As it’s name suggests, Image Resizer PowerToy Clone is a clone of the aforementioned tool that works with XP, Vista, and Windows 7, 32 bit and 64 bit. Like it’s namesake, it is designed for quick resizing of images by selecting them in Windows explorer and right-clicking “Resize Pictures” in the context menu.

Once you select your image or images and choose “Resize Pictures”, the following dialog appears, which is fairly self explanatory.

More notes on this one:

• Image size(s): supports 4 pre-set images sizes as well as a “custom size” option (which once entered it will remember for later usage).
• Size images in batch: select as many images as you want and process all of them at once
• Custom sizes: for custom sizes, you can enter values for both width and height or one of the two. In the latter case, the program will calculate the appropriate resolution (i.e. the missing value) while preserving aspect ratio. This is perfect for me when creating thumbnails for images that I know I want to be 200px in width and I don’t want to specify the height.

The verdict: an excellent, lightweight program that is a must-have in your context menu whether you frequently or occasionally have to resize images.

Another option that does the same thing is VSO Image Resizer; it actually has more features (e.g. user defined presets); however, if, like me, you sometimes prefer simplicity Image Resizer Powertoy Clone wins out on that front at least!

All in all a great little app; kudos to the developer for bringing this to Vista / Windows 7.

Version Tested: 2.1

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit).

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 352K for the 64bit version and 1206K for the 32bit version).

Buzz Folders free edition is a Windows enhancement that provides quick access to favorite and recently used folders in the Windows open/save file dialog.

It displays several tabs underneath the open/save dialog (see screenshot) that allow the user to quickly access recent folders for the active program, user-defined favorite folders for the active program (which the program calls ’stickies’), overall or global recently accessed folders, as well as a customizable tab that can filter or file list by extension.

Interesting to note is that Buzz Folders will let users specify favorite or sticky folder that are application specific, such that your favorite folders available for program A can be different from those you provide for program B.

Buzz Folders is similar to programs such as previously mentioned FlashFolder and Folder Menu that are designed to bring your favorite and recently used folders to the open/save file dialog menu. To get a sense of what this software is and what it does take a glance at the screenshot above. More notes on this software as follows:

How it works: I will use an example that the developer of this software used with me. Supposing you are using Notepad and proceed to open or save a file. You will see 4 colored tabs underneath the regular dialog as follows:

• The 1st tab: shows recent folders for the active program; i.e. for all recent folders accessed with Notepad in the example above.
• The 2nd tab: shows user-defined folders specific to the active program (Notepad). These will have to be defined separately for each program you use. Note that the developer is working on an "global sticky" option whereby the user could make one or more of these available to all programs.
• The 3rd tab: is the global recent folders list. Will display all recently accessed folders for all programs.
• The 4th tab: is a custom tab whereby you could either specify filetype (e.g. mp3, xls, etc..) or a program. In the example above, the user might set this to txt and it will display all folders where the user may have opened or saved text files. You could also set the 4th tab to a program, Excel.exe for example, and it would show all the folders you had opened from or saved to using Excel.

Differences between the free and paid versions: the paid version(s) offer more than 4 folders per tab as well as more tabs.

The PROS: what I like about this program

• The tabbed interface: as an enhancement of Windows, it looks really good.
• Program-specific favorite folders: which is quite a unique concept. The only downside to this is that creating favorite folders for each program just feels like a lot of work; thankfully, the author of this program is going to add the option to set global sticky folders.
• The tray icon: provides quick access to the ten latest folders that were added as stickies (see image to the right)
• Memory expenditure: a very small and tiny 8 megs in memory.

The CONS: suggestions for making this program even better

• Adding a "global sticky" option: which as mentioned above it on the developer’s list.
• Adding favorite "sticky" folders is not very intuitive: first, browse to the folder you want to add, switch to the sticky tab, then left click on an empty spot to set it. If all spots are taken right click on one of them to make it blank again, then left click.
• A centralized console where you can manage your stickies: would be a good addition in my opinion.
• A couple of more spots for folders: would be great, for the free version. Although 4 program-specific spots should work just fine (and although the author provides more in the paid version), adding 2 more would be perfect, imho.
• Unsure about the usefulness of the 4th tab: seems like it may be adding more complexity without a payoff. In any case choosing a specific program for the 4th tab did not seem to work for me.
• Ironing out some bugs: which I assume will happen as this program gets developed further. Specifically, I encountered strange behavior when trying to erase a sticky and define something else in it’s place.

The verdict: a very interesting enhancement for Windows. The notion of having access to favorite folders in the open/save dialog that are set for each program you use is very interesting. And although this might seem like a lot of work, as mentioned above, if you do put it in the effort it might be well worth your while and be very useful in the long run.

The author has managed a remarkable feat: creating a free program that is interesting and offers a lot while making the paid version interesting enough to consider buying. Hopefully, this program will be developed further

Version Tested: 11.18

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7.

Go to program home page to download the latest version (approx 1 meg). Make sure to download the free version.

Just as files and folders keep increasing on your computer and your desktop, so do the tools to organize them keep appearing, it seems.

Folder Bookmarks is yet another such a tool. And although it is somewhat early in its development, it still manages to be quite useful. As it’s name implies, Folder Bookmarks provides an interface where you can access favorite files, folders, as well as program shortcuts right on your desktop.

