The Hotlist: 10 Productivity boosters for Windows users

Feb. 17th, 2007 | by Aibek | 2,051 Views

Here I have listed bunch of free, simple-to-use, memory-friendly productivity boosters for windows users. These productivity aids let you become more efficient with your PC by dealing with popular user performance barriers i.e repetitive tasks, slow navigation, information overload and so on. Check them out and let everyone know in case something is missing or doesn’t belong here

Find Files and Launch Programs Quickly

1. Qliner Hotkeys - lets you quickly define easy-to-remember keyboard shortcuts to almost anything you want; frequently accessed programs(email, browser…), system folders, standby/shutdown/logoff commands, add/remove programs and so on. More on setting shortcuts with Qliner Hotkeys

2. Copernic Desktop Search | Google Desktop - these desktop search tools let you find anything on your PC in matter of seconds. (search emails, chat history, browser bookmarks, documents, medial files…etc)

3. Launchy - powerful, highly-customizable tool that lets you launch documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes. It’s a major times saver, although you’ll have to use it for some time before you can master it.

Useful Multi-Purpose Tools

4. Memento - extremely useful and my long-time favorite post it notes program. It’s dead simple and yet one of the finest tools I’ve ever used. (Highly recommended)

5. Folder Marker - lets you organize your docs by letting you mark folders by priority (high, normal, low), by status (done, half-done, planned) and by type of data stored in them (work, important, temp, private). Folder icons can be changed on the fly using right-click menu.

6. Multiclipboard | ClipBoard Swiss Knife - powerful clipboard utilities that can hold unlimited number of clipboards(text, formatted text, pictures etc.). Extremely useful for activities with lots of copy/paste tasks.

Speedup Navigation And Browsing

7. Virtual Desktop Manager - this powertoy from Microsoft lets you maintain up to 4 different virtual desktops, each with it’s own applications.

8. Deskloops - cool windows navigation utility that lets you quickly locate browser window you need, even if you have 50 active windows. More on it in this video tour

9. Browser Timer - this browser timer can help you stay focused and not get carried away while working on something. Especially useful for easily-distracted individuals. Works with firefox, IE and Opera browsers

Automate Maintenance

10. Windows Scheduled Tasks(Llifehacker) | Startup Schedule Launcher - any of these tools can save you lots of time and keep your PC healthy by automating maintenance and update tasks; virus scan, adware scan, definition updates, disk or memory defragmentation, registry cleanup, software updates and anything that needs to be done on a regular basis.