweaks. This posting will present forty three excellent additions to Windows that you will like.

When I first thought of this post, I more or less knew what programs I wanted to list here. The common theme that brought these together was that they were all really cool Windows “enhancements”: i.e. apps that tweak or change the way we work with files, folders, applications, or the system environment itself (or, apps that brings functionality to the Windows environment that could or should have been a built-in option in Windows ).

Two more things to say before presenting the list itself; the first is that this list might not include some well known titles because in some cases I shied away from Windows enhancement apps that try to do many things at once in favor of simpler, more straightforward ones. The second is to be aware that many of these have overlapping functions and hotkeys that you wouldn’t necessarily want installed on the same system at the same time (you also dont want to overburden your PC, so install selectively).

Note: this post took a long time to write, so please Stumble or Digg!

Here’s the list:

1- Fences: do you ever wish that there was some way to organize your icons into general, clearly-labeled areas on your desktop that you could move or organize without needing to deal with each icon individually? If so, you’re in luck, as this is exactly what Fences does. You can create floating areas on your desktop, label them, and move icons of any type into them; you can then re-arrange these by moving entire units around, etc. Fences will do two more things for you (1) it will preserve/save icon locations on your screen, and (2) it will allow you to double click an empty area on the desktop to hide all icons.

Note that Fences is still in beta and seems to exhibit some bugs on some machines. It works fine on my XP (with XP’s Dr. Watson debugger disabled).

2- QTTabbar: ever imagined using explorer windows in a Firefox style tabbed interface? This is essentially what this (terrific) freeware does, but it also manages to deliver a range of nice functions, including the ability to browse contents of folders without clicking into them (see screenshot), the option to bookmark groups of open tabs, a searchbox for filtering files, image previews on mouse-hover, as well as a slew of others.

QTTabbar is extendible through a handful of plugins that provide extra functionality, including a “folder memo” plugin to add notes to folders.

3- Filebox Extender: this one adds new buttons on the title bar next to the minimize, maximize, and close buttons that provide favorite folders and recent folders access anywhere (including file open/save dialogs). Other functions: a “stay on top” pushpin button, and a window roll-up button that hides all but the title bar of a window.

There are many apps that are designed to access favorite folders and files, but this one is one of the most original and innovative.

4- Desktop Media: this may be familiar to you if you’ve worked with Liunx. Desktop Media is a free program that creates automatic shortcuts on the desktop whenever you plug in a USB drive, CD, or other media. The shortcuts will automatically disappear when the media is ejected.

This program also provides an interesting option whereby hardlink rather than shortcuts can be (optionally) created on NTFS drives (see “Link Shell Extension” below for more on hardlinks).

5- Sizer: allows you to you right click on the “maximize”button on the title bar in order to quickly change the size and/or placement of the active Window using a selection of pre-set profiles. You can add your own user-defined sizes and placements.

While this function hardly sounds revolutionary, I will tell you that once you start using this one you will wonder how you managed without it. Sizer will prove to be very useful and is in fact one of my first installs on a new machine.

6- Folder Menu: this is a terrific little free app that displays favorite folders anywhere on Middle mouse click or using a hotkey. It can even invoke favorite folders in Windows and MS Office open/save dialogs.

This is a new Autohotkey-based program that deserves to be more well known; since installing it it’s become one of my favorites, and I am betting that you will like it as well.

7- Folder Size: ever noticed that Windows’ detail folder view does not display sizes for folders? Well guess what, this free Windows extension adds a column to Windows’ “detailed” view that displays folder sizes. Check out my review for how to get this set up.

The latest information as I write this is that a new version 2.5 is about to be released, so watch out for that.

8- WinSplit Revolution: a freeware program that brings instant, versatile docking and resizing of windows to the sides of the and/or corners of the screen. But what is really nice is that the program allows you to control the placement of your windows by using hotkeys, by using a “virtual numpad” control that is prompted by clicking on the app’s icon in the system tray, or by so-called “drag’n go”, which involves moving your window around the screen while pressing Ctrl+Alt (whereupon it will display visual previews of the resize area as you move your window around – see screenshot).

For another interesting program that offers a similar function check out PowerResizer, which is also excellent.

9- Q-Dir: is a free dual-pane file manager that is simply terrific. It offers a slew of nice functions, including bookmarking favorite folders, a search box for filtering files and folders, the ability to save configurations of open panes and folders, and a whole host of other nifty options. What is quite innovative about Q-Dir are the nifty buttons on the toolbar that let the user access multiple configurations of file panes, quickly and easily.

I personally use Q-Dir as a replacement for Windows explorer, such that clicking on a folder in Windows will open it using Q-Dir; In that sense it is the ultimate Windows enhancement. (See my original review of the program for instructions on how to do this, find favorite feature #6).

10- Taskbar shuffle: this freeware Windows extension gives you the ability to reorder the tabs in your taskbar (on the bottom of your desktop) by dragging them at will. Very cool!

11- Standalone Stack: this freeware allows you to create folder shortcuts that, when clicked, open up as Mac-style hovering icon stacks. It supports two styles of icons “grid” and “fan”. The screenshot here depicts a grid-style such shortcut that I strategically placed in the “Quick Launch” area.

12- TaskSwitchXP: this is a freeware Alt+Tab replacement. It’s my favorite because it is straightforward and simply scrolls across the different open apps and windows while (reliably) displaying a screenshot of the selected app. It strength is function rather than form, and I like the fact that it bucks the 3D vista-style and the Mac Expose trends (but if you must have these, check out WinFlip, Shock Aero, and DExpose2).

13- Link Shell Extension: is a freeware app that allows you to right click on files and folders and create instant (and effortless) hardlinked clones, with the single stipulation that your hard drive should be NTFS formatted.

A clone is NOT a copy. A little known piece of information is that a file in Windows XP and Vista can be in two places at once (as long as the hard drive is NTFS formatted and not FAT). Suppose that you keep videos of “The Sopranos” in their “Sopranos” folder, but that you had set up a “Favorite TV shows” folder where you wanted to keep a list of some of the TV-show episodes you like the most. If your hard drive is NTFS formatted, you can keep a clone of that video in that folder that does not occupy extra space on your hard drive (rather than create a duplicate copy.

14- Launchy: this is a freeware launcher for apps and files where, instead of clicking on shortcuts or icons of the programs or files you want to open, you type in the name of the program you are seeking in a search box and select it from a list of results (the program will refine the list of selections as-you-type, which is a very nice effect).

