Deskcolor lets you remove the Desktop icon boxes of solid color that appear behind the icon's text, allowing your wallpaper to show through. With Deskcolor's interface you can toggle the icon text background off, select a predefined or custom icon text color, and apply the new setting without having to reboot your computer. Deskcolor can be accessed through a System Tray icon.

Explorer Menu Extention is a Windows Explorer add-on with many useful functions. You can rename and change the date of multiple files at once, select files by masks and wildcards, create subdirectories with only one mouse click, and open a DOS window using the current directory. The program also expands partial tree branches, substitutes local directories as drives (NT only), and opens multiple Windows Explorers side by side.

File-Ex 98 adds handy file management functions to the File Open and File Save dialogs of nearly all Windows applications. File-Ex also enlarges file dialogs to any size desired, adds "recent" and "favorite" file and folder lists, and allows long file names to be used with 16-bit applications. An information bar shows you the selected file's size, date, time, and attributes. You can easily find, copy, move, delete, rename, and create new folders. You can also select any of the last 25 files or directories used by each application, keep up to 100 favorite files or directories for each application, automatically start from the last directory used in each application, even when the application doesn't remember on its own, define your own file type lists for any application, and more.

FineTune Power Utility lets you set various hidden Windows options to help you improve your system's performance and security, and customize Windows in a variety of ways. FineTune lets you: adjust how Windows backs up your Registry; specify additional files to back up; view your backup copies within CAB files; set security features to prevent other users tampering with your settings; change the location of Windows default system folders; customize Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, and remove the "Branding" provided by some ISPs; optimize your dial-up networking settings to gain faster Internet access; view and modify product defaults, including your registered user and computer names; easily add and remove programs to run automatically at start up; speed-up the redrawing of your desktop and folder icons, and your modem's dialing speed; and optimize your disk cache. FineTune is a safe way to modify your Windows defaults, without the risks associated with uninformed use of the Regedit Tool.

ItweakU LE lets you customize many aspects of Windows 95 and 98. ItweakU LE makes it a snap to change the appearance and behavior of Windows without resorting to tinkering with the Registry. You can customize the Start Menu by choosing to show or hide various menu items, including the Favorites, Find Command, Run Command, Shut Down, Documents, and Windows Update icons. You can also have other icons appear at the top of the Start Menu, including the ones for Control Panel, URL History, Printers, Dial Up Networking, and Network Neighborhood. You can also change the menu delay time and automatically have the Documents folder cleared when you exit Windows. Your Desktop can be customized as well. For example, you can tile wallpaper, display or hide the Internet Explorer and Network Neighborhood icons, view thumbnails of bitmaps as icons in Explorer, and display or hide the animated "Click here to Begin" message that appears on the Taskbar. If you would like to make your PC more secure, you can lock the Desktop and prevent other users from performing certain actions, such as showing the File Menu, adding printers, changing the Start Menu, and right-clicking on the Taskbar or Desktop. Other options let you: change the wallpaper, log application errors, disable autostart for audio and data CDs, remove and edit entries in the AutoRun area of the Registry, remove browser cookies, change entries in the New folder, and remove entries from the Add/Remove programs list. This newest release provides you with the option to view thumbnails of bitmaps as icons. You can also change modem initialization strings and increase the icon cache size.

MacVision makes your PC's desktop look and feel incredibly like that of a Macintosh computer. MacVision lets you modify the appearance of just about everything in Windows so that it looks, acts and feels just like a Macintosh running under OS8. Instead of using the old Windows taskbar, you can use MacVision's fully functional MacOS Finder bar that has dynamic menus that change with every application. Every aspect of the Finder Bar is emulated with great attention to detail. Everything looks, works, and acts as it would on a Mac, right down to the flickering of the menu items when selected on custom made MacOS-style menus. MacVision also takes the normal windows interface and replaces all the window frames, buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, scroll bars, and progress bars so they look and work as they would running under OS8. This new version includes a redone options system, a new tray monitoring program that allows System Tray icons created even before MacVision was started to show in MacVision's tray, and a new uninstall program, along with a good deal of bug fixes and tweaks. Limitations in downloadable version: This version will time out in a few weeks to ensure that you download the most current Beta version.

