Win XP PowerToys

Win XP PowerToys

PowerToys add value and
fun to the built-in features
of Win XP. You can download
them separately from
http://microsoft.com/windowsxp/
downloa
ds/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx.
Or you can find them on this
month’s PCQXtreme CD.Copy and
unzip all the power toys zip files to
your desktop. Then double click
and install each of them.Now let’s
see what each of them does.

Virtual Windows Manager

This is a very useful tool that
lets you manage four desktops
from your Windows
taskbar. You can open
different applications
on different desktops
and manage them
seamlessly. For example,
on one desktop you
can run a Word application
and on the other
an Excel file. You just
have to select the desktop
you want to work
on. To enable the Virtual
Windows Manager,
simply right click
on the taskbar and select
Toolbar> Desktop
Manager.

Task switcher

To switch between
applications, you generally
use Alt+Tab buttons.
However, after installing this
PowerToy, you can see the running
applications as thumbnails, while
switching between them using the
Alt+Tab buttons.

HTML slide show wizard

This wizard helps you create a
slide show of your digital photos in
HTML. To use it, click on
Start>Programs>Windows PowerToys>’
Slide Show Wizard’. This
brings up a wizard on your screen.
Click on Next. On the screen
shown, select the digital pictures
that you want on the HTML page.
Click on ‘Add Images’ button to
add files individually. Alternatively,
you can click on ‘Add folder’
button to add a folder, which contains
many pictures.Click again on
Next to continue. On the screen
that shows,give a name to the slide
show and also give the path where
you want to save the auto-generated HTML Web page.Now click on
Next and then on Finish. Now you
can use this HTML file on your
website,and run a slide show.However,
you need to upload the folder,
the wizard creates, to your website.

CD slide show generator

This PowerToy is much like the
HTML slide show wizard, except
that it creates slide shows directly
on the CD-R. To use this, you need
a CD-writer. It enables you to view
the slide show of the images burnt
on a CD-ROM. To create a picture
slide show on CD-ROM, add only
images to the CD-ROM using Explorer
and then write these files to
the disc. A new task is now presented
for generating the autorun
file, so that the show is automatically
launched when you insert the
CD-ROM.

Webcam timershot

This allows you to take pictures
from a Webcam connected to your
computer at specified time intervals.
A picture is taken and then
saved to a location with a name
that you specify.You can even save
the pictures to a network share, an
FTP share or an HTTP WebDAV
share.To use it,click on Start>Programs>
Windows
PowerToys>’Timer shot’.This will
open a Timershot configuration
window. Here, under the devices
section, select Webcam. Then in
the same window, set the time intervals
for taking pictures.Also set
the location where you want to save
the pictures. Then, click on ‘Apply
Settings’ to save the settings.

Command here

This is another useful Power-
Toy that adds an ‘Open Command
Window Here’ context menu option
to file system folders.Now you
can quickly open a command window
by just right clicking on the
folder. Else you will have to type
‘cmd.exe’ from Start>Run to
launch a command window and
then ‘cd’ to that folder.

Image resizer

It resizes digital images without
using an editing software.You
can resize one or many image files
in one go.For this,right click on the
picture files and from its context
menu select ‘Resize Pictures’. On
the window you get, select what
you want to resize.

Tweak UI

You can explore system setting
of your Win XP machine with this
toy.You can configure Explorer settings,
taskbar settings, My Computer
settings, and many others,
without going to the control panel.
To use this toy, click on Tweak
UI from Start>Programs>Windows
Power Toys.Here,you will get
an interface consisting of object on
the left and its setting on the right
window panel. For example, if you
want to set (click speed,hover sensitivity,
etc) your mouse to your
liking, select mouse object from
the Tweak UI interface and set its
speed and sensitivity according to
your ease.

Taskbar magnifier

This one allows you to magnify
a part of the screen on the taskbar.
You will see the magnified part of
the area, which is pointed by the
mouse.
To activate it, right click on the
taskbar and then click on the toolbar.
Finally click on ‘Taskbar Magnifier’.