Hello all,

I'm not sure this is the best place to post such a question, but here goes anyway:

Lately I read someone's post about 'StrokeIt' Software, and mouse gestures, and I had no clue about what he was talking about, until I tried this software. I was amazed by how useful that software was, and I'm using this software ever since.

But the reason I'm posting here, is not to gloat about that, it is to ask you for recommendations for more useful original software. Something that you found to be VERY useful yourself, and it's basically a 'secret' as of now (Aka: not widely spread like ZIP or MyIE)

I'm of course talking about the Win32 Platform, but if someone really wishes it, you can recommend about other platforms as well.

P.S: I know there is a sticky thread called "Essential software", my inquiry is not on 'best' or 'essential' software, its about original software, doing something unique that wasn't really needed until you actually got to try it.

Check out the sticky in the Off-Topic forum.

edit: if you haven't already

PathCopy (labeled Paths on the TextPad website) for TextPad is a nice little shell utility, however it is useful even without TextPad, and even better it's under a 100kb download.
http://www.textpad.com/add-ons/index.html

Where can I find this software and learn about mouse gestures?

@ yourtallness: StrokeIt
@ music_man_mpc: Alas, I think my original post wasn't clear enough about what I'm after, let me elaborate:

StrokeIt 'stroke' me with its original idea to do something (Use mouse movements to shortcut actions), and that made me search for more of these original ideas already implemented on the web, that has already succeeded for a small amount of people (If more were interested, I'm sure I would have heard it by now).

I'm not talking about software like in the 'sticky' thread (Which is useful btw), like a more advanced text editor, another recommendation for a better browser, etc.

Let me give another example for an original utility:
PersonalBrain, even though this software has proven much less useful then StrokeIt, it is neither the less, a very original software to manage data.

Gday...


heres another one:

http://www.mlin.net/

enjoy.

I don't know how well known it is, but I use Aston, which replaces the Windows Shell. It works on most versions of Windows, and I think it's faster and more stable (even on XP).

Ah, shell replacement? Meet Litestep. This project is free and open source using the General Public License.

For those who know Afterstep and Window Maker, this is kinda like it, for win32.

Here is an easy Litestep installer.

Since we r talking shells...

I've had problems with fb2k's shell extensions. Although I
always choose to install them ("Play in Foobar2000", "Enqueue
in Foobar2000") when installing foobar, they never appear.
Is there a way to do it manually?

@ n68: Finally, that is what i ment, some of them like the startup control utilities were really useful.

@ kl33per, Artemis3: Aston and litestep aren't that new, and replacement shells are not 'original' just ported the idea from *nix to win32. There of course many ways to enhance the win32 shell but most are uninteresting.


Now for the good news, found some more original software, as always some more useful then others:

1. Sizer: a software which allows complete and easy control to resizing apps, very useful for web development, might be useful for some other tasks.

2. sysinternals software: I Guess not really rare, or not known (And might be already mentioned in the essential software sticky, but very original software, and very useful set of utilities.

3. DotColor: Easy method to find what color values (RGB) each dot on the screen holds. Very useful