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Today’s Software
- Folder Options X: tweak a few hidden Windows Explorer settings
- Notification Area Cleaner: remove archaic entries from the Windows system tray settings
- WinMD5 Free: calculate and verify file contents
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About Windows Software of the Day
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 May 23, 2012
Folder Options X
Want to tweak Windows Explorer? If so, you probably like to jump over all the various tweaking tools out there. While not that in-depth, Folder Options X has a few cool tweaks you might not get elsewhere.
Folder Options X has three tweaks. The first, disable full row select, brings Windows back to an older form of selection, where not the entire row but only the name of the item is selected. In Windows 7, generally the whole row, including date modified, etc., is generally selected when you click on an item.
The second tweak is to put column headers in all views. This is a little bit of an odd one. What it does is exactly what it says: it adds the headers you usually find on columns to every view. For instance, you can sort by name/size/date modified from within icons view. It’s really something you have to try out yourself.
The third and last tweak is enabling icon reordering. This just changes the traditional Windows 7 way of dragging and dropping icons from one to another. It’s really not anything amazing.
In total, Folder Options X is a fairly nice tool for changing a few settings around. However, its use is limited by its compulsory installation and its limited number of tweaks.
Price: Free!
Version discovered: v1.2.0.6
Supported OS: Windows 7
Download size: 699KB
VirusTotal malware scan results: 0/42
Portability: Requires installation
Notification Area Cleaner
If you use random programs a lot (like I do), you’ll notice a lot of them add themselves to your system tray. This isn’t too big of an issue; they remove themselves when you close them. However, Windows 7 still remembers them, as it keeps unique settings for each one.
These settings, which are accessible from the Customize option in the overflow tray, can get very crowded very quickly. To clear out all of the settings all at once, you can use Notification Area Cleaner, a sort of reset button for your tray. It will make Windows revert back to all default settings for all apps, leaving the Customize window free and clean.
Price: Free!
Version discovered: v1.0
Supported OS: Windows 7
Download size: 50-57KB
VirusTotal malware scan results: 32-bit: 0/42 | 64-bit: 0/42
Portability: Entirely portable!
Notification Area Cleaner homepage
WinMD5 Free
Want to verify that that file you downloaded got to your computer 100% unharmed and intact? You can verify it with an MD5sum using WinMD5 Free. Often, developers will post “md5sums” of their various downloads on their sites, allowing you to verify what you downloaded. But how do you use these?
First, copy and paste the sum into WinMD5’s verification slot. Then either browse for the file you downloaded or drag and drop it in. Click the Verify button to ensure they’re the same.
If the two numbers are indeed the same, congrats! The file has reached you safely. If they aren’t, try downloading again. The file is most likely corrupted and won’t operate as expected.
Price: Free!
Version discovered: v1.20
Supported OS: Windows 95+
Download size: 249KB
VirusTotal malware scan results: 0/42
Portability: Entirely portable!
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.
