PowerToys for Windows XP
PowerToys are 14 programs that Microsoft developers have made available for Windows XP. These programs are not included in Windows Update as they are not part of the operating system, but they are available for download from the Microsoft website. The majority of Windows users are not aware that these programs exist as Microsoft does not publise them. It seems that Microsoft does not promote the work of its developers.
The Toys
- Color Control Panel Applet: Manage Windows color settings in one place.
- SyncToy: With new sources of files coming from every direction (such as digital cameras, e-mail, cell phones, portable media players, camcorders, PDAs, and laptops), SyncToy can help you copy, move, and synchronize different directories.
- RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer: Organize and work with digital RAW files in Windows Explorer (much as you can with JPEG images). This tool provides thumbnails, previews, printing, and metadata display for RAW images.
- ClearType Tuner: This PowerToy lets you use ClearType technology to make it easier to read text on your screen, and installs in the Control Panel for easy access.
- HTML Slide Show Wizard: This wizard helps you create an HTML slide show of your digital pictures, ready to place on your Web site.
- Open Command Window Here: This PowerToy adds an “Open Command Window Here” context menu option on file system folders, giving you a quick way to open a command window (cmd.exe) pointing at the selected folder.
- Alt-Tab Replacement: With this PowerToy, in addition to seeing the icon of the application window you are switching to, you will also see a preview of the page. This helps particularly when multiple sessions of an application are open.
- Tweak UI: This PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more. Note that the latest version requires Windows XP Service Pack 1 or Windows Server 2003.
- Power Calculator: With this PowerToy you can graph and evaluate functions as well as perform many different types of conversions.
- Image Resizer: This PowerToy enables you to resize one or many image files with a right-click.
- CD Slide Show Generator: With this PowerToy you can view images stored on a CD as a slide show. The Generator works downlevel on Windows 9x machines as well.
- Virtual Desktop Manager: Manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar with this PowerToy.
- Taskbar Magnifier: Use this PowerToy to magnify part of the screen from the taskbar.
- Webcam Timershot: This PowerToy lets you take pictures at specified time intervals from a Webcam connected to your computer and save them to a location that you designate.
The Favourites
From this collection of programs, the old-time favourite Tweak UI, the ClearType Tuner, the Alt-Tab Replacement, Open Command Window Here and the Virtual Desktop Manager stand out. Also worth downloading is the Windows XP screensaver.
