Free Software List for Vista

[MilesAhead]

Thanks Tom. I give credit to Melba23 a Mod on the AutoIt3 forum for the "Toast" function.

 

[MilesAhead]

UrlPack 1.5.0.0

UrlPack 1.5.0.0 is free for you to use at your own risk. It may be downloaded here:

Hotkeys

Just search "Url Pack" for the link.

The idea is to create a set of URLs by dragging from the browser Address Bar or associated icon, onto the Desktop or the URLS folder. This allows you to set the browser to open to a blank page, rather than bogging down coming up with a multiple tab set that's been saved. UrlPack either uses file association and delays to open the URLs in tabs, or creates a command line with multiple URLs. See the Readme.txt "Run Silent" for details.

But, in a nutshell, once you have saved a pack, you hit the hotkey and the browser comes up with those URLs open in tabs. Try it and see if you like it.

All my software is free for you to use at your own risk. See Requirements at the top of all my download pages. Some utilities may only work correctly on 32 bit systems. But most it shouldn't matter. I only have English Language Windows for testing. So I cannot deal with Unicode/Code Page problems. Likewise I have a single monitor system. So multi-monitor support is not possible at the moment.

edit: update : 1.5.1.0 no longer uses .vbs script. Everything is run right out of the AHK_L script now. I recommend updating so it will work on machines without PowerShell installed.

edit: update : 1.5.2.0 Bug fix release. Browser path could be wrapped in double quotes, even if already quoted. Fixed.

edit: update : Url Pack 1.6.0.0 Added Tray Menu command Set URL Folder to change the default URL folder. This allows you to save multiple packs.

 

[tom982]

Re: UrlPack 1.5.0.0

UrlPack 1.5.0.0 is free for you to use at your own risk. It may be downloaded here:

Hotkeys

Just search "Url Pack" for the link.

The idea is to create a set of URLs by dragging from the browser Address Bar or associated icon, onto the Desktop or the URLS folder. This allows you to set the browser to open to a blank page, rather than bogging down coming up with a multiple tab set that's been saved. UrlPack either uses file association and delays to open the URLs in tabs, or creates a command line with multiple URLs. See the Readme.txt "Run Silent" for details.

But, in a nutshell, once you have saved a pack, you hit the hotkey and the browser comes up with those URLs open in tabs. Try it and see if you like it.

All my software is free for you to use at your own risk. See Requirements at the top of all my download pages. Some utilities may only work correctly on 32 bit systems. But most it shouldn't matter. I only have English Language Windows for testing. So I cannot deal with Unicode/Code Page problems. Likewise I have a single monitor system. So multi-monitor support is not possible at the moment.

Works perfectly, thanks!

 

[MilesAhead]

Glad you like it.

 

[tom982]

I was looking for something just like this for my malware removal stuff I spent ages looking at Chrome extensions but nothing worked quite right, this is perfect! Thanks again.

 

[MilesAhead]

I was looking for something just like this for my malware removal stuff I spent ages looking at Chrome extensions but nothing worked quite right, this is perfect! Thanks again.

You're welcome. Make sure to download 1.5.2.0 bug fix release.

 

[tom982]

I was looking for something just like this for my malware removal stuff I spent ages looking at Chrome extensions but nothing worked quite right, this is perfect! Thanks again.

You're welcome. Make sure to download 1.5.2.0 bug fix release.

Thanks for the tip, downloaded it

 

[MilesAhead]

Browser Bunch 1.4.2.0

Browser Bunch 1.0.0.0 is a launcher used with a file full of Urls. The file is specified on the command line. This can be done conveniently using SendTo Menu. Windows Seven Jump List is even better. Pin the program to Taskbar. Drag plain text files full of Urls onto the Taskbar Icon.

If the program is run with no params, it displays usage info.

Here's a screen shot of the Gui Window that pops up allowing you to select your preferred browser for this group of Urls:



As you can see some of the buttons are blank(they are all blank on first run.) If you press a blank button a File Open Dialog will allow you to associate a browser exe with that button. Or you can cheat and just add the paths to your browsers to the .ini file.

