Simplify Computing With Free Downloads
Written on by Kay
It’s the little things that add up that can make all the difference. Evolution, for example, is uncanny at producing tiny improvements that, added up over time, produces a great white shark or a human being from the primordial ooze. Software can have the same effect on your computer and the way you work with it. The Linux operating system, as another example, takes its roots from the UNIX mindset, which builds software by teaming up and combing a multitude of simpler, smaller programs until you have a behemoth of an operating system at your disposal. The same goes for the Windows side: Small utilities when used together can greatly improve your computing experience and make it more enjoyable.
MouseExtender: App Launch Anywhere With A Click
Sometimes having too many options can be a burden. For instance, Windows gives you so many ways to launch an application, that sometimes the abundance of launch options confuse more than they help. Of course, there’s the Start Menu, then there’s Quick Launch, and don’t forget the Desktop icons. But any of those methods forces you to divert your attention from what you were doing (web surfing, Word processing, composing e-mail, etc.) and you must navigate your mouse’s pointer to the shortcut you need. There’s a better, more efficient way.
MouseExtender makes launching programs from anywhere a snap. The beauty of MouseExtender is its relationship with your mouse’s middle button. From anywhere, middling-clicking will fire up MouseExtender’s shortcut dock, where you’ll be able to run programs that you’ve placed inside of it. I was excited when I first heard about this utility and couldn’t wait to try it, but I had one misgiving: I use my mouse’s middle-button to quickly scroll in Firefox. My fears were put to bed upon discovering that you can disable MouseExtender when using different applications. When Firefox is active, MouseExtender doesn’t interfere, allowing Firefox to use the middle-mouse button. Oh, and another thing that might interest you about this handy little utility: It’s free!
Organize Chaotic Desktop Icons
I like my desktop icons organized a certain way. I even disable “Align to Grid” so that I can get pinpoint accuracy when arranging them. I like that. What I don’t like is when a game changes the display’s resolution, resulting in Desktop icon scatter. Logging in and out of my Windows account will sometimes move around my shortcuts, too. Why don’t they just stay put!?
If you’re frustrated with Windows touching your Desktop icons, give a program called Fences a try. The idea is so simple and useful that it’s surprising that this feature wasn’t built into, let’s say Windows 95 on to the present incarnation, from the get-go. Here’s how it works. Fences fundamentally “fences” off your desktop shortcuts by placing them into their own window with a translucent background. You can create as many fence windows as you want, giving you powerful organizational options. You can even re-size a fence window as if it were an ordinary windowed app. The key thing here is that your icons will stay put in their groups on your desktop. Hiding and showing your Fence groups involves doubling clicking your desktop. Once you’ve used Fence, it’s hard to imagine doing without it.
Save Ink, Be Happy
Printers are one of the last devices hooked up with today’s computers that still involve actual mechanical parts. This is why printers can be such a pain. Paper jams, paper cling, low or no ink: The list goes on and on. Fortunately, you can ration out your precious ink during print jobs, reducing ink consumption by 20%. One way to do this is to use a different font. For instance, Ecofont is a typeface that looks like the ubiquitous Arial font, but the letters of this particular font are produced with tiny holes punched out of it. The result: less ink to form a letter, which adds up in ink savings when printing out an essay or Moby Dick. Ecofont is easy on the eyes and is a great way to not squander your ink cartridges away.
