My Favorite Free Utilities

Steve Bass

I love it when I find a free program that's really worth using. Besides having a great product to use, I feel like I'm getting away with something. (My wife, on the other hand, says it's my larcenous side, something she thinks runs in my family.) Either way, I get a kick out of sharing these gems with computing buddies.

So step up the counter, everyone--here are my favorite utilities. (And listen, this isn't just a list of razzmatazz baloney. These are tools I really use.)

IrfanView: This one's a humdinger because everyone needs to view image files. And there's no easier way to do it than to pop open IrfanView. This free tool lets you look at standard images--PCX, GIF, and JPEG--as well as esoteric images such as medical Dicom/ACR and, if you still have some on your PC, IFF Amiga files. IrfanView also provides thumbnail views, drag-and-drop support, and image-editing tools.

Xteq X-Setup: Put on your work gloves and stick your head under the hood of your PC with Xteq's X-Setup. X-Setup gives you access to hundreds of your system's hidden settings. Almost all of the settings have mini-tutorials and wizards to safely guide you through the modifications. What can you do? Stop your CD-ROM from playing audio CDs automatically. Dump all the extra icons in Control Panel--Passwords, Power Management, or Find Fast--the ones you never use. Or remove stubborn, already uninstalled items that still show up on the Add-Remove list.

EFax Messenger Plus: Did you ever want to send a document to someone only to learn that they didn't own the program to view or print it with? It's something I used to struggle with, but now I have a brilliant, free utility that solves the problem. It's called EFax Messenger, and it was designed as a faxing tool, ideal for sending and receiving e-mail. But no one's stopping you from using the tool for sending and receiving documents.

Here's how I use it: I produce my user group newsletter in Ventura Publisher and send my Mom a copy to read before anyone else gets it. (Hey, she just wants to make sure her boy still has a job and isn't in jail again.) The problem is my mother doesn't have Ventura. So instead of using any geeky tricks, I send her the newsletter via EFax Messenger. Basically, EFax saves the file as a graphic in a format that can be read by EFax's free viewer. The viewer is available from EFax's site, or you simply send your document with a built-in viewer. Believe me, if you need to send documents--especially to novices--this puppy will make a dramatic difference in the way you do it.

Take a Reading Break

For our March 2001 issue, Matt Lake spent a month shackled to his PC, ferreting out the best online freebies. He has some real gems, things only Matt seems to be able to find. Click the URL below and browse the story: " Best Free* Stuff Online (*Get 'em While You Can!)"

Now Back to the Programs

FourTimes: Internet Explorer users listen up! With FourTimes, you can open four separate Web sites in one IE session. You can have every session on one screen, each in a separate panel. FourTimes lets you drag and drop links from one window to the other, and quickly resize windows. Imagine navigating in one window, checking Web-based e-mail in a second, and using chat software in a third window, all without Alt-Tabbing.

InfoRapid Search & Replace: Windows' paltry Find feature is a 98-pound weakling compared to InfoRapid's Search & Replace. Like Find, InfoRapid lets me search for text in practically any file. But InfoRapid has more search options than Arnold Schwarzenegger has muscles. For instance, I can use AND, NOT, OR, and NEAR Boolean operators and do phonetic searches. I can actually view the files (listen up, Microsoft) with built-in viewers for text, HTML, RTF, and common image files such as BMP, JPEG, and GIF. I can view almost all other files, including databases and spreadsheets. Search results are highlighted, and a click on any other word starts a new search.

Dig this: If a friend, coworker, or employee suffers from stupidity, these new hardware products can help.

PowerDesk: It's free, amazingly powerful, and it'll make you ignore Windows Explorer forever. This utility offers slick features including: dual panes that provide an easy way to copy files between folders, built-in Zip and UnZip, and one-step functions for copying or moving files. PowerDesk also emulates Norton Commander or Xtree Pro for Windows. (For old DOS hounds like me, this is bliss.)

The product--and remember, it's free--includes Dialog Helper, a utility with two icons that reside in the upper-right corner of every Open File dialog. One icon lists 20 recently used files; the other has 20 recently used folders. So if I want to open the same file or folder as last time, instead of navigating to it, I use Dialog Helper. Read Lincoln Spector's review.

Net.Medic and VitalAgent IT: Net.Medic is a browser companion that lets you monitor, isolate, diagnose, and determine Internet performance problems. You can also do some neat speed benchmarking of your Internet connection speed. The company used to sell it, but now, through Lucent, it's being given away.

More interesting is VitalAgent IT. It does everything Net.Medic does but adds some networking features, such as monitoring requests across both local and remote links, as well as providing stats of performance data through switches and virtual private networks.

Quick Tip From Geekland

Want to make Control Panel part of your Start Menu list? It's easy to do. Right-click the Start button and choose Open. Right-click within the Start Menu window, select New, Folder. When the new folder appears, copy and paste the following text into the folder's title field: Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}

Now when you click Start, Control Panel will be part of the Start Menu list. When you move your mouse over the new Control Panel folder, a cascading menu of all your system's Control Panels will appear. Cool, eh?

Folder Icons for Win32: Here's a very handy tool that can change the icon of any folder. It's terrific when you're browsing in Windows Explorer and want to quickly find a folder.

TClockEx: See the time in your system tray, down on the right side of your desktop? Want to change the color so it's easier to see? How about a quick check of your system's resources, CPU usage, or available memory? TClockEx--it stands for Taskbar Clock Enhancement--is a cool addition to your toolbox.

Motherboard Monitor: Did you ever worry that your motherboard was overheating? Not something you've thought lots about, right? Overheating could mean trouble for your system's CPU, and Motherboard Monitor keeps track of the temperature. Among other alerts, it also sends an e-mail to your pager when the alarm goes off. Read my Home Office column, " Help Your PC Beat the Heat."

You're going to forward some of these gems to your computing buddies, right? Okay, sure, you can have the credit. Just make sure you eventually tell them about my newsletter.

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