Tag: windows

Freeware Shorts: System Explorer (Everything About Your Computer)

System Explorer (Version: 3.6.2 as of this post) bills itself as a system management tool and an explorer of system internals. It is more than just a system profile builder. System Explorer provides lots of, almost too much, information about many aspects of the system or computer in a tabbed interface. Some tabs are open and visible when starting the program, others can be opened in the Firefox new tab style by clicking the + button to the top right and choosing from the available sections. Most sections or tabs have additional capabilities via a right click. Examples include terminating processes, copying file paths to the clipboard, virus checking a file online on virustotal.com and many more.

System Explorer also has a status bar at the bottom with CPU, RAM, swap file and other usage information. A similar graphical overview is also available via the color of its tray icon or hovering over the icon itself.

Tasks is like the windows task manager’s Applications tab, it provides a list of open programs. Processes list all running processes with process id (PID), CPU time, memory usage, ‘sub’ processes, parameters the process may be running with, online security check (click the security check icon and any details available in the system explorer database will be shown online) and more. Also like many other sections, System Explorer has a search feature near the top right.

Modules lists the dll files the running programs are using, like some other sections this can be filtered to not show Windows’ own. Performance (see image) shows graphs for overall processor or CPU, page fault, swap, network connection, kernel and physical memory usage and lots more. Services list all services running with their driver type, name and startup type or mode (automatic, manual or disabled). Drivers lists all drivers running on the system including name, startup type and location/path. Windows is much like Tasks but has a list of all open windows, so if several instances of one program are open you see them here. Autoruns has a list of all processes or programs that run automatically on startup. Uninstaller has the shortcuts to uninstall programs. History is like an event viewer of sorts in that it contains a list of all recent actions, for example “New TCP/IP 127.0.0.1:1113 PID=3292 “Palemoon.exe””. Snapshot takes snapshots of the file system and registry and saves it for future comparison.

There are additional sections that list Users, Security Info with basic information on anti virus and Windows firewall states and Additional Info with lots of information on the system like Windows serial number, computer name, system folders, system date, audio and video codecs, fonts, file types and lots more.

It is really necessary to explore the program or have a look at the online help to really discover all its features. System Explorer is free for personal use and runs on Windows XP and newer versions.

November 25, 2011
Freeware Shorts: Sys Information

Sys Information (Version: 7.0 as of this post) is a system information or profile builder. Run it and after a few seconds it builds and presents a profile of the computer in a tabbed interface.

The tabs are as follows:

Overview tab includes operating system, edition, service pack, motherboard model and processor type. Also system uptime, (external) IP address and internet connectivity status. The check for the latter can be disabled using the program’s settings (gear icon on the top right).

Operating System has more information on the OS like system directory, install date, user and serial number or product key.

Motherboard provides BIOS version, release date and manufacturer plus the motherbaord model and serial number.

Memory shows live memory usage and information on the maximum RAM the system supports plus info on the RAM sticks already installed including the banks or slots they are installed on.

Processor provides live processor usage and information on the architecture (32 bit or 64 bit), cache size, number of cores and clock speed among others.

Graphic Card provides monitor and GPU info but in the case of the (somewhat older) system tested for this review the information was not available.

Peripherals has information on mouse and keyboard including manufacturer, type and device ID.

Installed Software shows a list, much like the one seen in the Add/Remove programs applet of the control panel plus a total number of programs installed. Click on a program and you can uninstall it from within Sys Information.

Running Process is also a list of course, with a total memory usage of each process and the program or process ID. Surprisingly this requires a manual refresh (using the button on the top right hand corner).

Harddisk shows a list of all physical, removable and CD/DVD drives attached to system, their size and device letter and using S.M.A.R.T. a temperature reading of the harddisk. Also a section on any partitions that may exist on the physical drives.

Sys Information requires the .NET Framework 2.0 and is licensed under the GNU General Public License.

November 14, 2011
Freeware Shorts: Belarc Advisor (System Information)

Belarc Advisor is a highly rated and detailed program that builds a profile of any Windows computer and presents it to the user in html format to review in a browser. The detailed system profile includes installed software and hardware, network details, missing and installed Microsoft hotfixes, anti-virus status and also security benchmarks.

Belarc Advisor begins by asking and downloading security advisories to accurately check the system for the latest security and hotfixes released by Microsoft. It then starts to build a profile, a process that usually takes a couple of minutes, it will also survey the local network for information about the network the computer may be on. When the process is complete the report opens automatically in the computer’s default browser.

