WinExt is a powerful alternative to the Windows Taskbar
WinExt is a free utility that adds a toolbar to the top or bottom of your Windows PC that provides quick access to a ton of features and programs.
For instance, it automatically grabs the bookmarks from your default web browser and adds them to the URLs menu allowing you to launch your web browser and open any of your bookmarks in just a few clicks. (Arguably, you could already do this in just a few clicks, but this way you can do it without waiting for the browser to load in between clicks).
There are also drop-down menus for files and shortcuts stored on your desktop, in your My Documents menu, and your My Computer area. Programs are grabbed from the Windows Start Menu, and any items that appear in your Windows Quick Start Menu will be added as icons to a quick launch area of WinExt. In other words, WinExt does everything the Windows Taskbar does, and then some, allowing you to hide the Windows Taskbar if you don't need it anymore.
You can also enable a CPU and RAM usage meter, a time and date area, a battery indicator, and an uptime meter. The size of the menu bar can be adjusted, you can customize the theme, and use WinExt to create and store notes. An error message pops up every time you try to save a note, but it seems to store them just fine anyway.
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For instance, it automatically grabs the bookmarks from your default web browser and adds them to the URLs menu allowing you to launch your web browser and open any of your bookmarks in just a few clicks. (Arguably, you could already do this in just a few clicks, but this way you can do it without waiting for the browser to load in between clicks).
There are also drop-down menus for files and shortcuts stored on your desktop, in your My Documents menu, and your My Computer area. Programs are grabbed from the Windows Start Menu, and any items that appear in your Windows Quick Start Menu will be added as icons to a quick launch area of WinExt. In other words, WinExt does everything the Windows Taskbar does, and then some, allowing you to hide the Windows Taskbar if you don't need it anymore.
You can also enable a CPU and RAM usage meter, a time and date area, a battery indicator, and an uptime meter. The size of the menu bar can be adjusted, you can customize the theme, and use WinExt to create and store notes. An error message pops up every time you try to save a note, but it seems to store them just fine anyway.
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Comments
8
Subscribe to commentsblogwardOct 13th 2009 1:54PM
Not bad, but not being able to edit the default dropdown links - like delete IE - is a dealbreaker.
quidamOct 13th 2009 6:30PM
can i display systray icons in it?
robOct 13th 2009 8:06PM
This program is effectively dead, hasn't been updated for months, the author said hes no longer interested in updating it. He mentioned making it open source but said organizing the source code so its readable is a problem.
On a side note i wouldn't want to use any task bar for windows unless i could remove(not hide), the crappy default start/task bar.
crosenblumOct 14th 2009 10:27AM
Why are you reviewing a product that is nice, but is dead, and hasn't changed since 2008?
Brad LinderOct 14th 2009 10:29AM
Because the site is called Download Squad, not frequently-updated-applications squad.
WinExt is a neat application that many people will find useful even if it has a few bugs. And we've never covered it before on the site so I wanted to let people know about it after I first learned about it.
It doesn't really matter if it hasn't been updated in a while. Some of the best applications around are oldies but goodies.
Night OwlOct 14th 2009 9:43PM
+1
Well said, Brad.
crosenblumOct 14th 2009 9:43PM
I like winext, too, and have actually used it. But since there has been no chances since last time it was mentioned, why mention it again?
Didn't mean to be rude...just was wondering...
Brad LinderOct 14th 2009 9:45PM
When was the last time it was mentioned? I did a site search before writing this article and didn't see anything about it.