16 March 2012

Some Useful Windows 7 Utilities

I just finished one of my periodic rounds of "Windows 7 improvements", and I thought I'd share my findings.

First, Text Editor Anywhere.
If you are familiar with the classic Firefox extension "It's All Text", then you know what this is about: TEA will launch an external editor where you can edit the contents of any text area. No more losing long posts because of some random refresh! And the joy of using all the shortcuts you love in your preferred text editor. The beauty of TAE is that it works in *any* text area, regardless of it being in a browser or a program, and you can even invoke different editors.

Another incredibly useful little app is WinLaunch.
It provides a full-screen iOS-style launcher in Windows 7, which you invoke with a custom shortcut (Shift-Tab by default). It's a fantastic way to rid your desktop of all those application icons, so that your Rainmeter skin can look fabulous without sacrificing ease of access. Now, if only I could have some sort of drawer where to drop all the files I casually drop on the desktop...

Users of the Microsoft Touch Mouse will appreciate Touch Mouse Mate.
It currently adds three features to the mouse: middle-click (tapping with three fingers), tap-to-click (IMHO the mouse is a bit too sensitive for that, but at least you have the option), and a left-handed mode. The project is open source and very active, so I expect further improvements will soon follow. Personally, I'd love to be able to define custom gestures, which is the real killer feature this mouse is missing.

And that's it! Any other utility out there that I should know about? :)

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