Best Free Stuff Online
As e-commerce takes hold and more Web sites begin charging for content that used to cost you nothing, good free stuff is getting harder and harder to find. For our third annual guide, we scoured the Internet, tossed aside the dreck, and found worthwhile downloads.
Best Free Windows Utilities
Make Shortcuts Do More
Do you want to launch both Word and Excel with a single Shortcut?
Or launch Eudora, wait 2 minutes for your e-mail to download, then open your
browser? All this is possible when you point your Shortcuts to Winx32, a macro-style
program that launches other programs to your specific instructions.
<1 min. winx3216.zip,
100KB, www.simtel.net/simtel.net/win95/util.html
Save Disk Space
It's 6 o'clock. Do you
know how much disk space your files are occupying? Probably not. On many systems,
even a 1-byte file wastes 32KB of space on your hard drive. Diskdata tells
you how much space each drive, folder, and subfolder is really taking up--something
Windows itself won't let you know. It's a great tool for helping you decide
what to archive and when to partition.
2 min. ddsetup.exe, 364KB, www.digallery.com/diskdata
Magnify Your Screen
Ever find yourself squinting at the fine print displayed
on your PC screen? Then scope out Screen Loupe. This handy utility gives you
a close-up view of whatever part of the screen you're pointing to--magnified
up to eight times. You can save the contents of the Loupe window to Windows'
Clipboard, which is handy for printing the larger, magnified version of your
screen image.
<1
min. loupe32.zip, 102KB, www.execpc.com/~sbd
Secure Your Files
Getting just a
bit paranoid? Then download CodedDrag, an encryption program that integrates
into Windows, letting you drag or right-click from Explorer to safeguard files,
directories, and drives. You choose the intensity of encryption you want,
from basic 56-bitkey DES to top secret 448-bitkey Blowfish.
6 min. cd1500.exe,
1.07MB, www.fim.uni-linz.ac.at/codeddrag/codedrag.htm
Get Microsoft's Hidden Stash, Part 1
Call it Windows 95-and-a-half.
Microsoft's great collection of interface enhancements is a must-have for
any Win 95 user. PowerToys makes it easier to dig inside a folder's contents,
take the Internet Explorer icon off your desktop, conveniently change screen
resolution without rebooting, and click desktop icons when you've got windows
in front of them.
1 min. powertoy.exe, 204KB, www.microsoft.com/windows95/info/powertoys.htm
Edit Text on the Fly
Editing .txt, .bat, .ini, and other ASCII
text files with a word processor is like washing your car with a fire hose.
But Windows' NotePad is a poor substitute for the real thing, so replace it
with the best text editor out there. Super NoteTab lets you edit multiple
files and toggle word wrap on and off, and doubles as an HTML editor, with
buttons for viewing a file in your browser and for following links.
4 min. snt263e.zip,
729KB, www.unige.ch/sciences/terre/ geologie/fookes
Get Microsoft's Hidden Stash, Part 2
If you want more power in
your PowerToys, check out Microsoft's other collection of enhancements. If
you're a heavy gamer, you'll want its wizard for creating custom exit-to-DOS
environments. If you don't like where your Ctrl,
Alt, and special Windows keys are, remap them. A lot of the tools
are on the nerdy side, but some are highly useful for the rest of us.
<1 min. krnltoys.exe,
55.7KB, www.microsoft.com/windows95/info/kerneltoys.htm
Maximize Your Clipboard
With Windows' Clipboard, it's
use it and lose it--every time you copy a new item to the Clipboard, the last
one gets deleted. To the rescue comes Yankee Clipper, which saves up to 50
Clipboard text-only items for later retrieval. It's a handy device for keeping
collections of boilerplate text--such as your return address--that you would
otherwise have to retype frequently. A shareware version may be available
by the time you read this article, but the freeware one won't go away.
1 min. ycplus.zip,
43KB, www.tiac.net/users/lvasseur/ycphome.html
Hide Your Windows
Too many items on
your Windows 95 Taskbar? Don't want the boss to see that you're playing Riven?
With OuttaSight you can conceal any active window. Customizable options let
you hide programs as you minimize them, and show the hidden programs in the
system tray (the icon space on the right of the Taskbar). And you can password-protect
the program so that others can't see what you've hidden.
2 min. os112.zip, 390KB, rosa.simplenet.com/oos/
Serve Your Folders on a Tray
Folder Organizer puts access to My Documents, the Start menu,
and your own favorites on the system tray (the screen to the right of the
Start button) where you can always find them. As a bonus, the program gives
you an easy way to clear various caches and history lists, and lets you change
your screen mode without rebooting.
3.5 min. fldor100.exe, 682KB, tp.lc.ehu.es/win95.html
Open Zip Files Instantly
It's simple: EZip Wizard decompresses .zip archives on the fly, expanding
the file as it's downloaded. Or if you prefer, you can actually install a
downloaded program without unzipping it first. If you want to compress files,
you'll have to pay the $29.95 registration fee and get the full version. For
decompression only, it's free.
3 min. e32setup.exe, 581KB, www.edisys.com
Jog Your Memory
Forget
something? Put Eh Windows Reminder in your Startup folder, and every time
you load Windows you'll get today's messages, from the weekly 'Back up your
system' to the annual 'Mom's birthday next week'. The user interface is clumsy--but
it's still easier than remembering.
1 min. eh131.exe, 295KB, tp.lc.ehu.es/win95.html
Cut Out Shortcuts
Ever suspect that your program Shortcuts are breeding down there in Windows'
Start menu? Start Menu Cleaner will search the desktop and Start menu for
surplus Shortcuts and empty folders, then asks your permission to delete.
<1 min. clean13.zip,
27KB, www.mithril.d.se
Make It Truly "My Computer"
Here's one great 18-tab dialog
box for changing just about everything about Windows' configuration. X-Setup
has options for clearing various histories and caches, speeding up the Start
menu, autoplaying CD-ROMs , and setting your document and Windows installation
paths. Now if it only had a 'Keep Windows from crashing' option...
1 min. xset20.zip,
174KB, www.kos.org
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