I still like this stuff

Each new version of Windows brings new things and new ways of doing the same old things. Still, there are some things Windows doesn’t do on its own. That’s why I use some older utilities, even on Windows 7. Here are a couple of my favourites, both free.

Image Resizer

Digital cameras and cameras in smartphones take lovely, clear photos. In other news, those photos are huge in terms of file size. If you want to email photos or if you want to upload photos in a way that doesn’t take all day, it’s important to reduce the file size.

You can easily do that without compromising the quality of the photo as viewed on a computer. There are ways to accomplish it within Office, Photoshop, and many other programs. You can even do it online. However, I find the easiest way to resize an image is with the Image Resizer tool.

You can safely download the tool from its home site. There is no crapware, toolbars, adware, or anything else included. Once you install Image Resizer, take a look at the settings. The default settings work perfectly for most people, including me, but there are options you can set, and easily change later if you have different preferences. That’s all you need to do until you want to resize an image. 

Then:

• Right-click on the image
• Click on Resize picture
• Choose the size
• Click on Resize

That’s all there is to it. I’ve used Image Resizer on every version of Windows from Vista to Windows 10 without any problems. It just works.

Yankee-Clipper 3

When you copy a word, phrase, URL or picture, Windows holds it in memory - until you copy another thing. Then it forgets all that has come before. For many people, this is not a problem. For those who produce content or who need to copy something once and paste it over and over again, that forgetfulness can be an irritant.

Windows’ short term memory is called the clipboard, and there’s a whole class of utilities called Clipboard Managers. What they do is store more than just the last item copied, and make it simple to retrieve and paste any stored items into a document, email, or browser address bar. It saves a lot of typing and clicking.

I’ve tried at least half a dozen clipboard managers over the years, and the one I like best is the one I’ve been using since the good old days of Windows XP. Yankee-Clipper 3 is a free utility that is easy to use. It doesn’t have many features, it just has the ones I need the most. 

Yankee-Clipper 3 is no longer supported, but it works on every system I’ve tried it on. I run it on everything. I use it dozens of times every day. If you need a clipboard manager without a lot of fluff, give it a try. When downloaded from its home site. It is free of ads, toolbars, and crap.

What utilities from the old days do you still use? What utilities or functions do you miss? Let me know at [email protected] and I’ll share.

 

Do you need help with your computer? I'm here to help you and your home or business computer get along.

Links

Image Resizer 

Yankee-Clipper 3 

Computer Care Kelowna 

Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives

Get my column by email 

RSS Feed 

 

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.