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Searching through several menus to find commonly used applications and utilities can be quite annoying.  Today we will look at a program that adds extra functionality for faster computing and increased productivity.

Extensoft helps you avoid the annoyances by offering an unofficial Windows upgrade.  Extensions for Windows includes Enhanced Windows Explorer, Desktop Recorder, Keyboard Shortcut Manager, and Disk Analyzer utilities just to name a few.   This is a handy package of very useful, easy to access upgrades that can increase your productivity.  Lets look at some of the extensions and some of their stand-alone utilities which are available for free.

After installing the Extension For Windows package you decide which components you want to include and update them.

Much like the way Shell Menu Tools works, Extensions also integrates into Explorer so we can easily access their functions from context menus.

In this example we are easily able to access the Disk Analyzer utility to find what is taking up hard drive space.  This extension is also available as a free stand alone utility.

Another very cool feature to point out is the Explorer Extension which really enhances the Windows Explorer experience and allows for configuration for easier navigation.

We can easily go in and change various options for each extension from the Extension pack interface.  You can also tweak options while individual utilities are running.

Conclusion

Extensions For Windows is definitely a nice addition for the Windows power user who would like most of the features available easily rather than spending time downloading separate applications for each feature.  Extensoft offers a free 90 day trial for their package which contains 12 extensions and is only $19.95 after that.  They also offer these free stand alone utilities.

• Free Screen Capturer
• Free Disk Usage Analyzer
• Free Extended Task Manager
• Free Video Converter

Download Extensions For Windows Work On Vista & XP (32 & 64 bit)

Source: How-To Geek

I’ve been searching for something like this forever; the awesome desktop customization company Stardock finally came up with it. Many people want a “clean” desktop. Not me… I keep all my “current” stuff in view… I don’t care so much about looking at a pretty wallpaper (though Fences will help with that if you want it to). My PC is there to do work and my desktop has my current workload.

Fences lets you organize your desktop into icon groups and then you can hide your icons when they’re not in use. A “Fence”, a term coined by this program, is an icon group on your desktop. This doesn’t replace your current desktop, it just augments it and allows for better organization of your existing desktop.

In short, Fences allows you to draw labeled shaded areas on your desktop, which become movable & resizable containers for your desktop icons. You can then use these groups to organize your computer’s desktop. Messy desktop’s say goodbye!

Basic Features

Rope off your desktop
Fences allows you to create shaded areas on your desktop that you can place icons in. You can label them however you wish, and move/resize them anywhere on the desktop. Pre-included layouts help speed the process for new users.

See your wallpaper again! Quickly hide & show all your icons with an easy double-click
Double click blank space on your desktop, and all your icons will fade out. Double click again, and they’ll return. We think this feature is so useful, we’re applying for a patent on it. And with the upcoming Fences FeaturePack / included in the community preview, you can even pick icons and individual Fences to exclude.

SmartFences, snapshots, skinning, automatic scaling (for screen size changes), and more

Fences is a great tool to have – and with Fences Pro FeaturePack, it’s even better. The Fences FeaturePack is not yet available, but sign up here to be notified when it is.

• Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7
• On Vista and Windows 7, both 32bit and 64bit versions are supported.
• Fences is free (at least while it’s in beta) and you can grab a copy from Stardock here.

QTTabBar is an add-in that gives a Tab Browsing Feature to Windows Explorer. The page is pretty sparse so there’s not a lot of information directly available. However, the forums on the site show there is a bit of activity going on this project. Essentially, QTTabBar gives you tab features like in your browser. Cool idea, wonder why this isn’t baked right into the OS as it is? I know I hate having a bunch of Windows Explorer windows open!

QTTabBar requires Windows Vista or Windows XP + .Net Framework 2.0 or later ( Tested on 32bit ). You can download QTTabBar, plugins, and themes all from the main site: http://qttabbar.wikidot.com

Mac users love Expose. DExposE2 is a clone of Mac OS X’s Expose feature for Windows XP and Vista. Aside from the basic Expose featuresDExpose2 features a handful of extra features like interactive previews, hot corners, multi-monitor support, and more. You can get DExposE2 as both a portable and installable application. Hit the portable install if you want to check it out without installing anything or if you’re sure you’ll use it hit up the full blown application.

DExposE2 can be downloaded at Devrexster.

You can also check out this video to see it in action:

“Oh lord, not another Vista article!” Like me, I’m sure many of you might be thinking something along those lines whenever you see an article with the word ‘Vista’ in the title these days. We’ve had what can only be described as a plethora of articles on Windows Vista, almost all of them repetitive, one-sided and of little practical use. Some of them have bordered on the absurd, such as Infoworld declaring Windows Vista to be the second biggest tech blunder in history, giving as its reason a one paragraph description that serves more to highlight the author’s ignorance than provide any actual logic for their decision. We’ve been suffering under the weight of these nonsensical, sensationalist and opinion-laded pro- and anti-Vista articles for far too long.

So what makes this Vista article any different? The title provides a clue: it’s as much about providing practical working solutions to resolve some of the commonly-quoted Vista annoyances as anything else. That in itself should give all Vista users a reason to read it. However it doesn’t matter whether you use Vista or not, because this article does something that most of the others don’t: it takes an objective and up-to-date look at the current state of Vista, with a range of facts, clear examples and informed opinions aimed squarely at debunking a lot of the myths and FUD we’ve been gagging on for the past year. So for those of you still considering whether to make the switch from XP, for those of you who want to abandon Vista and go back to XP, for those of you who used Vista a while ago and who are wondering whether it’s worth using again now – this article puts things in perspective with the latest facts.

What this article doesn’t do: it doesn’t try to make you believe that Vista is the greatest (or worst) thing since sliced bread. It doesn’t try to force you to think a certain way by taking liberties with the truth just to prove a point. It doesn’t try to highlight how witty and incisively sarcastic I can be. And most certainly this article doesn’t try to dazzle you with technical jargon.

Read the full article over at TweakGuides.com