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Windows has hundreds of thousands of programs. Because of this great volume and lack of a central store, software discovery (aka finding new and useful programs) is extremely difficult. With our Windows Software of the Day initiative, dotTech aims to change that. Everyday we post three programs, allowing our readers to discover new software, daily. Enjoy! [Subscribe to our Windows section to never miss an article: RSS Feed | E-mail]
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Software for March 29, 2012
AquaSnap
AeroSnap is a useful feature: drag a window to the left to make it take up half the screen, to the top to take up all the screen, to the left to take up half the screen, or resize it to the top of the screen to make it take up all vertical space.
But it’s in no way configurable, and it’s only on Windows 7. AquaSnap replaces AeroSnap by making it more configurable and usable on operating systems as old as Windows 2000.
You can set custom rules for what happens when you drag windows to the top, bottom, and even the corners. It’s a truly versatile program and is very useful for anyone who deals with a large number of windows on a daily basis.
Upgrading to the $9 commercial version gives you both the right to use AquaSnap at work and multi-monitor support.
Price: Free for home use with $9 commercial license
Version discovered: v1.6.1
Supported OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7
Download size: 2.0MB
Malware scan: VirusTotal scan results 1/42
Piles
When Windows 7 came out, pinned programs were all the rage. You can do this! And that! I can look at individual tabs as though they are windows!
But their promise never came through, and there were lots of sticking points: for one, you couldn’t pin a folder to the task bar. However, with Piles, this changes. Suddenly, pinning a folder to the task bar is child’s play, and you’ll wonder how you lived without it.
Piles is very simple: you supply a folder and an icon, it’ll do the rest. When it’s done creating your new pile, it’ll open a folder for you to grab a shortcut and pin it. Click the shortcut, and you’re done: it’s pinned!
Price: Free!
Version discovered: v1.3
Supported OS: Windows 7 (requires .NET Framework 3.5 SP1)
Download size: 447KB
Malware scan: VirusTotal scan results 0/40
Hot Corners
Have you ever been at a friend’s house and watched them use their Mac? Often, you’ll see them quickly slide the mouse into the corner of their screen and have some fancy effect go off. Hot Corners lets you bring this kind of functionality to Windows.
Hot Corners lets you select custom actions for when you bring your mouse to the corners or edges of your screen. You can lock, sleep, open My Documents or Control Panel, search, or fiddle with the active window. And it’s easy to set up, too: select an action from the dropdown menu, select a delay speed anywhere from 100ms to 500ms so you don’t accidentally fire your corners, and you’re off!
Price: Free!
Version discovered: v2.2.2.0
Supported OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
Download size: 529KB
Malware scan: VirusTotal scan results 0/43
dotTechies: We have tested all the software listed above. However, Windows Software of the Day articles are not intended as “reviews” but rather as “heads-up” to help you discover new programs. Always use your best judgement when downloading programs, such as trying trial/free versions before purchasing shareware programs, if applicable.
Upgrading to the $9 commericial version