Microsoft PowerToys Set is a set of 15 very useful utilities that improve Windows 95, 98 and NT. Desktop Menu opens items on your desktop from a convenient menu on the taskbar. CabView treats .CAB files like folders, letting you look inside, then drag files in and out with ease. CD AutoPlay Extender makes autoplay work on any non-audio CD so that you get speedy access to the programs you want to use. Contents Menu lets you get to your files without even opening their folders. Desktop Menu lets you open items on your desktop from a convenient menu on the Taskbar. Explore From Here lets you right click to open the Windows Explorer, rooted anywhere you want. Find X lets you customize your Find menu with drag-and-drop. FlexiCD provides quick, convenient audio CD control from the Taskbar. HTML Printer Driver allows you to save and print HTML documents from many applications. QuickRes lets you change the screen's resolution and bit depth right from the taskbar without rebooting. Send To X lets you use Send To with any target folder. Round Clock is round analog clock. Shortcut Target Menu shows you the properties for a shortcut's target just by right-clicking the shortcut. Tweak UI lets you change menu speed, mouse sensitivity, window animation and sound, document templates, shortcut appearance, desktop icons, and much more. XMouse makes the window with the focus follow your mouse without clicking, just like X Windows. DOS Prompt Here lets you start an MS-DOS prompt in the folder of your choice with the click of a button. Telephony Location Selector allows mobile computer users to change their dialing location with ease from a handy icon on the taskbar. Many of the PowerTools also work with Windows 98 and NT.

OuttaSight lets you hide application windows in a variety of convenient ways. OuttaSight is great for uncluttering the taskbar or to quickly hide private work from unsuspecting visitors overlooking your shoulder. The program has options to: hide application windows to the system tray, add "hide menu" item to all application system (control) menus, automatically hide applications as soon as they are run, automatically hide applications as soon as they are minimized, use the mouse pointer as a magic wand to make applications invisible, and use hot keys to hide or unhide application windows. You can also prevent other users from using applications or accessing hidden windows. OuttaSight itself can be hidden and called up with a hotkey.

PopOpen makes your windows spring open with animation effects. If you've always enjoyed the way MacOS and OS/2 are able to make their windows spring open with animation effects, then PopOpen is for you. PopOpen is easy to install, uses very little memory and can be uninstalled from the Control Panel.

PowerUp 98 DELUXE lets you access many of the hidden options and functions of Windows. There are seven types of settings you can modify: boot options, Windows controls, system options, application options, general options, and security settings. For "Boot Options" settings, you can enable or disable function keys, hide or display the Windows startup logo, and more. Under the "Windows controls" category, you can turn Window animation on and off, set the cursor blink rate, and give you the ability to open a DOS prompt at a specific location by right-clicking on a folder or drive symbol. Under "System Options" you can turn on or off Autoplay for audio CDs, set the DOS window redraw rate, display welcome text when the system boots, change the registration data (or product key), display or hide the Network Neighborhood icon, and more. The "Applications" section lets you adjust various Internet, Word, Norton and Microsoft Office settings. The "General Options" section lets you change the arrow thatWindows uses for shortcut icons, hide or display the shutdown logo, display image files as icons, adjust the Window drag visibility, and more. Under "Security" settings you can show or hide the "Find" option in the Start Menu, control access to "Settings" in the Start Menu, allow or disallow Registry editing, display or hide desktop icons, allow or disallow system shutdowns, allow or disallow DOS windows, and more. Limitations in downloadable version: Every time the program is started a random selection of approximately 30% of the available program functions are enabled – all other functions are disabled.

Transparent makes your desktop icon text labels transparent so that your wallpaper shows through. Transparent allows your wallpaper to show its true colors. It also lets you easily change the icon text to any color.

Tweaki ... for Power Users lets you customize over 100 different settings in Windows 95, 98 and NT. Tweaki gives you full control over boot options and applications that launch at startup. You can also create your own custom right-click context menus for file types in Explorer. You can set a number of desktop options, including speeding up the Start Menu, showing BMPs as thumbnails in Windows Explorer, turning off animated windows, removing shortcut arrows, and much, much more. You can also print directory structures from within Explorer and create your own custom right-click context menus for file types within Explorer. Limitations in downloadable version: Registration provides the ability to create right click menus for all file types on your system.

