Free PowerToys

farss wrote on 1/30/2009, 12:03 AM
These are some free utilities from Microsoft that you can find here.
The one I'd highly recommend is TweakUI.exe. Using that one can disable autoboot for CD/DVD drives and Removeable Drives e.g. thumb drives. USB thumb drives are one less obvious way trojans and viruses can get into your PC and turning off autoboot will stop them dead in their tracks. This is not some theoretical problem, someone I know had his daughter infect every PC in their house with some nasty trojan that was devilishly difficult to remove after she'd taken her thesis on a USB thumb drive to a printer to be printed and bound.

I haven't tried any of the other Powertoys but all look quite useful and they're free.

Bob.

Comments

ritsmer wrote on 1/30/2009, 12:42 AM
Another TweakUI possibility is that it can change the size of your thumbnails in explorer.
When selecting stills and video to my projects I set the thumbnail size to 180 pixels and the quality to high and have large and clear thumbnails to select from - and can drag them directly from explorer to the timeline.
farss wrote on 1/30/2009, 1:10 AM
I haven't tried it but you might be interested in another PowerToy that let's you have thumbnails of RAW images.

Bob.
craftech wrote on 1/30/2009, 5:14 AM
TweakUI used to be on the installation discs for Windows as well. I'll have to take a look at the XP Pro disc out of curiosity.

John
TheHappyFriar wrote on 1/30/2009, 5:48 AM
i think they stopped including it after win2k.

but I've tried turning off the autoboot for external drivers, never sticks. :/
johnmeyer wrote on 1/30/2009, 9:10 AM
TweakUI is the first thing I install on any new computer. I change the mouse so it requires a click in order to make a menu appear. I cannot stand menus that "fly out" as soon as you touch them. You should see my wife go nuts when this happens. Trivial to kiil with TweakUI.

I also change the locaion of most of the "special" folders. This lets me get pretty much EVERYTHING off the C: drive so it only contains Windows and Programs. Makes doing an image backup really quick and smooth.

For those not familiar, he is a screen shot:

AlanC wrote on 1/30/2009, 9:20 AM
Hey John, when I click on your OK button nothing happens. It's seems to be hung!