Tag: SHELL

If you used Windows XP for a long time (who didn't?), one of the biggest changes when moving to Windows 7 or Vista was the massively-altered Explorer. While the new Explorer introduces some useful new features, it also removed just as many -- which is where Classic Shell comes in! We've covered Classic Shell before, but here's the crib note: Classic Shell restores almost every Windows ...

GNOME Shell, the skin on top of the upcoming GNOME 3 desktop manager, can now be easily and safely tested by simply burning a Live CD, making a bootable USB stick, or simply mounting an image in VirtualBox. Fedora, ahead of GNOME 3's adoption in version 15 of the distro, wants people to alpha test with a live image of Rawhide; or if you're not a fan of Fedora, there's also a SUSE-based GNOME 3 ...

One of the biggest changes in the upcoming release of Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal is a change away from much-loved GNOME Shell to Canonical's Unity. Such a big change has garnered a lot of commentary on both sides of the fence, but the truth is, you'll be able to switch back to Shell if you don't like Unity! Still, if you're interested in hearing the reasoning behind the change to Unity, you ...

It seems like just about any time we post a Windows Gadget here at Download Squad a number of commenters lament the fact that Aero Glass isn't supported. Well, this one's for you! DeviantArt user dncube has put together a nice collection of glassed-out gadgets. All the basics are included: clock, calendar, performance meters, Wi-Fi signal strength, RSS feed reader, and weather. The pack also ...

The Windows Send To menu can be incredibly useful. I most often use it to zap files to a USB flash drive, but it's also handy for emailing files and quickly burning files to CD (say, when I'm helping the RCMP retrieve video footage from surveillance DVRs). Still, it could be more useful if I was able to remove a few items and add some additional folder locations. Send To Toys is up to the ...

Earlier this week, I spent some time creating my own Rainmeter config. It's nothing major -- it's based on an existing config, and is just a simple bar which shows the time (in a couple of time zones), the current date, and a large clock. The problem was that I wanted Windows to take this bar into account when maximizing windows; I didn't want the windows to be maximized over it. To make things ...

Wish your Windows clipboard could handle more than one item at a time? Maybe you'd like it to maintain a history of all the things you copy -- text, images, links? Have a look at Clipboard Manager (Clipman), a small, portable application which greatly enhances your Windows clipboard. Just extract Clipman to a folder and double click the executable to let it take control over your copypasta. ...

I admit it -- I'm not much of a Recycle Bin user. Usually if I press the delete key on my Windows system I'm also holding down the shift key for instant vaporization. If, however, you enjoy the safety net that the Recycle Bin provides and you're using Windows 7, you really should check out RecycleBinEx. It's made by the same developers who created FCleaner -- a very capable CCleaner ...

I'm a right-click junky, and I shudder to think about using Windows without that handy little context menu at my disposal. What's even better is my menu after tweaking it with Context Menu Enhancer. The free program allows you to add loads of useful functions like copy and move to folder, open in Notepad, open an Admin command prompt, and even that God Mode shell folder everyone was buzzing ...

Like many of you who use Google Chrome and Chromium, I'm not a big fan of the Aero Peek thumbnail support. I actually prefer one-click access to my browser from the taskbar (rather than having to hover, pick a tab preview, and then click into it). Citing usability issues, the latest Chromium nightly builds have switched off support for Aero Peek. Said Chromium developer Hinori Bono, it will ...

I've never made the jump the the more modern, 3d-style task switching provided by win+tab on my system. Alt+tab works just fine for me, though now that I've got a larger display on my desk at home I would like larger thumbnails. Alt + Tab Tuner makes that tweak as easy as moving a slider. Margins, spacing, and icon position can also be adjusted, and Tuner can also change the transparency level ...

We've covered a few Windows 7 friendly status indicators before -- like these two for monitoring your CPU and memory utilization. Another developer decided to have a go at his own version, and the results are pretty slick. Five meters are available: power, volume, disk, CPU, and memory. The meters are very configurable, with options for custom colors, overlays, and whether or not to launch ...

The Windows right-click context menu is a tremendous time saver. When I introduce customers to it, they're typically amazed at how many tasks it can simplify. Want to add even more useful features to your menu? There are loads of apps which can help (like Open++ and Moo0 Right Clicker), and The Windows Club's Right-Click Extender is a good, easy-to-use option. It's not overloaded with ...

I'm not sure when the last time was that I needed to dig through my start menu. Between the Windows 7 Super Bar and the search box Vista added, there are just easier ways for me to find and launch programs. Still, for some of my customers, friends, and family, the newer menus are just a distraction. They were fine with Windows XP's interface, and they might not want to be bothered learning ...

CMD is still an incredibly useful tool, but let's face it : it's older than dirt, and well overdue for some kind of an update. You could be waiting a coon's age for Microsoft to offer an official upgrade, so you may want to give Console a shot. Console is an open source project that adds both functionality and eye candy to the Windows command prompt. The tabbed interface helps keep taskbar ...