PowerToys


Microsoft has an odd habit of making you download some useful tools that really should have been on the Setup CD-ROM to begin with. TweakUI, in particular, is an indispensable tool. It's a sort of Windows Swiss army knife , and gives access to several dozen adjustments and settings that should have been on the control panel.

The PowerToys vary from one version of Windows to another. Check carefully before trying to use "toys" from one version on another. In particular, don't use the XP TweakUI tool on Windows 2000 or 9x, or vice versa.

PowerToys for Windows XP

To download PowerToys for Windows XP, visit www.microsoft.com/windowsxp, and at the left click Downloads, then PowerToys and Add-Ins for Windows XP. Each of the PowerToys is a downloadable installation program ( .EXE file). To install them,

1.
Select and download a PowerToy from the Microsoft website, and save the .EXE file on your desktop.

2.
If you're logged on as a Computer Administrator, just double-click the installer's icon. If you're not a Computer Administrator, right-click the icon, select Run As, check The Following User , and enter an Administrator's username and password.

3.
Follow any additional instructions that appear.

4.
When the installation is complete, drag the downloaded installer to the Recycle Bin, or move it to a shared network folder for installation on other computers.

5.
Click Start, All Programs, Powertoys For Window XP to use the new tool, or select the Readme entry for a description of the tools.

The Windows XP PowerToys available at the time of this writing are listed in Table A.6.

Table A.6. PowerToys for Windows XP

PowerToy

Description

ClearType Tuner

For LCD monitor users only, adjusts Clear-Type to your preferences, letting you make your own trade-off between jagginess and blurriness .

HTML Slide Show Wizard

Creates a nice set of web pages from a folder of pictures, with thumbnails, fo ward and back navigation buttons , and so on.

Open Command Window Here

Adds a handy right-click menu choice for folders selected in Windows Explorer. Clicking Open Command Window Here opens a command prompt window with the selected directory as the current directory. Indispensable if you do a lot of work on the command line.

Alt-Tab Replacement

When this tool is installed, Alt-Tab displays not only the name and icon of each open application, but also lets you view thumbnail views of the associated windows, so that you can more easily select the desired instance of an open application.

TweakUI

A must-have tool, makes adjustments to the XP user interface including menus , the mouse, Windows Explorer, the taskbar, desktop icons, the location of special folders, Control Panel applets, and more. For more details, see "TweakUI," in Chapter 6, "Tweaking and Tuning Windows."

Power Calculator

A peculiar toola Reverse Polish calculator with a graphing feature. If you know what Reverse Polish means, you'll love this. Otherwise, hmmmm.

Image Resizer

Resizes one or more images to a selected size , handy for making web pages or thumbnails.

CD Slide Show Generator

Adds a slide-show display wizard to a set of pictures to be burned on to a CD. The CD will then "auto-run" the slide-show display when inserted into a computer running Windows 95 through XP.

Virtual Desktop Manager

Allows you to set up and switch between four separate desktops.

Taskbar Magnifier

Displays in the taskbar a magnified version of the area under the mouse. After installing, right-click the taskbar, select Toolbars, and check Taskbar Magnifier.

Webcam Timershot

Lets you automatically take and save pictures from a webcam or attached camera; the pictures are saved in a designated folder. If the folder is part of a website, this can let you create an automatically updating webcam page.


TweakUI for Windows 9x, NT, and 2000

For Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, or 2000, you can obtain TweakUI version 1.33 from www.microsoft.com. Search for "TweakUI download Windows NT." The download page contains download and installation instructions. The Windows 95-98-NT-2000 TweakUI tool is a control panel applet ( tweakui.cpl ), meaning that it will appear as an icon in your Control Panel.




Upgrading and Repairing Microsoft Windows
Upgrading and Repairing Microsoft Windows (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 0789736950
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 128

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