Download - Desktop
Alt-Tab Thingy
Nymithium Technologies - (Freeware)
If you are not familiar with the Alt-Tab task switcher in Windows, it's a keyboard short-cut (hot-key) to enable fast switching between applications/windows. This feature has been in Windows since Windows 3.0 and is largely unchanged since Windows '95!
Alt-Tab Thingy is a replacement to add brand new features to help you switch tasks faster and more efficiently than ever before!
- Use the cursor keys to make your selection
- Use the mouse as well as the keyboard
- System tray icon
- Drag and Resize windows by clicking anywhere on thewindow
- Window preview
- Can be disabled (handy for games players)
- Settings window for enabling/disabling features
- Informative tooltips
- Ghost windows!
- Auto Off feature (user controlled variable timer)
- Allows minimizing of windows to the system tray
- Monitors windows for change of caption/z-order/deadtray icons etc...
- Display resolution selector
- Icon/List view
- Variable preview size
- Mouse wheel support
- Automatically minimizes or closes Explorer windows
Launchy
Josh Karlin - (Open Source)
Launchy is a free windows utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager.
Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes!
Once Launchy has been started, it hides in the background. You bring it forward by holding the alt key and tapping the space key. You then type in a few keys of the program you are searching for and hit enter once it has been found. You can also make Launchy dissappear again by hitting escape or alt+space.
Launchy is developed to run on XP, however you can try downloading the gdiplus.dll and unzipping it into your Launchy directory to get it to run with Win2000.
ObjectDock
Stardock - (Freeware)
ObjectDock is a program that enables users to add a "dock" to their Windows desktop that contains short-cuts, running tasks, and "docklets". It is highly configurable, easy to use, and very useful.
New in this version:
- New included Search docklet that can search Google, MSN, Yahoo, or elsewhere.
- Improved system tray support in Plus version.
- New languages supported
- Fixes to the per tray icon feature and sysstats integration
- Better Unicode support
- New "/settingsfolder" switch
- Separators supported in tabbed docks
- Zooming icons in tabbed docks
ObjectDock is freeware. A plus version is also available that adds tabs, system tray support, task grouping, and hotspot support.
Rainlendar
Rainy - (Freeware)
Rainlendar is a customizable calendar that displays the current month. It is a very lightweight application that doesn't use much system resources or take much space on your desktop.
- Small and lightweight
- Different type events can have different appearence
- Supports Windows transparency
- Synchronizes events between several clients
- Localized for multiple languages
- Shows an alarm when an event is due
- Supports iCal files.
- Shows Outlook's appointments
- Includes a todo-list
- Works also as Litestep plugin
- Displays the current date in tray icon
- Can stick to the desktop (i.e. doesn't hide with Show Desktop)
- Hotkeys for quick access
- Easy skinning with an UI
RocketDock
Punk Software - (Freeware)
RocketDock is a smoothly animated, alpha-blended application launcher that is similar to ObjectDock. RocketDock renders quickly like MobyDock, has the visual sharpness of Y'z Dock, and the stability that neither seem to possess.
It is compatible with every dock skin format we are aware of. In fact, if you have a skin that doesn't load properly, send it to us, along with a screenshot of what it should look like and we'll see what we can do about integrating the format... Features:
- Compatible with Y'z Dock, Mobydock, and ObjectDock skins
- Basic ObjectDock Docklet support
- Unicode compliant
- Simple drag-n-drop interface
- True multi-monitor support
- Supports alpha-blended PNG icons
- Items zoom on mouse over
- Auto-hide
- Popup on mouse over
- Layering options
- Fully customizable
- Runs great on slower computers
- Supports many languages and can easily be translated
- And best of all....it's FREE
Samurize
Samurize.com - (Freeware)
Samurize is the popular advanced system monitoring and desktop enhancement engine for Windows. IT professionals, overclockers, gamers and desktop modders alike use Samurize for system information, weather reports, news headlines and much much more.
Samurize's features include:
- an unrivaled set of built-in meters (Disk utilization, CPU usage, network traffic, system temperatures...)
- ultimate customizing and skinning possibilities with no programming knowledge required
- monitoring your own computer or others over a network
- tiny memory footprint and CPU usage
- the first system monitoring tool with a true WYSIWYG editor
- full extensibility via scripts and plugins with a powerful plugin SDK/API
- minimal software requirements (no .NET or Service Packs necessary)
- multimonitor support
- many usage options (desktop, taskbar and clock clients, server outputting to XML or image formats, screensaver)
TaskSwitchXP
NTWind Software - (Open Source)
TaskSwitchXP is an advanced task management utility that picks up where the standard Windows Alt+Tab switcher leaves off. It provides the same functionality, and adds visual styles to the dialog and also enhances it by displaying thumbnail preview of the application that will be switched to.
TaskSwitchXP also has a powerful process and window management capability that allows you quickly to close/minimize applications and their groups. The unique capabilities of TaskSwitchXP make it useful for tracking down multitudinous windows, and provide insight into the way Windows and applications work.
- Small and FAST
- Designed for Windows XP, based on XP Visual Styles
- Window snapshots as thumbnail preview
- Task management capability
- Highly configurable
- Full mouse and keyboard control
- Multilingual user interface
- Full source code available
WindowBlinds
Stardock - (Shareware)
WindowBlinds is a program that enables users to safely add thousands of new visual styles to Windows to change the look and feel of your computer.
With skins, WindowBlinds can change the look of:
- Title bars
- Borders
- The Start bar
- Progress animations
- Explorer Views
- and virtually every other part of Windows
Y'z Dock
Oxygen-inc.com - (Freeware)
Y'z Dock is a program toolbar, very much like the dock in MacOS X. It is no longer being updated but still has a very large user base.
The application had huge interest when it was first released, but due to a cease and desist order from Apple, the author has had to stop development.
To add icons, drag and drop a file (.exe, shortcut, etc.) straight from Explorer to the dock area. In order to delete an icon, drag and drop the icon out of dock. Place the PNG images for your icons in the icons folder. Right-click on the icons in the dock, choose 'Property' and choose your icons images there. Right-click anywhere on your dock background and choose 'Setting' to change the settings that apply to the dock itself. The clock and the trash bin have not implemented.
Yahoo! Widget Engine
Yahoo! Inc - (Freeware)
Yahoo! Widget Engine (formally known as Konfabulator) is a JavaScript runtime engine for Windows and Mac OS X that lets you run little files called Widgets that can do pretty much whatever you want them to. Widgets can be alarm clocks, calculators, can tell you your WiFi signal strength, will fetch the latest stock quotes for your preferred symbols, and even give your current local weather.
What sets this apart from other scripting applications is that it takes full advantage of today's advanced graphics. This allows Widgets to blend fluidly into your desktop without the constraints of traditional window borders. Toss in some sliding and fading, and these little guys are right at home in Windows XP and Mac OS X.
The format for these Widgets is completely open and easy to learn so creating your own Widgets is an extremely easy task.
For the "skinning" crowd, Konfabulator is a dream come true. You can easily change the look, feel, layout, even functionality of a Widget so that it matches your lifestyle, your desktop, or the pants or skirt you have on that day.