By default this program will monitor (index) the execs and shortcuts in your start menu but can be configured to look anywhere for any file type you want. Lastly I will say that once you start using this I guarantee you will not want to use your computer without it. Some good Launchy alternatives (also free): Find and Run Robot, Key Launch and Keybreeze.

15- Freesnap: ever wanted to snap just one or two edges of your window that you’re working with right to the side of the screen? Freesnap is a freeware that lets you do just that (see screenshot). It will also let you use hotkeys to quickly send your window to any of the 4 corners of the screen (or the center), and perform a number of window-resizing operations.

16- Everything: this one is a free desktop file search program that works ONLY on NTFS formatted drives. The reason: it relies on the Master File Table of the NTFS volume to build its index of files, rather than constantly scanning and scouring the hard drive. What this means is that Everything will always be up to date with all file changes that occur on your hard drive.

The reason this one is included in this post is that more than any other program it has changed the way I work with Windows (with the possible exception of Launchy, above). I now find myself constantly right-clicking “Search Everything” on folders in order to locate the files that I am working with. Being able to right click on my computer in order to find a file or files anywhere on my drives is an extremely powerful thing to be able to do.

17- 3RVX: this freeware allows you to control your system’s volume (up/down/mute) through hotkeys. Its not the most feature-packed utility of its kind (Volumouse might have that distinction), but it just may be the most pleasant to use, looks really pretty (emulates the MacOSX volume bezel, but is skinnable and comes with many other cool skins).

This is another one of those apps I have to have installed on my machine.

18- OSD Mute: a very simple free app that does a very simple thing: displays a “Mute On” message on your desktop near the system tray when the system volume is muted. While this is not quite revolutionary, it is so useful that I install it on all my machine, and is really an option that should have come built into Windows.

19- Dexpot: this is without a doubt the best, most feature rich and advanced freeware virtual desktop program for Windows. It doesn’t offer some of the eye candy that you might find in some others (animated 3D cube transitions between desktops, for example), but what it lacks in style in makes up for in substance (e.g. rules, hotkeys, icon placements on different desktops). If you are unfamiliar with virtual desktops imagine being able to work on, say, your Office applications in one desktop, then flipping to another that has your browser/webmail, and then flipping to a third that displays, say, your media player.

One thing you can do with Dexpot that I have not found anywhere else is to actually designate different icons to different desktops. This alone makes it the undisputed number one virtual desktop app as far as I am concerned.

20- Infotag Magic: a freeware shell extension that tweaks Windows to display informational tooltips when hovering over a range of filetypes, including audio files, text files, shortcuts, and executables (see screenshot).

File extension types supported: wp3, wma, ape, and Ogg Vorbis (for audio), txt, ini, log, bat, diz, bak, and que files (for text files), exe, dll, ocx and lnk (for executables/shortcuts). I would have liked to have tooltips support for video files; if that’s something you want it is provided in the latest beta of MediaInfo.

21- AudioShell: a freeware shell extension that allows you to view and edit audio files tags directly in Windows Explorer (for individual files or groups of files). It adds tabs in the audio file’s right-click “properties” dialog that enable you to edit tag information on the fly. (Including album art, which you can easily import into the Audioshell tab and save it into the audio file itself.)

Audioshell will also display your audio file tag information inside tooltips when you mouse-over your audio files, and will add additional audio related columns that can be displayed in Windows explorer’s folder “detail” view (e.g. Title, Album, Artist, etc.)

22- Stick: is an interesting freeware app that places dockable tabs on the sides of your screen that can contain a variety of functions, such as notes, RSS feeds, shortcuts for apps or favorite folders, etc.

The nice thing about this one is that the “dockable tab” effect works really well, and its a very interesting innovation on the typical Windows user interface.

23- Xentient Thumbnails: a freeware that automatically changes the icons for image files to appear as little thumbnail previews of the images themselves.

This means that the even in icon or tile view each individual image will display a thumbnail for its icon that reflects a preview of the image itself. It also means that your image files will display little thumbnails for their icons even when placed on the desktop (a nifty and rather unusual effect).

24- Thumbview: you might have noticed that some image file types (e.g. JPG, GIF, BMP and a few others). display preview thumbnails in Windows Explorer while others do not . What Thumbview does is provide support for 19 additional image file types such that Explorer is able to provide thumbnail previews for those as well. It also adds tooltips for image files in Explorer such that hovering over an image file displays its type, dimension, bitdepth, and filesize.

25- WinCDemu: a small, free, extension that adds to Windows the ability to mount disk images as virtual drives simply by double clicking on the image files. Supports .ISO, .IMG, .CUE, .BIN and .RAW disk images and an unlimited number of virtual drives.

Runs in the background with no user interface, and seamlessly integrates disk image files into Windows.

26- Allsnap: imagine that your windows had a little “magnetic field” around them such that if they came sufficiently close to each other they would simply snap together. This effect, which we have all seen employed by various apps (such as Winamp for example) is exactly what this freeware does. Very cool, and also configurable so that you could set exactly how many pixels around each window this “magnetic field ” should be in effect.

There is also, interestingly, a portable version of this app which I just discovered.

27- TeraCopy: this free program integrates itself with Windows to deliver accelerated file copying in many instances as well as the ability to pause and resume copy operations. It comes especially handy when copying or moving a large number of files such that the entire process will not break down if it encounters, say, a file error.

You have the option to set whether to have TeraCopy perform all file copy operations by default (which is what I do), just when invoked by the user, or only when the “Caps Lock” key is on.

28- HOBComment: this free Windows extension adds a context menu entry that allows users to instantly add a comment to files and folders (yes, folders, which normally you wouldn’t be able to add comments to in Windows). I’ve been looking for a long time and this remains my favorite way to add comments to files and folders (despite relatively sophisticated freeware general file tagging apps such as Tag2Find and Taggedfrog.

The one conspicuous drawback that afflicts HOBComment though is that it is sometimes unable to add comments to some file types, such as .MSI and MS Office files (forcing me to resort to right clicking properties/summary/comment in Windows to do so).

29- StyleFolder: this freeware adds a simple entry to the Windows context menu that makes it possible to change folder icons. And while there are a handful such apps, I like StyleFolder because it is simple and unassuming; but, more importantly, it saves the icon info within the folder rather than simply pointing to it, which means that folders retain their new, customized icons when they are moved to portable media or across the network, etc.

