T 'n' T: On Your Mark, Get Set, Tweak! Five Power Tools for Window Polishers Gregg Keizer
Mon 4/1/02 -- I'm going to put myself out of business if I keep this up. But this week, I'm aiming the Tips 'n' Tricks spotlight on five tweakers -- utilities that let you massage Windows like a Shiatsu-trained demon.
Want to take the list of recently opened documents off the Start menu? Want to rename My Computer to This Old Computer, or tell Windows Explorer to open in a new default folder? These programs make it much easier to customize Windows, especially its hard-to-handle Registry settings, by letting you just check boxes or select options from menus.
Some tweakers are free; some, being shareware, obligate you to pay up if you keep using them past an initial trial period. And not all are created equal. Now, let's get tweaking.
TweakUI. Windows aficionados have had access to an "official" (if not formally approved for Microsoft tech support) tweaker ever since the dark days of Windows 95. Called TweakUI, this freebie's the most famous part of a bundle of downloadable tools and applets called PowerToys. The Win 95/98/Me/NT/2000 version, TweakUI 1.33, offers up a bunch of basic tweaks. Admittedly, you can do most of these manually by yourself, but TweakUI simplifies the chore.
Windows XP users should steer instead for TweakUI 2.0 and above, but there's a temporary catch: In January, Redmond pulled the Win XP PowerToys (see WinPlanet's November '01 review) from its Web site, promising an improved version for release in April. You can keep an eye on the official Home Edition and Professional download pages, or if you can't wait, download TweakUI 2.0 from this site.
Xteq X-Setup. I like this tweaker not just because it works with all editions of Windows, XP included. Nor because it's free for home or personal use (for-profit businesses are asked to pony up $199 for 10 copies).
No, what I like best about X-Setup is its ever-expanding universe of tweaks: Xteq Systems' tweaking titan lets programmers create plug-ins for specific tweaks, like ones that add extra oomph to a particular graphics card or let you monkey with DirectX settings. You can download the 4MB program here, or peruse the plug-ins page.
TweakXP. Perhaps the most ambitious tweaker utility for Windows XP, this shareware program -- $30 to register -- includes over 20 different tools that let you make scores of tweaks, from turning the Taskbar translucent to optimizing your Internet connection for quicker downloads. My favorite lets me hide the contents of any folder, so I can make my Quicken folder invisible on the family's shared machine. Download this XP-only toolkit from Totalidea Software.
Customizer XP. Another shareware program ($25), Customizer XP offers some 80 Registry tweaks for Windows XP and 2000, as well as other tools that frankly I haven't used (like one that lets you edit Add/Remove Programs info and another that puts your name and company logo in Windows' System Properties dialog). Windows 95/98/Me users have their own version, called Customizer 2000 (a confusing name, since it doesn't work with Windows 2000). You can download trial versions of either from here.
Creative Element Power Tools. This shareware utility ($18) works with Windows Me, 2000, and XP; it doesn't exactly overwhelm you with options, but does add some nifty tweaks -- I really like the one that let me add new folders of my choice to the Places pane on the left side of most file dialogs, including the Open and Save dialogs in Office 2000 and XP. Download it from Creative Element's site.
