What software, apps, cool little things do you use to make your computing experience more efficent

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coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
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Not talking about regular type programs like office or nero or anything like that. I mean everybody knows about those and they do what you need them to. I am thinking more along the lines of add ons, extensions and other neat little programs. For example some of the dock programs like yzdock. And some of the programs like serious samurize and konfabulator.

ANy others you know of that are neat?
 
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Polishwonder74

Senior member
Dec 23, 2002
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Not to be a TOTAL d*ck here, but take a look at this program:
http://www.3dna.net/

It's a 3D environment (quake/CS/Doom style) instead of a desktop. It's not really 'little' and it's more than an extension, really, but I think it's WICKED cool.

It's at least worth a look. I installed it, thought it was cool, but I don't use it regularly. It's got a HUGE 'gee-whiz' factor though.

:beer:
 
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coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,911
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Originally posted by: notfred
All those add is bloat, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

That they may very well do. But I always run a faster system then what I realy need anyway, so I don't think it will hurt me much. I am more into productivity and looks rather then frames per second or whatever othe rspeed measurment you may use. Obviously if this stuff slows my system to a crawl, then I will not use it. But I am running 1GB of ram and dual 1.6Xeons at 3.0, so I should be okay.
 
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Polishwonder74

Senior member
Dec 23, 2002
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Originally posted by: notfred
All those add is bloat, in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Eh, not if you only use one or two, and they're actually really useful. Otherwise, yeah, then your computer does end up looking like a new Dell or HP right out of the box with the systray loaded up with 40 programs that don't really do anything useful.
 
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notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
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Originally posted by: coolred
Originally posted by: notfred
All those add is bloat, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

That they may very well do. But I always run a faster system then what I realy need anyway, so I don't think it will hurt me much. I am more into productivity and looks rather then frames per second or whatever othe rspeed measurment you may use. Obviously if this stuff slows my system to a crawl, then I will not use it. But I am running 1GB of ram and dual 1.6Xeons at 3.0, so I should be okay.
Click to expand...

I'm more interested in productivity than looks or frames per second. Look at your examples:

Yzdock - adds no functionality improvement, all it does is make pretty looking icons that take up screen space, therefore making me less productive.

Samurize - adds no functionality improvement. It puts a bunch of useless crap on the desktop. If I'm staring at my CPU usage or processor temperature or the current weather, then I'm not being productive. If I can even see the desktop, then I'm wasting screen space that could be used by whatever app I'm trying to be productive in.

Konfabulator - makes widgets. Some of them are functional, like the clock, and calculators, and other stuff that pretty much comes with windows anyway. What does konfabulator add? Just pretty graphics that don't help functionality at all.

These things just don't seem to add anything useful, for the most part.
 
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Polishwonder74

Senior member
Dec 23, 2002
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woah woah woah, easy killer.

I'm just sayin', some things are actually nice. Like 1% of these neat little programs are nice. . .

I've got another example:
I use 1 main rig and 1 extra computer that serves my webcam, a couple html files, burns DVDs, etc. . . I only have 1 moniter, so I remote desktop to the 2nd box. I worry about it working too hard & building up heat, so I use Coolmon coupled with Motherboard Moniter to give me a readout of case temp, cpu temp, cpu usage, uptime, date, time, IP address, and a couple other things. It prints it out as text on the desktop, and it helps me keep from overworking this old rig. It's EXTREMELY customizable. You can have it print out whatever info you want, in whatever order, in whatever font with whatever background (I like transparent), whatever color, etc. etc. etc. . . .

It's kinda useful.
 
DannyBoy

DannyBoy

Diamond Member
Nov 27, 2002
8,820
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www.danj.me
I used to use Coolmon, until I realised how pointless.

The only 'extra' I have for windows is StyleXP.

I agree with pretty much every point notfred made, if I can see my desktop, something's wrong.
 
