| Issue #64/Aug. '00 |
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Navigate: | My Mac Online | The Archives | February 1997 | Shareware Reviews | |
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By Fenton Jones "Manavesh"
| Snap-To 2.01 | Click, there it is! 1.0.7 | Quickie Folder 1.0.1 | MenuChoice 2.1 | CanIt! 1.1 | Program Switcher 4.2.0 | UltraDrop | 
Snap-To 2.01 by Trevden Sherzell (Control Panel) performs the
simple, yet amazing task of putting the cursor on the default button of
any dialog box (unless the application in question doesn't support it,
in which case it does nothing.) I know you nimble keyboard types can
just hit the Return, or Enter-but I'm often using the mouse. You can tell how much time this panel saves when you find yourself still reflexively jerking the mouse whenever a dialog box appears. There's an option to have the cursor slide to the button, use that until you calm down. Shareware: $5.00
Click, there it is! 1.0.7 by Richard Cardona (Extension) adds a
simple capability that will save you miles of dialog box navigation. By
simply clicking on a visible Finder window, while in a dialog box, the
window will appear as the dialog list. It's very useful if you are going
back and forth from one place to another, like in between one window on
your hard drive and one on a removable drive. I use it a lot for stuffing files on my Zip disk, or saving to a window that's already open. It's very useful for absent-minded people like me. Shareware: $5.00
Quickie Folder 1.0.1 by Mike Throckmorton (Extension). Another
dialog box enhancer, it adds the capability to create a new folder in any
dialog box. This is also very useful for absent-minded people (do you
notice a trend here?) who forget to create a folder for their documents
before they make them, or who download several items and don't know
where to put them. If an application already has this capability and you get two new folder buttons, you can exclude it. A MacUser exclusive, look for it at: http://www.hotfiles.com/swbrowse/MC10/4/5/mac-MC10452.html(Free MacUser Exclusive)
MenuChoice 2.1 By Kerry Clendinning (Control Panel). An excellent
substitute for the sometimes buggy Apple Menu Options, it creates
hierarchal Apple Menus, as well adding additional functions. You can
put an alias of your entire hard drive as one of the items. (I've read
that this causes slowdowns with Apple Menu Options, but not with this
program; or BeHierarchal, another good substitute-which I'm not too familiar with.)MenuChoice has an optional Recent menu item, which keeps track of where you've gone lately (but it only works if you used MenuChoice to go there), a Desktop menu, Deeper hierarchal menus for folders more than four layers deep, and Extended Features-using the Option key, you can pop up a choice of actions to perform on an item. These include Print, Show in Finder, Create Alias (with a choice of destination), and, my personal favorite, Get Info. You can navigate anywhere (including all mounted drives), find out version numbers, and change memory settings by only opening the Get Info window. To augument MenuChoice, I added my own Recent Applications and Recent Documents folders to the AppleMenu. I put aliases to my most-often-used items in there. They don't update, like Apple Menu Options, but that's OK-they don't get pushed aside by newer, yet less important items either. Shareware: $15.00
CanIt! 1.1 by Grey Owl Software, (Extension and Control Panel)
saves mucho time and hassle. All it does is throw selected items in the
trash, with the option to throw them away immediately, by pressing a
configurable command key combo (default is Cmd-B). I know this could be dangerous. But some of us collect so many small items (text clippings, etc.) off of the Internet, it's just way too much trouble to be always putting them in the trash and then emptying it. One drawback, however, is that it does empty the trash can when you press those keys; so don't use it if you have other questionable items in there. [Requires Finder Scripting Extension, incl. in System 7.5x] Shareware: $10.00
Program Switcher 4.2.0 By Michael F. Kamprath (Control Panel)
can accomplish many of the functions that some of the Launcher
alternatives do, but does it quickly, easily, and without using up
screen space.It switches between running programs, using the Option-Tab keys, a natural combo for the thumb and finger. You can choose how and where the applications are listed; have the list pop up under the cursor, choose whether to hide others, etc. It's very customizable, and has advanced options to suit power users. You can exclude applications, such as application-based screen savers, from the list. A recent addition is the ability to quit applications. A quick step-over of the finger to the Q key quits an application (or several) upon releasing the Option key. It sure as hell beats those trips up to the Application Menu. Shareware: $10.00
UltraDrop is actually only a collection of folder icons but they
function as if they were a utility. You put them on your Desktop.
Rather than having one big icon folder, you now have 4, 5 (above)
or even 8 in the same space. The names of each folder show when you
select one, or even drag something over it (Temp. folder, in this case).I put them just above the trash can (you can see the lid), using them for quickly dropping all kinds of temporary items-clippings, newly-downloaded software, etc. They're simply folder icons which, when command-dragged, fit together to appear as one. They aren't one, however, as you'll find out if you select "Clean Up Desktop;" they'll come apart. Select the other desktop items to clean up, then hold the Shift key, to spare them. Drag around them all first before you move them. They will also appear as separate folders on the Desktop in dialog boxes, adding to the list length, so four or five is plenty. Freeware!
*** All of the shareware items reviewed by Manavesh, except Quickie Folder 1.0.1, can be found at the My Mac Software Library at http://www.mymac.com/software
Fenton Jones (manavesh@mymac.com)
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