30- Unlocker: have you ever tried to move, delete, or perform other operations on a file or folder only to be notified that it is locked because it is being used by another process? Enter freeware Unlocker to the rescue. This software can (a) identify the process(es) that are using your files/folders and holding them hostage, and (b) will let you “unlock” these or optionally to kill the offending process so its no longer running.

Unlocker installs a convenient entry in the Windows context menu that can be used to right click any file or folder and investigate the processes that might be working with it, if any.

31- Send To Toys: this app will breathe new life into the “send to” entry in Windows’ context menu by making it extremely useful and customizable. There are a number of commands that “Send To Toys” can introduce into the send to menu, including send to clipboard, send to command prompt, send to run, send to trash, and send to quicklaunch. But what makes this program really useful is the ability to add your favorite folders to the send to menu, whereby you can quickly copy or move any item to them (pressing Shift as you use the send to folder command will move your files/items rather than copy them, while pressing ctrl+shift will copy a shortcut).

32- RBTray: minimize any window to the system tray by right-clicking on the “minimize” button. Simple with fairly low resource consumption.

What I like about this one is that is coexists very well with other Windows enhancements (aforementioned Sizer, for example), when some other apps like it do not.

33- Trayconizer: this interesting free app is for those programs that you use that you wished would simply minimize to the system tray every time by default. Trayconizer can create special, modified shortcuts to these apps that, when run, will make these always minimize to the system tray without any further intervention by the user.

34- Flashfolder: this freeware apps makes it easy to access your favorite folders in Windows’ open/save dialog (as well as that of MS Office). What is notable about FlashFolder, aside from it being extremely useful, is that in terms of coolness/form factor alone it scores extremely high points with me (check out the toolbar that add overlays on top of the open/save dialog in the screenshot to the right).

Aside from favorite folders, Flashfolder can also quickly access recently used folders and a number of other functions.

35- Folder Guide: this freeware lets you right click to access your favorite folders. Works on the desktop, in Windows’ open/save dialog, as well as the MS Office open/save dialog.

There are two ways to add your favorite folders to “Folder Guide”; from the settings, you could browse to the folder of your choice, or simply right click on the folder you want to add and use the “Folder Guide” context menu entry.

36- Shock Bookmark: another freeware app that, similar to Folder Guide above installs your favorite folders in your right click context menu and enables quick access to these on your desktop and in the Windows open/save dialog (but, interestingly, not in the MS Office open/save dialog for this one). Shock Bookmark goes one further in that it lets you access favorite apps as well as favorite files in the context menu in addition to folders.

Like Folder Guide, Shock Bookmark allows you to right click on a folder in order to add it to the app’s context menu. However, it also features “copy to” and “move to” functions on right click for quickly moving or copying your files to your bookmarked folders (similar to “Send to Toys” above).

37-Open Target Shell Extension: [XP only]. This extension adds a right click context menu entry to Windows that shows up when you right-click on shortcut files, giving the option to instantly open the target folder where the item actually resides. This saves the user a few steps that would otherwise be required right-clicking properties then “find target” on XP.

Vista users do not need this as this functionality is already built into that OS.

38- MenuApp: this tiny free app lets you create shortcuts to folders that, when clicked on, display a browsable, cascading-style menu similar to the Windows Start menu. You can create a shortcut folder any folder(s) you like and place them in all sorts of convenient places, such as the quick launch menu area, on your desktop, or within your favorite launcher app, etc.

39- Visual Subst: this freeware presents an interesting way to access favorite folders by mapping them as virtual drives that you could access from “My Computer”.

The idea is that this makes it easier to access these using on or two clicks from open/save dialogs or by navigating from anywhere all the way back to the root drive.

40- Visual Task Tips: [XP only] a lightweight freeware utility that brings thumbnail previews to minimized task bar items in Windows XP. Simply hover over a minimized taskbar button to display a preview pop-up (Windows Vista already has this functionality built in).

Check out my original Freewaregenius site design template in the screenshot!

41- Explorer BreadCrumbs: [XP only] a free Windows explorer extension that add a “breadcrumbs navigation” toolbar for folders in XP. The breadcrumb navigation method is already built into Windows Vista; it comprises a flat path structure whereby each “node” in the path is interactive and can be navigated at will in order to quickly move back and forth across the folder structure.

Note: QT Address Bar is another freeware that delivers the same functionality.

42- VSO Image Resizer: delivers image conversion and resizing as a function within the Windows explorer context menu. What is interesting about VSO Image resizer, aside from the fact that it does a great job, is that it allows for the creation of different size/format/quality profiles that make it easy for the user to right click and quickly perform multiple, different resizing operation while accessing their commonly used settings. Also allows for image processing in batch.

43- XnView Shell Extension: freeware that embeds a number of image-related operations into the Windows context menu, including an interesting image preview inside the right click menu. Other functions include the ability to edit image IPTC metadata and to resize image and/or convert them to other image formats on-the-fly

.

Is there anything more useful than an app that can instantly open your favorite folders or files or launch your favorite apps or websites? It’s possible, I suppose, but either way this favorite-folders at your fingertips app is pretty darn handy.

Folder Menu provides a number of interesting features; for example it can display a list of recently-opened folders, and it allows you to browse your files and folders within the interface if you like. It works within Windows explorer as well as inside many other apps, and provides the possibility of manually adding any apps that are not supported by default. More notes below:

• My favorite Folder Menu functions: (1) Favorite folders; (2) Browsing folders within the interface; (3) Launching favorite apps, and (4) Opening selected path/URL by hotkey (see “open selected text” below).
• How it works: the middle mouse button will bring up the Folder Menu by default. For those who are keyboard-inclined (or, like me, use a laptop) Win+W can invoke the app as well.
• Entities supported: you can launch folders, files, URLs, as well as registry keys.
• Browsing: bring Folder Menu on screen, then press CTRL and left-click on your folders. This allows you to browse your folders quickly and freely. CTRL+Shift will display files as well as folders. Also, CAPS LOCK will toggle browsing if its on (this behavior can be switched off in the settings).
• Filtering (for vista): a handy function where you can filter open folders by your desired file type. Sadly does not work on XP, so I couldn’t see it in action.
• Open selected text: select/highlight a URL or path (or registry key) then press
  Win+J to open it. Pretty cool.
• Adding favorites: go to options/favorites, and then drag and drop the folder you want to add. To change the display order use shift+arrows; to delete press “delete”.
• System tray icon: you can access Folder Menu from the system tray. Note that it is possible to hid the system tray icon from the settings if you want to.
• Memory use: approx. 11 megs in memory, which is reasonable though not lightweight.
• Installation: portable, no installation needed. Place the .exe in an appropriate folder and run; it will create a config file when first run.

