I thought I’d do a few posts devoted to some of my favourite applications and utilities. In this post are a number of free utilities I use both at work and home on a daily basis.

IE7Pro

This is an add-on for Internet Explorer 7 (and IE8 beta) that adds a multitude of features not present in the original application. The list is quite long (see their website for a complete list) but my favourite features are the Ad blocker, Search shortcuts, Download manager and the ability to double-click a tab to close it. It also includes mouse gestures and user created scripts to change the appearance of pages or add new features (kind of like Greasemonkey for Firefox). Essential for any Internet Explorer user!

Ycopy

This tool is a life saver when trying to move around lots of data. Quite simply it copies files from one location to another without interruption. If it finds a file it cannot access to copy it adds an entry to the log file and keeps on going, allowing you to deal with it later on. This is in contrast to the Windows copy utility which stops dead at any file it can’t access making you start all over again. A must for computer stores.

SyncBack

SyncBack is a very powerful and free synchronisation and backup tool. Its main features I find useful are the scheduling options and the email function which allows it to email a log file if the backup fails. It has many options and filters to make sure you only get the files you want. The company also makes a Pro, paid version which is even better again and allows it to also backup files that are currently in use.

Taskbar Shuffle

Another simple tool with a single purpose – to allow the re-arranging of open applications on the Windows Taskbar. Very handy if you have a number of applications you keep open all the time and like to have them in a set order on the Taskbar to find them easier. Newer versions also allow you to re-arrange items in the System Tray.