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Are you a hardcore software fanatic or a poseur?

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cmpm:
wow! where did you get that quick launch setup!
is it here at dc somewhere?
-cmpm (June 18, 2007, 12:35 AM)
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Windows has had the ability to do that since at least Win98, without having to install anything additional to do it.

If you take a folder full of shortcuts and drag it from Explorer to the edge of any of the empty sides of your screen, it will create a toolbar like the one on the left of my screen.

The one on the right side is the standard Windows taskbar usually found at the bottom. I just dragged it to the right side and made it as big as I could.

To add the bars to sort your shortcuts:

Create a folder for all of them somewhere on your hard drive...add subfolders for each category...fill with shortcuts.

Then right click one of the quick launch bars and select toolbars> new toolbar

Select one of the subfolders. Once it has been added, you can customize it by right clicking the new toolbar and choosing your options.

You can have all 4 edges of your screen with toolbars like this, but I personally think more than 2 is just plain crazy.
-app103 (June 18, 2007, 09:14 AM)
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Thanks app103, I didn't realize that was so customizable like that.
I do have new toolbars for 'Bookmarks' and 'Favorites' for quick access.
It sets in my taskbar. Have to scroll them, but there is only like 10 I visit regularly, the others are for reference.

Other programs I use are in the Quick Launch toolbar, by adding shortcuts.

But I don't have near the programs that most have, and only use maybe 15 or 20 regularly. I probably have about 40 actual added programs that are not standard xp issue. 8 programs are in the tray along with the clock.

Curt:
... and Curt), do you really need that amount of software?-Lashiec (June 18, 2007, 01:25 PM)
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Sorry, Lashiec, but what has "need" to do with any of this? You go to the library, you borrow a book, you bring it home, you read it, you go the library, you return the book. These are programs, not books.  That's all there is to it. What is so special abouth that? Notice the small letters below my avatar: ".. IT tester". I test for pleasure, first to see if I can figure out how to use them at all, and secondary to see if they are any good to me. For the fun of it because I am currious. Go to the library, people! :-)

nosh:
Forgive me, I should have been more clear in my first post. I didn't mean Scroll&Capture "a" window - because even the free FastStone version that I am using can Scroll&Capture almost any other window, just not this window - but XP's Add/Remove Programs' window (only).

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I think you were quite clear & that's what I responded to.

In SnagIt - select the 'Region' profile.
In the Profile Settings Input menu -->  Scrolling --> custom scroll.
The capture is a two step process, first you drag the mouse and select the client area & then you click the scroll bar's down arrow. Worked on XP's own Add Remove programs applet.

app103:
4 persons with more than 350 programs????

To the crazy guys there (yes, App and Curt), do you really need that amount of software?
-Lashiec (June 18, 2007, 01:25 PM)
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Yes, I do.

It depends on what you do with your computer as to the type of software you will have installed and how much of it. And I tend to have tools to do everything. It is rare that I want to do something and not already have the tool to do it.

If I only did one thing with my computer I wouldn't need it all and would have a pretty empty taskbar like my daughter's laptop which is used mostly for webmail, web browsing, and communicating with friends over AIM. She could be quite happy with just Firefox, AIM, Winamp, and Paintshop Pro.

But I can't be happy with that because I use my computer for a lot of stuff.

You also have to consider that I love small single purpose freeware tools. I was stuck on an old slow pc with not much ram for a long time and couldn't run a lot of the larger bloated applications...or afford to buy them. I had to resort to using 10 smaller tools to equal one application someone else could run on a newer pc. I got used to doing that and it's a hard habit to break....and I am not entirely sure it's a bad one that needs breaking.

I still don't understand why anybody would open Photoshop or Paintshop Pro just to use the eye dropper tool to find the color in an image when something small like Color Cop can do it.

Imagine trying to run Dreamweaver 4 and Paintshop Pro 7 at the same time on a 233mhz machine with only 64mb ram!  (and the pc didn't meet the min requirements to run Dreamweaver 4 by itself)

Now you know why I have tons of tiny tools.  ;)

J-Mac:
Add another hardcore member to the group.  I just looked and there are 381 programs listed.  What I did was open CCleaner, Tools>Installed Programs, Save as .txt File.  I use NoteTab Pro for my text files (among other files) and it is setup to show line numbers on the left.  381 lines -- each representing one program listed on the Add or Remove Programs menu.

I have to agree with gjehle however, in that all are not truly installed programs.  Some are programs that I installed to one or more of my Pocket PCs via Activesync, and most of those get listed in the Add or Remove Programs menu.  Some have multiple skins and they are often .exe files that are executed on the PC but place the skins themselves on the Pocket PC.

I also beta test a lot of programs, however when the testing is complete -- if I decided it is not for me, or if the developer perhaps does not offer a good price for the full license -- I do uninstall them and then run jv16 Powertools 2007's Registry Cleaner to try and clean up the registry a bit.  I also scan regularly with JAM Software's TreeSize Personal version to find left behind files and folders that I can delete.

But ultimately I still have quite a few programs installed.  Some I use very frequently; some only when I really need to.  All are either utilities that are necessary for running a Windows XP Pro SP2 machine cleanly, some are necessary security applications, but most are programs that I like and wanted to have.   :)

Jim

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