Wish list: (or how this program could be even better)

• Support for Open/Save dialogs: while the program states that it supports open/save dialogs in Windows and MS Office, I couldn’t get this to work when I tested on XP (using both ver. 1.20 and 2.0 beta).

The verdict: a great little app which can be extremely useful. The interface (for setting up your favorite folders and customizing the app) could be more user friendly, but overall the program works really well. I remain continually amazed with the kind of cool apps that are made using Autohotkey.

Version Tested: 2.00 b5

Compatibility: Windows All.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 267K).

Standalone Stack is a free software that can launch any folder in Mac-style popup icon stacks that appear when you click on a shortcut and fade out when you move or click away. Supports two styles of icons: “grid” and “fan”.

I am always looking for cool and useful ways to access my favorite folders, and when it comes to the coolness factor especially “Standalone Stack” scores full marks. Note that this program is based on “Stacks Docklet“, which is an add-on developed for Mac-Style Windows’ docking launchers such as “RocketDock“, “RK Launcher“, and Y’s Dock, but has been adapted to work from the desktop environment using simple shortcuts.

Practical applications for this software: Standalone Stack enables you to create shortcuts that point to folders, whereby clicking on the shortcut displays the contents of the folder in a hovering stack. You can use these, say, on your desktop to launch your favorite folders or as an apps launcher (if you create a shortcut that points to a folder full of program shortcuts). You could also use these “Stack shortcuts” as building blocks for use in other launchers (such as Circle Dock, for example, or even in the Windows Quick-Launch tray). I’ve been using my Stack shortcuts within a new toolbar inside the taskbar (see image to the right), which I’m finding to be a great way to access favorite folders.

More notes on this program:

• How to use: unzip in the location you want, then create a shortcut to “StandaloneStack.exe”. Go to properties and in the target field type in any name in front of “StandaloneStack.exe” (with a space separating them). Next run the shortcut and under the “Folder: Filesystem Folder” entry browse to the folder you are interested in. Next choose “sort by” (optional) and lastly choose Fan or Grid style (do not use the icon field). Click “OK”. Your shortcut is now ready and you can rename it, move it, and change its icon as you would any other shortcut.
• Image thumbnails: images in stacks appear as thumbnail previews, which is a quite nice (see example).
• Visual effects: the stacks feature a nice animated effect as they are unfolding or fading away, which is worth mentioning.
• Command line parameters: can be used to set the orientation of the stack if need be.

The verdict: I like this insofar as you can use these shortcuts as building blocks in all sorts of places on your desktop. I am also pleased that the standalone version of this is free from some of the bugs that afflicted the original docking-launcher version (which if I remember correctly does not auto-refresh). If you put some time into it you can probably come out with some interesting uses for this that have a high wow-factor to boot!

Version Tested: 1.0

Compatibility: Windows XP/Vista/NT 2000 SP4.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 413K).

If you’re looking for a launcher for your favorite apps, folders, and/or files take a look at this one. Circle Dock looks like a circular version of the Mac dock and manages a balance between being useful and practical on the one hand and providing a visually interesting launcher with a lot of room for creative customization and on the other. More notes below:

• Activated by hotkey: (F1) by default. Also invoked by middle mouse-button and moving the mouse over a side of the screen. All of these can be customized and/or switched off (which is good if you, like me, don’t care much for things popping up on screen when you accidentally move the mouse over the edge).
• Drag and drop: to add icons to the launcher simply drag and drop program execs, files, folders, bookmarks, etc. Dropping shortcuts will work too, except the launcher will always point to those shortcuts rather than their target destination and the connection will break if the shortcuts are removed or moved.
• Behavior: you can rotate icons on the circular "disc" with the arrow keys or mouse wheel. Great effect, but apparently has no practical function. Hovering over the icons will display the title of the program, file, or folder.
• Managing shortcuts: done by right-clicking on the icon, whereby both the Windows context menu entries and the Circle dock entries are available. You can set command line parameters for each item on the dock as well as the startup folder. You can also drag and drop icons to change their placement.
• Organize in dock folders: you can create dock folders that can help organize your shortcuts (e.g. a folder for bookmarks or for your personal files or for all video-related software, etc). Clicking on the button in the middle of the launcher will bring you back from folder view into the main view.
• Customizable: most every feature can be changed/customized in the settings section, including the icons, the visual style of the dock itself (as well as it’s width, transparency, etc.) as well as the "button" at the center of the dock. The behavior of most every visual element is customizable as well.
• Icons: comes with a large collection of cool icons that can be used to further customize your apps and folders, should you feel that the default icons are not up to the coolness standards required.
• Memory consumption: approx 10 megs or so, it seems. This is a .NET app so memory use is a bit ambiguous – I’ve seen it at as little as 6 megs and as high as 11 megs. Memory use seems reasonable/acceptable overall.
• Installation: unzip and run. Not a portable app though as it requires .NET. Add to the startup folder if you want it to start with Windows.

Wish list

• A way to launch shortcuts without using the mouse: for example, rotating the disk with the arrow keys until the icon was in a "special place" and pressing enter. I want this only to make the rotation action somewhat meaningful .
• Automatically link to the program/file behind the shortcut: this would be great. It would mean that if I drag a shortcut from my desktop onto the launcher and then delete the shortcut Circle Dock would maintain the connection to the actual program.
• Automatically remove extensions from the names of items added to the launcher: if I add drag Firefox.exe to the launcher and hover over the icon I would prefer "Firefox" to be displayed rather than "Firefox.exe".
• A hotkey to instantly display all the icon labels on-screen.
• Automatic centering: the launcher can either appear where the cursor is placed or it can be permanently placed wherever you want it. It would be nice if a third option was provided to automatically center it on screen.
• Bugs: this is alpha software and I experienced some bugs that lead to crashes. Expect these to be fixed in upcoming versions.

The verdict: this is a well rounded launcher overall (sorry could not resist the pun!), and manages to provide a user experience that is different from the usual Mac-dock style launchers such as RocketDock. I like that it can hold shortcuts not just for apps but for favorite folders as well. One thing to note is that unless you customize the icons for your various folders they will tend to look samey and somewhat uninteresting next to the cool program icons, so… go ahead and customize your folder icons; Circle Dock provides plenty of good icons for you to choose from.