WinBoost 2000 lets you customize the look and feel of Windows by configuring over 250 different hidden settings and options. WinBoost lets you customize various aspects of Windows Explorer, the Start Menu, the Desktop, as well as different System and Bootup options. For example, you can have Windows Explorer display bitmap images as thumbnails, display your name in the System Tray, or have the Explorer screen refresh itself automatically, without the need to hit the F5 function key. You can also customize the Windows start-up logo or change Internet Explorer's animated logo. You can clear Internet Explorer's URL history box, change the shell folder for Favorites, and activate an improved auto-complete option. There's even a trick you can use to cheat at the game of Hearts by looking at your opponents cards! WinBoost also includes over 250 selected tips and tricks to boost Windows 95 and 98 productivity and performance. This newest release has a new user interface. It now covers 256 Windows 95/98 hidden settings and comes with 250 Windows 95/98 tips and tricks.

WindowBlinds lets you dramatically change the look and feel of Windows. You can change the style of title bars, buttons, checkboxes, toolbars, and more. Sound effects can be configured for various window actions, such as pressing buttons. The system icon can be placed on title bars. Buttons can be placed on the title bar that launch specific programs. Double clicking on the title bar can have an assigned action. WindowBlinds comes with four "skins", each with a unique look, and you can download additional skins from the author's Web site. You can also create your own skins.

WindowPictures completely changes the look of all windows on your desktop. Rather than simply changing only your wallpaper, WindowPictures also applies colors, textures, and pictures to the menus, buttons, backgrounds, title bars, and other elements of every application window on your desktop. WindowPictures is fully compatible with Windows 95/98 and Internet Explorer 4. This updated version includes 20 new subjects with many textures and pictures (including one for Christmas), and bug fixes.

Windows SuperCharger for Windows 95/98 speeds up your Web browsing and includes several dozen utilities which add features to Windows. Windows SuperCharger lets you change TCP/IP settings that can speed up your dial-up Internet connection. It also speeds up browsing by having your browser retrieve Web site IP addresses from a special cache file instead of a DNS server. Other utilities included with SuperCharger allow you to: switch screen resolutions on the fly; tweak hundreds of hidden Windows settings; extend the context menus; increase the efficiency of your computer's memory; and more.

WinHacker 95 is one of the best utilities you can use to configure the hidden Windows 95 and NT settings. Many of the settings that change the way Windows 95 works and feels are hidden in the overwhelming registry, or in configuration files. Access to many of these options was removed from Windows 95 because they would confuse most users. WinHacker 95 gives you a way to easily configure these hidden options. You can enable/disable the window animation when a window is minimized, maximized, or restored; enable/disable the wrapping of icon titles; change the name or icon of any shell folder (such as the Recycle Bin); change the speed at which cascading menus pop up; change the name of the registered owner and company; enable support for IDE removable drives (SyQuest); enable double-buffering; load command.com or drivespace.bin at the top of 640k memory area; auto load DriveSpace; auto load DoubleSpace; enable/disable the splash screen at startup, enable the Safe mode startup warning (after crash); start the registry editor; start the Configuration editor; show Windows Bitmaps as thumbnails in Explorer; the ability to move your desktop directory and other folders such as Favorites; and much more.

WinMac makes your PC's desktop look and feel incredibly like a Macintosh computer. WinMac's customizable toolbar can be configured to look like either the toolbar from System 7.5 or from Mac OS 8. From the toolbar you can run or switch applications as well as shutdown, logout, or restart the computer. There are also quick menus for you to quickly access the trash can, eject disks, control your speaker's volume, the Windows guide, and the Task Manager. You can toggle the display time and date on or off. Also included are Mac-style icons, sounds, fonts, and start-up and shutdown screens. A documentation file contains detailed instructions to help you make your PC running Windows 95 look tremendously like a Macintosh.

X-Setup is a tweaking utility which allows you to easily modify several hundred hidden Windows, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Office functions. X-Setup covers Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office, Windows Explorer, server settings, network settings and security, and much more. The program lets you tweak the appearance, general usage, hardware, Internet, network, and System configurations. It also includes wizards which enable you to change your settings in a step-by-step process. In additon, X-Setup has an Internet Explorer-like layout.

