Freeware Files: Five Apps that Maximize Your Multitasking!

Posted 12/07/2009 at 10:30am | by David Murphy

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You wouldn't be an average Maximum PC reader if you didn't have 30 different windows, tabs, and applications open at once. After all, what's the point of having a computer that's dressed to the nines if you aren't using up every available resource each time you sit at your desk? Although it's been said that multitasking actually does much to impair your focus and efficiency in dealing with tasks versus a methodical, one-at-a-time approach, all the science know-how in the world isn't going to stop the average geek from using his or her computer to do a billion things at once. That's just how it goes.

So now that we're all candidates for the 12-step multitasking program, how can we go about making the actual act of multitasking more efficient? And no, I'm not talking about those applications that you can use to tell you just how much time you're spending in each open window--if anything, knowing that one spends 95% of one's day looking at cuteoverload.com might be discouraging if nothing else. No, there are ways to quicken and improve your multitasking without resorting to needless shaming.

Cache My Work

Why do I like Mozilla Firefox? Because the Web browser (or its Session Manager add-on) will re-open all of my old tabs from my previous browsing session whenever I fire up the application for the first time. Consider Cache My Work to be the functional equivalent for your Windows operating system. Here's how it works. Launch the application when you're calling it quits for the day (or, conversely, when a Windows Update is demanding that you restart your computer). Cache My Work saves a majority of the open programs you're running, then re-launches these applications upon the next restart of your system. It's a quick, easy way to get back to the work environment you had prior to rebooting your PC. Talk about a time-saver!

Download it here!

VistaSwitcher

This application is crazy. There, I said it. In short, VistaSwitcher brings a whole wealth of new functionality to the common (and dare I say, generic) practice of alt-tabbing between different applications in the Windows operating system. When you alt-tab using VistaSwitcher, a menu pops up detailing all the currently open windows alongside a preview image of what the currently highlighted window contains. But wait, there's more! You can select any number of your open windows and apply right-click context actions to them at once, like minimizing, maximizing, or cascading them en masse, to name a few actions. VistaSwitcher also allows you to switch between all the open windows of an identical application using the same functionality--you'll never have to click on an in-application "Window" menu again!

Download it here!

Lacuna Launcher

Here's a quick-and-easy one: Lacuna Launcher is a simple little utility that allows you to set up text-file lists of your favorite applications. Double-click on the launcher executable and Lacuna Launcher will itself start every program on said text list. It's as easy as that. Fire up all your graphics editing tools using a single shortcut. Launch all your messaging programs with but two mouse clicks. Fire up 30 instances of Notepad--the power is yours.

Download it here!

xNeat Clipboard Manager

Using the default Windows clipboard when multitasking can be a real pain. After all, it's only designed to store a single saved entry at a time. That's not very useful when you're trying to navigate through a ton of different windows and applications at once. And thus enters xNeat Clipboard Manager. This easy-to-use program saves your clipboard contents through a number of different iterations. When you want to pull up something from this history and paste it into an application, just hit the accompanying hotkey combination to pull up a context menu. From there, select the previously saved item you want to paste and... that's it. Although xNeat doesn't work very well to copy and paste files in Windows Explorer, it's nevertheless great for most text-based copying you'll need to do.

Download it here!

eXpresso

eXpresso is a wee bit complicated, so bear with me. Launch the executable and all your file associations will go away. Poof. Don't freak out, though--that's not a bad thing. When you double-click on an unregistered file, eXpresso will give you the option to set a primary and secondary program for opening said extension. Now, whenever you double-click on a file, you'll open it with said primary applicaiton. To launch the secondary application instead, just hold down the Alt key while double-clicking. That's it. To restore your file launching preferences back to the normal Windows method, just quit eXpresso via a handy little tray icon.  

This doesn't sound like much on its face, but it's a super-fast (and portable) way to associate common file types with more than one application--like, say, Windows Photo Gallery for fast-previewing images, with GIMP on a secondary launching status in case you need to go in and do a bit of editing.

Download it here!

Super-Awesome Giveaway!

Remember Topify, the little Web App of the Week I mentioned a bit ago? In short, it's a way to better control Twitter follower requests through your email account--in fact, you can use it to perform all your following and "checking to see if this person is lame or not" activity straight out of your inbox.

Anyway, I have some extra invite codes to this closed-door service that I'd love to share with you. If you want one, scroll your eyes down to my Twitter handle. Friend me and shoot me an @message, and I'll toss you an invite! I will keep this up until I run out and, when that happens, I'll post a note on my own account.

David Murphy (@ Acererak) is a technology journalist and former Maximum PC editor. He writes weekly columns about the wide world of open-source as well as weekly roundups of awesome, freebie software. Befriend him on Twitter, especially if you have an awesome app or game you're dying to recommend!