WordWalla
Unearthed by Geoffrey Stewart Nimmo
http://www.wordwalla.com/
{Multilingual e-mail and chat} Contrary to what I've reported in my ICQ account (144832), I'm fluent in only one language: English. Even that acuity, at times, is debatable. It's arrogant for anyone to believe that there's one perfect language (sorry to disappoint any Esperanto enthusiasts). These tools were developed to bridge an age-old barrier. Write as you normally would and the words will be translated on-the-fly; over 50 languages are supported.
GnomeTIP
Coming from the "Wonder Twin Powers" department, Lockergnomie Frank Schnyder fixes forgetful folders. When the much-ballyhooed Active Desktop rolled out, we were given a few new file management options. Did you know that each folder could retain a unique interface? You're limited, of course, by Explorer's VIEW and SORT settings. While you prefer to see one folder's contents arranged by name in a 32x32 iconular format, you may wish to sort another by type (with Details enabled). No brainer, right? Well, if you wanna reset all your folders (across the motherboard) to one particular format, select FOLDER OPTIONS from the VIEW menu, flip to the VIEW tab, then press the RESET ALL FOLDERS button. Or, if you really like how the open folder looks and feels, press the LIKE CURRENT FOLDER button. Exact wording may vary, but those running IE4 and IE5 should have these features.
AudioSwitcher v1.0 [170k] W9x/NT/2k FREE
http://members.xoom.com/ba_tech/downloads/audioswitcher.zip
http://members.xoom.com/ba_tech/
{Switch recording inputs quickly} Sometimes you're on the mic; sometimes you're riding the WAV. As audio input devices go, it's nice to have a clear choice (not to mention a decent configuration). Now you can toggle between recording inputs with the touch of a button. Be the sound engineer you've always dreamed, and without those insane demands from spoiled rock stars.
Removable Drive Detector v1.1 [650k] W9x FREE
http://www.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win95/desktop/efdet11.zip
http://www3.sympatico.ca/eric.forget/
{Detect media in your drives} "Windows 9x was modeled after the MacOS." Yeah, and some of Apple's inspiration sprang from technologies developed at Xerox; so what? Let's not compare operating systems; there are tools out there to help us make life easier no matter what OS we use. On a Mac, when you insert a disk (floppy, Zip, CD, etc.), an icon appears on the Desktop. When you 'trash' it, the disk is subsequently ejected. Want that kind of functionality in Windows? Don't twist my arm; here it is.
Start a NetMeeting Conference from a Command Line
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q167/0/97.asp
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q154/1/44.asp
"Microsoft Windows NetMeeting enables real-time audio, video, and data communication over the Internet. [It] includes support for the H.323 audio and video conferencing standard, and the T.120 data conferencing standard. NetMeeting can be used to place calls to and receive calls from products that are H.323 and T.120 compatible. With appropriate equipment and services from third parties, NetMeeting can place a call to a telephone using an H.323 gateway. NetMeeting also can place calls to H.323 multipoint conferencing units (MCUs) and participate in multipoint audio/video conferences."
GnomeTIP
When Windows 95 first leaped onto the scene, there were few permanent 'gigabyte' storage devices in production. Because of this, we could only access Windows setup files from a CD (or floppy, if your system was that antiquated). We can make the transition smooth if you'd much rather have those CABs (et al) on your hard drive. NOTE: this should only be done if Windows frequently asks you to insert the system CD. To proceed, copy everything sitting in the system CD's SETUP folder over to a new location (e.g., C:\Windows\Options\Cabs), fire up REGEDIT, then navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Setup. Edit the SourcePath string and enter the new file path (e.g., C:\Windows\Options\Cabs). The next time your OS needs to access any of those files, it'll know where to find them first. This should work fine for all 9x/ME versions of Windows.
AbAlarm v2.0a [1.4M] W9x/NT/2k FREE
http://www.abelssoft.de/engl/abalarme.zip
http://www.abelssoft.de/engl/
{Rudimentary event reminder} What time is that History Channel special on the Civil War ("Gnomes in Blue" was it?). I can never remember. Alarm clocks are nice for waking up in the morning, but what about when our brains go dormant in other ways? Consider this your Freeware slap in the face, telling you to wake up and tape that HBO special or write that book report. A nice friendly alarm will wake you out of your programmer's daze and tell you what you need to do. You can choose from three different alarms and type in your own personal reminder.
10:22 pm Sunday, 24 September 2000:
SPECIAL: Download our latest freeware utility: Qcheck v1.3.
http://www.ganymede.com/q0821.phtml
With it, you can check the response time between any two computers on your network -- FROM YOUR OWN DESKTOP. Replace those antiquated, incomplete, and hard-to-use network tools. Still using Ping? Try Qcheck instead. It's been featured in Lockergnome before and is absolutely free!
