I can’t tell you how many times a day I look for different folders on my PC or on my network shares at work. It’s just a fact of life. To find those folders, the average Windows user has to pull up Windows Explorer (perhaps starting with “My Computer” or “My Documents”) and double-click until they think they can’t double-click anymore… just to find the folder they’re looking for. I personally just hit Start+R on Windows to bring up the “Run” dialog box and then start typing in the full path of the folder I’m seeking. It’s quicker for me than the aforementioned process but it’s still annoying.

Regardless of how you locate your favorite folders day-in and day-out, QuickJump will inevitably replace your current method(s).

Basically, once installed, QuickJump allows you to locate any folder on your computer/network using a keyboard shortcut (CTRL+SHIFT+J). That’s followed by a window that pops up featuring a find-as-you-type index of folder names. Type all or just part of the folder’s name and hit enter. You’re then instantly taken to that folder. The video overview on techhit.com does a great job of showing you how fast the process actually is.

Because you probably don’t want to have every folder name on your computer indexed, the program allows you to specify certain locations. Any folders in those locations will be added to the index.

One of the more useful features of the app is that the window can be activated whilst within a save/save as/open dialog box. Activate the keyboard shortcut, type-to-find  your folder, hit enter and the dialog box automatically switches to the folder you found. That feature alone has saved me quite a bit of time over the last couple of months.

QuickJump is in private beta right now but TechHit has given us an invite code to share with our readers. Just hit techhit.com/QuickJump and enter the following code “fot88392018” (sans parentheses) to download.

TechHit also has a number of other productivity apps including TwInbox (previously OutTwit) for Twitter integration inside Outlook, FBLook (the same thing but for Facebook) and SimplyFile to speed up the process of sorting through your Outlook inbox.

In fact, thanks to a tip from the app’s author, I recently discovered that SimplyFile has a find-as-you-type navigation pop-up (similar to that which you see above in QuickJump) for browsing folders within Outlook. Find the folder you’re looking for and hit enter to automatically file your message. ‘Tis a God-send, right there.

Know of any similar time-saving apps in which =your fellow readers would be interested? Drop a line in the comments.

Starting late last year, Jon Tackabury of Binary Fortress, started tinkering with additional functionality for the application that would add a taskbar to your additional monitors; thus bringing even more precision to the increasingly-frustrating process of multi-tasking.

The additional taskbar works remarkably well and can even blend it with any hacked Windows themes you might be running. (For Vista Aero users, this doesn’t support glass transparency as far as I’ve been able to tell.) Jon released a total of 22 betas to current (and willing) Pro users before officially releasing this functionality, in its final form, to the public this past weekend. You can read more about the release on the official site: binaryfortess.com.

There are actually several other useful features built right in and the surprisingly-lightweight software has two flavors: free and pro. The free version allows for certain keyboard shortcuts and desktop wallpaper functionality but if you want the additional taskbars or to be able to create your own keyboard shortcuts, you’ll need to cough up $20 USD for a Pro license. (Compare the free and pro versions.)

I briefly covered DisplayFusion towards the end of 2007 here on Fans of Tech and I’ve become such an avid user of the software that I wanted to give one of our readers a shot at winning a complimentary Pro license of the newly-launched DisplayFusion 3.0. All you need to do is drop a comment below (tell us why you like/don’t like the software, alternatives you use, how much we rock your world, etc.) and we’ll randomly pick one reader on March 14, 2009 and email them their license. Obviously, you need to submit a valid email address. Regardless of whether you win or lose, I’d highly recommend that you check out the software.

Update: We seemed to be having an issue with the commenting system. All should be fixed now but I’ve gone ahead and extended the deadline until March 17th.

So, if you find yourself using popular applications like AVG Anti-Virus, Firefox, Ad-Aware, QuickTime/Real Alternative, DeepBurner, DVD Shrink, CCleaner, FileZilla or one of hundreds of other brilliantly-useful applications available for download on FileHippo.com, you can ensure they’re all up-to-date by using FileHippo’s automatic updater app.

