Useful free downloads

Think of Microsoft, and the software that immediately springs to mind is Office and Windows.

But in reality, the company is behind a huge range of software. Some of these programs are well known, while others could be viewed as hidden gems.

It is these unknown treasures that we are going to look at.

Browsing the Microsoft website reveals a vast range of titles that you can download and use free of charge. If you want something to help optimise Windows, make it easier to use, add extra options or customise the operating system, all this and more can be found at www.microsoft.com and other sites. Don’t worry about finding it, however, we’ve done all the hard work for you and have tracked down the cream of the crop.

The hidden tools on the Microsoft site are a treasure trove for fans of tweaks and utilities. Looking through the list, you may wonder why the utilities are not better advertised. Well, many of the downloads are not designed with the average user in mind; they have either been written for a specific, non-standard task or they are aimed at the more technically minded user, the intention being that if you need a particular tool, you’ll be able to track it down. Here we present a list of the best of the hidden gems organised into themed categories.

Windows extensions
Pressing Alt and Tab simultaneously provides a quick way to switch between open programs and windows. But with several instances of the same program open, it can be hard to differentiate between each of them. This is something the Alt-Tab Task Switcher aims to improve. Once installed, using the Alt and Tab keyboard shortcut will not only display a list of open programs and windows, but also a preview of each item to aid identification.

Users with sight problems can find it difficult to make out smaller objects on screen, and most users could benefit from occasionally zooming in on the desktop. This is particularly true when image editing, when there is a need to make precise selections.

The Taskbar Magnifier tool sits in the taskbar and enlarges the portion of the screen under the mouse pointer. After installation, right-click the taskbar and select Toolbars, then Taskbar Magnifier to display the zoom window and use the right-click menu to adjust the zoom level. You can also make the taskbar taller to increase the size of this window.

Cleartype is a font-smoothing technology included with Windows XP to help improve the appearance of on-screen fonts, but the choice between either ‘on’ or ‘off’ is not enough for many users. It is possible to customise Cleartype settings by visiting http://tinyurl.com/33wza, but there is also a downloadable tool that can be used offline. The Cleartype Tuner Powertoy adds a new applet to the Control Panel, giving greater control over how fonts are displayed.

The Community Bar extends the capabilities of Internet Explorer by enabling visitors to attach notes to websites and chat with other visitors. This can be a useful way to find a particular section of a site or discover what others think of it, by reading the comments and looking at the overall site rating. The bar also enables internet searches of the currently loaded page, sites that link to the current page or pages on similar subjects.