Four things to note about this program; (1) it lets you create categories to organize your files and folders into; (2) it provides a tabbed interface that (3) docks into the top of your screen and (4) allows for dragging and dropping to add files and folders.

This is the latest entry in my ever-ongoing quest to get organized. Folder Bookmarks looks like a tabbed launcher such as FSL Launcher, that docks to the top of the screen and pops up when you mouse over it.

This is a very simple program that is very early in it’s development. A few notes:

• Two interfaces: a main interface where you can create categories and manage them, and a so-called mini-menu which is the top docking interface pictured above. By default the mini menu is set to load with Windows when you install the program.
• Tabs are sorted alphabetically.
• Drag and drop: to add files/folders/shortcuts to each tab.

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

• Installation: the program installed itself in a strange place on my D: partition (D:’Application Data’CPascoe’Folder Bookmarks). Not sure why that was the case, when I would have preferred "program files" on C. Hopefully this will change in the future.
• Dragging and dropping to an inactive tab: currently in the mini-menu you cannot drag and drop an item to a tab that is inactive, but have to activate it via a click first then drag. It would be great if you could also drag and drop to an inactive tab and have it be placed there.

The verdict: a nice little app that, if you need to get organized, might prove a great help. Still early in it’s development though and hopefully it will keep growing and getting better.

Version Tested: 1.65

Compatibility: WinAll. Tested on 64bit Windows 7.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 1315K).

If you’ve upgraded to Windows 7 or Vista, you may have noticed that Windows explorer no longer supports a “folder up” button that can take you back up to the parent folder. Instead, Windows 7 and Vista only has a back button. To travel up the folder path, users have to use the breadcrumb navigation structure, which can be somewhat confusing and is not nearly as simple and straightforward as a simple “up” button.

This posting is going to describe a step by step process to add a simple “up” button to Windows explorer in Windows 7 or Vista using a free program called “ClassicShell”. As its name suggests, this software adds a number of functions inspired by the classic Windows XP shell, including a classic “start” menu. Here, however, I will describe how to install the “up” button only, and excluding any extra functions that the software can provide.

Step 1: download the latest version of ClassicShell (works on 32bit and 64 bit OS’s). The version I used at the time of this writing is 1.9.8

Step 2: run the executable to begin the installation. Make sure to uncheck “Classic Start Menu” (unless you in fact want it) but keep “classic explorer” checked.

Step 3: open any folder then press ALT+T on your keyboard to access folder options in Windows 7.

Step 4: click on the “view” tab and then check “always show menus” as in the screenshot above. Click “OK”.

Step 5: right click in a blank area on the newly visible file menu then check “Classic Explorer Bar”.

Step 6: click on the now-visible “ClassicShell” icon to access the program settings

Step 7: in the Classic Explorer settings, do the following

• Check “Show Up button in the title bar”
• Uncheck “Show caption in the title bar” and “Show icon in the title bar” — unless you want these.
• Uncheck “Enable classic copy UI” and “Show free space and file size in status bar” — unless you want these.
• Click “OK”

Step 8: once you exit out of the settings, go back and uncheck “Classic Explorer Bar” — unless you actually like and want it. (Remember that the object of this post is to only add an “UP folder” button to Windows explorer).

Step 9: now go back to the folder options (ALT+T as in steps 3 and 4 above) and uncheck “always show menus” then click OK. I’m trying to get Windows folders to look exactly as they would by default. Do not uncheck this if you want the file menu to be displayed for whatever reason.

Step 10: close the window. Now re-open any window, the “Up Folder” arrow should now be displayed as below.

That’s it. If you have any thoughts or reflections on this please let me know in the comments section..

It also offers a handful of other tweaks that enable always on top/window minimize/window closing without via the mouse, touch-starting the lower left corner to launch the start menu, and automatically hovering over the close button when you right click a button on the taksbar.

Two things to consider; first, if you only like one or two of these features you’re able to activate only the ones you want, and second, that Preme takes up only 3 megs of memory, making it an all-around good deal!

The three enhancements I like here are the ones mentioned in the first paragraph: launching the task switcher via the upper left corner, double presssing ’Esc’ to close a window, and especially the docking feature.

Unfortunately, though, the docking feature is flawed, in that you have to click on the docked window itself to undock it, but using the taskbar or even the task switcher will not undock it for you (instead, it will cause the window to jump around weirdly like it was trying to undock but was being held back). Hopefully, this will be fixed in a future version.

The verdict: this app has two things going for it; (1) the enhancements are very interesting and original, and (2) at 3 megs in memory it takes up hardly any resources at all.

On the other hand, the enhancements don’t seem all that useful, unfortunately. I would install it for the docking feature alone, but even that one should be better implemented as mentioned above.

Version Tested: 0.92

Compatibility: Windows 7 (32 bit or 64 bit).

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 966K).

To quote the (new) developer "I made RBTray Vista/7 and x64 compatible, removed the application menu additions altogether, and fixed the small target on the minimize button with XP theming (that was not intentional BTW). It’s on my site and on the official RBTray SourceForge page as well".

This is probably my favorite minimize-to-tray app, if just for being so lightweight (about 1 meg in memory). It was also featured on my "Forty-Three of The Best Free Windows Enhancements That You Should Know About" posting.

Go here to read the original review, or here to download (~100K).

Version Tested: 0.41

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7. Requires MS .NET Framework 2.0 (download 32bit, 64bit).

