Launch programs in no time with Mouse Extender

Go to http://mouseextender.net by entering this address into a browser or by clicking on the link in the intro. Now click the Download ME! link at the top of the page. In the Recommended Download section, click the MouseExtender.zip link followed by the I Agree button. If the File Download Security Warning dialogue box appears, click Save and then choose a location for the downloaded file. Firefox users should select Save File to save the download to Firefox’s default download folder. Now locate and right-click the MouseExtender.zip file just downloaded and pick Extract All. Click the Browse button to choose a different folder for the extracted files and then click Extract.

Launch the program by double-clicking the MouseExtender.exe file. Mouse Extender will appear as a small, grey panel. Right-click an empty part of this panel or right-click the Mouse Extender icon in the Notification Area. Select Settings. To ensure that the program is always available, click to tick the Autostart option. Use the first of the two sliders to choose how many icons should be displayed in a row and use the final option to choose how the Mouse Extender panel should be accessed. By default, clicking the middle mouse button will bring up the panel, but a combination of keys and other buttons can be used instead.

Shortcuts can be added to the Mouse Extender panel by right-clicking an empty section of the panel and choosing Add File or Program. Use the navigate box to locate a program or document file to add to the panel. Hover the mouse pointer over an icon for a description. To change this description, right-click the icon, select Edit Item and type a label into the Tooltip box.

To make it easier to organise large numbers of shortcuts, tabs can be added to the Mouse Extender panel. These can be used to keep program shortcuts separate from web links, say; or to group similar types of shortcut. Right-click the panel, select Add Tab and enter a suitable name. To save space, tabs condense to a stripy square but extend to display their full title when the mouse pointer is hovered over them.

Shortcuts can also be added to the Mouse Extender panel by simply dragging and dropping them into place. To make this possible, the panel must first be made to remain visible ‘on top’ of other windows. Activate the program panel by clicking the middle mouse button (or whatever shortcut has been configured) and click the drawing pin icon to the upper right. Now drag a file onto the Mouse Extender panel using the left mouse button and release the button to create the shortcut. Click the drawing pin button again to unpin the program window.

Finally, use Mouse Extender to access the Control Panel or shut down Windows. The buttons at the top of the program panel provide access to these options but they must be double-clicked. Double-click the first button to launch the Control Panel and the second to restart Windows. The third button can be used to shut down your computer, but additional options can be configured by clicking the down-pointing arrow. Choose between shutting down, sleeping or hibernating Windows. Now use the timer slider to schedule an action and click Start.