GnomeTIP
Coming from the "Change The Channel" department, Lockergnomaster Van Stanley configures his not-so-remote control. By default (a phrase which has come to scare many a power user), Windows 98 sees your hard drives as though they were on one IDE channel (like most other devices). You may be able to squeeze a few more drops of performance out of those disks by: right-clicking on MY COMPUTER and pulling up its PROPERTIES, selecting the DEVICE MANAGER tab, then opening the HARD DISK CONTROLLERS section. At that point, you should see your device controller at the top of the list (something with the words BUS MASTER in it, most likely); pull up its PROPERTIES and flip to the SETTINGS tab. Select 'Both IDE Channels Enabled' from the drop-down menu, reboot, and see if you've made a difference. Pay attention to the programs which access the swap file most often; they may move faster. YMMV!
GnomeTIP
Coming from the "Is What You Pay Me For" department, Lockergnome database demigod David Breddam circumvents an account agitation. Who doesn't check their e-mail at least twice a minute? Most users call upon Outlook Express (since it's relatively simple to use). There are alternatives on the market, but why buy the cow when you get the milk for free? Outlook 2000 is there for those of us who need a full-blown information manager, though. Once you've configured your account(s) for either of Microsoft's Internet mail clients, you shouldn't have to enter them again. In the Tools menu, select Accounts. See that little 'Export' button? Use it! Save your settings somewhere for possible future importation (the 'My Documents' folder is recommended).
ROMCat v4.0 [115k] W9x/NT/2k FREE
Unearthed by Elizabeth Cormier
http://www.unleash.com/corel/romcat41.zip
http://www.unleash.com/articles/romcat/
"[This] was designed to catalog the directories and collect keyword information for CorelDRAW's Clipart CD's and display thumbnails from CorelDRAW files. ROMCat will work using all versions of CorelDRAW, including CorelDRAW 9. To use ROMCat for the first time, the Clipart CD (CD #3 for Draw 7, CD #2 for Draw 8 or 9) must be in the CD-ROM drive. Open ROMCat and select File | Build New Catalog. The Select Source Drive dialog box will open. There is no installation routine, but a Windows Help file is included in the archive. Pre-bulit catalogs are also available for download."
Clipomatic v2.0 [61k] W9x/NT FREE
http://www.monmouth.com/~mlin/files/Clipomatic20.zip
http://www.monmouth.com/~mlin/Clipomatic.html
The Windows clipboard is well known for being powerful... NOT! In this world, somebody cuts, copies, or pastes once every .033 seconds. That's a scary statistic, folks, considering that the clipboard (by default) can only hold one bit of cut/copied data. When you load Clipomatic into memory and need to paste information somewhere in Windows, hit a new keyboard combination (CTRL+ALT+V) and it'll pop up a new context menu with the last X items copied to the clipboard. You can save "clipped" sets for future use, and create a permanent set of "clips" which can be accessed anytime. Quick, unique, powerful, killer.
WebICQ
Unearthed by Tom Wade
http://www.webicq.com/
{Use your UIN in a browser} Determining geekiness is easy; your ICQ account is very telling of your digital age. I'm 144832 (a very low number). I've upgraded, reinstalled, and tweaked that instant messenger too many times; my preferences are stored in a safe place. What happens when I need to send an ICQ message from another person's computer? Instead of downloading the program, I jump to this site and log in to my existing account. It seeks you!
ShutEye v1.00.0094 [1.1M] W9x/NT/2k FREE
http://www.codearchive.com/~mark/ShutEye.zip
http://www.codearchive.com/~mark/
{Stop download sleep deprivation} A close buddy pointed out that a loud PC isn't necessarily a bad thing. The presence of several fans (keeping case components cool) usually means hotter, faster hardware. Do you always shut down your system before you go to bed? What if you're still in the middle of downloading a few bulky files? Mr. Sandman won't wait long; get Shuteye. Upon transfer completion, Windows will be shut down for you. Nighty night!
WnGutenbook v2000.7.19 [374k] W9x FREE
http://llornkcor.com/software/WnGutenbook-2000.7.19.zip
http://llornkcor.com/software.htm
{Project Gutenberg text reader} Illiterate? Write me for help. Reading is a skill that we practice every day; yes, I consider perusing the morning paper enough of a workout for your eyeballs. Are you too lazy to check out books from your local library? Don't wanna worry about late fees? Ugly librarian? Download e-texts from GUTENBERG.NET and read them in this viewer. Literary geniuses from yesteryear are waiting for you to digest their stories.
ASFRecorder v1.0 [398k] W9x/NT/2k FREE
http://members.xoom.com/asfrecorder/ASFRecorder.zip
http://members.xoom.com/asfrecorder/
{Store streaming media content} Nice movie trailer! Could I keep a copy? "Nope, it can't be downloaded." But my Internet connection isn't fast enough to watch the high quality stuff. "Tough." Stop wondering where to get more bandwidth and start storing some audio and video streams. The author is simply illustrating how unsecure (and WiMPy) Microsoft's media format truly is. Now that v7.0 has been unleashed, someone decided to make a wake-up call.