So you’ve recently installed Windows 7 and become familiarized with the new Jumplist-enabled taksbar. If you are looking for Windows7 taskbar-friendly apps then read on; this posting will present 7 interesting (and free) selections that work really well with the Windows 7 taskbar.

Here’s the list:

(1) Dexpot with SevenDex plugin, (2) Standalone Stack 2, (3) JumpList Launcher, (4) Gmail Notifier Plus, (5) 7Stack, (6) HideDesktop Icons, and (7) MenuApp.

Note that not all of the programs presented below are Windows 7 specific; in fact three of them (2,6, and 7) will work on XP and Vista.

1. Dexpot with SevenDex plugin: Dexpot is a free virtual desktop program which you may be well familiar with from previous postings on this blog. You may know that it offers advanced functionality, supports both applications and icons, and is extendible through plugins; what you may not have known about is SevenDex, a Dexpot plugin that places an icon on your Windows 7 taskbar to enables quick, thumbnail-powered switching across the virtual desktops. It works extremely well.

Note that while Dexpot works with XP and Vista; the Sevendex plugin is specific to Windows 7.

To install, download Dexpot from the program home page (there are both an installer and a portable version), go to settings then the “plugins and extras” section (in the bottom left sidebar). You should find the checkbox for SevenDex there; check it and click OK.

2. Standalone Stack 2: makes any favorite files or folders instantly accessible on the Windows 7 taskbar by embedding a fan or grid-style stack within it (see screenshot above for a grid-style example).

I’ve mentioned the first version of Standalone Stack a number of times before on this blog. Standalone Stack 2 merely streamlines the app a little bit and makes it much easier to create and manage the shortcuts.

To use you will have to create a Standalone Stack 2 shortcut that points to a favorite folder (or a folder which in turn has shortcuts to favorite folders), and then pin it to your taskbar. Note that you can customize the icon of your shortcut to anything that you like

Three things to note about this one:

• It allows you to browse into and out of folders (or folder shortcuts)
• It allows you to quickly open whatever folder you are looking at in Windows explorer should you feel the need
• It is NOT Windows 7 specific, and can be run on XP or Vista from the Quick Launch tray or anywhere else on the desktop.
• You can pin as many Stacks as you want to the taskbar, and manually change their icons if you want to display different icons.

Download Standalone Stack 2 here.

3. Jumplist Launcher

You can use Jumplist Launcher as a kind of third dimension, pinning your shortcuts vertically inside Jumplist Launcher instead of horizontally on the Windows 7 taskbar.

The latest version of Jumplist Launcher supports up to 60 items in the jumplist. Adding items is done though dragging and dropping on the open Jumplist Launcher program dialog. And although this program wasn’t designed to create multiple Jumplists on the taskbar, you could go around this by creating multiple copies of the executable (although in my experience having multiple jumplists on the taskbar seems to cause this program to not behave quite right, though I am not 100% sure).

Go here to download Jumplist Launcher.

4. Gmail Notifier Plus: is a desktop based email checker that lives on the Windows 7 taskbar and can check multiple Gmail accounts. It lets you browse unread email right on the taskbar via the left/right arrows under each “thumbnail” (see image above), and clicking on the “open message” button between the arrows will open the corresponding message in the browser (although it will NOT log you in automatically, which is somewhat disappointing). Right clicking on the Gmail Notifier Plus icon will display your latest unread emails in a list, which is very useful, alongside a whole range of possible actions (compose, check email, etc).

This program feels more like a proof of concept than a fully functional app though, a demonstration of what is possible within the Windows 7 taskbar in the future. It does not quite feel as competent or practical as some other desktop Gmail checkers out there, but I suspect it never was meant to be.

Go here to download Gmail Notifier Plus.

Like Standalone Stacks, you can configure your 7Stack shortcut icon (the icons shown in the screenshot

This program has a lot to recommend it: it looks good, and can be extremely useful. It does, however, suffer from performance issues where it can be somewhat slow and unresponsive. The responsiveness issue has been improved in the current version over the previous one, but still lingers; I am hoping that it will be further improved in future releases. Meanwhile try it out for yourself and see how you like it.

To download 7Stacks, go to the program home page.

6- HideDesktopIcons: this is a single shortcut that, when clicked, will simply hide or unhide the desktop icons, the equivalent of checking hide/unhide desktop icons in the context menu. It can placed on the Windows 7 taskbar (or XP’s Quick Launch menu, or the desktop, or anywhere you like).

I’ve come to find this particular tiny app to be indispensable, as my work involved a lot of screen sharing and giving PowerPoint presentations, and the ability to clean up my (otherwise quite cluttered) desktop with a single click is, to me, extremely convenient.

Download HideDesktopIcons here.

7- MenuApp: this little program has been around for a very long time (in fact, I first reviewed it in Nov 2006). It lets you create a shortcut that can point to any location on your hard drive and pop-up a cascading menu style browsable folder structure.

The reason it is included in a posting about apps to use on your Windows 7 taskbar is, obviously, because having browsable cascading menus of your favorite folders on your Windows 7 taskbar can be a really cool thing (see screenshot above).

In that sense, MenuApp really is very similar to both Standalone Stack 2 and 7Stack, with the exception that the cascading menus look more like what you expect to see when browsing.

