Microsoft Power Tools for Windows XP

With all the bad press about how horrible Windows Vista is, and the fact that Mac OS X Leopard doesn’t much have support for the latest JVM, I think I will be sticking around with Windows XP. Here are some free Power Tools from Microsoft which can make your Windows experience just a bit more pleasant.

XML Notepad 2007
It’s no XML Spy but it is free and it is all you need for viewing or editing simple XML files.

XML Notepad

PowerToy Calc
Allows you to graph custom functions. You can also save the graph as a bitmap.

PowerToy Calc

Alt-Tab Replacement
When you have too many windows open, you can hit Alt+Tab to view the icons of open windows so as to find the one you need quickly. Alt-Tab Replacement adds a small thumbnail of the application window in addition to the application icon.

Alt-Tab Replacement

Virtual Desktop Manager
Adds four virtual desktop, like Leopard Spaces. In each virtual desktop you can place and arrange different applications and easily click through each desktop. From the Taskbar, right click and select Toolbars | Desktop Manager. At the right hand side of the taskbar you will see the numbers 1 through 4, which represents one of you

Image Resizer
Right click on images and select ‘Resize Pictures’ from right click menu.

Open Command Window Here
This small application installs a new right click menu option. You can right click on a directory and find a new Open Command Window Here option which when selected will open a new command prompt positioned at the chosen directory.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,