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Cool Tabs wants to make your desktop obsolete. This unique program allows for an easy way to condense the clutter from your computer's desktop into a small window that claims to help users get better organized.

This freeware program is presented as a simple bar that pops up on your screen. From there, you'll find tabs for Applications, Documents, and Favorites. Each tab is a different color and an unlimited number of tabs can be added. Within these tabs is where the program shines. Users can simply drag and drop shortcuts, folders, and files into the appropriate tab … Read more

8Start Launcher claims to be a program launching tool that alleviates desktop clutter. However, thanks to its lack of intuitiveness, we'd rather stick to launching programs the old-fashioned way.

Once activated, the program appears as a tiny, transparent black screen in the far left-hand corner of your desktop. The interface is skinnable, but you can't move it around your desktop. Our hard disk information was displayed in the window, but we had to squint to see the tiny text size. Not knowing where to go next, we paid a visit to the Settings menu, which only led to … Read more

It qualifies as one of the major annoyances of notebook-computer users: inadvertently moving the cursor by brushing against the touch pad while typing. One person I know actually taped a business card over his laptop's touch pad. Well, what the technique lacks in elegance it makes up for in simplicity.

But what if you want to disable your touch pad only when you have a mouse or other input device plugged in? That's my situation. When I'm using my laptop at a desk or other semipermanent location, I plug in a USB tablet to give me more … Read more

Why pay list price? Especially now, when you're probably watching every penny? One of the best ways to get a deal on anything is to use a coupon. But instead of searching around the house for scissors and chopping up circulars, check out these 18 online services that give you what you need to save you cash on your next purchase.

Adpera It might not provide coupons in the conventional sense, but Adpera finds the best e-mail ads from retailers and displays them on the site. From designer sportswear to shoes and housewares, Adpera's selection is incredible. And searching for and finding deals is made simple with the help of a prominent search box at the top of the page. Adpera is basically one big spam folder. But instead of annoying you, it actually saves you some cash.

CoolSavings If you're looking for a full-featured site that includes both printable and online coupons from retailers on a wide range of disciplines, CoolSavings is for you. The site offers coupons for companies that you might have never heard of, and some that that are probably right down the street. The sheer quantity of coupons on CoolSavings is amazing. Unfortunately, though, CoolSavings' collection of free coupons isn't that helpful. In order to access the more sought-after deals, you'll need to sign up for the site. Once you do, you'll be happy: from personal finance to groceries, there are coupons for everything on CoolSavings.

Coupious Coupious is one of the coolest services in this roundup. A mobile app, it can be installed on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or Android-based phone. With the help of those devices' location services, it actively searches for businesses around your location and finds coupons while you're on the go. I've tried it on numerous occasions and have been amazed at its speed and relevance. Once you're ready to use one of the coupons it finds, you need only to click "Use now" and you're all set. And it's free.

CouponAlbum CouponAlbum is huge. That's the best way to describe it. Unlike some services that specialize in a particular area, CouponAlbum wants to be your one-stop shop for everything that's on sale right now. Whether it's software, toys, sporting goods, or food, the site has it all. And since it's updated weekly, you'll never run out of deals.

CouponCabin When I'm looking to save a few bucks, one of my first destinations is always CouponCabin. Unlike other sites that throw any company's deal at you, CouponCabin sticks to major stores like Target, Walmart, GameStop, and a few others. All the coupons are up-to-date and new deals are placed on the site every week. And since you can search by company or category, you probably won't miss a single deal at the places you frequent.

CouponGood If you're an online shopper, CouponGood is a good first place to check before you decide to buy something. The site provides coupons for online companies exclusively. With the help of a simple design, it makes it easy to find any deal you're looking for. Simply input the URL of a company that you're considering buying from and the site will see if it has any active coupons available. Based on my testing, every site I searched for had at least one active coupon, ranging from free shipping to 20 percent discounts. And since the site's free, you'll only need to click a link or input a code at checkout to activate it.

CouponMom CouponMom is targeted at, you guessed it, mothers, but I'm not sure it's even worth trying out. The site requires you to sign up and promises big deals, but when I used it, I quickly realized it couldn't compete on any level with Coupons.com. It's an alternative if for some reason you don't like Coupons.com.

Coupons.com When you're getting ready to go to the local supermarket or grocery, go to Coupons.com before you leave. The site offers a variety of printable coupons on goods ranging from food to cleaning supplies and they're available for use anywhere the products are sold. I use Coupons.com each week and I save myself at least $10 in grocery costs during that time. It's an extremely useful site that's designed well and makes it easy to find coupons. It's a must-see.… Read more

You can do nearly everything that Admiral does, but not nearly as quickly. This simple program works through hot keys and the context menu of your system tray icon to quickly open a specific window or program. We suggest you jump right in and start using the program before changing any settings.

The tabbed Properties window is initially intimidating, but if you've spent time using the program, they'll make much more sense. Here, you can set hot keys to activate the Window Management, Quick Opening, and Process Control features. You can also set hot keys that will determine … Read more

Although Start Button Shortcuts appears to be designed in the days of Windows 95, we found it to be a handy tool. It's well-suited to help the beginning computer user or anyone looking to cut a few mouse clicks.

Start Button Shortcuts looks exactly like it sounds it will. The program features a plethora of buttons for simple tasks and common features within Windows. The beauty of this app is that all of these features are in one, easy-to-use platform instead of spread across the Start Menu, programs list, Control Panel, My Computer, and so on. Users can quickly … Read more

What's even better than getting grocery store coupons online? Getting them from your cell phone. AOL has released a version of its online coupons service, Shortcuts.com, that's now optimized for viewing from the mobile phone.

Coupons for popular cereal and a jumbo pack of Pull-Ups Training Pants greet you when you navigate to Shortcuts.com from the mobile browser. After you've registered your savings club card with Shortcuts.com, you'll be able to add vouchers like these directly to your account, and redeem them in-store without a paper receipt.

The new mobile focus on Shortcuts.… Read more

Declutter your desktop by removing shortcut icons and organizing them with this app instead. Shortcut Bar reduces the number of clicks to access Start menu apps and its ease of use makes the transition from desktop clutter to simple app management a snap.

Shortcut Bar launches a compact-but-functional tabbed interface that you can set for Always In Front display for ease of access. Setting up tabs according to user-defined app categories is a simple matter. We liked the simplicity of adding a category tab, configuring the utility's settings, and adding a shortcut to a tab simply by dragging and … Read more

You can use this simple tool for free to look up information using several search engines, but its approach only saves you a few steps. We would have preferred that MultiSeach integrated with our browser.

MultiSearch is easily installed, but it adds a desktop shortcut without asking. The colorful interface has easily recognizable command buttons at the top, a list of search engines on the left-hand sidebar, and a viewing pane. A single field is labeled simply Search, so it's pretty clear what you need to do first. We made a few missteps after that, trying to hit Enter … Read more