Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP
I would not normally promote anything that Microsoft does; however, by no desire of my own, I am forced by my current employer to work with the Windows XP operating system. If I had a say in the matter, it would be Macintosh all the way. I digress.
The other night, I caught wind of some OS upgrades to XP by way of the Screen Savers television show on the TechTV Network (did I just give away how much of a geek I am?). My DVR is set up to record this show on a weekly basis (if the statement before last does not scream geek, this last one certainly did!). These upgrades are appropriately labeled “Microsoft PowerToys” (whatever Bill)! At any rate, among these “POWER TOYS” are some pretty handy additions to a mediocre operating system. It is interesting how a majority of these “POWER TOYS” mimic features that are inherit to OSX.
The following is a list and short explanation of these “Power Toys”, which I borrowed (stole) from Microsoft.
Important Notes
- If you installed PowerToys prior to April 23, 2002, you must uninstall your old PowerToys before installing the versions available here.
- PowerToys will only work with US-English regional settings.
- For non-microsoft support of these power have a look at this page.
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. – download it
HTML Slide Show Wizard
This wizard helps you create an HTML slide show of your digital pictures, ready to place on your Web site. – download it
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. – download it
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. – download it
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. – download it
- 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. – download it
Image Resizer
This PowerToy enables you to resize one or many image files with a right-click. – download it
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. – download it
Virtual Desktop Manager
Manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar with this PowerToy. – download it
Taskbar Magnifier
Use this PowerToy to magnify part of the screen from the taskbar. – download it
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. – download it
If the mouse pointer changes to a hand when you roll-over an image associated with a story the image upon clicking either links to enlarged version of the image or a website associated with the image.
Micro$oft is the devil!!!
By the way, thanks for inviting me over to play xBox the other night. It was a blast! Since your home computer is also a PC (running Windows XP), we’ll have to play some computer games together sometime… Heck, you could even bring your laptop over (since it, too, is running Windows XP). But as you said, I digress…
Anyway, thanks for the helpful tools. They are pretty sweet. Powerful even.
;)
Gotta love a little Black Arrow to exercise the mouse fingers. Anytime!
I wish I had PowerCalculator back in highschool. It would have saved me $90 on a graphing calculator. The ClearType Tuner is cool, but I can no longer use it because it is goofing with my new glasses.
A bit off topic, but do either of you guys use Tweak XP?
Have you? And if so, is it any good?
I used to use it. It’s like a super-mutated Tweak UI. It’s one of those must-haves.. full of tweaks and configurations.
I just always download the trial version. It’s use-based, not time-based, so it gives you like 40 tries before it is no longer usable. That is awesome considering you just open it, set the settings, and go about your business. You’ll probably only use it about 3-4 times.