To set up your shortcuts, see my previous review of the app. Note that to pin more that one shortcut on the Windows 7 taskbar you will need to make multiple copies of the MenuApp executable, as Windows 7 will not let you pin multiple shortcuts to the same app. Also note that I customized the MenuApp icon in the screenshot above.

Download MenuApp here.

Switcher is a free ALT+Tab like application switcher for Windows Vista or Windows 7 in the vein of Expose for Mac. It provides three variations of visual display: tile view, dock view, and grid view (see examples of the first two in the screenshots above, respectively).

The program is invoked by a user-defined hotkey or via mouse movement (or a combination). It provides the unique ability to type in a keyword or a part of a keyword in order to filter the displayed options and hone in on the program or window that you are seeking. It will also number your windows such that you can quickly jump to your desired selection by pressing the corresponding number key on your keyboard.

I’ve mentioned a number of application switchers before on Freewaregenius (VistaSwitcher, WinFlip, and DexPose come to mind); nonetheless this particular application has a whole lot to recommend it.

So, therefore, here is my PROs list (or why I like this software).

• Provides 3 different styles of display: you can choose the default style to use or switch at will via the F1-F3 keys. See the image to the right for a quick overview of these styles.
• Select by number keys: quick and direct. You can also scroll across the displayed windows using the arrow or tab keys.
• Search function: once Switcher is invoked, you can key in a keyword or part of a keyword to filter your windows. The search box will appear once you start typing. See the screenshot to the right for an example whereby Switcher filtered my nine or so windows to hone in on the two browser windows related to my keyword. An interesting use of this is that you can set Switcher to remember your keyword filter across sessions, such that it would always only populate the Windows that you are interested in and exclude any others.

• Low on resources: at less than 10 megs in memory on my Windows 7 64 bit, this app will not tax your system (although admittedly there are application switchers with a smaller footprint).
• Portable: you can download an installer version as well as a portable unzip-and-run version.
• Customizable: you can customize how Switcher is invoked (keyboard hotkeys, mouse placement, or a combination thereof). You can also customize other aspects, such as the color scheme used, etc.
• Win7: plays extremely well with Windows 7.

CONS

• Does not work on Windows XP (requires Aero)

The verdict: I really like Switcher. This app has earned itself a permanent home on my machine. Try it you will like it.

Version Tested: 2.0.02705

Compatibility: Windows Vista, Windows 7.

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

Secondshell tweaks Windows and provides easy and practical shortcuts for performing a handful of tasks, such as: Maximizing windows to the edges of the screen vertically or horizontally using keyboard shortcuts (see screenshots above) and resizing or moving windows by clicking anywhere on the window, then using Alt+left click drag to move or Alt+right click drag to resize (similar to KDE Window Resizer).

Other functions include substituting the Caps Lock key for the middle mousebutton (useful for laptops or netbooks that do not have it), minimizing windows by right clicking the title bar, closing a window by middle-mouse clicking the title bar, and setting up to 10 keyboard shortcuts to launch applications.

Most of what this program does we’ve seen before (for example KDE Window Resizer for Alt+resizing and FreeSnap for maximizing to edges), but at 2 megs in memory and providing such a nice range of tweaks Secondshell is a breath of fresh air. More details below:

• Lightweight: less than 2 megs in memory.
• Portable: this app comes as a standalone, portable app; simply unzip and run.
• Caps lock to send middle click: as a laptop user I thought this was a brilliant idea. Click caps lock and move the mouse up and down to simulate the middle mouse scroll wheel. It works well enough, except when you accidentally touch the title bar of a window while trying to simulate the mouse wheel and end up closing windows accidentally.
• Changing the settings: can be done by manually editing the .INI file in the Secondshell folder. (You can, for example, change the keyboard shortcuts used for most functions). Note that there is no GUI or dialog for changing the settings.
• Hotkeys to launch apps: gives you up to 10 user definable keyboard shortcuts to run apps; these also have to be set up by manually editing the .INI file.
• Can be quickly enabled or disabled: via it’s system tray icon.
• Works great on Windows 7 64bit: even the minimize by right clicking the title bar function, which the author’s website states was known not to work on Win7 64bit worked fine on my machine.

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

• The ability to activate or deactivate functions: badly needed, in my opinion. For example I do not particularly care for the minimize-window-by-right-clicking-the-title-bar function and would like to be able to switch it or other functions off and on at will (this function in particular interferes with other Windows tweaks, such as Sizer and RBTray, two of my favorites that I always use). Note: you can disable some functions, such as the caps lock as middle mouse functionality via editing the secondshell.ini file.
• A GUI or dialog to edit the settings: this would be great, especially if it was a separate executable that wouldn’t increase the size of Secondshell in memory.
• A suggestion: to disable closing a window via caps-lock as a substitute for the middle mouse column. This is likely to only occur by accident anyway, as it did with me many times while testing this app.

The verdict: an excellent app! aside from my comments in my wish list above I have nothing to say except a big “thank you” to the developer for a job very well done. Highly recommended.

Version Tested: 1.07

Compatibility: Window XP or higher; 32 or 64 bit.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 371K).

DesktopOK is a free app that can save and restore your desktop icon positions. What makes this one special, however, is that it can run in the background and take "snapshots" of your desktop icons at a set schedule, say every hour or so (better yet, it can be instructed to take these snapshots only if it detects a change). DesktopOK has a lightweight memory footprint, is portable, and is available for 32bit as well as natively for 64bit systems.

