RGdot

Month: December 2010

  • Clipboard Master: Freeware Clipboard Enhancement

    Clipboard Master: Freeware Clipboard Enhancement

    Clipboard Master

    Clipboard Master is a freeware Windows clipboard utility that enhances and makes copying and pasting more useful. Instead of the native Windows’ one clipboard item at a time Clipboard Master can hold up to 10,000 items, including images, and with a few key strokes paste them into any active application or program window. It uses the Windows + v keys to show a list of clipboard items it is holding, each identified by a number. For example to paste the 4th item into an active window press the Windows + v keys plus the 4 key (or alternatively use the mouse method, ie left click the program’s tray icon and navigate to the required clipboard and click on it). It can retain formatting or not when pasting text, the toggle being holding or not holding the Ctrl button when using either the keyboard or mouse methods just described.

    Clipboard Master comes with a set of extra tools to insert date, remove spaces – clicking on a clipboard item presents this and other ‘convert’ features – and create folders to keep any number of clipboard items together as a related group. It also has what it calls collections, here when successive Ctrl + c clicks are done quickly – less than five seconds in between each by default – they can be added to one collection and pasted altogether using the Win + Alt + F1 keys or via the program’s tray icon.

    Note that as of this review Clipboard Master is in beta (version 0.9.7) which will expire “3/2011” and therefore is not fully complete and some features like creating folders and exclusion rules (in the program’s settings) seem to either be buggy or not ready yet. Clipboard Master runs on Windows 2000 and newer versions including 64 bit ones.

  • MadAppLauncher: Minimize Mouse Clicks When Launching Applications

    MadAppLauncher: Minimize Mouse Clicks When Launching Applications

    MadAppLauncher

    MadAppLauncher is a free and simple launcher that gets out of your way when not needed. It strives to minimize mouse clicks when launching not only programs but files and folders too.

    Other than using its File menu MadAppLauncher supports dragging and dropping anything (files, folders, programs, shortcuts, etc.) into squares to create a launch space. Its interface is divided into 10 tabs numbered one to 10 each with 30 spaces with their own letter or symbol. To launch any of the shortcuts start MadAppLauncher, either using the tray icon or by using a hotkey (assigned in the Settings menu) then click the number to activate the corresponding tab and then the letter (or symbol) assigned to the shortcut to launch it.

    MadAppLauncher can stay open when working to add shortcuts but go into auto hide mode when in actual use. Another useful feature in its settings is the option to auto activate tabs by hovering the mouse over the tab numbers, this is probably most useful because it may be difficult to remember which tab contains which shortcut and it is a welcome feature to be able to more easily navigate tabs.

    A more advanced feature is the ability to create what MadAppLauncher calls cascading groups. By creating a configuration file one can open any number of programs, files or folders at the same time. A somewhat incomplete but useful explanation is given on the author’s site. Don’t forget to save any current (*.mal file created by using the File menu’s save option) setup before proceeding to create another series of shortcuts or a cascading group. MadAppLauncher is also hosted on sourceforge but I was not able to find its source files. It requires Windows XP at a minimum and is in early stages of development, however it works well.

  • Todomoo: Open Source To Do List

    Todomoo: Open Source To Do List

    Todomoo calls itself a todo manager. It is primarily aimed at keeping track of schedules for paid projects but it can be used as a simple to do list as well.

    Todomoo’s interface is a tab like presentation with each category having its own tab. Tasks belonging to each or all categories can be viewed by clicking on their respective tabs. Tasks are added via the New Task button (or from the program menu: Task —> New Task) and assigned a category, name, description, color and priority. Additionally the new task window offers options to add creation, due and completed dates plus a timer to keep track of time spent on the task. Keeping track of payments is made easy by assigning per hour rates and a due date. Multiple notes can also be added to tasks with the tabbed interface indicating how many notes exists for any particular one.

    Todomoo also supports sub tasks. These are made somewhat more useful because sub tasks can keep their own timers and payment details separate from the main or parent task. Those details can then be added and included when a parent task is complete.

    Tasks can be exported to a *.csv (comma separated value) file. Todomoo can keep backups of its SQLite database. It is available in both installer and portable versions.

  • MemPad: Freeware That Is A More Than A Note Organizer

    MemPad: Freeware That Is A More Than A Note Organizer

    MemPad

    MemPad calls itself a text outliner. It is more precisely a freeware 140KB download which is a notes organizer, one which stores notes in a tree structure.

    It offers basic features for fonts and colors, auto save – in minutes increments and/or automatically as text is entered – search (and replace) across all notes and the ability to export notes. It does have some more advanced features like internal linking between notes (highlight and right click to create links) and linking to system files or programs which can be used to launch anything from web links to executables from within MemPad.

    With a F6 click (or Page —>Diary Page) MemPad creates a diary page for the current day and therefore it can be used as a structured diary program. It is also possible to move nodes and child nodes or pages up and down to restructure the tree. Additionally a page can be locked to provide temporary protection against accidental edits, a sort of read only format. It is also possible to encrypt a page to keep it away from prying eyes.

    MemPad can do more via the Lookup.txt and Launcher.txt files found initially in its Examples folder. The chevron button on the far right of MemPad’s toolbar can be turned into a launcher by populating the Launcher.txt file with statements like Calculator;calc.exe for example – to launch the system calculator. Lookups, done via right clicking highlighted text, can be added with entries like Wikipedia;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/$ for example – to look up the highlighted word in Wikipedia. Note that to use the lookups and the launcher the Lookup.txt and Launcher.txt files must be moved from the Examples folder to Mempad’s root folder.

    MemPad is more powerful than its size or ‘text outliner’ description may indicate. Its help file has more, from how to modify text margins and date formats to how to more efficiently work with its launcher and lookup features.

  • Chit Chat For Facebook

    Chit Chat For Facebook

    Chit Chat For Facebook

    Chit Chat For Facebook is a free application to use in place of Facebook’s in browser chat popup. It includes a few additions to make it worthwhile if you are a regular Facebook chat user and would rather not always have a browser window open for chatting. After installation the user simply logs in using his or her regular Facebook details and is presented with a tabbed interface not too unlike MSN’s Live Messenger interface.

    Its options – accessible via Tools —> Preferences – include a chat logging option (enabled by default), configurable shortcuts for many actions, sorting contacts and changing the fonts and looks of the chat itself. Chit Chat For Facebook can send messages to friends and be used to write on their walls. One can also update his or her own Facebook status.

    When installing it offers to install a browser plug-in, the AutoComplete Pro, which can be refused. It also offers to announce itself, via a status update, to your friends, again this can be refused. Chit Chat For Facebook requires Windows XP at a minimum.