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15 tools to make your Windows shine

From...

April 13, 2000
Web posted at: 9:17 a.m. EDT (1317 GMT)

by Steve Bass

(IDG) -- Have any extra space on your hard drive? Usually my answer is an emphatic "No!" But recently I found a few terrific utilities for Windows that I just had to make room for. Some of them will cost you a few bucks, others are freebies; but all will enhance Windows and boost your productivity.

As fun as it may be to spend my week trolling for new utilities -- "Honestly," I tell my wife, "I really am working" -- my foraging involves an element of risk. It's fairly common, for instance, to run across a utility that fouls up my system with an out-of-date DLL. Worse, I could open the door to a virus or even a Trojan horse, a destructive program masquerading as a utility. So I've devised a few foolproof ways to safeguard my PC against these hazards.

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First, it's a given that before you install any new utility, you should scan it with an antivirus program. Next, back up your PC often. I know, I know -- you've heard it before. But it's your absolute best defense against misbehaving utilities. Finally, have a restore app like Wild File's GoBack.

GoBack: This little program adds a big margin of safety to everything I do with my computer because it keeps track of any changes I make to my computer and lets me instantly restore my hard drive to the way it was minutes or days before. Deleting unwanted utilities with GoBack is also better than simply uninstalling them because it eliminates every trace of the program -- registry settings, drivers, DLLs. Trust me, GoBack is a tool you'll find yourself using often. It works with Windows 9x; an NT/2000 version will be ready by August. For more about GoBack and recovering from bad installations, see "Protect yourself against catastrophic installs," link below.

Now (drum roll, please) more utilities:

InfoRapid Search & Replace: Once I tried this gem, I never used Windows' Find feature again. Like Find, InfoRapid lets me search for text in nearly any file. But InfoRapid's search combinations are vast, including Boolean operators (AND, NOT, OR, and NEAR) and phonetic searches. I can actually view the files (listen up, Microsoft) with built-in viewers for text, HTML, RTF, and common image file formats such as BMP, JPEG, and GIF. With Microsoft Word 95 or later, I can view almost all other files, including databases and spreadsheets. Search results are highlighted, and a double-click on any other word starts a new search.

ClipCache Plus: This brilliant utility has skills that are light-years beyond Windows' woefully inadequate cut-and-paste Clipboard. ClipCache Plus lets you manage whatever you send to the Clipboard. You can preview clips, organize and save them in categories for future use, or clean up their text before pasting -- for example, remove extra spaces, strip out HTML tags, or delete those ">>>" from e-mail messages. Neat, eh?

X-Setup: Tired of all those superfluous icons in your Control Panel? Wish you could remove "unremovable" items from the Start menu? Stick your head under the hood with Xteq's X-Setup. You'll get access to hundreds of hidden system settings, almost all with minitutorials. Wizards guide you through the modifications.

Proxomitron: Ordinarily, you can't hit the Internet without encountering annoying banner ads and pop-up windows, or privacy-nabbing HTML code. I evade them all with Proxomitron, a utility that sounds like a gizmo from Woody Allen's Sleeper. The program's dozens of features let you, for instance, control Web site music and selectively stop Java applets. The tool works with both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. You will need to change something called the proxy option of your browser, but the program provides instructions on how to perform this 2-minute task.

Steve's favorite utilities

I live for utilities. Give me just one tool that makes my computing life faster or easier, and I'm content. Here are a few more of my favorites (along with two that are just for fun).

NoteTab Pro ($20): Have a quick text document you want to cook up? Don't bother with Windows' puny notepad. Instead, load up NoteTab Pro, a terrific editor with plenty of useful features. The utility lets you open and edit dozens of documents, create macros, and search and replace text. And if you do any HTML editing, NoteTab also lets you easily modify text with HTML codes.

Configuration Lifeguard ($10): Are you tired of hearing me nag about backing up critical system files? Here's a cool tool that will do it for you. Load Configuration Lifeguard and save ten of the most important files on your PC, including config.sys, autoexec.bat, system.ini, and win.ini, as well as your Registry files. Restoring the files is just as easy. I'd recommend you run Configuration Lifeguard before installing any new software.

Click -- and It's Off (free): What do you do when the boss walks into your office and your resume is on the screen? Just click the switch in the corner and your screen goes black. Click it again and the screen's restored. It's quick, cute, unobtrusive--and free.

Net.demon ($15): Have you ever wanted to get information about a particular domain name or find out who belongs to a specific IP address? How about tracing the route an IP packet takes from your computer to a remote one? Net.demon does it all in one handy, easy-to-use utility. The $15 admission price includes a handy tool -- aptly named Stupid URL Tricks -- that decodes the e-mail address in spam.

Bounce Spam Mail (free): This gem lets you send fake bounce messages to spammers (or your cousin who has you on his joke list), making it look as if your e-mail address is invalid. Cool, eh?

IrfanView (free): There are times when you need to quickly view an image file. There's no easier way than to pop open Irfanview. This free tool lets you look at standard images (PCX, GIF, and JPEG) as well as esoteric images such as medical Dicom/ACR and IFF Amiga files. Even better, the product offers thumbnails, drag-and-drop support, and image modification tools.

SnagIt ($40): Quite often I have to walk a buddy through a handful of computing steps. Describing it in writing is often cumbersome. (Actually, it's a real pain.) A faster, easier method is simply to grab a series of screen captures illustrating the procedure and e-mail them. With SnagIt, just click a hot-key and an image (or text, or even video) is quickly captured and saved as a file, sent to the printer or clipboard, or routed to e-mail. SnagIt easily converts images into any of a dozen formats.

FourTimes (free): Users of Internet Explorer, listen up! With FourTimes, you can open up four different Web sites simultaneously and maneuver among them. Each page appears in a separate window. Imagine navigating in one window, checking your Net e-mail account in a second, and using chat software in a third, all without having to hit the Alt-Tab keys. FourTimes also lets you drag and drop links from one window to another.

And just for fun...

Nap 'n Coffee (free): Need a break? Load Nap 'n Coffee, and an authentic Windows text box pops onto your screen. Set the message to read "Copying Files" or "Scanning for Virus," set the duration, and go grab a cup of joe. Don't worry, nothing's really happening to your PC. But if you're feeling those late-afternoon sleepies, Nap 'n Coffee lets you catch a few surreptitious winks with no one being the wiser.

Typewriter (free): If you've ever yearned for those sounds of yesteryear, you'll love Typewriter. Every time you hit a key, you'll hear the racket of a typewriter from your PC's speakers; hit the Return key and you'll get the familiar ratchet and ring. The only thing missing? A sheet of carbon paper.