Taste the delicious dessert with Windows
In the past few years, Windows has introduced a variety of tools, browsers, and other new features under Microsoft, but it still has some defects in some ways. Of course, you can take "spending money disaster" - make up for these shortcomings by purchasing other software. But before you pick up the bag, you may wish to find a look at the free software of Windows Haozihai. There are many free "desserts" with a free "dessert" here. These software are free reason, some may be because their function is too single, and the domain is too narrow, or the value is indeed not high, it is not worthwhile. However, there are some very good members in the camp of free additional software. This article lists some practical free tool software recommended by the author recently tried or readers. You can download these programs at http://find.pcworld.com/38162.
Strong Sidebar
In the next generation of Windows Longhorn systems, a refreshing component is included: ie called "Sidebar" custom panel, which provides users with the fastest way to get common information. Now, you can also download SideBar service without waiting until LONGHORN, you can download this tool software for free.
The SideBar interface contains items such as clock dishes, shortcut icons, command lines, and system information. For Microsoft Outlook users, SideBar can also display messages, calendars, and schedule information in Outlook, and display new emails through the connection POP3 server. If your PC is connected to the Internet, you can also browse the news headlines, weather forecasts, and stock markets from it, which are updated in real time (shown in Figure 1). The above is just the default format of SideBar, you can also add, delete, and custom panel content during use, and even change its appearance. Sidebar can also integrate with Windows Media Player or WinAmp playback control, and provide reminder features similar to paste notes. In general, this tool software is really excellent, and the free delivery is a bit underestimated.
Virtual Desktop Manager
Longhorn Another functionality is its multi-virtual desktop. Now, Windows XP users only need to access http://fina.pcworld.com/38165 sites, download the Deskman.exe file under the virtual desktop management project.
After download, double click on DeskmanPower
ToySetup.exe icon, complete the installation of the program based on the system prompts. Then, click the right mouse button in the blank space, select "Toolbars" * "Desktop Manager" in the shortcut menu. The virtual desktop management program will provide you with 4 virtual desktops, you can adjust the window anyway, there is no need to perform drag, restore, minimize and maximize operation. If you want to see a panoramic map of your desktop, you can press the "Windows V" key key. You can switch directly to the corresponding desktop, or you can press the "Windows 1 to 4" key combination. If you want to customize the shortcut, you can right-click the "MSVDM" icon and select the "Configure Shortcut Keys" option in the shortcut menu. Alternatively, you can just click on the icon and select "Show Quick Switch Buttons" in the shortcut menu to adjust the desktop.
If you want to open your application in the taskbar of each virtual desktop, you can select the "Shared Desktops" option; if you want to pick a suitable background (as shown in Figure 2), you can select the "Configure Desktop Image" option; The "Uses" feature can implement "dissolving" and other visual effects during the desktop switching process. Easy folder printing software
Printing the file name list in the folder, you can implement the way of batch files, and you can use 2 free tool software to operate. Free PRINTFolders can quickly generate a text file in a short time in a short time, which is very convenient to use. PrintFolders also provides a range of practical custom options, such as whether complete file details and complete path information (as shown in Figure 3). Users can also be easily edited or printed by text processing software or text editor.
Another software named "Directory Lister" has more file list control features. It allows the user to select a non-adjacent folder in multiple disk drives, which determine which files are detailed, and specify the print column width for each details, and the sorting method of custom files. You can preview print results in a plain text or HTML format to confirm that all files and folders that need to be printed, you can also save this information as a plain text or HTML format in the Directory Lister. As in PrintFolders, you can only open this information through other applications (such as a text editor or web browser) next time you need to print.
One-button exit and one-button restart
In Windows 9X / ME, we can enter special instructions to quickly exit, log out, or restart. Many readers often ask if they can operate in Windows 2000 / XP. The answer is yes, although there is no built-in function in Windows 2000. In the Windows 2000 Resource Kit toolkit, a small program named "Shutdown" is included, and you can close your computer directly (if you have enough permissions, you can also close other computers in the network). If you don't have this tool kit, try the free software "psshutdown" with the same functionality in sysinternals (http://www.systems.com). In order to give full play to the performance of the software, you can create multiple shutdown shortcuts to achieve different operations by setting different command line options. For example, if you want to restart your computer after 5 second warning delay, your command line should be set to: "" C: / Program Files / Psshutdown.exe "-l -r-r 5" (file path may be due to machine different). You can also set up a shutdown prompt yourself. The specific method is to add "-m" shutdown prompt information "after the above command line.
Psshutdown can also run in Windows XP, but Windows XP already contains a program that is similar to the PSSHUTDOWN function - SHUTDOWN.EXE. If you want to understand more information set by the tool command line, you can select "Start" * "" * "Attachment" * "Command Prompt", type "Shutdown." Shutdown. EXE "or" shutdown.exe -? "command, and press the Enter key.
Automatic start and shutdown
The general program self-starting method is very simple, as long as the shortcut to the program is placed in the "Startup" folder, it will be started with Windows each time the program will start with Windows. But sometimes you need to use some advanced settings, such as allowing some programs to run only once every day, or let a program run before turning forward (such as backing up the work data), maybe you still want to let PCs in a certain The specified time is automatically shut down. Try the X-Ecutor software at this time, its functionality is far exceeded the range mentioned above. You can add an application to the X-Ecutor window where you set the runtime and date of the program, adjust the delay time before and after run, and specify the order of operation. It also contains a task list and command line input box. However, X-Ecutors also requires a small temper that needs to be gradually adapted, for example, all the programs to be set to run in front of the shutdown must be able to automatically turn off (such as batch files), otherwise the X-Ecutor will make Windows to run, Because it is waiting for your specified program to close. X-Ecutor is completely free for home users. You can always use it as long as you send a postcard to the author Andreas Spang. Let the window are ready
In a standard Windows interface, each open window is displayed on the system's taskbar from left to right. In contrast, the operating interface of the Apple Mac OS seems to be more reasonable, and the user can "close" each open window, only the title bar is displayed. A free software named "Winroll" allows you to implement this in Windows, and users only need to right click on the mouse button.
Colorful hard drive indicator on the desktop
Many readers reflect: The host of PC is usually placed under the work desk. When the user is working, it is often inconvenient to see the hard disk read and write indicator on the chassis. Can this problem solved by installing the appropriate software? If you are using Windows 2000 / XP, you can use the free software "Hard Disk Indicator" to solve this problem. After starting the software, a small icon that is very similar to the hard disk indicator will appear in the toolbar. Whenever the hard disk begins to read and write, this "small light" will flash. Users can also customize the color of this indicator, and specify these colors to up to 5 hard disk partitions, each color represents a partition so you can easily view these hard drive partitions.
Restore deleted files
If you have lost important data due to operating errors, infectious viruses or hardware and hardware, you can experience why someone will spend money to buy those anti-deletion software. In fact, there are also many free anti-delete software on the market, and their performance is very good. You can first consider trying to use "PC Inspector File Recovery" free software, which can help you free from above, recover your deleted files or lost data, even if the file header is corrupt (this tricky problem, Many anti-deletion software can be powerful). PC Inspector File Recovery supports FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS multiple file partition formats. Its operation interface is very similar to the Windows Explorer, generous and easy to use (as shown in Figure 5), and should definitely become the necessary software necessary for PC users.
Eagle compiled from PC World [US] No. 1, 2004