Alternatively (or, in addition), if you find yourself using alot of niche applications that perhaps don’t get updated all that often, you can still ensure you’re running the latest version by using Ketarin. However, while FileHippo’s tool can ensure your applications are automatically updated, Ketarin goes about the whole process in a different way – by updating the setup packages instead of the installed application itself.

So, for instance, you can have an entire folder (think USB flash drive) with a bunch of different setup applications that are all updated whenever there’s a new release. This way, when you choose to (and/or are forced to) reformat your system, you don’t have to worry about downloading new installs once you’ve wiped your drive… you’ve already got them.

Ketarin might take a little bit more work to get up-and-running with the application titles you want but the possibilities are pretty much endless. For instance, user FranciscoR in the Ketarin forums has uploaded a template that enables you to keep any installation package from PortableFreeware.com up-to-date. All you have to do is input the title ID number from the site (i.e., the "507" in "http://portablefreeware.com/?id=507"). There are several other user-submitted templates for your favorite download sites in addition to tutorials on how to control other powerful aspects of the Ketarin software.

(As an aside, Ketarin is made possible by one of my favorite freeware and shareware burning applications: CDBurnerXP Pro.)

These two amazing and handy utilities are completely free and can save you some headaches while, at the same time, giving you some peace of mind.

Ketarin – Keep Your Setup Packages Up-to-Date…
FileHippo – Keep Your Installed Apps Up-to-Date…

In the case of the latter, Sysinternals Live, all you need to do is simply point WSCC to live.sysinternals.com and the program will provide you direct GUIfied access to every Sysinternals utility… and not a single one of them will require installation on your computer. (Let me add that this is *very* convenient, as you might imagine.)

In addition to the Sysinternals suite, WSCC can also provide an all-in-one GUI wrapper for the Nirsoft suite of utilities. All told, this tool will give you easy access to nearly 240 incredibly useful tools.

And so it begins…

[Update] I just verified the availability of en_windows_7_beta_dvd_x86_x15-29073.iso on TechNet Plus and I’m downloading now. Looks as though Microsoft’s servers aren’t being hammered just quite yet. (Although, I have to admit, they did a remarkable job keeping everything up-and-running for the Vista beta program.)

[via Pocket PC Thoughts]

Those of you who constantly find yourselves frantically searching for your frequently-used folders or files may find the freeware application “Shock Bookmark” to be of some use.

The program adds a drop-down option to your right-click menu in Windows Explorer to which you can easily add shortcuts  to folders, files, other applications and URLs.

(image courtesy of SoftPedia)

If this type of application sounds familiar, you’re 100% accurate: there’s plenty of similar programs out there. First off, there’s Moo0 RightClicker. This one enhances your right-click menu in Windows Explorer by not only allowing you to add shortcuts to your favorite directories but also by enabling certain other types of functionality like “duplicate current window.” There’s a free version of Moo0 available but the full version is going to set you back $38.

Just as a side note: I installed Moo0 a few months back and began noticing that shortcuts to Office 2007 applications from within the start menu stopped working. Turns out it’s an actual issue – caused by a 3rd-party shell extension.

Another great freeware utility for adding shortcuts to frequently-used folders is Folder Guide. I’ve been using this one for some time but the only problem is that you can only add shortcuts to folder and not URLs, applications, etc. like Shock Bookmark can.

As you can see to the left, the Office 2007 Ribbon UI has been added to MSPaint. I’m not seeing too many new options for drawing, editing, etc. but the new interface does make this old program, that we’ve all come to know and love, a little easier to work with. This is the first noteworthy update to Paint’s interface since its release in 1995.

As for WordPad, Stephen offers the following: “Basically, imagine Microsoft taking Office 2007 Word, slimming it down, tweaking the ribbon bar UI a bit, and calling it WordPad.”

Overall, it sounds like these tools will remain pretty simple but it sure will be alot easier to work in them with the new interface.

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