Qcheck v1.3 [5.6M] W9x/NT/2k FREE
http://www.qcheck.net/download/eval/qcinst.exe
http://www.qcheck.net/
{Network troubleshooting utility} Cable modem access rocks (at least in the Des Moines area). Every once in a while, my connection will grind to a halt. "Wassup?!" I ask Qcheck. It queries network throughput, determines at what rate streaming traffic (media) is received and how much packet loss takes place, tests the connectivity between my computer and another (on the home network or the Internet), and handles a wide range of network protocols.
GnomeTIP
Coming from the "You Look Different" department, Lockergnomaster Van Stanley has a handy way of tracking footprints. Before anything new is run on his system, he opens Regedit, selects 'Export Registry File' from the 'Registry' menu, and names the file "BEFORE.REG" (without the quotes). After the software installation routine has finished, he again opens the registry editor and exports a file named "AFTER.REG" (without the quotes). Either at the command prompt or in the Run command applet, he enters: "fc before.reg after.reg > changes.txt" (sans quotation marks). FC is an old DOS app that works just as well in Windows; he's redirecting the comparison into a CHANGES.TXT file.
AscToHTM v3.3 [1.4M] W9x/NT/2k US$40
http://www.jafsoft.com/download/windows/aschtm33.zip
http://www.jafsoft.com/asctohtm/
{Convert text files into Web pages} The hypertext markup language is nothing more than vanilla text with tags interspersed. Notepad can be employed to edit any ASCII file, but when it comes to translating your text creations into something ready for the Web, that's a different story. Do you honestly wanna convert anything by hand? Fine, break your back. Or use the most robust converter on the planet (AscToHTM); there's no stronger alternative.
Screen Calipers v1.0 [136k] W9x/NT/2k FREE
http://www.iconico.com/caliper/Calipers.zip
http://www.iconico.com/caliper/
{Measure distance in pixels} When you're planning to print on a piece of paper, you should know your document's dimensions (in inches, picas, or centimeters). Staying on this side of the screen? It's more prudent to measure Web page elements in pixels. Do it anywhere, in any application, and in no time at all with an unlimited set of digital calipers. Resize, configure, and nudge the tools into position. Beats holding a ruler up to the monitor!
GnomeTIP
Ever arrived somewhere, looked up, and thought to yourself: "I don't wanna be here." It happens all the time in Windows. Ever go to open or save a file, only to discover that the dialog box isn't in the folder you need? Piggybacking a recent tip, this shortcut creation method will have you 'there' in no time at all. First, ya gotta fire up a Windows Explorer instance and browse to your ultimate destination (whichever folder that might be). Now, you may already be there (in which case, this tip will be even easier to implement). Left-click and drag the upper left-hand corner icon (a folder) from the Explorer title bar and drop it directly into the Open/Save dialog box. Now double-click that newly created shortcut and you'll be whisked away. Unless you're running low on disk space, I'd suggest keeping the shortcut there in case you need it again at some point in the future.
Whiz Mail
http://www.whiz-mail.com/
{Remotely hosted e-zine forms} CGI scripts, while common, weren't designed for non-programmers. That puts us in a quandary when we need a server-side solution for our site. Got an e-mail newsletter? Need a subscription form? Stop using the mailto method and have Whiz Mail handle the service. Concentrate on providing quality content, not maintaining software. Reports and statistics will be mailed to you regularly. You'll be a wiz with Whiz.
GnomeTIP
Coming from the "Don't Click Here" department, Lockergnomaniac Steven Groginsky shares a stealthy secret. Are you being tracked and traced as you read this? Privacy issues are not to be taken lightly. My personal take on the whole situation: protect yourself from harm as you see fit, but as long as you're online, you'll be vulnerable. When you click on a link, the destination's server records that as a unique impression. It knows how you got there, too. Well, sometimes. If you don't want anybody to know how you got from point A to point B, simply mail the shortcut (URL) to yourself. When you click on it from your e-mail client, the Web server's logs will record: "No Referrer." You can also launch a link from a local page or Run command line and achieve the same results. Gnomies have the power to crash servers, but the world doesn't know that because of this little loophole.
Titlebarinfo v1.2 [51k] W9x/NT/2k FREE
http://www.fenk.wageningen-ur.nl/~oever/winamp/gen_tbar.exe
http://www.fenk.wageningen-ur.nl/~oever/winamp/
{WinAmp information in your windows} As Richard Brodie sat here learning 'Bridge' online, I threw a few songs into my favorite MP3 (and general media) player. "Gee, it would sure be nice to know what was playing without having to refer back to WinAmp." Shazam! The title bar in the active window will display the current track title as long as this lovely little plugin is loaded. Sing along if you're so inclined, but know the song you're signing.
GnomeTIP
Tired of pointing and clicking? Hard to believe there was a time when the Internet had no "user friendly" exterior. The first online application I mastered was TELNET. Though not widely used nowadays, Windows still comes with a bare-bones version. From AXCEL216's most excellent tips site comes a way for you to enable smooth scrolling in Windows 98's telnet app. Fire up REGEDIT.EXE and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Telnet. You'll find this key contains several values, one of which is SmoothScroll; double-click that value and change the (default) 0 to a 1. Smooth as a baby's BIOS.