The program also has an option to use a filter. Say as example I saved 500 IMDB search Urls to my Urlfile. But I only want to show those that have "wind" in the name like Windstruck or Gone With The Wind. I type wind in the InputBox and only those Urls will be added to the command tail.

As you can see in the screen shot, the label gives the stats on the length of the command tail, and the number of tabs that would open if you launch a browser. Just press Esc Key or click on the 'x' in the corner of the window to abort the launch.

It doesn't have any fancy mechanism to collect urls. But as I noted in the Readme.txt EditPadLite7 will handle the drop of the address bar text from most browsers. Worked with chrome, MaxThon and Firefox. Didn't like Opera. But select then copy and paste works with everything.

edit: update 1.2.0.0 fixed bugs. Offers to set default button to default browser if button is not assigned.

edit: update 1.3.0.0 added a /setup command line switch. Use it to assign multiple browsers to buttons all at once.

edit: update 1.4.0.0 added Glass on Vista and later OS.

edit: still v 1.4.0.0 but it includes a hotkey to capture URLs from Firefox tabs. It's just a macro to automate saving a group of urls to a text file. See the Readme.txt and included FFSS.exe files.



edit: Browser Bunch program is the same. But the zip includes a hotkey macro program BBSS.exe (browser bunch session save) to "automatically" collect the URLs from browser tabs in either Firefox or chrome. Use Firefox or chrome to open a set of tabs. Then hit the hotkey to save the tab set to a text file. Then you can use Browser Bunch to open that set with any supported browser. Much easier than dragging address bar icons one at a time or copy paste.

edit: 1.4.2.0 Now has .ini file option for each of the six browsers to set command line switches. Also includes a marcro program to capture the urls and optionally titles, from the open tabs for Chromium or Firefox.

Download page:

Faves Downloads

 

[tom982]

Re: Browser Bunch

Browser Bunch 1.0.0.0 is a launcher used with a file full of Urls. The file is specified on the command line. This can be done conveniently using SendTo Menu. Windows Seven Jump List is even better. Pin the program to Taskbar. Drag plain text files full of Urls onto the Taskbar Icon.

If the program is run with no params, it displays usage info.

Here's a screen shot of the Gui Window that pops up allowing you to select your preferred browser for this group of Urls:

View attachment 25539

As you can see some of the buttons are blank(they are all blank on first run.) If you press a blank button a File Open Dialog will allow you to associate a browser exe with that button. Or you can cheat and just add the paths to your browsers to the .ini file.

The program also has an option to use a filter. Say as example I saved 500 IMDB search Urls to my Urlfile. But I only want to show those that have "wind" in the name like Windstruck or Gone With The Wind. I type wind in the InputBox and only those Urls will be added to the command tail.

As you can see in the screen shot, the label gives the stats on the length of the command tail, and the number of tabs that would open if you launch a browser. Just press Esc Key or click on the 'x' in the corner of the window to abort the launch.

It doesn't have any fancy mechanism to collect urls. But as I noted in the Readme.txt EditPadLite7 will handle the drop of the address bar text from most browsers. Worked with chrome, MaxThon and Firefox. Didn't like Opera. But select then copy and paste works with everything.

Download page:

Faves Downloads

Thanks Miles, this looks like another great one for my malware removal stuff I'll have a play with it now.

 

[MilesAhead]

Hi Tom. I'm still playing around with how to assign the default browser in a way that it can be easily changed. Presenting all blank buttons on first run doesn't seem like a good idea. I'll try to improve that today.

 

[MilesAhead]

Shape Shift 1.0.7.0

Shape Shift 1.0.7.0 is a Tray Hotkey to change the shape and size of the active window. You may also use it to move the active window in one dimension without it going out of the work area.

Download from this page:
Hotkeys

You should be able to use it just with the About Dialog info. But there's a Readme.txt anyway.

It's designed not to require saving settings. At present the only way to change the hotkeys is by changing the source.

The first screen shot is the Gui that opens when you hit the hotkey on a valid window(one that can be resized.. not Desktop, Taskbar, Dialog etc..)

The second screen shot is the About Dialog.





