Computer downloads free printing utility

General Tools

Is there a utility that will make it easy to print documents using both sides of the paper?

Some printer drivers include options like booklet format and on-screen instructions that walk you through duplex printing. So be sure to check through all the screens in your printer driver. If it's lacking these features or is more limited than you'd like, take a look at FinePrint ($39.95 direct).

FinePrint installs as a printer driver and lets you print from any program to any installed printer. After a simple configuration, FinePrint will be able to walk you through manual duplex printing with that printer. It will even know whether the printer has automatic duplex capabilities.

The utility can also print from one to eight reduced-size document pages on a sheet; add headers, watermarks, and footers; and even store print jobs as forms. Store your letterhead, say, and you can add it to letters without having to insert it into each file. (FinePrint Software LLC, www.fineprint.com. ).

M. David Stone, Contributing Editor

I'd like to add notes to filenames. Ideally, when my mouse is over the filename, the program should either let me add a note or display any preexisting notes. Is there a program for this?

There are a few ways to accomplish this, the first being Atlast! File Notes Organiser 2.7 (download, $29). This is more than just a file annotator; it is a full replacement for Windows Explorer and includes a ZIP utility, the ability to catalog notes for removable media, and an option to prompt you to add notes to files as you save them. Its interface is simple, and managing file notes is a breeze. (Atlast! Computer Solutions, www.filenotes.com. )

Another solution is PC Magazine's Explorer Notes 2 utility. It works with Windows Explorer (free download; www.pcmag.com/utilities), providing a right-click context menu that lets you add a note to any file, edit the note, and delete it. The note doesn't appear, however, on mouse-over or right-click. To see the note, either choose Edit note or open the separate Note Manager application, which shows a tree of the directories that contain files that have notes.

Sarah Pike, staff editor

I'm a former WordStar user, and the one thing I still miss from that software is the ability to analyze how frequently various words in a document are used so that I can discover accidental overuse of words before my readers do. Is there a current program that has this feature?

Most word processors now include indexing capabilities, but those don't give true word frequency statistics. But several Web sites do, free. The sites we tried out are www.georgetown.edu/cball/webtools/web_freqs.html and www.mytranslate.com/wordfrequency.htm.

We also looked at R.J.C. Watt's Concordance, a Windows-based application ($99 direct). Rather than just looking at pure word frequency information, Concordance will display the context in which words appear, and more. The program can also display concordance for multiple files. Like the sites, it works with plain text only, but you can easily cut and paste documents into the program. In addition, you can search for repetitive use of phrases, such as "in addition." (R.J.C. Watt, www.rjcw.freeserve.co.uk, ).

Sarah Pike, staff editor

Is there a plug-in that displays the folder size (including subfolders) in Windows Explorer?

In Windows Explorer, appearances are sometimes deceiving. Say you have a directory that contains a 1MB file and one subdirectory. The subdirectory has 100MB of data in it. According to Explorer, the top directory takes up only 1MB of space, when in fact it is more than 100MB. Probably the simplest way to find out the true size of a folder is to right-click on it and hit Properties. The total folder size is right on the General tab.

You can also trade up to Clear & Simple's DiskJockey 2000 Slim (download, $14.95), a scaled-down yet powerful version of DiskJockey 2000 Pro. Both versions are a step up from Windows Explorer. DiskJockey 2000 Slim is loaded with useful features like file viewing, zipping, graphics conversion, split-screen viewing for looking at two directories at once, and Web browsing. And when looking at a folder's properties, DiskJockey will calculate the total amount of space occupied, including the contents of any subfolders. (Clear & Simple Inc., www.clear-simple.com. )

There are two free utilities that calculate real drive space. Try PC Magazine's DiskPie 2 (free download; www.pcmag.com/utilities), which displays the proportional size of subfolders within a folder as well as the proportional space taken by different file types. DiskPie adds a context menu option to display the selected directory in DiskPie view. It's useful for helping you figure out what's taking up space on your hard drive, less so for learning the precise size of a directory. For that, JAM Software's TreeSize (free download) steps up. It has a very simple interface: You select the directory, it shows you the subdirectories and their sizes. (JAM Software, www.jam-software.com. )

Sarah Pike, staff editor

I have an IBM ThinkPad T21, whose 14.1-inch display has a native 1,400-by-1,050 (Super XGA+) resolution. The high-resolution display is great for viewing images, but menus, buttons, and documents are often so small they hurt my eyes. Is there any way to make the screen more readable?

You can dig around within various versions of Windows to change system fonts and icon sizes. A better approach is Portrait Displays' Liquid View 2.0 (download, $29.95; CD-ROM, $49.95), which can control most of Windows' settings and does a few tricks of its own. The program installs in seconds. You access Liquid View through a button in the Windows system tray, a floating button, or through a button appended to the Desktop right-click menu. The floating button changes font and icon scaling in Windows but not within most applications. This setting is somewhat hidden in the system tray.

We tested Liquid View by bumping up the resolution on a desktop system from 1,280-by-1,024 to 1,600-by-1,200, a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of pixels on-screen. Increasing the size and magnification of items did make most things on screen much more readable. In certain places, however, such as the system tray and Web sites that dictate font appearance, fonts and images were still too small. This happened in enough areas that we can't recommend this product emphatically for everyone. But if you don't mind squinting on occasion, Liquid View is a good choice for helping you see more clearly. (Portrait Displays Inc., www.portrait.com. )

Click below to view screen resolutions using Liquid View and normal Windows resolution: 1,024 x 768 1,600 x 1,200 - Windows native 1,600 x 1,200 - With Liquid View

Ben Z. Gottesman, executive editor

Is there a way we can copy our family's CDs to one of our computers so that the other computers can access them over the network?

Virtual CD programs provide the answer to the who's-got-the-CD problem. These applications let you create an image of a CD in a file on your hard drive and trick programs into treating the image files as if they were physical CDs.

The personal versions let you create and access these images on one system. If you want to access these virtual CDs from multiple systemsacross a home network, for exampleyou'll need a higher-priced network version of the software, and you'll need to install the application on all computers that will access the CD images.

You can choose among three virtual-CD programs. Our favorite, with the cleanest interface and consistently reliable performance, is H+H's Virtual CD (single user, $39.95; 5 users, $74.50). Also worth considering, with similar features but slightly less smooth interfaces, are CD Anywhere (single user, $29.95; 5 users, $129.95) and Paragon CD-ROM Emulator (single user, $29.95; 5 users, $99.95). All three can build virtual CDs from your selection of audio tracks and support DVD images. Trial downloads are available of each product. (H+H's Virtual CD: H+H, www.virtualcd-online.com, . CD Anywhere: V Communications Inc., www.v-com.com, . Paragon CD-ROM Emulator: Paragon Software, www.cdrom-emulator.com, )

Edward Mendelson, Contributing Editor