While there are a number of free programs that can save and restore your desktop icon positions for you, DesktopOK, as mentioned above, has the added benefit of staying in memory and periodically saving snapshots of your icon placements. What this means is that when you actually need to restore your icons to the correct placement you are likely to find an automatically saved snapshot from, say, yesterday, instead of using the manually saved icon placement from two weeks ago.

More info as follows:

• Two ways to save/restore icons: you can either add the current icon layout as an entry in the DesktopOK interface (whereby it will be saved to an .INI file in the same directory as the executable), or otherwise save straight to disk as a .BOK file.
• Auto save: as mentioned previously, can be scheduled (for example once a day, every hour, every 6 hours, or every 15 minutes). You can also choose, when performing a scheduled save, to only save icon a new icon layout if it detects a change from the previous layout.
• Optional Save/Restore on shutdown or startup.
• Memory footprint: a lightweight 3 megs
• Portable: yes indeed.
• Extra functionality: the option to tile or cascade open windows via the system tray icon. I don’t usually like random functions tacked on that are unrelated to the main function, but in this case I must admit I like it. See screenshots to the right.
• Works with virtual desktop software: specifically Dexpot, which I use and which allows icon configurations specific to each virtual desktop.

The verdict: an awesome program. Not only is it extremely low on memory use, but the scheduled icon snapshots taking place in the background is an excellent functionality that many similar apps do not offer (certainly not the couple of similar programs that I reviewed previously on Freewaregenius). A winner!

Version Tested: 1.86

Compatibility: WinAll. 32 bit and native 64 bit versions available.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 40K).

HideDesktopIcons emulates the “display desktop icon” command in the Windows context menu, packaged in a simple icon that can be placed anywhere (or alternately launched via a keyboard shortcut). A single click will hide the desktop icons and/or display them again; there is no user interface or any dialogs of any sort.

We do quite a bit of videoconferencing at work as well as screen sharing for presentations, and the first thing that I like to do in these situations is switch off my desktop icons (a clean desktop looks so much more professional and is so much nicer to look at).

One of the things I liked about the desktop icon organization tool Fences, which I used to have on my machine, was a secondary function whereby double clicking on any blank part of the screen would cause the desktop icons to be hidden or to re-appear. I no longer use that software but I miss the instant icon-hiding function. I therefore set out to find an app that will provide a comparable functionality, which lead me to HideDesktopIcons.

What I like about this software

1. It is just a single, simple button: unzip and use.
2. It can be placed anywhere: such as the Quick Launch menu in XP or on the taskbar in Windows 7. It can also be placed in your favorite launcher or pinned on the Start Menu, etc.
3. Can be launched via keyboard shortcut: right click properties then shortcut and enter a key combination in the “shortcut” field. You might need to place it in your start menu or your desktop for the shortcut to work.
4. It just works beautifully

Compatibility: WinAll. If you get an error when you run, make sure you have the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package (x86) installed.

This software was found on the How-To Geek blog (scroll down for download links), and is an approx 82K download.

ProcessQuicklink 2 is a tiny app that comes in at less that I meg of memory usage. Process information appears on the processlibrary.com website in your browser.

You may be wondering as to who might need an app like this, so here’s a list

1. People, like myself, who install a whole lot of software and frequently like to check out what is going on in their system
2. Anyone who may be investigating an issue such as erratic windows behavior or potential malware.
3. Ubergeeks in general.

Search box: one thing that appears in the screenshots on the developers’ site that does not appear in my screenshot is a little searchbox built into the Task Manager that can be used to quickly search the processlibrary.com site. I am unsure as to whether that function was since removed or if it simply didn’t work on Windows 7 64bit (where I tested). In any case hope that it is optional, as it seems like too much clutter in the little space that is the task manager.

The verdict: I will have to tip my hat to the people at processlibrary.com for such a brilliant idea so well implemented. I am unclear, however, as to whether this website ranks amongst the most comprehensive of its kind, as it seems that most of the processes on my system simply found no match in their database, necessitating a Google search in order to get any kind of info.

Still, at under 1 meg in memory I am willing to give this little utility a chance and let it live on on my system and hope that this app helps processlibrary.com build up their library. Also it is just so super cool to click a button to get info on a process!

Version Tested: 2.0.0.12

Compatibility: Requires Windows 2000 / 2003 / XP / Vista, an Internet connection and an Internet browser.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 412K).

Another day, another free utility that puts nifty function in the right click context menu. And although it may seem that we’ve seen a lot of the functions that Lammer Context menu offers before, a closer look will reveal some very interesting and noteworthy functions on here, such as mounting folders as virtual drives, search and replace file contents, batch file-and-folder renaming, select all similar files by type, and path operations (copy/move/list/delete) using regular expressions. Supports 32 bit and 64 bit operating systems both.

This app was mentioned in the comments section of my JDcontextmenu review (thanks reader “Free” for letting me know about it). This was the same discussion where it was mostly agreed that LopeSoft’s FileMenu Tools was likely the best free app (or at least one of the best) in it’s class in terms of installing useful functions in the context menu.

However, you should definitely check out Lammer Context menu for the following reasons:

• The functions are noteworthy and interesting (see my top 5 favorites below)
• The program is generally very well designed; you can tell that a lot of attention to detail went into each and every function.
• 32 bit and 64 bit versions available. I mention this because every since I switched to 64 bit Windows 7 a few months ago I’ve noticed that a lot of Windows extensions do not offer 64 bit support. It plays nice with the Windows UAC as well.