Version Tested: 0.9.2 Alpha 8

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista (32 or 64 bit) and a "somewhat recent" graphics card. Requires .NET Framework 2.0 or higher for XP

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 7.6 megs).

There are many ways to get access to your favorite folders, files, and apps, and WinExt can do this in the form of a docking bar that can be placed topmost on your screen or on the bottom above the Windows taskbar. What the screenshots might not at first convey is the depth and versatility of this program, and the extent to which WinExt allows for customization. Here are more notes:

• Folders on the WinExt bar: you can do 3 different things with folders placed on the bar; (1) create a cascading menu from a folder; (2) place a folder icon on the dock itself that you click on in order to open that folder in Explorer; and (3) place a so-called expanded folder, whereby the contents of the folder are displayed as clickable icons on the bar itself (as for example the contents of the quicklaunch folder in the screenshot). Personally for many folders I like to put up both a folder icon that opens the folder itself as well as a cascading menu from the folder right next to it.
• Always visible: WinExt will “nudge” your desktop down, so to speak, and Windows will maximize such that they will touch the bottom of the bar so that it is always visible.
• The infobar: an additional bar that is placed adjacent to the original and contains gauges that display status indicators for CPU, memory, battery, and hard disk drive usage, etc. I don’t care much for this, personally, but I can see how it can be useful (I use Systraymeter for some of these and am very happy with it).
• Customizability: WinExt is highly customizable; however, I will also say that the interface used to tweak and change the settings is not very user friendly and, in my view, is a lot more work than it could be (why can’t I just go into some sort of edit mode and right click on elements to change them?) It will take some work to get this app configured exactly the way you want it.
• Skins: comes with 2 skin choices (pictured in the thumbnails on this page). Customizable variables include alpha blending, changing the color of every single element, etc. Keeping my fingers crossed that more will be provided in the future.
• Hotkeys: comes with a system-wide hotkeys manager that can launch a file or maximize, minimize, or close windows. I honestly couldn’t figure out how to get it to work, but didn’t try that hard as I am not that interested in this functionality personally.
• Marquee: the right hand side of the bar can display information such as the time, memory use, battery consumption, Winamp track information, etc. It will scroll these in succession, and you can click to scroll through the different messages. The kind of info displayed is customizable and you can switch it off altogether if you like.
• Memory consumption: consumes a rather large 30 megs of memory.
• URLs: a built in tab provides for quick IE
• Notes: one of the built in tabs functions as a simple notes organizer. Won’t replace my favorite notes program (Tobu) anytime soon, but I’m sure many will find such a notes-right-on-your-desktop tab very useful. Somewhat buggy in the version I looked at (see wish list section below).

Wish list:

• Enabling right-clicking on the items in the cascading menus: as it is at the moment, you are unable to right click on an item in the menus and perform context menu operations (e.g. renaming, deleting, etc) in the same way you can, say, in Windows’ start menu or quick launch. It would be great if WinExt allowed for this as well.
• Bugfixes: program stopped responding and displayed an error message on at least three occasions within a 24 hour period, and had to be shut down and restarted. The built-in notes tab also presented an error whereby it seems to automatically save notes as you type them in, and then one you are done and click “ok” an error message appears informing you that the note is already there (?).
• Opening folders in the cascading menus by double-clicking on them: seems like a no-brainer; would greatly enhance this program’s functionality.

The verdict: I am posting this program for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is a great way to always have your favorite folders on-screen and access them both as cascading menus or easily open them in explorer. Secondly, I am intrigued by the possibilities it presents for those who like customizing their desktop experience and/or experimenting with Windows shell replacements. I don’t much care for the infobar or the hotkeys but if you are interested in these you will find them to be solid components.

This is not a perfect program by any means, but I am hoping that it will get better in future releases. It’s (relatively) high memory use is somewhat of a drawback and will probably put some people off (I know the Freewaregenius audience is a tough crowd!); however if you put the time into customizing this program initially you can arrive at the perfectly customized docking bar that delivers access to your favorite folders, apps, and files quickly and easily.

Version Tested: 1.03

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, Vista.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 1.08 megs).

If you have folders that you always work with, or a web page that you like to always be easily accessible, notes that you frequently refer to or, say, an RSS feed that you like to check frequently you might want to give this program a try. "Stick" enables you to use "Screen tabs" attached to any of the four sides of your screen that you can easily expand and retract, and that can display the following: rich text notes, RSS feeds, folders, web pages, a (non-interactive) calendar, and a calculator app.

What I like about this program:

• It can look elegant: meaning that (a) you can use this to good effect in your quest to reduce clutter on your desktop, and that (b) of the handful of "skins" available is possible to use a configuration that looks good and adds to the desktop experience. (Conversely, you can end up with some pretty ugly tabs on your desktop, but you can only blame yourself if that happens).
• Favorite folders as Screen Tabs: having a handful of your favorite or frequently used folders easily accessible through retractable tabs on the side of the screen is a very good idea; esp as these support drag and drop, context menu commands, different views, and navigating the directory structure. There’s even a little arrow button that opens the actual folder for you in explorer.
• Web pages as Screen Tabs: I didn’t think much of this at first, until I thought to put my main Gmail account in one of the tabs, which was certainly an interesting setuip.
• Customizable tab behavior: you can control the color, skin, transparency level, the speed by which the tab opens, always on top, whether it opens by hover or click, and whether it closes by hover away or click.
• RSS feeds as Screen Tabs: for those must-view RSS feeds that you want to be able to access quickly and easily – e.g. Freewaregenius – the RSS Screen Tab will be very handy. The RSS function has some quirks (e.g. newer items are shown on bottom, no Atom support) but is overall a good option if you want RSS on your desktop.
• Keyboard shorcuts: for each tab you create you can define keyboard shortcuts that make it visible.
• You can make your own plugin: provided you can code in C. If interested make sure to install the "sample plugin with source code" when you first run the installer.

What I’m neutral about (i.e. neither like no’r necessarily dislike):

• Notes as Screen Tabs: I know this sounds like a great idea, and for some it might be just perfect, but to be honest if you need notes on your desktop go for one of the more mature sticky-notes type programs such as Stickies or Shock Sticker. (Otherwise, use a ’proper’ notes app such as TeeDBNotes Free Edition , SEO Notes, or Tobu). Worth mentioning is that (a) notes will actually correspond to a text file somewhere in the file system, and (b) they allow for rich text editing, which the program must be storing separately from the text file itself.
• Calendar: didn’t care much for this, however it can be useful which is why I am listing it under "neutral". My take on it is that if you must have a calendar go for something more sophisticated where you can input and display data.
• Caclulator: again this can be quite useful, and seems like a nice little app, but not for me.

