Power Toys

Hi. You know how sometimes you wish Windows could do some stuff it can't do... that there are a few things that just should have been included in the operating system?

Well...the Microsoft developers have created a set of very cool utilities that aren't official products but are available to people to improve their Windows experience. These Power Toys are for Windows XP only (sorry Vista people) and are free!

I won't hold you back if you want to go to the Power Toys site by clicking here or you can read for another couple of minutes and I'll tell you the few 'gotta haves' from the Power Toys library. There are 14 Power Toys and you can grab 'em all or just some. Here's what I have installed on every PC I use:

• alt-tab replacement. You do know you can switch between open applications by holding the alt key and pressing tab, right? You cycle through the open programs by pressing the tab key. Usually Windows shows you the program's icon. This Power Toy lets you see a preview of the page as you alt-tab through the programs. .
  
• tweak ui (ui stands for user interface) gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.
• image resizer is my favorite Toy. You can select one or more photo files (jpgs), right click, and make a full size pic small enough to conveniently email with 3 clicks!
  

There are other excellent Toys there and I've played with most of them. These three are 'gotta haves', though....

So now go to the Power Toys website by clicking here and grab a few of them to make your Windows experience better!