My Top 5 Lammer Context Menu functions

(1) Batch Rename:

Very handy tool with a well designed tabbed interface. Supports a wide range of interventions, and can be used to batch-rename files using a base name and number sequence. Will display previews of changes before renaming.

(2) Mount path as virtual drive:

This option allows you to right click on any folder and mount is as a virtual drive; i.e. give it its own drive letter and access it as a drive from “My Computer”. This lasts until you reboot or right click on the virtual drive and unmount the folder later on. If you want a more permanent way to do this, or at least one that survives a reboot, check out previously mentioned Visual Subst.

(3) Search and replace

Right click on a folder in order to perform search and replace operations on the files within it. You can search using regular expressions and search recursively through subdirectories as well. Search results are neatly displayed within the interface and so that you can preview the search/replace operation before implementing.

(4) Path operations

This will let you perform copy/move/delete or change attribute operations on folder contents intelligently. Suppose you want to move all files that are bigger than x K in size, whose modification date is on or after a certain date, who have either .jpg, .gif, or .png extensions to a new folder while preserving relative paths, this function can easily do this for you. This function will process folders recursively, supports regular expressions, and will let you invert your set of results by simply checking a box.

What’s worth mentioning is that if you have a set of criteria/filters that you want to re-use you can easily save them as a template.

(5) Select by Type

Right click on any file and choose “select by type” and all of the files of the same extension in that location will be selected for you. Very cool.

The verdict: this app gives an impression of being generally well designed and well built. What I like about it is that it packages a range of useful functions in one place in the right-click context menu. Aside from my favorite functions detailed above, it also includes staple functions that everyone should have such as “command prompt in current folder”, “copy path”, “jump to shortcut target”, and “calculate checksum”, etc.

And although it doesn’t offer the range of functions that FileMenu tools offers (or the ability to customize the context menu and manage other, third party extensions), it still offers a lot of value.

Note that this app is still in its early stages and some aspects of it (e.g. help files) are not fully implemented yet. These kinks will be ironed out in time, and I hope that new functions will be made available going forward, as mentioned somewhere on the program web site.

Version Tested: 1.0.1.4

Compatibility: Supports Windows XP through Windows 7, 32 and 64bit. Requires .NET Framework 3.51 for XP.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 1.51 megs).

If you’ve switched to a 64 bit versions of Windows, as I have, you may have noticed that many right-click shell extensions associated with some programs (specifically those written for a 32 bit environment) no longer appear in the Windows context menu. These shell / Windows extensions, however will still work in a 32 bit environment, and the objective of this app is to quickly launch a 32 bit file browser that provides instant access to any 32 bit Windows/shell extensions that may be installed on your system.

To use this program you can right click any file or folder and choose “FileBrowser32″ from the context menu. A 32-bit file browser will appear in the current folder location, allowing you to right click on files and use the 32-bit context menu. That is all the program is supposed to do (selecting files and clicking on them will do nothing). Another way to invoke this program is to launch the program from the start menu; it will appear in the system tray and can be accessed there.

The verdict: some readers, like myself, will be quite excited about this little context menu utility; others, however, who might not have any 32-bit explorer extensions they particularly use or miss do not need this.

If you do use a 64 bit Windows it is best to find Window tweaks/extensions and generally speaking software that does what you want and is specifically compiled for 64 bit OS’s. But that is not always possible, especially with free software that may no longer be in development; in which case this little app will come in handy, at least for the time being.

If I were to suggest one improvement it would be to remove the “FileBrowser32″ context menu entry from the 32 bit browser. I am not sure why it is there, if any reason at all.

Version Tested: 1.01

Compatibility: Any 64-bit Windows OS.

Go to here to download the latest version (approx 140K).

Acer GridVista supports a custom configuration for each monitor, and provides a great user experience. It also offers a handful of other functions, such as transparency and stay-on-top options.

The ability to snap your windows to sections of the screen has become very fashionable after it was introduced with windows 7, and once you get accustomed to having this feature it becomes integral to the way you use your computer. Acer GridVista is one of a handful of free programs that provide this and has a few points to recommend it:

1. It is activated on drag and drop, or by using the special buttons it adds to the top right of your open windows next to the default minimize, maximize, and close buttons (see image to the right).
2. It works with multiple monitors, each with its own custom configuration. It also allows for extending the desktop into external monitors (a feature which I did not test because I do not have one).
3. It sticks to a range of 4 possible configurations, giving users an excellent range of options while not going overboard with too many screen configurations that may be too complex or esoteric (see images to the bottom, to the right).
4. It adds a couple of other functions: namely transparency and pin on top of other windows.
5. Can easily be disabled: on any individual window: using the aforementioned button extensions on the top right of your window.
6. Plays well with Windows’ 7 snap function. This is because the Windows 7 snap behavior kicks in once you drag a window to the edge, while GridVista can kick in the moment you hold down the mousebutton.

Wish list: I am not sure if this program is still in development, but all the same here are some suggestions that can make this program can be even better.

• The ability to set it to be inactive by default. With GridVista any window you move will be poised for snapping to a pre-defined area, even if you are simply interested in moving it. You can disable GridVista easily using the buttons on the top right, but it would be nice if you could set it to be inactive by default and only activate it when you need it.

