Windows Enhancements

 

This memory manager allows you to improve on the Windows memory management system. Cacheman improves the performance of your computer by optimising the disk cache, memory and a number of other settings. Cacheman prevents frequent paging to the hard disk caused by poor memory management, so you get improved performance, faster system reaction time and greater stability. Wizards and predefined profiles make it suitable for novices and yet it is powerful enough for the experienced user.


Licence: Shareware (15-day trial).
Online:
http://www.outertech.com/
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows NT/2000/XP.
Requires:

Install instructions

 

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Windows

 



 

 

This program integrates into Windows and most other popular applications to pop up within your open/save file window. All your favourite folders can be accessible with only one click from a quick access panel. Dotcommander's stores links to recently accessed documents so you can easily pick up a file you've been using regularly. You can find a file using the File Find feature which has an autocomplete option like the Internet Explorer address bar.


Licence: Shareware (30-day trial).
Online:
http://www.utilityplanet.com/
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows 2000/NT/XP.
Requires:

Install instructions

 

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Windows

 



 

 

This tiny utility is useful for anyone who regularly accesses files from a particular location and doesn't want to always have to browse to the file location. At your command Edit Buddy will add drop down lists to any input field. These lists can remember history of input and also can be pre-configured to contain certain data. Edit Buddy can also attach itself to all standard Open and Save dialog boxes to store the list of most recently used folders and/or files.


Licence: Shareware.
Online:
http://www.decisoft.com/
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows 2000/NT/XP.
Requires:

Install instructions

 

Download:


   
 

Windows

 



 

 

Offering additional file viewing panels, Magic Basket allows you to run only one instance of Windows Explorer and see files in different folders at the same time. You can now easily manage drag and drop copying and moving files in different folders. Several bookmarks or 'baskets' can be set for different folders. Moving from one folder to another then involves simply clicking on a bookmark. An additional feature allows you to set several filters for files, for example: by extensions, attributes, file sizes, file dates, and each 'basket' can have its own settings.


Licence: Shareware
Online:
http://www.mybestsoft.com/mb/index.html
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows NT/2000/XP
Requires:

Install instructions

 

Download:


   
 

Windows

 



 

 

PowerToys add functionality to Windows XP. They are a group of utilities that you can select and install separately.

  • Open Command Window Here
    This PowerToy adds an "Open Command Window Here" context menu option on file system folders, giving you a quick way to open a command window (cmd.exe) pointing at the selected folder.
  • Alt-Tab Replacement
    With this PowerToy, in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open.
  • Tweak UI
    This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.
  • Power Calculator
    With this PowerToy you can graph and evaluate functions as well as perform many different types of conversions.
  • Image Resizer
    This PowerToy enables you to resize one or many image files with a right-click.
  • CD Slide Show Generator
    With this PowerToy you can view images burned to a CD as a slide show. The Generator works downlevel on Windows 9x machines as well.
  • Virtual Desktop Manager
    Manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar with this PowerToy.
  • Taskbar Magnifier
    Use this PowerToy to magnify part of the screen from the taskbar.
  • HTML Slide Show Wizard
    This wizard helps you create an HTML slide show of your digital pictures, ready to place on your Web site.
  • Webcam Timershot
    This PowerToy lets you take pictures at specified time intervals from a Webcam connected to your computer and save them to a location that you designate.


Licence: Freeware. Note: PowerToys are not supported by Microsoft.
Online:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/powertoys.asp
Operating system: Windows XP.
Requires:

Install instructions: You must uninstall your old PowerToys before installing the new ones. PowerToys will only work with US-English regional settings.

 

Download:


   
 

Windows

 



 

 

Browse and access files faster with Power Drawers, a tool that enhances the standard Windows file management system. Folders that you assign as Power Drawers folders will be given additional right click menu options. You will also be able to see image or text previews and file information at a hover. There are a host of powerful features to explore, such as PowerOrganiser which can automatically group your desktop files under type headings to eliminate clutter on your desktop.


Licence: Shareware.
Online:
http://dynamickarma.com/powerdrawers.htm
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows 2000/NT 4/XP.
Requires: Service Pack 3 for Windows NT 4. When you are not actively using a Power Drawers menu, most of Power Drawers is unloaded from memory so that it's ambient memory and system resource usage is nearly zero.

Install instructions

 

Download:


   
 

Windows

 



 

 

PowerStrip is designed to complement the native Windows Display Properties, and give faster access to display settings. A simple menu that pops up from the system tray provides access to some 500 controls over your display hardware, including sophisticated colour correction tools, period level adjustments over screen geometry, and driver independent clock controls. A powerful application profiler can detect when programs such as games are launched and respond by activating specific display settings, gamma adjustments, performance switches and even clock speeds .


Licence: Shareware.
Online:
http://www.entechtaiwan.com/
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows NT/2000/XP.
Requires:

Install instructions

 

Download:


   
 

Windows

 



 

 

You can schedule this program to log off, reboot or shutdown Windows at any time you specify. If you were downloading a big file and you knew when it would finish, you can set this program to shutdown the machine at a specific time or you can set up the program to monitor a window such as the download window and when it closes it will shutdown the PC. There is also a feature to allow you to wake up PCs on a network.


Licence: Shareware.
Online:
http://user1.7host.com/Rikstser/index.htm
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows 2000/XP.
Requires:

Install instructions

 

Download:


   
 

Windows

 



 

 

This file manager ate Windows Explorer for breakfast and then kept going. You can manage, view, and edit files on your computer as well as files on FTP servers as if they were part of your local computer network. You can split the browser window in two and manage files in side by side panels. You can also surf the Internet, edit HTML code and preview popular document formats such as Office, graphics and multimedia files in a preview pane. It also generates thumbnail files lists.


Licence: Shareware (30-day trial).
Online:
http://www.filestream.com/turbobrowser2001/
Operating system: Windows 95/98/Me, Windows NT/2000/XP.
Requires:

Install instructions

 

Download:


   
 

Windows

 



 

 

Tweak your Windows settings to gain optimal performance and ease of use from your PC. Xteq X-Setup allows you to change settings that are normally hidden deeply in configuration files like the registry. With this program you can modify Start menu items, icons and even drives. You can modify the behaviour and appearance of your browser or Outlook Express and much more as there are hundreds of tweaking options to play with.


Licence: Freeware.
Online:
http://www.xteq.com/products/xset/index.html
Operating system: Windows 95/98Me, Windows NT/2000/XP.
Requires: Internet Explorer 4.0.

Install instructions

 

Download:


   
 

Windows