Sites of the week

Microsoft created the “Maximize” habit – the need to have one window consume the entire screen – long ago when it made more sense to give each program all the space on your small screen. But, times have changed. Modern screens pack so many pixels that many web sites and word documents are packed with empty space on the left or right.

Microsoft’s alternative to Maximize is Snap, a feature of Windows 7. It allows you to drag windows left or right to “maximize” to half of the screen. Snap also lets you drag a window up to maximize and use Win-Left and Win-Right to snap (my favorite part of the feature). You can have these same features in Windows XP or Vista with AeroSnap Beta. It’s free, it’s simple, and it does just what it says.

• Take a look at AeroSnap Beta.

When Windows XP came out, Microsoft started transitioning consumers away from the their old file system, FAT32, and onto the sleeker, better NTFS. Macs, however, can’t write to NTFS, even with the latest OS, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (actually Snow Leopard support writing NTFS, but it’s a complicated solution). Luckily for us, there’s free software available that bridges that gap: MacFUSE.

MacFUSE allows you to support 3rd-party file system drivers on your Mac, including NTFS. A company called Tuxera has an open-source driver for NTFS (they also sell a high-performance version) which allows your Mac to read and write windows latest file systems.

With most external hard drive now formatted with NTFS, not being able to write to these drives can be a serious stumbling block on the path to interoperability.

• Download MacFuse at Google Code
• Download NTFS-3G from Tuxera

If there’s a video format out there, odds are VLC can play it. From DVD to MKV, VLC can just play it.

VLC also offers features such as transcoding and streaming support for the advanced user. I recently set up VLC as the default player on a computer for my friend’s five-year-old daughter. She can double-click a movie and VLC is set to open full-screen and start playing. No hassle.

If you don’t have VLC, just get it. It’s free, it runs on Macs, Windows, and Linux. It plays almost everything, and it just works. It has plenty of advanced settings if you want them, but mostly, double-click and start watching.

• Get VLC now

Microsoft has spent considerable time distancing themselves from the horrors of FrontPage. Part of that effort is Expression Web, the replacement and much-improved web design application. While I don’t use Expression Web, all of us at the office have recently installed SuperPreview for Windows Internet Explorer, a really nice tool in these days of multiple browser versions.

SuperPreview is all about comparison. Choose IE6, your current version of IE (If you are using IE8 you can opt for Compatibility Mode), or an image – even a Photoshop PSD file. Select any two and display them next to, above and below, even overlaid on each other. Simultaneously scroll both panes and zoom in to 500% for pixel-perfect analysis. Box Highliting will select the same item on both panes, and select it in the DOM if you choose to view it. You can change the rendered browser size, and more.

Expression Web has a more complete version, including the ability to add other installed browsers like Firefox or Safari. But, then, it’s $300, and SuperPreview is free. It doens’t work every time (on my machine msnbc.com will not render under IE6) but it’s better than wandering off to the computer with IE6 still installed.

• Pick up SuperPreview from Microsoft

Microsoft’s SyncToy is a great free way to copy or synchronize files in Windows. With both a convenient user interface and a command line, SyncToy can be set to copy files manually, on a schedule, or triggered to run during events. My girlfriend’s computer is set up so when she logs in, it will copy her USB stick on which she stores most of her files to a network share if it’s connected. I use it to duplicate my important data from my file server to a large drive in my desktop PC as an on-site backup.

SyncToy has three modes for all sorts of different needs. If you find yourself copying files, or wishing you had,  SyncToy might be for you.

• Download SyncToy from Microsoft 

Paparazzi! isn’t new, but it works, and works well. It takes pictures of websites using the WebKit (Safari) engine on your Macintosh. Last updated in 2006, but still just as useful, Paparazzi! lets you set a number of options including a delay, which can be useful for timing moving images or page dynamic effects. It’s not for everyone, but if you need website screenshots or captures, this is a great, free option.

• Learn more about Paparazzi!

If you’ve ever loaded your programs in order so they show up in the right order on your Taskbar, then you need Taskbar Shuffle. This simple, free little app for Windows (95/98/NT/2000/XP/Vista, 32-bit and 64-bit) lets you drag and drop your taskbar buttons around.

• Go Download Taskbar Shuffle

If you’ve got a netbook running Windows, then you need EeeRotate. This tiny program does one thing, lets you rotate your screen and trackpad 270 degrees (right side becomes top), so you can hold your laptop like a book and read.

You can use this same small program on any PC — I’ve tested it on a netbook running XP on an 8.9-inch screen and a desktop running Vista on a 30-inch screen. It’s handy if you need a temporary rotated view or want to confuse people.

As a special note for Synergy users, Synergy did not respond well when the server’s screen was rotated. The cursor, but not the ability to click, was on the server, the keyboard was on another.

• Get EeeRotate Now.

I have a shiny new iPod Touch 16GB, but to carry all my music around, I still rely on my 60GB iPod (Photo).  Now, I have five computers that I use regularly (two at home, two at work, and a laptop) and getting music from my home library to my work library is sometimes painful.

SharePod solves that by allowing me to manage my music from a free,  small program I keep on the iPod itself. It’s just a few megs, and you can add and remove songs, create and change playlists. When my hard drive failed in my home PC, SharePod exported all my music, playlists, ratings, playcounts… everything into a format iTunes could import.

SharePod is donation-supported, so take a look, and if you like it, shoot Jeff a couple of dollars using the donation link on the Download page.

• Get SharePod for free.

I have two computers on my desk at work, a PC and a Mac, and occasionally my laptop joins them. At home, I have two PCs next to each other. In both cases, I use the open source software Synergy to control all the computers with a single mouse and keyboard. Synergy allows the cursor to move from screen to screen as though they were one computer. Whichever computer has the cursor also has the keyboard focus. What’s more, Synergy brings the clipboard contents with it (only text between Macs and PCs last I checked).

Just choose one computer to be the server — the computer with the mouse and keyboard attached — and the rest connect as clients. Synergy runs inside the operating system, so don’t expect to modify BIOS settings or select startup options with a remote keyboard.

Installation is easy under Windows (works with Windows 95 through Vista). There is no installer or configuration tool for Macintosh, but the online documentation is quite extensive, and even includes step-by-step instructions to have to launch automatically.

Configuring Synergy  uses a somewhat confusing interface.  You have to identify each computer which will be connected (even the host) and how the different screens “touch” each other. You have to tell it how to get out from each screen, even if it is the opposite of the way you got on to it.  During initial setup you may find your cursor “stranded” on a screen with no way off. Exiting Synergy on that computer will return your cursor to the main screen.

I even leave the Synergy client running on my laptop, so when I open it at work, I can control it with the same keyboard and mouse I always use.

While it isn’t for everyone, there are plenty of multiple-computer users that could benefit from the simplicity of one keyboard, one mouse, and no hassled (well, after setup).

• Take a look at Syngery on SourceForge.