ZoomOpen allows you to add a zoom effect when any window or dialog box is opened or closed on your desktop. When you minimize (or maximize) a window, it flies to (or from) the Windows taskbar. You can tweak the zoom position, speed, trails, line thickness, and effects. The program runs as a convenient icon in the System Tray area of the Windows taskbar.

3D Color Changer 98 lets you change the colors and 3D appearance of any element in Windows 95 or 98. While the Windows Control Panel only lets you change the colors of different areas of your desktop, 3D Color Changer lets you change the shadow and highlight colors. This can give your desktop a very solid or a very flat 3D look and feel.

5 DOS Utilities consists of five small shell enhancements which allow you to perform a few basic tasks in a quicker and more functional way. DOC.COM lets you clear all My Documents entries in the Start menu from the command line. A_ZAP.COM enables you to delete the complete contents of 3.5" floppy disks from the command line. D.COM lets you enter the letter "d" instead of "dir" on the command line. RESTART.BAT allows you to quickly reboot your system. Finally, W.BAT enables you to reboot your computer by entering the letter "w" when a DOS utility leaves you on the command line.

ADing Desk gives you easy and instant access to your desktop. ADing Desk allows you to launch any configured program with a click of the mouse and without having to minimize any windows. The progrm also runs as a convenient icon in the System Tray area of the Windows taskbar.

BSOD Properties allows you to change the usual blue screen color which appears when something goes wrong in Windows to any other color of your choice. BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) simply takes your color selection and places it in the [386Enh] section of your System.ini file.

Change Icon allows you to modify folder icons. Change Icon lets you customize the appearance of each folder in Windows by selecting a better icon to represent it.

ChangeExt is a Windows Explorer context (right-click) menu extension that lets you edit a file's attributes, registered file type, and more. Once this add-on is installed, you can right-click on any file and edit its registered file type and its attributes. You can also display its shortcut information, short (DOS) name, size, attributes, date created, date modified, and date last accessed.

Cool Timer 98 runs in the System Tray area of the Taskbar, displaying how long the system has been running for. The time is broken down into days, hours and minutes. Cool Timer is useful for monitoring how long servers have been up for, or how long it's been since you last re-booted. The program uses very little system resources.

DeskSweeper lets you hide and unhide your Desktop icons with a single mouse click. DeskSweeper runs as a handy System Tray icon. Clicking on it hides or unhides your Desktop icons, including the Recycle Bin, My Computer icon, Network Neighborhood icon, and any other icons on your Desktop. In addition, right-clicking on DeskSweeper's icon lets you quickly launch Windows Explorer, shut down your computer, or re-boot. You can also remove, hide and restore your desktop wallpaper with a single click. This newest release lets you remove, hide and restore your desktop wallpaper. You can also minimize all windows. The shutdown and reboot function now works correctly with Windows NT. There are options to run DeskSweeper at Windows startup and to autohide icons at program startup.

DMEXMenu adds several handy functions to Windows Explorer's context menu. DMEXMenu installs as a shell context utility that is available from Windows Explorer when you select any folder or file and right-click the mouse. It lets you do several things that are difficult or impossible to do with Explorer. You can select files in the current folder using wildcards, rename multiple files, change the time and date stamps of multiple files, or change the attributes of multiple files. You can also create subfolders quickly, open a DOS window at the current directory, and quickly switch to directories that you can bookmark.

Drive Toys includes two disk utilities: DriveMenu provides a Taskbar icon for quick access to any system drive, DriveX is a shell extension that provides additional information on the Properties dialog for disk drives. DriveMenu is utility that allows quick access to any drive on the system (local or network) by means of an icon on the Windows taskbar. It features "Start"-style menus with icons for easy recognition and there are several options for customizing the menu. DriveX is a shell extension that adds additional pages to the Properties dialog for disk drives. The Volume Information page contains detailed information about the selected drive including the volume serial number, compression state, cluster size, number of used clusters, number of free clusters, etc. Normally, you'd have to run Windows' ScanDisk or run CHKDSK from the command prompt to get this information. The File System page reports the file system used on the selected volume and displays the most significant characteristics of the file system. On partitions that use the FAT file system, you can let DriveX perform a storage efficiency analysis which shows how much of your drive is actually occupied by data, and how much "slack" (unusable space due to cluster size) the drive has. The results are clearly presented in the familiar "pie chart" format.

eFX lets you customize the appearance of the window frames and titlebars of applications running on your desktop. eFX lets you dress up your desktop by creating unique and colorful window frames, called "skins". You can add graphics to a window, customize the font and appearance of the titlebar text, create fancy corners, and specify the position and appearance of the close, maximize and minimize buttons. Several skins are included, along with instructions for creating your own. The program runs as a convenient System Tray icon.

EXTEditor allows you to easily edit all the file extensions and associations on your computer. You can add new file extensions, include new actions to an existing extension, delete actions and extensions, and change the icon associated with an extension.

GhostHouse 00 allows you to selectively hide any application window which you do not want seen by prying eyes. The program lets you define topics whose words can be edited, and then you select which topics you wish to hide. When a moment arises in which you need to hide an application window, you simply signal GhostHouse by pressing a single key, and that application window is gone. The program examines the words in the title bar of every visible window on the desktop and compares them to the words in the topics which are active. If a match is found, the window is hidden. You can define as many topics and topic words as you like, and you can import words from external lists. The program can be password protected, and you can define hotkeys for various application windows. GhostHouse includes three example files (topics and words).

Hack-It allows you to easily designate any application's window to stay on top of all others or to become hidden or unhidden. Hack-It displays a list of running applications. You simply select which application you want to always remain on top (meaning no other application windows will cover any parts of it), or which application to hide or unhide. This newest release fixes a number of bugs in the previous release.

MultiRes lets you switch display color depths and resolutions from a handy System Tray icon. MultiRes also lets you access the Display Properties dialog box and change refresh rates. It works with Windows NT and supports multi-monitor displays.

MyOwnSettings lets you customize many of the hidden and undocumented settings in Windows 95/98. You can customize the Start Menu in various ways and adjust the Start Menu speed. If you don't like the way Windows adds a "Shortcut to" prefix every time you create a shortcut, you can disable this. The appearance of your desktop can be customized by displaying actual bitmaps as icons for BMP files or by hiding all icons on the desktop. You can add a "DOS prompt from here" item to Explorer. You can also prevent users from changing your system by disabling or hide various dialogs in the Control Panel and other areas. There are also options to move the default location for certain Windows folders, including Fonts, Desktop, Startup and Favorites.

NBSI Utilities98 SE II provides a helpful interface that give you access to dozens of handy Windows utilities and tweaking tools. In addition to including many of the utilities in the Microsoft PowerToys Set, NBSI also lets you learn about and access many "hidden" system utilities. These includes driver utilities (such as the expanded memory driver), system perfection utilities (such as the Registry scanner and tuneup manager), popular utilities (such as system configuration file editor and system file checkers), sound and recording utilities (such as the sound volume), system monitors (such as the resource meter), and network utilities (such as DOS FTP and the network watcher). This newest release adds additional tweaking utilities: IE5 Web Accessories and Microsoft Year 2000 Program Analysis.

Openas.inf adds the "Open With ..." function to the shell context menu, letting you open almost any file on your computer with any application. This add-in is useful, for example, if you want to be able to quickly open a TXT file with your favorite text editor, or open an HTML file with your favorite HTML editor. Simply right-click the file in Explorer, choose "Open With ...", and select any application from a dialog-box that appears.

Path Copy is a Windows shell extension that makes it easy to copy the path of a file or directory to the Clipboard. Simply open Windows Explorer, right-click the item of interest and choose "Copy Path" in the context menu. The path can be copied in three different formats: short (8.3), long, or UNC (Universal Naming Convention). UNC uses the format \\server-name\shared-resource-pathname. This newest release works better under Windows 2000. It also includes a few minor bug fixes found in previous versions.

Peep Show Lite allows you to cut "holes" in any window currently open on your desktop. With Peep Show Lite running, you can click the left and right mouse buttons at the same time over any window, begin dragging out a shape, release the buttons, and a hole is created which you can see and click right through. You can create different shaped holes, inverted holes, specify the number of holes to create in any window, and more. You can also drag and drop through a hole without having to move any window, and monitor what is happening beneath the current window. This utility runs as a convenient icon in the System Tray area of the Windows taskbar.

