1. Has to be
Launchy, this adds like windows 7 start menu search functionality to Windows XP. Define a hotkey, or have it up all the time. Loads of options. You can pull it up with a hotkey, search for a program, or whatever and open it. You have to keep it all indexed though. So anything you want to be able to look up with Launchy put in your All Programs menu in your start menu. Then on Launchy there is a "Rebuild catalog button". Launchy has different skins, options, like mine I just use alt + space, and it shows up right above my start menu above all other programs. To send it away, load something from it or click somewhere else ( if you have the options setup that way ). Says on site works on
XP/Vista/7
2. Vista Switcher, tons of options, you can make the window stay up permanently or just when your alt+tabing, this is an alt+tab replacement. On Vista this also has window previews, XP doesn't support this though. For this you can right click one of your applications running and click
END PROCESS. Says on site works on
XP/Vista/7
3. ClipX, the best clip board manager. Just right click the icon in your system tray, and click manage. You'll see everything you've been copying and pasting for a while unless maybe you messed with some options to clear them. Says on site works on
XP/Vista/7
4. PhraseExpress! If you type a lot, or just use the computer regularly this comes in handy. You can set this up so that if you typed "yt" it would be replaced by "youtube.com" right after you typed yt. Loads of options. You can make lists too, like if I type "stores" a context menu will popup with names of stores I put in e.g. walmart, target, etc. you can click it with the mouse or use the arrow keys and press enter. It's a little confusing at first but well worth it for lazys. Says on site works on
XP/Vista/7
5. Aero Snap, with this you can drag windows to make them fit the screen a certain way. If you drag the edge of the window all the way to the right edge of the screen it will make the window take up the right side of your screen. Snapping windows around. Says on site works on
XP/Vista
6. allSnap, use this to snap windows to each other, Aero Snap just did the sides now this does window to window, and it can even snap to grid or center of desktop. Says on site works on
win9x/NT/2000/XP/Vista, for
Windows 7 its in beta version said to work though.
7. Update Checker, checks for updates to your programs ( a good amount of programs not all though ) even provides download links for latest versions. If you don't want to see Beta Version's turn it off in settings. Can be run at start up I don't recommend it though because it spazzes out. Site says it works on
Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003, 2000, ME or 98.
8. Paint.NET, really nice Microsoft Paint replacement. Setup sort of like Adobe Photoshop. Has a good amount of features. Plugins, unlimited undos you can't go wrong. Says on site works on
XP/Vista/7
9. XP-AntiSpy, this is a very powerful Windows tweaker. You can turn off Windows Update, Time, Reporting, etc services. Also lots of other tweaks you may have not even known about. If a box is check marked the tweak will be or already is applied. None of this can harm your computer so its unusable, but might mess up some features with it if you check mark the wrong box. Surprisingly sites says it works on
Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7.
10. Soluto, it can check your boot time and how long each program took to load, and suggest you things. Also for internet browsers it will suggest to you which ones to disable because they hog memory or for whatever reason. If your computer crashes this is supposed to tell you why. Still in beta I think but looks promising. You have to sign up in order to download, sort of like Skypes site. Works on
Windows XP so probably works on
Vista/7 too.
Feel free to correct me on any text errors. For now I'm adding unique apps/tweaks ones that aren't common place like CCleaner. So suggest a "unique" one. Has to be Free. Can be a replacement too, like Paint.NET.