Windows Hacks

There are a few interesting utilities that can be added to Windows to make everyday computing easier. And these are all free!

1. Duplicates Cleaner - use this handy little program to check for duplicate files. Search your whole computer or selected folders. It can be documents, pictures, music or photos, and possibly free up gigs of data that you are wasting. Just go to the Microsoft store on your computer and install Duplicates Cleaner. The free version only allows a maximum of 1gb of files to be removed.

2. Searching for files using the Windows search feature is usually very slow. Instead use this free utility from Void Tools. Just download and install. Searches are fast—search items appear as you type! Use the little magnifying glass that will now be in your system tray (in the bottom right corner of the screen).

3. If you would like to have tabbed file explorer windows, the utility QTTabBar from QuizoApps does it. Just download and install. To use, have one explorer window open; click on the Options icon and select QTTabBar. Then Right-click on another folder and select Open in New Tab. There are many options you can select to customize how QTTabBar works. Right-click anywhere on an open explorer window and select QTTabBar Options.

4. You can have control of audio level on each program playing rather than just the single volume in Windows. So you could have music playing in the background while listening to an instructional video. To add this to your computer, go to the Microsoft store on your computer and install EarTrumpet. Now when you click on the speaker icon you will be able to select and control audio on any audio source as well as the master volume.

You can watch a video on these utilities by Liron Segev here.