PowerToys

Installation

Some of the PowerToys can be run without being installed to your system, but that will only enable them until you re-boot. The better option's to install the set so that you can use them all the time. Don't worry, if you want to remove one of the individual utilities, you can do so easily. To install the set, go to the Full\W98Comp\PToy\Power folder on this SuperCD and find the Install.inf file. Right click on the file and select the Install option and the files will be automatically integrated into the system. In addition to the enhancements to the system, a set of standalone utilities will be installed to your chosen destination. If you want to remove anything later on, you can do so by going to the Add/Remove Programs Control Panel and choosing the element you want to remove. To install the new TweakUI for Windows 98, go to the Full\W98Comp\PToy\Tweak98 folder on the SuperCD and right click on the Tweakui.inf file and select Install from the Context menu.

TweakUI

This is the best known element of PowerToys, perhaps because so many answers to the questions sent into magazines start with "The best way to do this is to use TweakUI." As you probably know 'UI' stands for User Interface, which essentially means the part of Windows 98 you see. This PowerToy creates an entire new Control Panel which offers control over different parts of the OS. A new version for Windows 98 has been released and is here on the SuperCD, which has extra tabs and updated tabs so that you can control new parts of the OS and have better control over existing parts. See also TweakUI

DeskMenu

This PowerToy adds an icon to the system tray on the bottom right of the Windows 98 screen. When you click on this icon you get a list of the desktop icons. If you want to quickly launch one of these icons you can do so from here by clicking on it in the menu. You can also use the DeskMenu to quickly minimise the windows on the desktop.

Right menu enhancements

The PowerToys collection adds in a variety of new right mouse menus that enhance the way that the system works. When you click the right mouse button on the desktop or on a folder or file, you are offered a number of options. The TweakUI PowerToy adds in the option to adjust the right mouse "New" menu, but there are many more changes supplied by PowerToys.

When you click on a file, you have the option to send the file to something, whether that is a program for it to be loaded or to a destination folder or drive. The Send to X PowerToy adds in four new options. The first is Any Folder which open up a requester that allows you to browse to any folder on your PC and choose it to send the file there either as a copy or as a move. There are then two options that use the clipboard. The first sends the contents of the file to the clipboard. This means that you can choose a text file for example and select the Send to/Clipboard as Contents option and the contents of file will now be available from the clipboard to be pasted into another document. The second sends the filename including its path to the clipboard so you can paste that into a project. The last enhancement to the Send To menu is an extension of this and it sends the filename and path to the Run command. This is useful as it allows you to add in parameters to a program and launch it, which is more flexible than just double clicking on its icon. (The only other way of send parameters to an icon is to adjust the parameters within the Properties, but this is a hamfisted way of doing it if you don't want the parameters to be used with the file all the time.)

Along with this new right menu goes the Command Prompt Here PowerToy which allows you to choose a folder or drive and launch a DOS session where the path starts out on this target. This is a lot quicker than using the CD command within DOS to drill down through multiple sub-directories if you are wanting to work on a file there in DOS.

FastFolder allows you to quickly get access to sub-folders or folder contents without opening the folder and cluttering the desktop. Simply choose it and the folder's contents will be shown within a menu. Select the folder and file and it will be opened.

Alternatively if you want to make a more controlled view of folders, you can use the Explore from Here option. As the Command Prompt Here opens up a DOS session around the folder, this option opens up the Windows Explorer with this folder as a base, so you can, as the name suggests, explore from here!

The Target menu makes working with Shortcuts easier than ever before. Normally you cannot make changes to the original file by using the Shortcut; instead you have to dig through the drive and find the original - which can remove the point of having the Shortcut in the first place. This new menu allows you to open the Container folder that contains the file that the Shortcut points to or even allows you to operate on the original file and open its properties directly. If you want to make changes to the way Shortcuts are created, check out TweakUI.