You don't have to be a power user to benefit from power tools.
Case in point: JerMar Software's Tweaki (that's right, it's
spelled "Tweaki"), which could well be one of the best
expenditures of 15 bucks you could make. It is extremely valuable
for anyone running a Windows-Microsoft Office system, which is to
say just about everybody. And it is essential for Windows 2000
users.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/313/tr.cgi?util1
The utility allows you to access a claimed 250 Windows/Office settings; I lost count after 80 or so when I attempted to verify the figure. Trust me, you can do a lot of stuff. If there is a downside, it is that there are so many options that Tweaki has begun to spill over the bounds of its own interface and relies on "more" buttons to launch sub-dialogs. Not to worry though, JerMar promises a version 3 later this year, updated for the latest Windows incarnations including Win2000.
Microsoft used to provide free "PowerToys" utilities with a few of these capabilities for Win95, but (with rare exceptions) never updated them for Win98 much less Win2000. So Tweaki is now the only way to easily access the user interface settings that Microsoft either scatters throughout Windows and Office or does not document at all.
It would take pages to describe all of Tweaki's features, but here are some highlights. It will enable or disable startup options (a feature included in Win98 but not in Win2000), back up key Registry settings (again, included in Win98 but not in Win2000), change common file locations (a handy solution to Win98SE and Win2000's penchant for setting up individual PCs as if they were part of a corporate network), performance enhancements for Internet connections, and assorted tweaks for printing.
JerMar says that its next version will incorporate features from its ProFILER 2000 utility that allow users to save their Windows and Office configurations, thereby simplifying multiple installations and re-installations (ProFILER 2000 supports Office 97 but not Office 2000). We at TNPC have long been clamoring for such a tool and look forward to seeing the new version.
Another valuable package is Winternals Software's Dual Boot
Tools, made up of NTFS for Win98, FAT32 for NT 4.0, and NTFSDOS
Pro. This is not cheap; $199 for the package. The components are
available separately, however, at $49, $39, and $149
respectively. If you share TNPC's view that multi-booting is an
effective way to get more use out of a single PC, Winternals
software is a valuable enhancement.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/313/tr.cgi?util2
In fact, if you are running Windows NT4 Workstation in any kind of multiple OS environment, FAT32 for NT 4.0 is a must. NT4 can only read NTFS and FAT volumes, the former is complicated, the second space-inefficient. The utility installs seamlessly and lets an NT4 system read FAT32 partitions. I wish I had discovered the utility when I first started using NT4. NTFS for Win98 is the mirror opposite, allowing Win98 systems to look at NTFS disks.
NTFSDOS Pro is too expensive to readily recommend. However, there are times when one's life would be easier if you could use DOS bootdisk to get at NTFS partitions, and this utility makes that possible
