Posted by Nikos | Posted in General | Posted on 26-01-2010-05-2008
0
Windows: JDContextMenu is a small application that adds a variety of useful shortcuts to the right-click context menu in Windows.
None of the shortcuts are things you couldn’t do within Windows with a few extra clicks or with a small 3rd-party app, but JDContextMenu bundles them together into a small menu with one-click ease. You can copy the full filename to the clipboard, alter the time and date stamp of a file, run an MD5 checksum to verify file integrity, and create new folders—the new folder tool allows you to create a variable number of numbered folders in a series.
Have a favorite shell extension of your own? If you’ve got the perfect tweak for your Windows context menus, we want to hear about it in the comments. JDContextMenu is freeware, Windows only.


Posted by Nikos | Posted in General | Posted on 10-12-2009-05-2008
0
Firefox: Have a phrase or snippet of code you use all the time in Firefox? Assign a text or keyboard shortcut to it in Firefox and never have to write it all out again.
Once you’ve installed MyWords, a menu option is added to your right-click context menu any time you click in a dialogue box or after highlighting text. From the menu you can add words or phrases to MyWords or tweak the general setup of MyWords.
To use the phrases stored in MyWords you can either use a simple keyboard shortcut to scroll through them (handy if you only have a few) or if you have many shortcuts stored you can turn the keyboard shortcut into an auto complete flag. In the screenshot above we’ve assigned “teotwawki” to “IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT”. If we had MyWords set to autocomplete we could hit the shortcut trigger and then type “teo” to give it a hint and it would auto complete the full phrase.
MyWords is handy if you’re only using auto complete in Firefox, if you want to use it elsewhere on your PC check out homegrown Texter and previously reviewed PhraseExpress.
MyWords is free and works wherever Firefox does. Have a text-replacement or time-saving tool that makes Firefox even more awesome? Let’s hear about it in the comments.





Posted by Nikos | Posted in General | Posted on 02-10-2009-05-2008
0
Last year we introduced you to TinEye, an image-based search engine that helps you find other instances of the image in question across the web. TinEye is now available as a Firefox plugin, making it much easier to use.
For the unfamiliar, TinEye is a search tool that takes an image you give it and searches out other copies of that image online. In our original review of the service we used a picture of our own Gina Trapani for our test search. Check out the original article for a run down on the results.
One of the inconveniences to using TinEye was that you had to grab the URL or a copy of the image you wanted to have TinEye scan for and then go visit the TinEye website. It seems a trivial detail, but in the age of right-click “Search Google for…” convenience, an add-on that places the TinEye search right into the right-click context menu is great for ease of use.
A caveat that remains from our original test of TinEye is that it is surgically precise. The sample photo, seen in the screenshot above, is a picture of Christina Hendricks—from the television show Mad Men—attending the 2008 Emmy Awards. Photos of her from that award ceremony are all over the internet. When searching with TinEye, however, you are given the locations of the exact instances of that image, not images that are almost the same.
The TinEye Firefox extension is free and works wherever Firefox does. If you have your own tips and tricks for image searches, let’s hear about them in the comments.


Posted by Nikos | Posted in General | Posted on 30-09-2009-05-2008
0
Windows only: Free utility Copy Path adds a new entry to your right-click context menu that lets you quickly copy the full path to any file with two clicks of your mouse. Why would you want something like this?
I can think of plenty of reasons this functionality would come in handy, but we mentioned the most useful back when we covered ClipPath, a similar tool:
[L]et’s say you’re looking at a file sitting happily inside its folder, but you want to send it to a friend with Gmail. In order to do so, you’d have to browse through your whole file system to find the file from your browser, even though you were already staring at the file in the first place.
With Copy Path installed, all you’ve got to do is right-click the file you want to upload, copy the path, and paste it into the attachment text box. The same holds true for uploading a file to any web site, naturally. It’s a small difference, to be sure, but it’ll definitely save time, and nothing’s more irritating than navigating to a file using your browser’s upload dialog when you’re already staring at the file in Explorer.
Copy Path is a free download, Windows only.


Posted by Nikos | Posted in General | Posted on 21-08-2009-05-2008
0
Windows only: Free application Explore&Burn adds an entry to your right-click context menu that allows you to quickly burn files and folders to CD or DVD.
This right-click utility is dead simple: Click any file, folder, or disk image (e.g., ISO, IMG), select the Burn to disc context menu option, and go through the very quick burning wizard. The application supports most types of burnable media (including Dual Layer discs) and skips the bloat that accompanies a lot of burning software, opting instead for a completely pared down interface and footprint.
Explore&Burn is freeware, Windows only.
