Cool Tools III

Have I already said that software roundups are starting to get lame? I'm speaking directly
to this month's issue of PC Magazine. Specifically, portions of
its 10th Annual Utility Guide. For the most part, they listed the
“top” contenders in each category. I have no real argument against
their recommendations on the whole. My true beef? None of them
were all that new. I used to love picking up a magazine to learn
about something I hadn't heard about before. Partition Magic wins.
Again? Norton AntiVirus wins. Again? Why were only the two most
popular disk partitioning tools reviewed? Why were only the two
most popular disk imaging tools reviewed? Why did they feature
FTPx (a free client which hasn't been updated for years) instead
of SmartFTP (a free client that was updated at the beginning of
this month)? The System Tools and Tweaks section was (by far) the
most interesting, although it was far from comprehensive. If only
my hard drives were big enough. Then again, USB 2.0 / FireWire
data storage devices are just now starting to come out in full
force.

Texture Processor v1.3 [504k] W9x/2k/XP FREE

http://www.paurex.com/?products&prod=tp12

{Textures you make} This graphics program is aimed at Web
designers and 3D artists, but who says the rest of us can't have a
blast with this thang? If you haven't played around with textures
before, this program may take some getting used to. Stick with it
though, and you should be creating some pretty cool designs in no
time at all. "Texture Processor is the unique program for creating
various textures. The basic algorithm placed into the heart of
Texture Processor allows to get practically unlimited quantity of
complex textures in a minimal amount of time." You might remember
I mentioned this briefly a couple of weeks ago. It's so cool, I
thought it was worth repeating. Seamless images (suitable for
background tiling) have always been cool to use, but making them
has always been a pain; Paint Shop Pro's built-in tool has always
been limp. I was looking for a solid random graphic generator on
Saturday and stumbled upon this. It works admirably, but doesn't
have half the options of its bigger brother, Image Styles - which
is available as shareware, and is worth well more than the asking
price.

WebMon v1.0.4 [709k] W9x/2k/XP FREE

http://www.markwell.btinternet.co.uk/webmon/

{Change is good} The Lockergnome site updates daily (well, we try
to do that). If your favorite site doesn't update regularly, you
can use this program and be notified of when it has been…
updated. In fact, it can check as many sites as you'd like. The
GUI is a cinch to clinch, but to make it even easier on yourself,
import your bookmarks directly from Internet Explorer or Netscape.
Some of its features include: "Checking an unlimited number of web
pages; Scheduling automatic checking at set intervals; Optional
pop-up alerts and sounds when updates are found; Selecting which
part of the web page to check; Update logging; Proxy support, with
authentication; Unobtrusive tray icon when minimized; Help system
- simply press F1 at any time; Simple installation and removal; no
advertising or spyware." Beats the heck out of visiting the same
page over and over… and over and over again in the span of
fifteen minutes, just to see if they've uploaded anything new.
Sure, WebMon kinda takes the fun out of doing that but… since
when was it fun to waste your time?

Chaotic Chance v1.05 [470k] W9x/2k/XP FREE

http://www.cool-screensavers.com/

{Use all your screen savers} This isn't really a screen saver, but
it will allow you to manage what screen savers you already have.
Once this thing is installed, you'll get a list of all your screen
savers - from there, you can select the ones you like and then
have them appear randomly. Or, you can just cycle through every
single one of them. You can also set when they'll change. Also
available: 3D Christmas Screensaver: tree, decorations, light,
snow, and music; Tipsy Clock Screen saver: a digital clock which
randomly and smoothly moves across the screen with drunken
movement styles, skins, an atomic clock, a ticker, and multi-
monitor support; Drunken Clock is the analog version. I've never
been much of an analog guy, though. It takes me four hours to
figure out what time it is, and by the time I figure out what time
it was, the time has passed - and I have to start all over again.
Gimme digital any day of the week - any time.

Taipan v1.02 [2.2M] W9x/2k/XP FREE

http://digitallabs.bluestream.org/taipan.htm

{Another numbers game} Arrrr, matey! Swab the deck, fly the Jolly
Roger, and other assorted pirate phrases! This game puts you in
Hong Kong with a small boat, a debt, and not much to sell. Your
goal is to raise money while avoiding all those nasty pirates who
want to steal your wares and deep fry your hush puppies. Okay, I
made that last thing up. Set sail for adventure on the high seas,
says I. You can just call me Littlebeard. "I tried to stay with
the theme of the original game as much as possible, but I had to
guess at many of the percentages; display statistics under options
menu; pirate encounters are logged; fight to death option under
pirate form." And ye wanna know the most cunning pirate of them
all? Them music pirates. Yay, they steals tunes with file swapping
programs and pretend they're doing nothing wrong. Ask any child if
it's wrong to take what's not rightfully theirs. Guess what they's
tell ya? I'll bet me peg leg that unless their guardians be
immoral, they'll tell ya it's pilferin' - pure an' simple.