There are desktop grids to track windows and force them into desktop sections already. The idea of Shape Shift is just to make it easy to change the window to commonly used sizes. Note that when using Toolbar some windows have a minimum size. There's no way to get this info from the window that I know. When moving windows flush to top or side it doesn't matter. But flush to the bottom all I can do is make the calculation, then get the window position and size. If it extended below the work area, then I know it changed the resize to the minimum and I move it up so the bottom is flush.

As noted on my download pages, my window placement programs assume Taskbar is not set to AutoHide. If it is, Windows does not give a work area but only the screen res.

Anyway, anything you need to know should be in the readme. *Source code and custom icon is included in the zip file.


edit: updated to 1.0.9.0 fixed bug in command line param code.

 

[garrysome3003]

thanks for the list of free software for vista.

 

[MilesAhead]

MoveIt 1.1.8.6

MoveIt 1.0.4.0 is yet another window mover/sizer Hotkey. I wrote this after Shape Shift. It's more for power users. It shares many hotkeys. Use of both apps at the same time is not a good idea.

What makes MoveIt more fun is the ability to size and position a window yourself, then assign that to one of the position keys. In other words, it comes with a set of default positions for each hotkey letter, but you can size and move any sizeable window and use the 'z' key to save the numbers to the .ini file. The custom sizing does not compensate for screen resolutions. It just writes and reads the raw numbers and sizes the window accordingly. It's best for people who always use the same screen resolution and work area.

Why use it? Ok, here's a scenario. I don't like to run editors maximized. But I do like them to be sized as a large rectangle near center screen, but not exactly. I like the bottom to be a bit closer to the Taskbar than vertical center would put it. So once I size and position my window how I like for editors, I hit the hotkey, then press the 'z' key. An input pops up asking me what position letter to custom save to. I pick 'c' for Center.

Now, once I have that, I can hotkey on any open editor(or other sizeable window,) press 'c' and it will snap to that size and position. It's very simple. But it lets you assign your own wndow positions and sizes just by using a window, such as Notepad or a browser window. Once you have it perfect, hotkey-z it and save it. No complicated grids, window drag monitors etc.. (although they are fine they are different in approach) just something extremely simple and easy to use.

It's free for you to use at your own risk. Single monitor support only though.

Navigate to this page and search on MoveIt:

Hotkeys


edit: Updated to v 1.0.6.0 Added h and v keys to center active window horizontally or vertically without sizing. Changed Custom Size feature to use percentages of the work area. If values read from .ini file are integers, meaning they were saved by 1.0.5.0 or earlier, they will be processed the same. Otherwise if the values are floating point, they'll be multiplied by the work area dimension to get the placement/size info. The idea is the window should snap close to the same relative position and size with different screen resolutions, provided the work areas are proportionate. (If you are letting the system set the work area then you shouldn't have to do anything special. Just change screen res. If you adjust the work area manually then remember to make an adjustment after changing the screen res.)

edit: Upadated to v 1.1.1.0 Added feature to hold down Alt while releasing mouse from an Explorer Window drag, to snap the window to the quadrant. See About Box and Readme.txt for details.

edit: Updated to v 1.1.8.6 Added Control Shift e hotkey to position open Explorer windows to various patterns depending on the number of windows open. The Explorer windows are sorted according to path/title first.

 

[MilesAhead]

WinDim 1.1.4.0

Ever want to size and/or position a window on your desktop exactly the same as another window without having to size with the mouse by eye? I have. That's why I wrote WinDim. It's a hotkey that sits in the tray. Winkey +g Gets the dimensions of the active window. Winkey +s Sets the size/position or both of the active window. If the target does not have a resizeable border(cannot be resized) it lets you know, but still allows you to position the window or just copy the dimensions to the clipboard.

You may download from my page here:
Hotkeys

Here's a screen shot of the Set dialog

 

[MilesAhead]

PastePath 1.5.0.0

How many times have you opened Explorer and created a new folder. Now you want to save a file from an editor or other program using SaveAs Dialog? The choice then is drill down in the SaveAs Dialog and click the button, or go to the Explorer Window address field highlight and copy, then paste into the SaveAs so you don't have to type in the path.