What I don’t like as much:

• Memory use: is rather high. Depending on the tabs you’ve got going on, can vary from 12 megs (which is acceptable if not great) up to 45 megs in memory (which is too much, in my opinion).
• Performance: the animation of the tabs unfolding/retracting can be slow and sluggish at times. I noticed, however, that this (a) this can be fixed on reboot, and (b) it does not seem to happen when using the normal windows visual style (i.e. the blue XP skin).
• "Find application" function: this is an indexing "search box" style launcher similar to my favorite "Launchy" that can be accessed by hotkey or through the system tray icon. And while it works fairly well, it is not the main reason for installing this software and would more appropriately be installed separately (an option to exclude it from installing in the first place would be great). I would prefer if it wasn’t part of the program, consuming resources.

The verdict: this program is somewhat reminiscent of the previously reviewed SideSlide and is overall a very interesting program. The reason I am posting this program on Freewaregenius is that insofar as it has the potential to help reduce desktop clutter it can be extremely valuable; however this also depends on how the program is used, as it can easily fall into the trap of adding visual clutter to the desktop as well.

I would not recommend this program as a desktop notes program (see above) but would very much recommend it if you have a handful of folders you work with or an RSS feed or two that you would like to have easily and quickly accessible on your desktop (and, of course, if your computer can afford the resources).

Version Tested: 2.6.22

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 5.41 megs).

Ok so those of us who have tried indexing, search-box style launchers (such as Launchy) may not be looking for a new icon-based launcher, but we at Freewaregenius are always on the lookout for useful and/or interesting launchers, and have determined that Kana Launcher deserves a mention here. More notes on this program below:

• Two modes of operation: a “floating window” style launcher and a pop-up, context menu launcher. These can be configured separately (i.e. the shortcuts that are displayed in one need not be the same as those displayed in the other). The “floating icon” mode displays tooltips that can help identify each icon as you hover over it. See the screenshot above to get a sense of what these two modes are like.
• System tray or hotkey: the launcher is called by right clicking or hovering over its icon in the system tray (for the pop-up and floating window launchers, respectively), or otherwise both the pop-up and hovering styles can be called anywhere through user definable hotkeys.
• Shortcuts: Kana can open programs, folders, files/documents, or URLs/bookmarks. The popup menu style launcher includes the ability to create a hierarchical folder structure that can be used to organize your shortcuts.
• Configuration: you can configure the launcher simply by dragging and dropping shortcuts onto the main configuration screen (and into the appropriate area/launcher mode), which is very quick and easy. Alternately you can open the folder structure itself that the launcher uses and makes your modifications from within Windows explorer.
• Tray icons: I mentioned previously that Kana uses 2 modes of launcher (floating icon and popup). This is not true; there is in fact a third mode where you can add a shortcut straight to the system tray (see screenshot). This could be a very good place for that special shortcut that you would like to place in a very unusual place (see screenshot to the right; a shortcut to the Freewaregenius URL inside the system tray).
• Group Start: an option whereby you can assign a number of shortcuts to be launched together, with the ability to set the number of seconds to wait between them. These groups can be invoked from the “Group start” section in pop-up menu launcher.
• Memory use: despite having read reports of this program hogging user’s memory, the version I tested consistently consumed less than 5 megs, and did not present any memory problems for me. Please let me know in the comments section if you have a different experience.
• Portable: there are two version of the program on offer, including a zipped archive you can run without installing.

The verdict: definitely an interesting launcher. I especially like the ability to stack a great number of icons together in floating icon mode, and have instant access to them in a relatively small amount of screen real-estate.

I have received a couple of emails in the past few months asking me about a free system-tray based launcher for shortcuts and URLs, and Kana Launcher will likely be what I will recommend going forward.

Version Tested: 3.0.0 b29

Compatibility: WinAll; no info on Vista.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 534K).

This is a launcher that is somewhat reminiscent of Rocketdock and ObjectDock in that it is a dockable, horizontal row of icons, but it is different in that it does not feature the Mac-style zooming into the active icon, allows for clustering of icons in groups (like Stablauncher), and offers a number of functions such as setting keyboard shorcuts for apps and using a single icon to launch multiple applications. More notes below:

• How it works: hover on the side of the screen with the mouse for a few seconds and the launcher will appear, move away to autohide. (Or press F12 to summon/dismiss. You could alternately switch off auto hiding altogether and use the keyboard shortcut primarily). Drag shortcuts to add to the launcher, drag them across the different groups you create. Overall very user friendly.
• Groups: create a group that makes sense for each set of icons that belong together. These are placed at the bottom of the launcher and function like tabs.
• Keyboard shortcuts: you can define these for any app whose icon appears in the launcher. Also allows for setting launch parameters and path.
• Batch launching: you can create shortcuts that launch multiple apps. As an example, I am using this for a bunch of apps that I have disabled on startup that I nonetheless sometimes like to have open at once. The one strange thing is that the program requires that all apps that are batch-launched be included somewhere in the launcher individually, which seems quite needless.
• Modules: including a clock, calendar, trashcan, and power modules (for laptops). These are mini-apps placed in the launcher that show the time, show the date, control the trashcan, ans show power status, respectivly. Can be switched on/off.
• Customizability: everything about this program is customizable, including whether it auto-docks, how many seconds it takes till it responds to your mouse, how long it takes to go away, the size, placement, and spacing of the icons (including the "module" icons), etc. It offers a handful of built in skins that will probably not be enough for people who are into skins.
• Memory use: takes up around 14 megs in memory. Not a lot but not lightweight.
• Portable version: provided, that saves data in the folder where the executable is placed.

Wish list:

• Icons on multiple rows: as it stands right now you can use a scrollbar to shift to offscreen icons, and the option to show icons on multiple rows would be a great addition.
• More modules: two I can think of are a volume control, and a system resources gauge similar to SystrayMeter.
• Tooltips bugfix: the version I tested displayed ampersands (&) within the names of my icons when I moused over them, but I’m sure this will be fixed in future versions.

The verdict: a rather nice, good looking launcher with some good features, especially if you like keyboard shortcuts as well.

Version Tested: 3.3.9

Compatibility: Windows.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 3.1 megs).

