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The secret to a perfect desktop? Fences

When you look at your Windows desktop, what do you see? A neat and tidy display with a few judiciously picked icons, or a meaningless morass of files, folders, ancient pictures, and Web links that were dumped without logic and continue to steadily march across your computer screen? Stop me if this sounds familiar. Stop me again if the thought has crossed your mind to clean house on a dozen occasions in the last few years, but the prospect of sifting through the refuse has deterred you every time.

Happily, a pretty darn good solution is at hand.… Read more

Custom icons

This free program lets you create your own custom icons. It'll take a little time to master its tools, but it's worth the effort.

Greenfish Icon Editor Pro's user interface looked like a stripped down version of Photoshop, complete with tool and color palettes. A menu bar at the top of the window allows for easy access to its features. Immediately, we were asked what action we wanted to perform: Create a new graphic, Create a new library, Open an existing document, or Batch convert image files. We opted to first create a new graphic, which opened … Read more

Tip: Get your flag back in the input menu

With Snow Leopard, Apple changed the "International" preference pane organization, and also altered the input menu icon so that depending on the options in the menu, it removes the country flag. This is a subtle change, but I personally liked having my country's flag in the upper-right corner of my computer.… Read more

Simple image conversion

RentASoft Image Converter is a utility that allows users to quickly and easily convert images from one format to another. The program's intuitive and attractive interface makes it a breeze to use.

Using the program is as easy as right-clicking on any photo on your computer. Select "Convert image to..." and the program's interface opens. Users can choose from among 14 different file types, then click Convert, and it's done. Users can also specify where the new image is saved if they desire, and the ICO file type allows users to specify what size icons … Read more

Basic shortcut creator

eBay Icon Installer by Iconomize.com creates a shortcut to eBay on the user's desktop, allowing users to ensure that they are going to the authentic eBay site and not a fraudulent one. Although the application works well, it doesn't really do much that a user couldn't do on his or her own.

There is no real interface to speak of; once the program is installed, a shortcut is created on the desktop, and that's it. The icon consists of the eBay logo, and users click on it to go directly to eBay.com. There are … Read more

A strange mix of features

Pitaschio is a utility with a whole lot of options and not a lot of rhyme or reason. Although it offers some useful features, the strange combination of things it does left us scratching our heads.

The program's interface is basic, with a lot of drop-down menus and check boxes. It's easy enough to navigate, and some of the features are obviously helpful. For example, the program allows users to disable their mouse and keyboard so that they can be cleaned. That's a good thing. The program also has a random password generator. Swell. Users can choose … Read more

Simple icon changer

Microangelo On Display allows users to customize their desktop cursors and icons. On the whole, the program is easy to use, although we did run into at least one problem.

The program's interface is intuitive and easy to access. Users simply click on any icon they wish to change and select Appearance, which opens the program. From there, users can select from several color themes of alternative icons, or select their own. It's easy to change only one icon, or every instance of an icon system-wide. Users can make a variety of other adjustments to their icons, such … Read more

Fun and useful icon arranger

Desktop Icon Toy is a fun and useful utility that allows users to customize the display of their desktop icons. The program combines a variety of features in an easy-to-use format.

The program's interface consists of a slide-out menu that's accessed from the system tray, with the program's features neatly arranged within. The online Help file doesn't go into much detail about the program's features, but most of them are fairly self-explanatory, and users should be able to quickly figure them out. The less obvious features have tool-tip explanations that describe their functions. The program … Read more

Flawed icon editor

Icon Craft allows users to create custom icons and cursors. Although the program has a good selection of features and is fairly easy to use, it has some functional problems that make it frustrating and ineffective.

The program's interface is somewhat similar to that of Microsoft Paint, although the icons are stylized and it's not always obvious what they are. Fortunately, tooltips display a description for each one. The workspace is clean and generally well-organized, and users should get used to the program's layout and functions pretty quickly. The built-in Help file contains a detailed description of … Read more

Basic icon searcher

IconsExtract allows users to scan their computers for icon and cursor files and then save them elsewhere on their machine. Although there's not much to this program, it does function as described.

The program's interface is basic and consists of a single screen. Users can designate particular folders to scan or, alternately, can have the program scan individual programs. Users can scan for icons, cursors, or both, and can also restrict the search by size and color depth. We had the program search our entire hard drive and it took several minutes, which isn't unreasonable when it … Read more