Utility Jems
Utility Jems January 1, 2002
Visitor since February 1, 1997.
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JEM of a Tip WinNT-2K-XP (coming) |
I've been using NT based machines a lot of work at work and home. They are definitely more stable than 9X machines. I've come across a bunch of utilities that I'm using on XP, Win2000, and NT4. They all work on all these NT-based machines and are HIGHLY recommended. Many are small and do not load stuff into Windows folders. Thus, you can safely load them on your work PC without the IT-police finding out.
These programs are:
I've used, and am still using, all of these programs on various computers. They truly make my life easier - I hope they do for you also. I'll try to limit my list to 25 or so. It will be updated as I find more, replace them with better programs, replace them with cheaper ones, or drop them due to significant bugs.
Of course, there's a lot more great shareware/freeware software out there (such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Paintshop Pro, QuickTime, Adobe Reader, Norton or McAfee Virus programs (I like Norton better however), WinZip, etc) that satisfies many of my criteria above. But, you'll find them on everyone's recommended or essential list.
WANT LIST: I'm looking for a free NTFS based file undelete program (more than the recycle bin). Send me an e-mail if you find one.
You can get these programs on CNET or ZDNet. Search by program name. Many are PCMag utilities and are only there.
Many of these programs work on Me, 98, and 95 also. Check the program for specifics because many won't.
If you have comments on these or other useful utilities for me to take a look at (please make sure they conform to the 2 criteria above), please send e-mail.
Disclaimer: Although I've used these programs, I cannot guarantee they will work for you or will not cause your system some harm.
Desktop Utilities
ATNotes - put "post-it" notes on the desktop; a scheduler also
RunIT - my favorite launcher program - try it and see why - it is not supported any more but it still works - NOTE: there is a conflict with Netmeeting however (www.magister-lex.at/RUNit)
ScreenSaverClicker - control your screen saver from the tray - hard to find - get it here
ShoveIt - move windows back onto the screen - handy if you change resolutions and the top menu bar is off the desktop
Office Tools
Avery Label Wizard - print Avery labels from Word (www.avery.com)
EditPlus - a really great editor that also does column cut & paste, sorts, ... - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - it costs $35 but if you do a lot of text editing you'll really like it!
MailCall - checks for mail on a POP server - delete crap directly from the server before downloading (www.pcmag.com)
PrintFile - print multi-text pages per page - save trees
Graphics
AnalogX Capture - capture windows and the screen to a BMP file
Fontview - displays and organizes fonts (www.pcmag.com)
IconEdit - create and extract icons (www.pcmag.com)
IE Zoomer - zoom graphics on WWW pages in internet explorer (www.pcmag.com)
Imageview - add quick view for graphics files from explorer (www.pcmag.com)
IRFanView - a small, robust, graphics editor - text is easy to add to pics - almost as good as PSP and its free!
PicSaver - use your own picture as a screen saver - most other free ones don't work are cause system crashes - this one doesn't (falcon.jmu.edu/~jenninms/)
Utilities
Attribute Changer - the first free-one that really works on NT-based systems (webplaza.pt.lu/public/rpetges)
ContextEdit - change file associations easily and quickly (www.pcmag.com)
TrayDate - put the date in your tray (www.pcmag.com)
FolderBox - add a second explorer window to explorer (www.baxbex.com)
MD Folder - right click the directory tree to add a folder - a really great add-on (http://come.to/nttools)
Net Per Second - graphs dial-up & LAN connection speeds (www.pcmag.com)
Powertoys for XP - some nice tools and a graphing calculator (www.microsoft.com)
Powertoys 95 - use the send-to and dos-here toys in NT, 2000, XP (www.microsoft.com)
Regclean - Microsoft removed this handy utility to clean the registry - I've used it on all 9x and NT-based systems without problems however - if you still have a copy keep it !!! - Or you can try RegCleaner
Slice32 - split a big file into a size for sending on floppies - Splice puts them back together (www.pcmag.com)
Startup Control Panel - by Mike Lin - see what Windows starts up automatically and where - saves deleted items
SuperDial2000 - easy tray access to dial up connections - starts programs when a connection is established
Sysinternals - there are lots of unique hard-core utilities here (www.sysinternals.com)
Tail - watch a log file as it is generated - great for tracking program progress (www.rhazes.com)
Treesize - easily see which folders are the biggest
TypeItIn - fill-in forms easily with a click of a button - includes some special keys (ctrl, alt, enter, tab) also
WnBrowse - browse files easily - a long time JEM (from Win31 days!) - highly recommended!!!!!
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John Myers jemyers@aol.com Copyright 2002 http://users.aol.com/jemyers/util_jem.htm