It seems that there is an increasing number of interesting launchers employing new, quick ways to launch programs aside from clicking on icons or shortcuts. Programs such as Launchy, for instance, as well as keyboard-shortcut programs, and now gMote’s screen gestures. Here are more notes on this program:

• How it works: press control and shift simultaneously then draw your gesture with the mouse. A window will popup near the system tray after you perform a gesture that will display the number of the action associated with it or otherwise display a question mark if the gesture is not understood. Note, however, that if you dragged a shortcut and then deleted it, the association is lost.
• The gestures: have to be in one continuous motion (i.e. you can’t take the pen off the page, so to speak). The program will alert you if the gesture you drew is too close to another one that you made previously in order to re-do it.
• The user interface: the user interface looks really good and is split into left and right panes; gestures are drawn on the right pane while the left pane lists the different actions. You can drag and drop shortcuts, executables, and bookmarks into the left pane to convert them into actions or you can browse to the applications manually.
• Accuracy: is generally good (i.e. the probability of it’s mistaking one gesture for another does not seem to be a big one). You do, however, need to draw fairly accurately. Its a good idea not to make the symbols close to each other in the first place.
• Performance: gesture recognition can be a bit slow, at times leaving you wondering if the gesture ’took’ or if the program didn’t recognize it. That said you will quickly learn to identify those ’pregnant pauses’ as what they are.
• Installation: nothing to install; just unzip and run. You will have to add to the windows start folder if you want to the program to start with windows (or use a startup manager such as Starter).
• Tutorial: the download includes an interactive tutorial that explains how to use the program (and is very well made).
• Resources used: takes up about 18 megs in memory, which is not a lot given the nature of this program (but is not very little either).

Wish list (or how this program can be even better)

• Volume functions (raise/lower volume, mute/unmute) are not included in the windows tasks list. I found this strange as (at least for myself) these are the ones I would have gone for before all others.
• It would be great it the program associated dragged shortcuts with their targets rather than the shortcuts themselves, such that the deletion of the shortcut does not break the association.

The verdict: an interesting, well designed program that can definitely enliven your computing experience. Its not an all-out replacement for your favorite launcher, but it can come in handy for performing certain tasks (e.g. showing the desktop, locking the PC), or for launching very frequently used programs/websites.

A video of gMote in action:

Version Tested: 1.01

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the program page to download the latest version (approx 364K).

Nothing beats a good launcher for quickly re-inventing the way you work with your computer. I did not expect much of this launcher at first but after trying it I found it to be very robust and surprisingly smart-looking. here are some notes on this program:

• Docks to the edge of your screen: and can be invosked by a mouse over. Can be placed on the left, right side, or top edges of your screen and dragged and dropped for optimum placement.
• Drag and drop: shortcuts can simply be dragged into the launcher in order to be added to the list. You can re-order items by dragging them around while pressing Shift (and, while pressing Shift, you can remove them altogether if you drag them out of the launcher).
• Eye candy: the launcher supports transparency and animation, and you can customize the way it behaves and looks in the settings (e.g. how you want it to behave when you mouse over, degree of transparency, change the color, sound if any, whether or not to display a ’tab’, glow, zoom, or bounce effects, etc.) But it also performs well in that it runs smoothly and without hiccups.
• Skins: RunMe comes with a handful of skins that mostly are very well done/good looking indeed. Download more skins here.
• Elements supported: include groups (which behave as folder), program shorcuts, links to folder, My Computer, Recycle bin, Run prompt, Control Panel, Show desktop, Restart/Shut Down/Standby, Separators, and a handful of other elements.
• Replacing Windows Start menu: it is possible to use RunMe in place of Windows’ own ’Start Menu’. You can activate this in the settings. This will work in Windows 2000 and XP only according to the documentation.
• Icons: you can change the icons of any element as per your liking. RunMe will open individual icon files (.ICO, .PNG) or libraries (.DLL, .ICL) as well as grab icons from .EXE files.
• No install necessary: just unzip and go. The program stores all settings and information within its own directory and, aside from the option to place itself in the Windows startup folder, does not seem to write anything into the registry.
• Memory use: approx 22 megs – which is quite reasonable in my opinion.

The verdict: a nice launcher that looks good and behaves very intuitively. It somewhat reminds me of StabLauncher in that it docks to the side of the screen but the similarity ends there. Try it out you will probably like it.

Version Tested: 0.8.5

Compatibility: WinAll; no info on Vista.

Go to program page to download the latest version (approx. 1.36 megs) – scroll down the page for the download button.

Version tested: 1.32

LaunchOnFly is a system-tray resident launcher for programs, bookmarks, and folders. It installs a LaunchOnFly entry in the Windows right-click send to menu that can be used to easily add entries to the launcher.

Here are some notes on this program:

• Highly configurable, with the ability to order entries, add separators, subfolders, and even add columns to spread your entries horizontally (see screenshot). Allows you to use a custom icon for any program if you want, to you launch command line interface executables with parameters. There’s an option you can use to launch programs minimized (or maximized) by default, but for whatever reason it didn’t work for me when I tried it.
• Adding programs and folders is a breeze; all you have to do is right click on the program icon (or shortcut) or the folder and select "LaunchOnFly" within the Windows send-to menu. A brilliant idea, I must say, and works really well.
• Program can be run using (all or any) of the following methods: clicking the icon in the system tray, through a user-defined hotkey combination, by mousing a defined corner of the screen, or using the mouse wheel.

There are many system-tray based launchers available but I must say this is one of the best that I have seen. If a system-tray launcher sounds like it could be useful to you you could do worse than use this one.

Compatibility: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server

Go to the download page to get the latest version (approx 2.43 megs). Also visit the program page.

Version tested: 2.0.01b

SideSlide combines a number of functions into a desktop-accessible interface: a launcher (for programs, folders, files. and bookmarks), a desktop notes and reminders program, and an RSS reader, all of which objects embedded in a free-form environment that is dockable off the side of your screen.

