Windows 7: Free utility Taskbar Items Pinner adds pre-defined or user-defined folders, files, and even web pages to the Windows 7 taskbar.

Adding one of the pre-defined folders (like, say, your Recycle Bin) is easy enough: Just run the app and tick the checkbox next to the folder. Adding other folders, files, or webapps requires a little more work, but is still pretty simple. Browse to the path of the item you want to pin, add an app icon (as FreewareGenius points out, you actually have to choose your icon for everything you pin, which is a little annoying), and click the big Add Item button.

We’ve detailed a software-free method to pin any item to the Windows taskbar that requires a little more work, but this is a nice alternative.

Taskbar Items Pinner is a free download for Windows 7 only.

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Windows 7 only: System tweaking utility Alt+Tab Tuner customizes everything about the Windows 7 Alt-Tab dialog, from setting the transparency to increasing the size of the thumbnails.To customize the settings, all you have to do is unzip and launch the utility, drag the sliders to suit your preferences, and click the Apply button. You can even use the utility to switch back to the old XP-style Alt+Tab dialog if you were so inclined. Alt+Tab Tuner is a free download for Windows 7 only.

If you aren’t happy with the built-in Alt+Tab system, and even tweaking it won’t help, make sure to check out the awesome VistaSwitcher alternative, which even includes the Alt+` key combination to switch between specific application windows.

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Windows 7 only: If you’re not into Windows desktop gadgets, there is another way to easily monitor your computer’s CPU and RAM: Taskbar Meters puts simple, attractive resource monitors right on your Windows 7 Taskbar.

Taskbar Meters contains two programs that you can pin to your taskbar—one that monitors CPU, one that monitors RAM. Each has a colored bar that shows how much of that resource you are using, complete with color coding. In the program’s preferences, you can decide how often to update the meter and what percentage of usage constitutes “yellow” and “red” colors on the taskbar. Each icon also has a jumplist that lets you easily open up Task Manager or Resource Monitor to get a more detailed report.

Taskbar Meters is a free download, Windows 7 only.

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Windows only: AVG 9 Free—one of the most popular free antivirus apps on the market—is now available for download.

A couple weeks back, the popular antivirus maker AVG released AVG 9 with performance improvements and other updates, but on launch only the commercial version of AVG 9 was available. The fact of the matter is that most AVG users are probably using AVG Free, the freeware version of the app, so if that’s the case for you, good news: AVG 9 Free is now ready for download.

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