{"id":7905,"date":"2019-10-23T05:40:06","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T12:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/?p=7905"},"modified":"2019-10-23T05:40:06","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T12:40:06","slug":"3-free-windows-utilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/software\/3-free-windows-utilities\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Amazing, Obscure (and Free) Windows Utilities We Use Every Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Free<\/div>\n

Like you, the majority of our work day is spent in front of a computer.<\/p>\n

Indeed, most of the time you will find us wrestling with popular Windows applications — like Microsoft Word, Google Chrome and Acrobat Reader. But there are a few lesser-known programs that we have grown to depend on as well.<\/p>\n

Here are three of the best free tools we use all the time — and can heartily recommend:<\/p>\n

1. FileMenu Tools: Turbocharge your right-click menu with common file operations<\/h2>\n

Many of our daily tasks revolve around files. We’re constantly opening documents, copying images and composing command lines that require file paths.<\/p>\n

For those operations, Lopesoft’s FileMenu Tools<\/a> has been a godsend.<\/p>\n

This Windows Explorer extension includes over 35 file operations that you can add to Explorer’s right-click menu:<\/p>\n

\"Configure<\/a><\/div>\n

Our favorites include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Copy Path<\/b>: Copies the full path to the selected file(s) into the Windows clipboard. Saves time when we have to open the file in another application or add it to a command line. Just paste and go!<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Command Line From Here<\/b>: Launches the command prompt window, already set to the current folder. Much faster than running CMD and CD’ing.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Open with Notepad<\/b>: Automatically send a file to Notepad, instead of having to start Notepad, click File > Open and browse to the file.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    FileMenu Tools is integrated with Windows File Explorer and is very easy to use. Here you can see us copying the full path of the Dropbox executable (C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Dropbox\\Client\\Dropbox.exe) to the Windows clipboard — with just a couple of clicks:<\/p>\n

    \"FileMenu<\/a><\/div>\n

    We use the free version of FileMenu Tools but you can purchase the full package<\/a> to unlock advanced features.<\/p>\n

    2. AbstractSpoon ToDoList: Increase productivity by tracking & organizing important tasks<\/h2>\n

    For our day-to-day planning — and to make sure that we don’t forget our brilliant but ambitious ideas — we turn to AbstractSpoon’s ToDoList<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \"AbstractSpoon<\/a><\/div>\n

    This attractive Windows application uses a time-tested tree structure to organize your body of work. You start with one or more top level goals and break them down into actionable steps.<\/p>\n

    Each step\/task can have over 20 properties that provide relevant context, including “priority”, “due date”, “percent complete” and “cost”.<\/p>\n

    \nToDoList helps us keep track of:\n<\/p>\n