by Sally Neuman, FileWorld Sysop
June 19, 1998
It's easy to change many system features to make your desktop
more useful and more stylish. You can replace boring and
uninformative folder icons. Files you've deleted can be
permanently purged from the Recycle Bin. You can make windows
open with more flair and style, or even set up a pair of eyes
to follow your mouse cursor across the desktop. This group of
utilities and accessories will entertain you, assist you, and
even direct you to better and more efficient ways of
accomplishing your daily tasks.
- More
Properties: Customize your Windows 95 desktop to change
Windows Explorer properties and Startup options that are tough
to change by hand. You can even edit your Add/Remove Programs
list in Control Panel, making this freeware utility
particularly useful.
- WinSettings
97: Change your wallpaper settings, startup and shutdown
screens, and desktop shell icons with WinSettings. WinSettings
also comes with a tool to automatically convert Web graphics to
wallpapers. And while you're doing the 9-to-5 grind, you can
also play background music, control your screen savers with hot
spots, and more.
- PopOpen:
Make your program windows spring into action like their
counterparts on MacOS and OS/2. PopOpen will snap your windows
open in animated style, and it can run under Windows 95 and
NT.
- AnyFolder:
Assign any icon to any folder on your system. Customize the
icons' appearance for open and closed folders or assign
meaningful icons to your important folders.
- Bar
Eyes: This utility runs from the system tray and watches
over your cursor as you work. A pair of eyes follow your
cursor, and they can even wink if you want.
- Horas
World Clock: View clocks for multiple time zones. Just
select the locations you want to monitor and let Horas do the
rest.
-
Hot
Corners: Don't let anyone sneak up on you and look over
your shoulder at your screen. With Hot Corners, you designate a
corner of the screen to launch your screen saver; when you move
the mouse cursor into that corner, the screen saver kicks in,
concealing your desktop.
- Alarm++
for Windows: Set multiple alarms to go off at various
intervals. You can set each alarm to display a message box,
play a sound, run an application, open a folder, open a Web
site, or even send e-mail.
- Directory
Snoop: Displays erased file names from your system and
purges the file names left behind after deleting files. Works
with FAT12 and FAT16 systems (Windows 95 only) for both hard
drives and floppy disks.
- NoteMaid:
NoteMaid opens text files that are larger than those Windows
Notepad can handle, and it even lets you edit files in hex mode
like you could in the old Windows Write. If you're frustrated
with Windows Notepad's small file-size limitation, this free
program is for you.
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