Upgrade Windows

You think Windows is powerful and handy based solely on what Microsoft offers? True but only in a very small part, because this "glamorous" operating system always receives countless gifts that are useful features and tools from other additional utilities. The article will introduce 10 free add-ons rated the best in 2005.

Reduce file size

If you need to increase the download speed for your website or the current photo collection takes up too much disk space, try Nuetools' StripFile utility (www.pcworld.com.vn, ID: 48192). This utility can reduce the size of HTML files and image files (GIF, JPEG and PNG formats) by removing unnecessary parameters such as color profiles and captions. You can adjust the Settings options of this utility to determine what kind of data to remove. To proceed, simply specify a file or even a folder and press Compress. Another way is to right-click on a file or folder in the Explorer window and then select Strips to remove unnecessary information. StripFile will create a backup folder for the original files in case something goes wrong.

Results vary depending on the original file type, but this utility promises up to 50% compression. Through real-world PC World testing, StripFile can reduce HTML file size to 7% and 6.3% with JPEG files. Although you haven't made a clear difference in every file, but with a large number of files, you'll save a lot of your hard disk space.

Manage photos more effectively

There are many ways to manage photo collections, but only a few are designed as well as Google's Picasa software (www.pcworld.com.vn, ID: 051101). Picasa does arrange image and movie files on your hard disk into a library. From there, you can copy, move, delete and perform many other file management procedures. Picasa's photo editing features allow you to cut, rotate, adjust color tones and include special effects on photos (Figure 1).

Although you'll see photo editing results in many different ways of looking at Picasa, no changes directly affect the original image because Picasa preserves this image in digital negatives. To save what you have just done, you must export the edited image copy to another folder.

One of the favorite features in Picasa is renaming a group of image files. With this feature, you can automatically add the date or resolution information of the image to the file name. Besides, other options allow you to aggregate images into different collections without creating additional copies. Slide-show feature available in Picasa can create CD or DVD, convenient for storing photo collections. Other features help create photo collections of websites, e-mails and documents from online services. Picasa is not Photoshop, but it is easy to use and provides almost all photo editing tools that many people need.

Neat file management

Keeping different (open) folder windows and application windows organized correctly when you switch between them is a difficult task. However, things will be easier than ever with ExplorerXP (www.explorerxp.com). The utility allows to arrange or reorganize the open folder windows in the main window. ExplorerXP provides a customizable toolbar, the ability to rename multiple files and the ability to drag-and-drop files in / out Explorer windows and its own windows. However, ExplorerXP still has some limitations. The gadget cannot be displayed as a thumbnail or any other display format for a file, other than Details. The utility also does not support browsing network drives simply, although you can use UNC network paths (such as servershare). However, with basic file management needs, ExplorerXP is a fast and efficient utility.

Create fast PDF files

You can convert any document into Adobe's convenient PDF (Portable Document Format) file format for free. Some other free PDF file creation utilities often take advantage of inserting ads or watermarks into the result file, but CutePDF Writer (www.cutepdf.com) does not. This utility only adds to the system a CutePDF printer icon. To get a PDF file, you just need to choose to print your document with this virtual printer, instead of a normal printer. CutePDF Writer requires you to download and install the PostScript transcoding utility, Ghostscript (also on the website above). In fact, CutePDF does not support configuration changes, so you will not find the security features, font selection or optimization options of Adobe Acrobat. However, CutePDF Writer does a good job of converting data into PDF files.

MAC icon for WINDOWS

A new hope for Mac enthusiasts or any user who wants to change the "boring" style of the Windows taskbar and Start menu. With the ObjectDock utility (www.objectdock.com), you will be provided with a toolbar with the ability to zoom in / out and animation whenever the mouse pointer is over an icon, like in a Mac (Figure 2). In addition, with 20 USD, you can upgrade to the version that supports multiple monitors and many other features.

Computer automation

If you leave your computer for a long time, you can use the Scheduled Task tool to let Windows automatically scan for viruses and spyware, automatically back up data and perform other system maintenance tasks. You can refer to the article "Customizing open and closed Windows at your disposal" (ID: A0406_112) for more options. In case you want to turn off the computer at the end of the day? Use simple controls in the LastChance utility (www.pcworld.com.vn, ID: 49268) to add the applications and commands you need to run before turning off your computer. When exiting Windows, LastChance will suspend the shutdown process to perform the commands you specified in advance. You can set this utility to execute commands when a particular resource (such as a network drive, for example) becomes available. In addition, you can also request a shutdown at a predetermined time.

Quickly arrange the screen

Someday, you suddenly notice the icons on the Windows screen are arranged cluttered and look messy. To fix this situation quickly, use the Icon Restore utility (www.pcworld.com.vn, ID: 48984). This utility adds two new commands to the context menu (also known as the right-click menu) corresponding to the My Computer icon as well as most other system icons. First, position the icons as you wish, right-click the My Computer icon and select Save Desktop Icon Layout. From here on, whenever the screen happens to be cluttered, just right-click the My Computer icon and select Restore Desktop Icon Layout. In case you have hidden system icons, you can see similar commands by right-clicking on the Recycle Bin icon. Icon Restore cannot uninstall (uninstall) so you need to download the UnInstall Icon Restore utility (www.pcworld.com.vn, ID: 051102).

Tidy taskbar

Windows with multitasking capability can allow you to execute multiple applications at the same time, so soon the taskbar becomes cramped. Although you can switch between application windows with Alt-Tab, this method is still a bit complicated.

The TaskArrange utility (www.pcworld.com.vn, ID: 48986) allows you to drag-and-drop all taskbar buttons into a single window to arrange them to your liking. Moreover, you can also arrange these icons using convenient controls (Figure 3). If you've opened the taskbar grouping feature in Windows XP (right-click the taskbar and select Properties to find this option), TaskArrange can rearrange all the items in the pop-up menu.

Remember to exit TaskArrange as soon as you have reached the desired order, as the utility will not take up much memory and does not require an annoying icon tray.

Hide system tray

Icons that represent many important utilities that are always used often take up a lot of system tray space which is very narrow. Clear this area with the Tray Pilot Lite utility (www.pcworld.com.vn, ID: 48988). The add-on adds a button next to the system tray to help you close / open the entire tray (Figure 4). In addition, you can upgrade to a version that can hide the system tray but does not lose the clock.

Clock upgrade

The Windows own clock (in the taskbar) is small and simple, but does not display seconds and does not have an alarm feature.Replace that old watch with ClocX (www.pcworld.com.vn, ID: 48990).This utility can set the signaling mode to perform only once or regularly according to a predetermined schedule.The signaling feature can play sound, display a notification, launch an application or exit Windows.You can display a pop-up calendar for quick viewing, or see both the date and time on the clock (Figure 5).You can adjust transparency, change the interface as well as other settings to increase the visibility of the clock.Set the ClocX to always float on the screen or enable "clickthrough" so that this clock is under open windows.