SendTo v1.5 [771k] W9x/2k/XP FREE

http://www.trogsoft.com/products/sendto/

{Send even quicker} This program will add a new option to your
SendTo menu, allowing you to send a file to any folder you please.
You can also use this program for sending to an FTP server. I
guess this was designed for just about everyone. Just like all
good programs, this integrates seamlessly with Explorer, so you
shouldn't have any trouble getting things sent to where they need
to be. You can even add an oft-used destination to the menu. And
of course, you can remove things as well. "Allows the copying,
moving, or creating shortcuts to any files to a single destination
directory through the use of the Windows Send To menu; allows the
sending of files on your local computer to any application; select
your destination directory with customizable icon views (large,
small, details, list, etc.); automatically create new directories
if the path entered in the Path bar does not exist; turn on and
off various prompts including those confirming directory creation
and (un)successful file manipulation." It's seriously a solid
replacement. The UI is in need of a minor overhaul, but there's no
reason for you to not use it right now.

Moon32 v1.0 [64k] W9x/2k/XP FREE

http://geocities.com/bartelyoti/wall/

{See the moon} Ernie is right: I don't want to live on the moon.
It might look good as a wallpaper image, though. At least, it will
if you download this lunar desktop background generator. Once it's
launched, you can watch the moon being lit up in real-time. This
happens when the utility reads your system clock. Is that awesome
or what? If you're feeling a little more down to earth, you can
always download the EARTH32 tool instead. "[It] shows the
illumination of the moon by the sun as seen from the earth; [the
download] consists of a single EXE file that runs in the
background. The wallpaper will be updated immediately if date /
time or time zone is changed." Perhaps one day they'll prove that
the moon is made of green cheese. Or was that cream cheese? No
matter, I'd like to see an edible satellite be discovered in my
lifetime.

Random Tagline Manager v4.4.2 [2.6M] W9x/2k FREE

http://programs.fbrower.com/

{A new signature every time} Having a signature at the bottom of
your e-mail adds an extra nice touch of personality to your
messages. Ya know, as long as you're not quoting the entire second
act of King Lear. They're not bad for business contacts, either.
Still, people shouldn't have to look at the same boring signature
every time they receive a message from you - so have this program
pick one for you (randomly). Variety is the spice of life, as they
say. "The install contains over 6500 taglines, but you can add
MANY MANY more to the database, or replace these taglines with
your own selection. See features page for full listing of
features." Also available from the site: TimeTrek: "displays the
time, date, day of week. Includes an Alarm, plus a Countdown &
Countup type display. Small Desktop footprint; Works with Multiple
users; Minimize to System Tray; Displays current phase of Moon."

Ext2Shell

http://www.ext2shell.linux-site.net/

"Ext2Shell is a dynamic link library that will give Windows
Explorer the ability to explore Linux ext2 / ext3 file systems.
You can explore your Linux system exactly the same way you can
with NTFS / FAT16 / FAT32 partitions. Copy files from your Linux
partition to Windows units via Drag and Drop. The installation /
uninstallation is very simple; Ext2Shell is installed with the
Windows Installer. The utility is 'read only' at the moment (you
can only copy files from Linux to Windows, not the reverse). One
of the consequences is that it is impossible for Ext2Shell to
break your file system. Improved the user interface by adjusting
the way file size is displayed to resemble standard folders; copy
code completely rewritten; no more temporary files and a
significant performance improvement." Perfect for you Penguin
Shellers out there!

YahooPOPs! v0.2 [373k] W9x/2k/XP FREE

http://yahoopops.sourceforge.net/

"It's available on the Windows and Unix platforms. This
application emulates a POP3 server and enables popular email
clients like Outlook, Netscape, Eudora, Mozilla, Calypso, etc., to
download email from Yahoo! accounts. We do not go against the
license agreements of Yahoo! Mail. This application is completely
legitimate and well within the realms of legal software. One day,
I stumbled across a Perl script called FetchYahoo, which almost
did what I wanted. It downloaded emails from Yahoo's website and
presented them in a format such that email clients like Netscape
and Pine could read them. But, the format in which it saved the
emails is not supported by all email clients, including the one
that I use. Making a layman install Perl and to get a Perl script
to work could be a nightmare. So, YahooPOPs! was born. YahooPOPs!
is an open-source initiative to provide free POP3 access to your
Yahoo! Mail account."

Have you ever heard of Traffic Blazer? Submit your business info to more than 200 search engines and directories and position your Web site for top rankings with Google and other leading search engines - it's available through GoDaddy. Plus, as a listener of The Chris Pirillo Show, enter code CHRIS2 when you check out, and save an additional $5 off any order of $30 or more. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy!