Four free programs to help control Windows 7

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	TOP STORY[/size][/font] Four free programs to help control Windows 7[/size]
	By Lincoln Spector Windows 7, like all powerful operating systems, can seem a bit overwhelming and give you the feeling you’ve lost control.. Fortunately, there are some great utilities for taming Windows 7.[/size]

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The full text of this column is posted at WindowsSecrets.com/2011/01/06/02 (opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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Hi,
Thanks for a great article!

Don’t know if anybody else has experienced trouble with the WinMend Auto Shutdown download page link given in the article, but my current version of Trend Micro Internet Security has blocked that site as being dangerous! url: http://www.winmend.com/auto-shutdown/

Thought it unusal to be referred to a suspect website or it is just that Trend is being overly protective?

Anyway thanks again for all the great info.

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Great article. I intend to try a couple of these programs that I hadn’t heard about before.

I have tried Fences and I loved what it did for my desktop … But … I quit using it because it interfered with my Bigfish games. I worked with Bigfish tech support at great length to come up with a work-around. We were able to come up with a partial solution (worked with some games but not all) but in the end it was too much hassle.

Regards,

Dan

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The Fences utility sounds terrific. But the Stardock web site says “Impulse must be installed in order to download and update software”. I gather there is some controversy about Impulse. Has anyone had trouble (or success) with this?

(I am not a game player, so I am not worried about that aspect.)

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I’m glad to see Fences mentioned. I’ve been using it for a while now and the best feature is the ability to hide all your desktop icons. I have the Dell Dock, which was also made by Stardock, using that (or Stardock’s ObjectDock) with Fences has really made using Windows much easier.

One correction that should be made in the article, Fences Pro is $19.95. The full package of all of Stardock’s desktop products is what costs $50.

The Fences utility sounds terrific. But the Stardock web site says “Impulse must be installed in order to download and update software”. I gather there is some controversy about Impulse. Has anyone had trouble (or success) with this?

(I am not a game player, so I am not worried about that aspect.)

You do not need Impulse to run Fences, at least for the free version. The link takes you to Download.com. Maybe they are referring to the Pro version?

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The Fences utility sounds terrific. But the Stardock web site says “Impulse must be installed in order to download and update software”. I gather there is some controversy about Impulse. Has anyone had trouble (or success) with this?

(I am not a game player, so I am not worried about that aspect.)

Good catch! I have read and heard by word of mouth countless recommendations of Stardock Fences, and this is the first time anyone has alerted me to the Impulse requirement.

On the Stardock web site and in their Support Forums, it is clearly stated that Impulse is required for updates and installation or uninstallation of Fences. That’s the story — straight from the Vendor’s own website.

Impulse is a system scanner and adware push-sell type of “Helper”. I would not do any business with Stardock (free or paid) until they remove this requirement from all their free offerings. There is a very real possibility that this Impulse “helper” has been or can easily be used by hackers to silently download malicious software. I would not trust this Impulse software any more than I would trust the Adobe Download Manager (required to get Flash Player directly from Adobe), which has a proven track record of being used by hackers as a Trojan Horse, to download malicious software without the user’s knowledge.

Neither Stardock nor Adobe intends anything malicious by including these Download Managers with their free offerings. But neither company has been responsible in limiting how these Download Managers can be misused by even the least-sophisticated hackers to do damage to users’ computers. If the Stardock Impulse “helper” is removed, the user cannot get updates nor uninstall Fences.

This Impulse requirement may be why Trend Micro does not like Stardock’s site.

-- rc primak

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I would not do any business with Stardock (free or paid) until they remove this requirement from all their free offerings. There is a very real possibility that this Impulse “helper” has been or can easily be used by hackers to silently download malicious software.

I certainly appreciate what you’re saying, and for the most part I’m in agreement. But as I stated above, their free offerings do not seem to actually require Impulse. I have downloaded and installed Fences without it. I have also downloaded, installed, and uninstalled the free version of ObjectDock without the need for Impulse.

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This Impulse requirement may be why Trend Micro does not like Stardock’s site.

I think you may have got it wrong here, seems it’s another site that Trend Micro doesn’t like:

Don’t know if anybody else has experienced trouble with the WinMend Auto Shutdown download page link given in the article, but my current version of Trend Micro Internet Security has blocked that site as being dangerous! url: http://www.winmend.com/auto-shutdown/

Thought it unusal to be referred to a suspect website or it is just that Trend is being overly protective?

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In your article about Soluto you say it “is the easiest solution I’ve yet found for controlling autoloaders”. I use “AnVir Task Manager Free” to control ALL of the programs that load during startup. With it you can specify when you want the program or autoloader to start (any number of minutes after bootup). It also provides a description for each program being loaded and the location of it. You can also stop it from loading at all. This program also monitors your system’s cpu and disk utilization with simple system tray icons. There are many other useful uses for it – far too many to describe here. Check it out here (http://www.anvir.com/documentation.htm).

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Re: Conrol Of Startup Programs:
I’ve had good luck with WinPatrol – which is also Free.

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With regard to Fences: I like a pristine desktop so I hide the icons. I do however hhave a folder that I call Applications that resides in my Quick Launch bar where I have shortcuts to all the aps I use on a regular basis. It’s just as easy to get at as the desktop and the desktop is clean.

I am going to give Soluto a shot though.

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Thanks for the great tips. I’m glad that I wanted to reply since there was some additional info about Fences. I personally don’t have a desktop real estate problem so I won’t follow up on it, but I am looking forward to trying the other suggestions. I am currently using Autoruns, but I would like some more information regarding the programs and sequences. I will give more feedback after trying the other apps.

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I tried downloading System Information for Windows but Windows Essentials claims it contains a virus or other threat. I tried both the exe and zip downloads with the same result. Its probably false but I’m not taking any chances until I know better. Don’t you guys check these programs you recommend before you recommend them?

Did you download from SIW | Download?

Joe

--Joe

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Did you download from SIW | Download?

Joe

Yes I did. To make a long story short, I downloaded it again and ignored Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). I ran an Avast! scan (I use both) and it came out clean. Then I ran MSE again and when it told me there was a threat I looked at the details. As it turns out, there was something in Avast’s quarantine that I hadn’t deleted. (A drawback having co-resident antivirus/malware tools.) It’s gone now and MSE is happy. So am I. To avoid confusion to readers, I’ve deleted my original post.

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I have tried Fences in the past but had problems with it, so gave it up.

Here is a free program similar to Fences that I have been using for a little while called Toolbox. I have been using the beta version on WinXP, which has been stable for me. The author has been lax in updating the beta but in communicating with him, he promises to get back to it (so the program is not dead).

http://www.cylog.org/utilities/toolbox.jsp

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Lincoln Spector,

I to have had this problem of Windows MSE alerting on an attempt to install a Trojan on my system when downloading those last two suggestions, “System Information for Windows” and “[/color][/size]WinMend Auto Shutdown” both after clicking the (download page) link for each. MSE did do it’s job and reported a successful removal of those Trojans. The programs appeared to be free of this threat it looked to be something that was added to their site maybe piggy backed so it would be downloaded and installed before the program was downloaded.

I have been running Microsoft Security Essentials along with Avast, Spybot Search and Destroy, Super ANTI SPYWARE Free Edition with some other programs without any conflict.
[/color][/size]

"Infinite CREATOR" cast "Loving Light" upon thee
TIA, CU L8R, 'd' "LoneWanderer"
"Only you can control your future." Dr. Seuss
NOT a leader,
NOT a BLIND follower,
Join US and LIVE this LIFE as ONE!
Original author Unknown

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Soluto does have an easy to use interface, but added 11 seconds to my boot time – about as much as it saved.

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Soluto does not work with XP64 caused pc hang had to resort to safe mode to remove

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I liked the idea of Winmend but I could never find out how to reset the shutdown time–so everyday at noon it popped up. Finally, I decided to uninstall it. Ha! It oesn’t want to be uninstalled. I used 2 programs on it, then I manually deleted whatever else I could find, using regedit to get rid of registry keys.

AND IT STILL POPS UP EVERY NOON. I have just emailed their support for help.

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To add to my previous complaint, Winmend hasn’t responded to me and I still can’t get rid of it.

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Also the link provided at the very beginning of this thread, “The full text of this column is posted at WindowsSecrets.com/2011/01/06/02 (opens in a new window/tab).” Is not working, will not take you to the article.

Thank you to the Admins on this Lounge for doing whatever was required as I have finally managed to get my desktop on here again. I do not know what could have caused this problem but it seems to be fixed now.

"Infinite CREATOR" cast "Loving Light" upon thee
TIA, CU L8R, 'd' "LoneWanderer"
"Only you can control your future." Dr. Seuss
NOT a leader,
NOT a BLIND follower,
Join US and LIVE this LIFE as ONE!
Original author Unknown

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“Fences” makes me LMAO!

Windows 7 now looks like Windows 3.x!!

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Outlook warned me the email on this topic contained ActiveX controls which it would not run for security reasons or ‘because I had blocked the publisher’. Did that happen for anyone else?
I replied to the email to report this and got the response
> Thanks for your email and feedback. I’m sorry you are having this trouble.
> I have never heard of anyone having this trouble before.
which is neither helpful nor informative.
I wonder why there would be ActiveX controls in an email?
can anyone shed any light?

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Some other options

Fences: I solved this by simply creating a couple of extra folders full of shortcuts and placing it on my Start Menu. Icondesk (free) hides all the desktop icons to keep it clean.

Soluto: after several months, I didn’t find that it helped. WinPatrol (free) lets you disable or delay startup programs and services and monitors the registry better. I found Soluto’s flash-y interface hard to work with.

SIW: good choice; sometimes too much information.

WinMend: Xylsoft’s Shut Down Expert (free to try; $25) provides a lot of control over timed events: standby, shutdown, etc.

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Regarding SIW being flagged as a Trojan Horse:

On my Windows XP Pro laptop I have Comodo Firewall with Defense+. This security, like MSE, flags SIW as a Trojan Horse. Details (not given by MSE) are that this program, which is not an installed Program, but a stand-alone Executable, accesses certain Protected Areas inside the Windows System Kernel, among other suspicious behaviors. In fact, SIW is perfectly benign, but some heuristic detection rules do not like direct access by any Executable to Protected Areas inside the Windows System Kernel. I use SIW on the Windows XP Pro laptop, and have had no problems with it. This is a very useful tool, and belongs alongside of Sysinternals 14 on any computer where you may need to pull up accurate details about hardware, including memory and devices installed.

By the way, Sysinternals also gets flagged by Defense+ as a Trojan Horse. So does the NirSoft Uninstaller which comes with many Nir Sofer freeware programs. These are all false positives.

-- rc primak

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I haven’t tried it yet, but one item should be noted about Soluto – it looks like something I’ve been wanting.

If I understand correctly from a quick glance at their web page, they are also collecting information for a “PC Genome” as part of their software.

They are up-front about this. But just something that I would like to see noted in the software recommendation article.

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I have Comodo FW w/Defense+ and have no problem running SIW. I am using the non-installed version.

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I have Comodo FW w/Defense+ and have no problem running SIW. I am using the non-installed version.

How Comodo Defense+ reacts to SIW depends in part on how high the D+ sensitivity is set. I use the highest level on my laptop — “Paranoid”. I assume most people use a lower setting, which may be why your mileage may vary on this point. My point is, if anybody is seeing security warnings about SIW, it’s OK to run it — the program is completely benign.

-- rc primak

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I believe Soluto was covered in a past thread here.

When I tried it, I saw no gain, just a pretty UI.

AND, unless something has changed, if you uninstall Soluto, any changes you made are removed! I view this as disingenuous at best.

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I f you hanker after the good ol’ days of Widows 3.1 (!!!) then Stardock Fences can give you a reasonable facsimile of the old interface but if you want something more up-to-date then go for ObjectDock from the same company (also free) which gives you an Apple-style docking bar at the bottom of your screen which you can use either instead of or as well as the standard Windows 7 toolbar.

I have also tried a similar offering from aqua-soft called XWindows Dock but they broke it with their last “upgrade” so I had to find an alternative and Stardock’s ObjectDock was it — I wouldn’t be without some kind of “group docking” bar now as it cleans up your desktop really well.

For those who might ask “why do I need this”, I have groups for Games, Sound Apps, Video apps, Image Apps and PDF User Manuals for all our domestic and electrical devices just to name a few and it makes finding stuff quickly really easy without the need for some huge new interface or menuing system.

Regards,

Jim.

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I installed Soluto in WinXP. It seemed to work and shortened my boot time a little.

However several programs would not work anymore. For example Raxco’s Perfect Speed would not start up. It would not reinstall and it would not repair. I tried to uninstall it using Revo Uninstaller but it did not even see Perfect Speed.

So I uninstalled Soluto and everything works fine now.

Perhaps it will work better in WIN7!

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SIW seems like a wonderful tool but ..when I see the Firefox passwords it exposes in clear text – I think wow ! have I been a fool ? Like so many I have a pattern of favourite passwords and oh so many are available to anyone that runs SIW on one of my PCs.

Is it just so foolish to allow Firefox to ‘remember’ web sign-in passwords, or is SIW so dangerously powerful ?

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Thanks for the pointer to Soluto – several years ago I wanted the answer to “How long does x take to load during system boot” and couldn’t find a solution at the time. However, for something that supposedly measures boot times, what on earth is it up to after that?

Anyone run Task Manager and looked at overall CPU times? My PC’s been on and not particularly heavily used for the last 24 hours. Top of the list of overall CPU usage is Firefox (all those blasted animated ads?). Coming in at number 3 is Soluto with 4 hours 51 minutes of CPU time! Ok, a few seconds at boot time…..but then what?

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Thanks for the pointer to Soluto – several years ago I wanted the answer to “How long does x take to load during system boot” and couldn’t find a solution at the time. However, for something that supposedly measures boot times, what on earth is it up to after that?

Anyone run Task Manager and looked at overall CPU times? My PC’s been on and not particularly heavily used for the last 24 hours. Top of the list of overall CPU usage is Firefox (all those blasted animated ads?). Coming in at number 3 is Soluto with 4 hours 51 minutes of CPU time! Ok, a few seconds at boot time…..but then what?

You have found out now that Soluto, while a nice idea and probably in a good spot to implement it, it’s still half way. For now, I don’t think it is stable or performing well enough for me to install it.

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