A non-exhaustive list of information included is operating system and system users which includes users’ last accessed date(s), system model (if possible with a link to the manufacturer’s support site), processor, graphics card and display specifications, motherboard model, (any) virtual machines running, USB controller and devices used in past 30 days, any local and network drives plus a network map of sorts, any printers installed, virus protection information and details about all installed and any missing hotfixes (KB numbers, release dates and some information about them via a link to the Microsoft’s knowledgebase site). Perhaps most useful to some is a list of any product keys it can find, including Windows’ own and a list of all software installed as well.

Belarc Advisor keeps the information local on the computer. It runs on computers as old as Windows 95 and is free for personal use.

October 31, 2011
Clipboard Master: Freeware Clipboard Enhancement

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.

December 22, 2010
Freeware Quick Cliq Is An Innovative Launcher And More

Quick Cliq, packed into a single executable, is an interesting launcher and productivity tool. It incorporates launching files, folders, URLs and emails with an enhanced clipboard utility and the ability to keep text snippets as memos. It also supports a number of Windows manipulation features.

The program interface is launched by choosing the Add/Change item via its tray icon or via – the configurable – Win+Z keys. The options for configuring hot keys and mouse gestures are found under the settings menu. Other settings include enabling features such memos and setting colors and such things as adding the program to the Windows context menu.

The program is divided into four main sections or features each launched in it own configurable way. They are described below.

Accessing the Main menu: hold right mouse button and move mouse down or the aforementioned Win+Z if using the keyboard. Here you can create quick launches by adding folders, files, URLs, and email addresses in a sort of a list that will then be available for using the same mouse gesture or key combination.

Windows menu: hold right mouse button and move mouse right or Win+C keys. The Windows menus allows you to hide or show windows and a few others settings like choosing to keep a window on top. When windows are hidden any one of them can be previewed by hovering over their name in the windows list while pressing the Ctrl key.

Memos menu: hold right mouse button and move mouse left or Win+A keys. Add as many memos as you need and then send them to clipboard or automatically add them to the current open window.

Clips menu: hold right mouse button and move mouse up or Win+X keys. This is where the program is on the innovative side of things. In addition to holding up to nine clipboard items it is possible to append or add data to any one of the existing clips. As the tutorial video on the developer site shows suppose a user needs to copy only certain paragraphs from a long page or text into a new clip. Using Quick Cliq instead of repeatedly selecting the text and then pressing Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V while going back and forth between the long text and the new clip or document the user can press Ctrl+1 (the 1 represents the numbered clip item so it could be any of 1 to 9) to copy and then press Alt+1 to paste, all without leaving the original long page or text. Then to append or add to the clip (clip 1 in this example) other text can be selected and added to that clip or document simply and only by pressing Ctrl+Win+1.

Quick Cliq is in active development and in addition to the video tutorials it is also a good idea to follow the developer blog. It requires Windows XP as a minimum.

October 23, 2010
Listary Makes Searching Easier

Listary is a windows program that helps the user search for and find files faster but it is not a normal search tool or utility. It is activated using the (customizable) Win+W keys and its interface consists solely of a small floating box (see image). When a list of files is open pressing the program hotkey and then immediately typing a few letters of the file name one can filter down to a file name and therefore locate it. The strength of Listary is that it supports many lists or windows, these include but are not limited to Windows Explorer, Task Manager, Registry Editor, Windows Desktop and the file Open/Save dialog box. The program options (accessible via the program’s tray icon) lets the user change the search mode to what it calls traditional search. In traditional search one must type the first letter of the file name – instead of any any letter in the file name, a feature of Listary’s Default search mode – to start a search. Listary also supports the use of wild card characters (* and ?) in its traditional search mode.

Typing / in the same floating box presents the user with a set of predefined shortcut or commands. These include opening the command prompt in the same directory as the open list or window, copying folder paths and others.

Additionally Listary reserves the Win+A keys to open the system’s default text editor so that the user can have quick access to a text editor. A good use of this Listary feature is when a text area (gmail’s compose email window for example) is active or in focus then the text editor will automatically contain any text already typed so one is ready to continue editing inside the text editor.

The aforementioned text editing feature doesn’t really belong to a program geared mainly towards search but is a welcome one. A video on the program’s homepage showcases its features with a few examples. The program runs on Windows XP, Vista and 7 and has a pro version with support for regular expressions and a few other extras.