Q-Sort 98 arranges your Start menu and Favorites in alphabetical order with a single mouse click. There's an option to have your Start menu and your Favorites list arranged for you, and another that will arrange the folders automatically when your Windows start up.

Rename The Recycle Bin lets you change the names and icons of the Recycle Bin, My Computer, and Network Neighborhood shortcuts. You can restore the defaults whenever you wish.

A noisy computer is a good computer! Put your .wav files to good use and assign them to all of your most-used programs with this free utility. Sound Association (formerly Souser-Sound Association) lets you easily assign sound events to any Windows executable file. For instance, you can have a specific .wav file play when you open Word, another when you fire up Notepad, and still another when you launch your Web browser. Besides "Open" sound events, you can add hooks for Close, Maximize, Minimize, Restore Up, Restore Down, and more. Just type in the program's "friendly" name, browse for its .exe, and check off the sound hooks you want to add. Then, push a button to go directly to the Control Panel Sounds area to assign .wav files to your new sound events.

StartMenu Cleaner cleans the Windows 95 Start Menu by removing unneeded shortcuts and folders. StartMenu Cleaner is a freeware utility which cleans the Start Menu by removing unneeded shortcuts and folders. StartMenu Cleaner scans all shortcuts in your Start Menu and removes empty folders and shortcuts which points to files that no longer exist. The result is a smaller, cleaner, more efficient Start Menu. Windows 95/98/NT, DLLs installed with Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSVBVM50.DLL and OLEAUT32.DLL).

TurboTop lets you have any application window stay "Always On Top" of other application windows. TurboTop runs form a handy System Tray icon. When you click the icon, a menu appears showing all your active applications. Simply click on the name of any application that you wish to stay on top of the others. The "on top" application's window will then never be covered by other applications. This newest release adds command-line support.

WatchCat lets you hide any running application from view. WatchCat is convenient if you need to keep applications running, but you don't want them to be obtrusive. Application windows that are hidden by WatchCat not only disappear from your Windows desktop, but they also disappear from the Taskbar and from the list of running tasks displayed by ALT-TAB. To hide or unhide any application, simply right-click on WatchCat's System Tray icon, and select an application from the menu that appears. Applications that appear on the bottom of the menu are ones that are currently hidden. There are options to hide and show all windows, and to hide or show your desktop icons. Other options let you hide and unhide programs using hotkeys, or by right-clicking on any application's "minimize" icon. You can even set up timers which automatically hide or close windows after a specified period of time. This latest release fixes a few minor bugs in the previous version.

WhoAmI & WhereAmI are file management tools designed to explain file extensions and display full path information. The utilities are accessible from the "Send To" option of Windows Explorer's context menu. Simply click on any file and WhoAmI searches an included file extension database for an explanation of the file's type. Alternately, you can manually enter file extensions in WhoAmI to look them up in the database directly. Similarly, WhereAmI can show (and let you cut and paste) a file's complete path.

WinEject provides a taskbar icon from which you can open and close your CD-ROM drive, ZIP disk, or other removable media. Simply double-click with the left mouse button on WinEject's icon to open your CD ROM, click once to close it. The program is also able to eject other media, like ZIP disks. There are command line options and an option to eject drives automatically when Windows is shut down. This latest release allows remote disks on a Windows NT network to be ejected.

WinHide allows you to hide any running program from view. Simply run WinHide with the title text for the window to hide, and it's hidden. You can show any hidden window, as well.

WinShaper allows you to modify the shape of any program's window. Windows of any program can be shaped as a triangle, a circle, a cross, a heart, and more. WinShaper also works with Windows NT.

WinSize helps forgetful application windows maintain their size and position on your desktop. WinSize runs as a Taskbar icon, letting you easily store window positions for any running application. Winsize then automatically applies these positions whenever the windows you have selected are moved or resized from their original spot. WinSize can also make sure that all your windows stay on screen, instead of opening with their window halfway off the screen. It also has a "center" feature, and it can force windows to stay on top of other windows.