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coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,911
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Well I agree with some of your points, but not all. I don't use the computer 24/7, so obviously I am gonna see the desktop more often then not. Having the weather on my desktop is a big plus, since I can glance at it in the morning when I get up rather then have to check the web or watch the news or something. While the docks don't really do anythign I can't already do withthe quick launch bar, I do feel they look and work a little better. They can be setup to autohide, so they will consume no needed space. If I could get big quick launch icons without the taskbar looking like crap, then that would be great. But bigger icons means a bigger taskbar, which also takes up space. A calender is nice since I can see the date without hovering over the time in the taskbar. Some sort of notes thing would be great for me to remember some stuff I might forget.


I agree that a lot of the stuff is pointless, but I can see uses for many of the stuff. An itunes remote on the desktop woudl be great for when I want to listen to some tunes without having to open itunes. I do agree that most of the CPU monitors and stuff liek that in programs like serious samurize probablly are useless. Especially on the desktop anyway. There are times when you may want to see how taxed your CPU or memory are, but its unlikely you would be at the desktop during these times. SO again I can see a point for them, just not on the desktop.

I suppose many of the things I want could be done by increasing the size of the taskbar, but again unless I autohide it, it takes up more space, plus I think it looks ugly with the start button at the top and then just blue taskbar below it.

I guess I should have mentioned that in some ways these things will benefit me without me actually being on the computer. But also as I said, Ido care about looks, my computer sits in my living room for anyone to see that may come over. And as I also pointed out when I am not using my computer, which is more often then I use it, I likely have the desktop up, so the better looking the better. Plus if I can look over at my monitor throughout the day and get usefull info without actually using the computer, that would be great as well.
 
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coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,911
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0
Have you tried other notes programs? I haven't looked into them yet, but that is definately one of the things I want the most. Wondering if any of them are better then others? Although what really can I expect from them, other then thier intended purpose?
 
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Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
I use StyleXP because I don't like the deafult windows theme.
I also use a nice little program (IMO) called Statbar.
It allows me to control Winamp from a little bar just above the task bar, and I can also easily time sync if my PC clock gets messed up, it allows me to see up/down rates of my net connection, check CPU usage, RAM usage, desk usage, open CD drives, log off/lock/etc the computer, and view uptime.
Many little, useful features.
Statbar
 
Chebago

Chebago

Senior member
Apr 10, 2004
575
0
0
marcyes.com
Originally posted by: kreactor
drempels desktop for the nice swirliness
Click to expand...


oh yeah, I get a kick out of this, create a batch file to run in low proiority, drop the fps to it's lowest and it takes about 15% cpu, pretty cool...
 
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imported_jb

Member
Sep 10, 2004
171
0
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i think i read about it on this forum, but you do know that you can make other quicklaunch bars on your other screen edges, right?

i use Samurize sometimes just for IP and up/down speeds in the taskbar.
and i use CursorXP.
 
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coolred

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2001
4,911
0
0
Originally posted by: jb
i think i read about it on this forum, but you do know that you can make other quicklaunch bars on your other screen edges, right?

i use Samurize sometimes just for IP and up/down speeds in the taskbar.
and i use CursorXP.
Click to expand...

You can drag the taskbar to any side of the screen you want, not sure how if at all you can move just the quick launch buttons.
 
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DJFuji

Diamond Member
Oct 18, 1999
3,643
1
76
well coolred i think the thread topic is a great idea because im always looking for cool new programs to customize my UI or tweak things. Letsee here..

ClipCache- Saves everything that you copy and paste into an easy to use UI that also allows you to edit text on the clipboard or do things like remove the >> in copied emails. Since i overuse copy and paste, soemtimes i copy over stuff I want to keep. This is also great if you have little snippets of code you use often when programming. You can bind a hotkey to that snippet.

Trillian- Use this instead of 5 different RTC programs. I use the system stats plugin instead of coolmon...one less icon i need to take up space in systray. Does the same thing.

Free download manager. Self explanatory. Keeps good records and addl info on my downloads and can schedule things for download later.

Alcohol 120%: Virtual CD/DVDs

MS OneNote: Virtual notepad with a LOT of added functionality.
 
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