July 23, 2010
Freeware Nimi Places Provides A New Way To Organize Your Desktop

Nimi Places is described by its author as

Simple way to organize and keep important folders on desktop

Nimi Places does things a bit differently, in practice or in theory an empty desktop devoid of any icons would use Nimi Places to assign movable or drag-able regions of it to important or often used folders. In other words Nimi Places creates opaque or transparent areas or windows where the contents of a folder will remain or become visible when needed. Nimi Places is, in a way, creating visual and somewhat workable shortcuts to folders while at the same time keeping the desktop clean.
After running the program and left clicking the tray icon one can add places by clicking the + sign and choosing folders to create places for. Nimi Places allows most normal file operation inside these ‘places’. Copy and pasting and renaming file to name two. However it seems none of moving or dragging and dropping work or are buggy, indeed a few of the other operations listed on the Nimi Places page are not available or unworkable in the version I downloaded.
Nimi Places is lightweight and very interesting. At its most basic it does a good job creating a new desktop experience. It is, however missing help or a clear explanation (perhaps there is a pro-version?) and even its “HD streamed video clip” – available on the home page linked at the beginning of this post – shows features that are not available or not possible to do on an XP machine.

June 5, 2010
RBTray: Save Some Taskbar Space

There is not a lot to say about RBTray other than it is a small (total size of the unzipped program which includes RBTray for both 32 and 64 bit systems is 220KB) program that once double clicked will run in the background and adds one useful function to the minimize button of almost any Windows program.
Instead of left clicking the minimize button right click it and the Window is minimized (iconized) to the system tray instead of the task bar. This saves valuable space in XP and Vista systems. RBTray can be added to the Startup group (a how-to example http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/hwandprograms/autorun.mspx) to start with Windows and can be terminated via any of the minimized icons – right click the icon and choose Exit RBTray. Alternatively RBTray can be terminated via the command line or in the system’s task manager.

May 15, 2010
PowerPro Is The Ultimate Freeware
I have been using PowerPro for years. It is the grandfather of all launchers, utilities and lots more. There is so much that can be done with it. To list all its features would take pages and additionally its scripting capabilities make it almost limitless. It does have a learning curve and since it has existed for years it perhaps does not rank as the most intuitive. Over the years it has slowly evolved however and offers so much.

Just to name a few, very few, of what it can do
- Watch the clipboard
- Watch recent documents and more importantly recent apps used
- All kinds of Windows operations like shutdown and minimize
- Virtual desktops
- Scheduler
- Creating bar and menus
For anybody who is not familiar with PowerPro, it really is the most complete freeware. Be sure to follow the links on the program’s site to the Yahoo! groups listed.
March 16, 2010
Pitaschio: Multipurpose Freeware Utility For Windows
Pitaschio, not Pistachio!, is described by its author as

Pitaschio is a freeware which makes it convenient to use Microsoft Windows

Pitaschio is a utility that enables a user to automate many tasks or to simply be more efficient with the keyboard and the mouse. At the same time it can be perhaps too much since for example upon launch it disables a few things, notably the Windows key and the option to maximize a window. These behaviours can of course be turned off in its settings but nevertheless they are perhaps not the most needed of default actions. Some other keys that can be disabled include F1, Insert and Caps Lock. The latter is perhaps most relevant as many prefer to use the shift key when capitalized letters are required.

Some of the features in the Configuration section of Pitaschio can be seen in the image accompanying this review. They include the following:
- ‘Snap’ makes sure windows are placed side by side, and not overlapping, on the screen.
- ‘Place a window only in the screen’ restricts the move and resize options so that no part of a window can move out of screen view.
- ‘Use small icons’ reduces icon sizes both on the desktop and inside Windows Explorer
- ‘Send to under-cursor-window’ is one of the more interesting settings. It allows the mouse wheel to operate (scroll) the window it is positioned on and not the foreground window.
- ‘Parent folder by double click’ creates a pseudo-breadcrumb effect where double clicking an empty area in Windows Explorer opens the parent folder.
The Windows settings or section work on any open windows (which are always listed in the text area near the top of the settings window (see image)). Among others, one can minimize and hide windows, make them transparent, resize them and bring them to the foreground.

The Mouse shortcuts settings, accessible through the program’s system tray icon, provides a long list and choices affecting the desktop, title bar and task bar. Many options are included like, but not limited to, Show Desktop, Open Task Manager, Toggle Topmost State and others. Each option is assigned to key combinations like double click and shift+double click.

Disabling the keyboard and/or the mouse is one additional helpful feature of Pitaschio. It is beneficial because it can prevent a child or pet accidentally entering characters onto a document and it makes cleaning the keyboard and mouse easier too.

Pitaschio’s manual page has a fuller explanation of each setting but using the program itself may be enough as well.

It is possible to add the names of programs that do not work or one does not want to be affected by Pitaschio to the Ignore.txt file that resides in the program’s folder. Since Pitaschio happens to not require an installation its folder can reside anywhere. It should run on Windows 2000, XP and Vista (it is not tested on Windows 7).
December 8, 2009