Five Utilities to Rock on Your Vista Notebook
[NOTE: This article first appeared on my personal blog in June, but is better served here. Thus, I have moved it to Tech In Hiding.]
As I have gotten my VistaBook up to par, I’ve been slowly setting on the must-have applications and utilities that make working on my notebook uber-easy. Here are five of my picks:
1. Start++
One of the software categories generating a lot of buzz over the past year or so are the keystroke launchers. Essentially, they are super-charged versions of the classic Windows Run box. Use a special key combination (in most cases, ALT + SPACE) which summons a launcher, where you type in a command that can open a web page, a program, a document, or more. In using Windows XP, I preferred to use Launchy, one of the most popular applications in the category. I was going to use it on Vista until I discovered Start++.
The beauty of Start++ is in it’s absolute simplicity. Windows Vista already has the latest version of the Run box, and has integrated the search functionality into it. So, if you have Windows Search enabled, simply pressing the Windows key on your notebook and start typing pulls up files and documents in the dynamic Start window, which you can quickly select. Start++ takes this a step further by having a small executable running that adds some functionality that other keystroke launchers add, such as custom aliases. So, “g” is already an established shortcut that launches a Google search if I add augments to it (e.g. g Vox Bomb would do a search on Google for “Vox Bomb”). There’s also built-in commands for playing music and pictures.
So Start++ already leverages the simplicity of search in Vista (which should really be touted more) with the one-key launch and provides a small footprint (about 8.5MB RAM). Sounds like a winner to me.
2. RocketDock
Oh no! Why not just by a MacBook and be done with it?
All joking aside, I’ve found programs similar to the Mac OS X Dock much more useful than the Sidebar (which remains turned off on my notebook). There are many free (and a few commercial) options available, but I settled on RocketDock.
A must-have RocketDock docklet is Stacks, which enables the extremely useful feature of the same name on that other Apple OS.
An important tip: go to the location where RocketDock is installed, and right-click on it and go to Properties. Enable the option to run it as Administrator. This way, your settings are saved when configuring certain options like the Stack Docklet.
Let’s see:
Anti-virus program? Check.
Highly-rated? Check.
Works great? Check.
Free? Check.
Why would you want to choose a program like McAfee or Norton over this? I’ve been using Avast for years and I swear by it.
As I have touted using the improved Start > Run box for running programs and file searching, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense if I didn’t include the latest version available of Microsoft Search on this list. I used to be a big Google Desktop Search fan but Windows Search is so integrated with Vista and works so well, I don’t see the point in moving back over. For example, the way Vista’s searches contextualize searches (Files, Music, etc.) is great. Google Desktop’s search (at least from the last version I use) popped open a flat web page, a la “regular” Google. Eh…no thanks. Microsoft has been improving their search to the point now that, Windows Search + Start++ on Vista a killer combination.
5. Filezilla
Maybe this is more of a personal preference, but I have about 200GB usable space that I pay for yearly, and with my notebook, I want fast, easy access to that “cloud.” My preference? Filezilla, an open-source freeware FTP program that is lightweight, powerful, and flexible. I’ve been using it for a while and thus far Filezilla has remained bloat-free (unlike, say, a certain blog author). Highly recommended.
Okay, what are you guying running and recommending on your machines?
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