The verdict: if you do not have Windows 7 and would like the snap functionality this program is an excellent option and one of the best programs of the sort around (I’ve reviewed a few which I will mention below). Acer GridVista is free, useful and delivers exactly what it promises.

If you would like a more powerful program, however, that offers more options (although admittedly at the cost of more complexity) you might want to look at WinSplit Revolution, which is one of my favorites.

Thanks to user usersp001 for letting me know about this program (he/she mentioned it in the comments for my MaxTo posting, which is another similar program).

Version Tested: 2.72.317

Compatibility: WinAll.

Go to this page on Softpedia to download or go here for more information (approx 1.8 megs).

Why this app is cool: it provides a really neat way to browse folders in-place from a shortcut or on the Windows 7 taskbar. I am finding this a great substitute to keeping files/icons on the desktop, by stashing these in folders while keeping them instantly accessible via stacks.

Here are more notes on this app:

• Stack Types: vertical stacks, grid stacks, and menu style. In Windows 7 you can have up to 10 stacks on the taskbar.
• Stack behavior: can be customized such that stacks”close” whenever you click anywhere outside of them, or otherwise only close when you either click on an element in the stack or on the stack icon itself.
• Stacks are Browsable: you can move in and out of folders in place. Menu stacks cascade like the start menu in XP.
• Opening a folder in explorer: the last entry in your stack will always be the option to open the folder you are browsing in explorer, which is a great idea.
• Windows’ context menu: right clicking on file or folder within a stack displays the default Windows context menu items, making it possible to perform normal file operations on these.
• Icons: for the stack itself is customizable; it will prompt you when you set a stack up or simply change the shortcut icon for your stack after it is created.
• Customizability: you can change the height and font sizes of stack items, you can choose between white font on black background or the opposite, and you can choose whether to have text and icons or just icons in your stacks. You can also choose to display a thumbnail preview for image files although this will not show if you make your icon size too small.

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

• Using vertical stacks, I encountered a bug whereby if you browse down a couple of levels (subfolders) and then attempt to right click on a file or folder you get an error message and the windows context menu doesn’t show (on Windows 7 64 bit).
• Editing a stack: when right clicking on a stack icon in Windows 7 in order to edit the stack, only the last created stack seemed editable.
• I wish that the “back” and “open in explorer” entries in the stack would use distinctive icons, such as arrows or something like that. It would make a very positive difference in the user experience I think.
• Skins: I wish there were more of them.

The verdict: a potentially very useful program (especially on the Windows 7 taskbar, imho). This app is somewhat similar to previously mentioned Standalone Stack, and when stacks are browsed as cascading menus 7Stacks is very reminiscent of MenuApp. However, 7Stack is different from both of these in that the stacks are browsable and more interactive. I like the way some of the behavior is handled, esp. with respect to stacks being open until their icon is re-clicked, and also the fact that items in the stack are can be right-clicked on to perform normal file or folder operations on.

Having said this, there are a number of bugfixes and little changes that can be made to make this program much better (see the wishlist above), and I hope that the developers will address these in future versions.

Version Tested: 1.5 beta 1

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7.

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

This is where the free Jumplist Launcher steps in; it is an app that allows you to pin any combination of elements (any documents, folders, or apps) to the taskbar within the Jumplist Launcher icon and organize these into groups that make sense. You can even pin multiple, separate instances of Jumplist launcher to your taskbar.

This is the first Windows 7-specific app that I review on Freewaregenius. The author first emailed me about this app almost 6 months ago, but I just only finally installed Windows 7 (which I quite like) after skipping Vista altogether.

This program is essentially a launcher that resides on the taskbar and exhibits "Jumplist" behavior, much as any app placed on the taskbar in Windows 7. The difference is that you can place anything you like in "Jumplist Launcher", including apps, documents, and folders, and you can categorize these into groups. More notes below:

• Drag and drop: you can drag and drop icons from explorer straight onto the Jumplist Launcher dialog, or otherwise onto the Jumplist Launcher button on the taskbar. Strangely, dragging the icon "pinned" to the Start menu doesn’t seem to work, but dragging from the start menu proper does.
• Number of elements: 60 different shortcuts can be placed within the Jumplist Launcher.
• Customization: you can rename anything you place on the Jumplist Launcher, change the icon, reorder, etc.
• Multiple Jumplist Launchers: this runs comes in a portable zip archive, and I found that copying the folder and placing multiple Jumplist Launchers on the taskbar is possible (at least on my 64bit Windows 7). This could be useful, say, if you would like your shortcuts for project A on one Jumplist Launcher and your shortcuts for project B on another.

The verdict: very nice and useful. The drag and drop feature seemed a bit erratic at times, but otherwise delivered a very nice user experience. It would be nice if the program supported multiple Jumplist launchers without having to launch separate instances of the program, but as is it works well.

This is the sort of program that, once you start using it regularly you will likely become addicted to it. Check it out for yourself.

Version Tested: 1.x

Compatibility: Windows 7.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 477K).

Coffee was originally designed to enable changing file associations to portable apps but will work with installed apps as well. It will allow you to store your file type configurations and carry these portably in order to instantly switch the default handlers of selected file types to apps on your USB in any new environment. Coffee can be disabled at any time to revert back to the system’s default applications.

[Editor’s note: this post was written by Freewaregenius contributor EngineerHead. Check out his tech blog here].

