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 only: Preme is a Windows 7 shortcut utility that adds new and unique keyboard and mouse shortcuts, including a handful of useful ways to interact with windows using your mouse’s scroll wheel.

For example, hold your mouse over any window’s title bar and scroll down on your mouse wheel to minimize that window; middle-clicking the same title bar area (or just tapping the Escape key twice) will close the active window. The utility aims to be particularly user-friendly, with screenshots and interactive demos designed to explain how each shortcut works, but in the end it’s all a bit confusing. That said, the inventive shortcuts it adds are worth a look, particularly if you’re big on mouse-based shortcuts.

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If you haven’t learned to love Windows Media Player yet, free plug-in Windows Media Player Plus might change your mind. adding tweaks like find as you type, disabling group headers, a new tag editor, and the Explorer context menu within your library.

We’ve already learned that Windows Media Player’s performance is pretty darn good, but there are still a few things in the program that many count as annoyances. Thankfully, it allows plug-ins like Windows Media Player Plus to get rid of those for you.

Atop the list of great features this plug-in adds is find as you type searching, which is exactly what it sounds like—as you type your search query, Windows Media Player will narrow down the results in real time (plus it’s pretty snappy). It also comes with its own advanced tag editor, which allows you to edit a lot of metadata (including tags that Windows Media Player doesn’t usually show). The addition of the Windows Explorer context menu in the library is pretty handy too, so you don’t need to search tracks out on your hard drive to access those actions.

A number of smaller, but still cool tweaks include listing the currently playing track in the title bar, automatic restoration of media on launch, and restoration of plug-ins after a crash. You can also disable group headers, meaning your library will show up as one long list of files instead of sorted by artist or album with their names hogging all the space. You can turn any number of these tweaks on or off to fit your needs. It makes the player much more well-rounded, which is nice if you don’t have (or don’t need) another program on your computer

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Windows: AquaSnap is a free multifunctional tweaking application that brings Aero-style effects to Windows XP and enhances Aero in Vista and Windows 7.

If all you’re interested in is taking advantage of Aero-style effects in Windows XP like snapping application windows to the edges of your monitor, AquaSnap has you covered. You can step beyond the basics in XP, Vista, and Windows 7 with additional AquaSnap tweaks.

You can set application windows to become semi-transparent when moving or when shaken, as well as specify whether you want to have windows snap like true Aero windows or snap with AquaSnap’s custom snapping that enables all edges of the monitor.

AquaSnap is freeware and works with Windows XP through Windows 7

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Windows: StartupSelector is a simple application for saving your Windows startup configuration and swapping it with previous backups for customizable startup configurations on the fly.

After installing StartupSelector you can do two things: save your current startup configuration or restore a previous backup. Whether you want to see if radical changes to your startup configuration actually make a difference in your boot time or you routinely switch between what applications you need to access right after boot, StartupSelector can help.

StartupSelector is freeware, Windows only.

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There’s any number of great antivirus tools that help protect your PC from viruses, but what about when you encounter an already-infected PC? Your best bet is a boot CD, and the free AVG Rescue CD cleans viruses easily.

The AVG Rescue CD comes in two flavors: an ISO image that can be easily burned to an optical disc, or a compressed version that can be installed to a bootable flash drive. Once you’ve done so, you can simply boot from the drive of choice directly to the AVG menu, where you can scan for viruses, edit files, test your drive, or even edit the registry. Since the bootable CD is based on a version of Linux, you can also access a number of common Linux tools to make changes to your system and hopefully make it bootable again.

The AVG Rescue CD is a free download for anybody, cleans viruses from Windows or even Linux PCs, and is a great addition to your PC repair toolkit. If you need some help setting up the bootable USB flash version, check out the Guiding Tech tutorial for the full walk-through.

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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: Desktop sidebar LongBar hosts mini-applications as “tiles”, giving you application launchers, system stats, Facebook updates, sticky notes, and more on the side of your screen.

Once you’ve installed and launched LongBar, you can use the tiny arrow at the top of the bar to access the settings menu, where you can move the sidebar to the right-hand side of the screen, and change between a couple of available skins. Unlike most sidebars, this one doesn’t come bundled with any widgets—you’ll have to choose between the 30+ widgets on their website, drag them over to the sidebar to install them, and then configure them with the context menu. LongBar is free and open source, the latest version works on Windows 7 or Vista only, requires the .NET framework 3.0.

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