With PastePath running in the tray, as soon as you create the new folder and it's the active window, then just open the SaveAs Dialog, click to put the focus to the Edit Line, and Control-Right Click. The folder path from the last active Explorer Window is pasted in. A simple hotkey. But it saves a lot of drilling down.

It's free for you to use at your own risk. You may download from my Hotkeys Page

See the Requirements Section at the top of the page.
The zip includes the Autohotkey_L scripts, custom icon, compiled exe and Readme.txt. If you compile it yourself I recommend using the latest AutoHotkey_L 32 bit Unicode build.

Edit: Update to 1.3.0.0 Now saves and restores text Clipboard contents around the path paste.

Edit: Update to 1.5.0.0 Added ability to paste into command prompts. Paths containing space(s) are wrapped in double quotes. See Readme.txt for details.

 

[tom982]

Re: PastePath 1.1.0.0

How many times have you opened Explorer and created a new folder. Now you want to save a file from an editor or other program using SaveAs Dialog? The choice then is drill down in the SaveAs Dialog and click the button, or go to the Explorer Window address field highlight and copy, then paste into the SaveAs so you don't have to type in the path.

With PastePath running in the tray, as soon as you create the new folder and it's the active window, then just open the SaveAs Dialog, click to put the focus to the Edit Line, and Control-Right Click. The folder path from the last active Explorer Window is pasted in. A simple hotkey. But it saves a lot of drilling down.

It's free for you to use at your own risk. You may download from my Hotkeys Page

See the Requirements Section at the top of the page.
The zip includes the Autohotkey_L scripts, custom icon, compiled exe and Readme.txt. If you compile it yourself I recommend using the latest AutoHotkey_L 32 bit Unicode build.

Is this okay to run on x64? This sounds great

 

[MilesAhead]

Re: PastePath 1.1.0.0

Is this okay to run on x64? This sounds great

Yes. This release I reverted to getting the Explorer folder from the title. So it needs "display full path in titlebar" enabled. There's a screen cap in the zip file showing which setting to enable in the Folder View Settings Dialog. I wish I thought of this myself sooner. Some people on another board were talking about a file manager that had a variation on this feature.I don't know how many times I put the cursor in the address bar in an Explorer folder just to copy the path to clipboard. This way at least that part is automatic.

Edit: Update to 1.2.0.0. I changed the hotkey to Control Winkey Right Click. This should avoid conflicts. Now the target window may be any window that accepts text paste from clipboard. For example, a text editor, any dialog with an edit line etc..

 

[MilesAhead]

WizTree

WizTree is a disk space usage analyzer for Windows. What distinguishes it from other utilities of that type is NTFS only compatibility. The reason is it uses the MFTs on NTFS file system to get the disk usage info lightning quick.

On my Windows PC (the one shown in my specs) I think it took 7 seconds to gather and display the disk usage information for drive C:, a 340 GB partition. It's free/donation ware and comes in installed and portable versions.

One bit of confusion, it has an option for Explorer Context Menu. Naturally I thought I would right click a drive and see WizTree in the context menu. But it's the other way around. If you right click a file or folder in the WizTree display the Explorer context menu commands will be visible, if that option is enabled.

 

[Cytherian]

Miles Ahead, thanks a lot for posting about all of this very useful software.

I'm wondering... do you know of a good duplicate file management utility? I have a couple of old external hard drives from the days when I wasn't very methodical about making backups. There are files strewn all over the place. I'd rather not painstakingly traverse all of the files to manually determine which ones I may already have, or as a more recent version. I imagine I could break it out into searches by file type, then create an exhaustive list by storage device using some file listing utility for comparing... but wow, that would be tedious. I've seen signs of tools that might do this, over on CNet, but if you might know off the top of your head of a good tool that could do this it would save me a lot of time. Thanks!

 

[MilesAhead]

I make backups the same way. I copy files raw then make images of the system. But I guess I'm even less methodical. I haven't tried any dupe detector programs. All I can say is try the big download sites like SnapFiles,Softpedia, Alternative Software and SourceForge. Check user reviews.

Also you might want to look on DonationCoder.com forum and search. Often members there are aware of some of the best software, though not always free. I think a lot of them spend more on lunch than I pay for rent. But you might get some ideas.