This is an interesting program that has the potential to significantly reduce your desktop clutter and be an invaluable organizational tool. Here’s what you need to know about it:

• Using SideSlide: You can drag and drop objects into SideSlide itself or to a ’containter’ that you can create within it. This is an aesthetic and organizational decision, and is a matter of experimenting with what works best for you. The SideSlide dialog itself can be resized freely with the mouse; it can be placed on top, left, or right of your screen from the program settings.
• Hovering: placing the mouse over any object is a good way to access it (as in reminders, minimized containers, or RSS containers).
• Containers: these are a great way to organize your work. For example, if you are working on a certain project you could create a container for it and drag all related files and URLs to it, so that its all in one place. Containers can be minimized in 2 ways; "folding" is the window-blind style that leaves only the top ’bar’ of the container visible, and "shrinking" reduces the container to a single button with a customizable icon that you could click on to "maximize" the container.
• Taking notes: all containers are also notes (and vice versa), in that pressing a little button on the top right of the container will switch from object view (where your files and URLs are visible) to note view, where you could enter text. So for example if you had a project-specific container you could switch to notes view and write all of your project-related notes straight into the container itself. Unusual but kind of cool. Note that available formatting for writing notes is rudimentary to say the least, with no formatting options to speak of (no font styles or bulleting options).
• Folder linking: you can link an actual folder to a container and work with the files/folders inside straight from SideSlide. You could even drag items from your desktop into the container in order to copy them to the actual folder on your hard drive (dragging while pressing control will in theory move the object; strangely, however, you have to deal with a Windows prompt asking you if its ok to delete the object from its original location). I’ve found that SideSlide will not automatically refresh itself to reflect any changes that you make to the folder externally, but you can refresh it manually.
• Reminders: you can create basic reminders that will be visible as distinct objects in SideSlide. These are very basic and will flash with a chime near the system tray when due, where you can either "snooze" or dismiss it.
• Tags: all objects can be tagged. For example, you can tag all work-related bookmarks, application shortcuts, or files as "work". From then on you could right click inside SideSlide and select the "work" tag to view only the work-tagged objects and/or notes. All others will disappear until you tell it to "show all". A pretty nifty function.
• RSS: the RSS function seems to have been an afterthought. While it is a great idea in general, it cannot hold a candle to other widget style desktop RSS readers (of which Klipfolio is my favorite).
• Customizability: there are a variety of skins to choose from for this program; you can edit the general color scheme and the size and colors of most every object can be tweaked as well.

What I like about this program:

• In a nutshell, the ability to create a container for each project I am working on and dragging files, bookmarks, and application shortcuts to them. If I want to work on, say, sales forecasts for the next quarter, I simply drag the related "forecasting" Excel file to the container instead of typing "work on forecasts" in a to-do list.
• Also, I have been searching for some time for a good, intuitive way to work with bookmarks, and so far SideSlide has been it. I am now creating a container for every category of bookmarks that I frequently use.
• That it’s dockable; easy to access yet with a single click you have a clean desktop environment. Can’t beat that with a stick.

What I do not like about this program (or how it can be made even better):

• Strangely, once you set up your shortcuts, bookmarks, notes, RSS feeds, reminders, etc… you have to actually remember to SAVE these for them to be retained. It is easy to assume that this program behaves the way most launcher or similar programs do and automatically retain your interventions. It won’t. You can easily restart your computer without saving and lose all of your work. I lost my work 3 times because my computer crashed after I had done a lot of work with SideSlide and didn’t save.

I’m not sure if this program is for everyone; try it and find out. For myself I give it a resounding endorsement; it’s an interesting program, which is not something that can be said about too many titles out there.

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, Vista. Requires Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6.0 which you can get here.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 1.91 megs).

Version tested: 2.51.0.1117

URLMenu is a bookmark launcher that resides in the system tray. It works with Internet Explorer, Opera, and Netscape bookmarks.

This program is somewhat dated, but still very useful. Here’s a list of its most useful functions; note that this applies only to the supported browsers (no Firefox, unfortunately):

• Find and launch any of your bookmarks from the system tray (see screenshot)
• Bookmark any URL automatically by copying it (CTRL-C) twice in quick succession.
• Find link function: will prompt a little window where you can filter your bookmarks by whatever you type in.
• Add link function: bookmart a URL quickly from the system tray.
• Link Checker: scans your bookmarks and finds broken links. This is restricted to 100 links in the free version. If this functionality is important to you use the freeware AM-Deadlink instead.
• URLmenu is skinnable. It comes with a number of skins that you can choose from and a couple more are found here. For my screenshot I modified the WinNT skin to make the font smaller (you can download it here).

There are also a number of other functions (e.g. quickly do a search on Google) which aren’t as interesting as the ones above.

What I like about this program is that you can have it point to a user-specified folder with selected bookmarks in it if you want. I’ve used this to create a folder of my most often used bookmarks that I now quickly launch from the system tray, which is really handy. It also avoids the clutter of dozens of bookmarks being displayed 95% of which I never use.

Differences between the Lite and paid version: Link checker restricted to 100 links as mentioned above; also apparently there are more skins in the paid version.

This program is a bit dated (last updated in Dec 1999), and does not offer Firefox support. However, for the browsers it supports it does a very nice job as a system-tray bookmarks launcher.

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to the download page to download the latest version. The program home page.

Folder Guide provides fast access to your folders through the explorer context menu. A right mouse click is all you need to navigate to your favorite pre-defined folders (see screenshot).

Rating: 5 

Version tested:  1.0

I remember years ago I tried a shareware utility that did the same, so I’m really please to have found this freeware one. Here’s what you need to know about Folder Guide:

• In addition to allowing you to access your defined folders from the desktop, Folder Guide will also do this from and any Save As/Browse Windows dialog. This means that when you are saving or opening files from any application you can use Folder Guide through the context menu to jump to the folder you need
• New folders can be added to the Folder Guide list by right clicking on them, or from Folder Guide’s settings dialog.
• Folder Guide allows you to sort the folders in the context menu as you see fit.

Overall a handy little program that you will like.

Go to the Program home page for latest version.

Version tested:  1.04

MenuApp is a program that enables you to create folder shortcuts that function like start-menu style launchers (see screenshot).

Four steps to get your shortcut launchers up and running:

1. First step is to unpack menuapp in the appropriate place (e.g. “c:\program files\menuapp\”); there’s no installer.
2. Create a shortcut for the main executable “menuapp.exe” and place it where you want to use it
3. Right click on shortcut, goto ‘properties’, then the shortcut tab and in the ’start in’ box type in the path for the target folder (see screenshot)
4. Rename the shortcut appropriately (changing the icon, like I did, is also a good idea, as the MenuApp icon is pretty drab).

Typically at work I am working on, say, four or five projects simultaneoulsy, and for every project I set up a different folder with ever-changing files and filenames. By using MenuApp to create a shortcut/launcher for each folder I can launch the file that I need and be up and running quickly and easily without having to manually navigate to each file I want to access.

Go to program home page for latest version.