NETTING A CATCH

Better Windows experience

There are tonnes of tools that enhance your Windows experience, making it work better for you and sometimes look better. This week's pick comprises randomly chosen tools that help you maximise Windows.

BoxBar

This being basically an 'Anything launcher', you can use drag and drop operation to fill your BoxBar with any preferred program and launch it with a single click.

Drag anything from your desktop, Windows Explorer and any program supporting drag and drop operation. Drag the item from the chosen location and drop it in the BoxBar window to add it.

If you want to remove an item, just drag the item over the 'green bar' on the left on the window and drop it there.

Purchase Info: Freeware

Platform: Windows 95/98/NT/2000

Filesize: 780 KB

Download

Location: http://216.147.102.158/boxbar.htm

Auto Running 1.0

Auto Running is designed to allow you quick and easy access to programs, documents and other files. Without opening each and every folder, you can run programs, open documents and files by clicking a single button.

Auto Running allows users to run up to 45 programs, documents and other files all at once. Programs, documents and other files can start when Windows loads.

The program also automatically saves your settings when you shut down Windows. If you frequently access any programs and documents on your system, Auto Running can save you plenty of time.

Purchase Info: Shareware

Platform: Windows 95/98/NT

Download

Location: http://segobit.virtualave.net/ar.htm

AtYourService 1.01

Convert any EXE into a Service under NT or 2000 with no modifications to the existing program.

This tool's user-friendly GUI offers a point-and-click wizard-style interface and does not require any programming skills or tools.

The resulting Service fully supports all MS Cluster Service features, including failover policy. Services can survive log on/off sequence and run in background with no user login.

Purchase Info: Shareware

Platform: Windows NT/2000

Filesize: 2.6 MB

Download

Location: www.prismmicrosys.com/atyourservice

AlwaysOnTop 1.0

Just run AlwaysOnTop and then click on a window you want to keep on top of others.

This lets you work with other programs while still having your favourite window visible and accessible.

AlwaysOnTop doesn't use up memory because it exits after setting the priority of your favourite window to 'AlwaysOnTop'.

Purchase Info: Freeware

Platform: Windows 95/98/NT/2000

Filesize: 5.8 MB

Download Location: www.magicseyer.com

AiryFolders

AiryFolders is a shell extension that allows you to customise desktop icons for the opened and closed states of each folder you choose.

You can assign meaningful icons to important folders and break rows of uniform folders with tailored icons while alleviating visual monotony and increasing your productivity.

The AiryFolders installation set includes more than 20 couples of 3D icons, suitable for various file folders.

Purchase Info: Shareware

Platform: Windows 95/98/NT

DownloadLocation: http://airysoft.hypermart.net/AiryFolders.html

Advanced System Agent

This powerful multifunctional software performs a great many tasks - tracking the time you spend working with the computer or the Internet, checking for new messages on your mail server, or synchronising your computer's clock with the atomic clock servers with accuracy up to 50 milliseconds. It includes full-featured dial-up adapter with Internet connection monitoring, flexible Windows shutdown manager, powerful alarms with custom messages, system resources monitor, hot keys manager and much more. It is fast, compact, with an intuitive user interface with skins support.

Purchase Info: Shareware

Platform: Windows 95/98/NT/2000

Filesize: 589 KB

Download Location: www.apssoft.com

ACDSee32 2.41

This software is two tools rolled into one. As an image viewer, ACDSee quickly decodes and displays images. Since it is an image viewer and not an editor, less memory is required to view images.

A distinctive feature of ACDSee is incremental display, whereby images are displayed on the fly as they are decoded. As an image browser, ACDSee helps you explore your file system for images of interest.

Purchase Info: Shareware

Platform: Windows 95/98/NT

Download Location: www.acdsystems.com

Compiled by C. Ramesh