The use of portable applications is growing rapidly, whether because they can be utilized at any workstation or because they can be used without installation or writing to the registry. This app allows you to temporarily re-assign file types to both portable applications or installed applications, and can be used, say, on a system where you are not familiar with the installed applications and prefer to use your own out of a USB, or temporarily re-assign filetypes to alternate apps on your own computer. Once Coffee is terminated, all filetype assignments revert back to normal. Here are more notes:

• Set Primary and alternate applications: Coffee will allow you to set a primary and alternate application, as there may be cases when you want to switch between two applications to launch a file (the applications can installed or portable apps). When you double click the file holding ALT key, the alternate application will launch the file. You can set an secondary alternate application without setting a primary one if you like.
• Relative Paths: of the chosen applications are stored in a configuration file. This makes your preferences portable also.
• Auto Associate New to Host: you will be prompted to set a new association once you run Coffee and click on any file type. This behavior can be disabled to avoid being asked to set an association whenever a double click is performed on file type that are not already configured in Coffee.
• Double Click Sensitivity: can be increased or decreased according to your own preference. You can figure out the response time by double clicking in the test area.
• Shortcut Keys: are supported for almost every function, such as Pause, Refresh, etc.
• Works only from within Windows Explorer: once you set an alternate app (and assuming Coffee is activated), double clicking from within Windows Explorer will open the file using the alternate app. However, note that launching from any environment that is not Windows Explorer (e.g. an explorer replacement, a desktop search app, etc.) will open the file using Windows’ system defaults.

The Verdict: A tiny but handy utility that is also very original; I have never come across a utility to handle the default behavior of file types. It can not only change the default apps to portable apps, but will allow you to carry the new configurations on a USB to instantly transfer these preferences to any new environment. Give it a try, especially if you are an avid user of portable apps.

Version Tested: 0.1 R2

Compatibility: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Seven

Visit the program home page to download the latest version packaged with source code (approx 0.4 MB).

This program provides an interesting way of looking at information, displayed within semitransparent windows that look like they are embedded within the desktop wallpaper. Note, however, that the windows are not part of the active desktop but in fact are semitransparent floating windows. More information as follows:

• Customization: you can optionally have a title bar or scroll bar for your windows. You can also customize the font color, two background colors that constitue a gradient, as well as the level of transparency.
• Interaction: you can move these windows about (whether or not they have a titlebar), scroll up or down using either the scrollbar or up/down arrows, or select and copy text. You cannot edit and/or add text though.
• Multiple windows: one nice thing about Klogshow is that you can have a number of windows on the desktop simultaneously.
• How to use: right click the tray icon, go to the "files" tab, browse to the desired file(s), then add the file(s) to the list. Next, right click the tray icon, go to log select, and check the files you want to be displayed on the desktop.
• Memory usage: about 18 megs, which is not quite lightweight but not too large either.

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

• The ability to set a transparent background: strangely, while you can create a two-color gradient for your background, it does not seem to allow for a simple transparent (non) background.
• Hiding the program entries in the taskbar: for each text window that you display the program will have an associated taskbar entry. Which is kind of strange. Although the program allows you to hide it altogether (text windows and taskbar entries both), it would be better if you could hide the taskbar entries without hiding the text windows themselves.
• Always on top, or always on bottom: for each individual window, would be great.
• The ability to render a window non-interactive; i.e., to affix it to a spot without being resizable or movable.

The verdict: depending on the circumstances (and how creative your are), this could be a really useful program, although it can be much better (see wish list above). Note that there are other programs that provide a similar function, such as multi function system monitoring and desktop enhancement tool Samurize.

Version Tested: 1.0.4

Compatibility: Windows, Linux.

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 5.6 megs).

As they say: when it rains it pours! I had I reviewed RUNit, a really cool launcher that I liked, only to discover MouseExtender a week later. Both of these share one important characteristic: that they are quickly and easily accessible. But MouseExtender has the edge in terms of the coolness/style factor.

• How to use: simply click on the middle mouse button anywhere on screen and the launcher appears. you can set other mouse+keyboard combos to do this, useful for laptop users like myself.
• Tabs: the top titlebar displays tabs (which actually look more like little buttons) that can be used for organizing shortcuts. You can click a little desktop pin in the titlebar to "pin" the launcher to the screen and keep always on top of other screens.
• Drag and drop: the easiest way to add shortcuts is to drag and drop; however, note that you will have to "pin" the launcher to your desktop to be able to do this. You can drag shortcuts from anywhere (e.g. the desktop, the start menu, the Quicklaunch area, etc.) One really cool option is its ability to add shortcuts for programs running in memory.
• Managing shortcuts: simply right click on the launcher interface to delete, rename, move to other tabs, etc.

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

• The option to label shortcuts: this is not an issue for program icons, but for file, folder, or URL shortcuts their icons will look the same, necessitating hovering over the icons to display tooltips that show the name. It would be cool if they could implement (optinal) visible labels, although it may clutter the stylish, economic looking interface.
• A smaller memory footprint: this program requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 sp1 or better to work, which makes its memory use a little inflated (and somewhat hard to ascertain).

The verdict: overall a very nice launcher that combines form and function. I like the tabs feature as well as the "pin to desktop" function.

Version Tested: 1.5

Compatibility: Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7. Requires MS .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

Go to the program home page to download the latest version (approx 109K).