PowerToys for Windows - good freeware from Microsoft
by ClifNotes, Oct 2006, permalink
This last week at work, I was tweaking in a new machine that I had been given by our I.S. department. One of the first things I usually do on a PC is get rid of the stupid "Shortcut to" prefix that appears every time you create a shortcut. I was thinking that I used to do this with TweakUI, an application that is bundled with a whole slew of other good free utilities called "PowerToys". Instead, I couldn't locate that tweak and I had to do it the hard way. To manually kill off the "shortcut to...", make a shortcut, then rename the shortcut, goto next shortcut. Do this 8 times in a row or more until Windows recognizes the pattern of no more "shortcut to...".
There are two sets of PowerToys. One for XP and another set that should work with the other versions. Take a look below and I'm sure you'll find something to play with and maybe even something you will find useful.
Quote from Microsoft
PowerToys add fun and functionality to the Windows experience. What are they? PowerToys are additional programs that developers work on after a product has been released. Note: We take great care to ensure that PowerToys work as they should, but they are not part of Windows and are not supported by Microsoft. For this reason, Microsoft Technical Support is unable to answer questions about PowerToys.
(Windows XP shown below)
Color Control Panel Applet
Professional-level photographers and designers know that getting consistent, accurate color from file to screen to print and beyond is a requirement for great results. This new tool helps you manage Windows color settings in one place. Download or learn more.
SyncToy
With new sources of files coming from every direction (such as digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops), SyncToy can help you copy, move, and synchronize different directories. Download or learn more.
RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer
Are you a serious photographer? Now you can organize and work with digital RAW files in Windows Explorer (much as you can with JPEG images). This tool provides thumbnails, previews, printing, and metadata display for RAW images. Download or learn more.
ClearType Tuner
This PowerToy lets you use ClearType technology to make it easier to read text on your screen, and installs in the Control Panel for easy access.
HTML Slide Show Wizard
This wizard helps you create an HTML slide show of your digital pictures, ready to place on your Web site.
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.
Version 2.10 requires Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2003.
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.
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.
Downloads
Power Toys for Windows XP or Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2K
