In Windows, each file has an extension in its filename which is used to identify which program will open the file, and which icon should be attached to that file. These can be changed fairly easily from within “folder options”, but the interface is not all that user friendly.

Types is a worthwhile replacement to the inbuilt Windows file type utility. It works on both Windows XP and Vista. It also offers a large display window so that you can easily find the extension you want tinker with.

To use Types, right click on the extension you want to edit and select properties. From the window that opens, you are able to change which program will open up the file, the extensions icon, and a few class options, but you shouldn’t need to worry about those.

This program does a small job well, and it is an improvement on the inbuilt Windows options.

Types is available for free from SourceForge.

The appearance of the default Windows XP theme still looks modern for an operating system that is almost 7 years old. After several years of the same theme, it is time to freshen up the system, and make it look new again. Working through the various other themes that come with Windows, it does not take long to discover that you will need to look elsewhere for more modern looking themes.

XPise is a nice addition to any Windows XP install. It’s main features include:

• Patches for more than 150 system files without user interaction.
• Updates tonnes of old resources still existing in Windows XP, which have come from the Windows 95/98/2000 days.
• Gives Windows XP a fresh new look, with new animations, icons and images.
• Installs some cool extras, such as a boot screen, logon screen, screensaver and more.

After looking around my system, once I had installed XPise, I was amazed to see how many things had been changed. All the changes seemed to be for the better in the time I had it up and running. Everything was recognisable, but with a modern look and feel.

XPise also comes with TaskSwitchXP Pro 2.0, which is an alt-tab task switcher replacement. This is a great leap forward from the default alt-tab task switcher. As well as seeing the title of all the programs you have open, each program shows a large screen shot, making it easy to know what is what.

Upon install, XPise pops up a prompt offering to make you a system restore point. It is good that this is offered. I have tried many programs that do this kind of theme changing, only to find my system in a bit of an aesthetic mess after uninstalling it.

If you want even more theme choices, get your hands on XP All-In-One Styler. I had no success changing my login screen using this, but the themes that come with it are something else. You can use a combination of the various components to make your own personalised theme.

There are so many ways to change the appearance of XP. It is just one way to make the workday a little more interesting.

If your company runs an Exchange email server, but you have had trouble connecting to it from your Windows Mobile device, you are not alone. Many companies block the mobile features of Exchange, often because they don’t want to support it, or because they set a preference for BlackBerry devices. Shame on them!

Chronobis is a utility that is a nice workaround to this problem. Chronobis accesses the Outlook Web Access data, and synchronises it with a Windows Mobile calendar client. The only requirement is that you are able to access Outlook Web Access from a public or home computer. This should be available to most people.

Chronobis is still in Beta development, so there are a lot of things lacking over a direct Exchange connection. The sync currently only works with calendar, and it only transfers data to your device. If you add new calendar entries on your device, these changes won’t be transferred back to your Exchange account. This problem can currently be solved with an ActiveSync connection when you are next at your computer. This makes it convenient enough to use.

I look forward to seeing Chronobis evolve. Of course mail, tasks and contacts are important features to sync. There are lots of hints in the software and the forums, that these features will be made available in the future, and that the sync will occur both ways. This will be a real gem if all these features become a reality.

This program is of no use to you if you are already able to connect directly to an Exchange server directly from your device.

Get your copy of Chronobis for free from Chronobis.com.

This is a quick overview of some of the early articles that I wrote for the site. Here are a couple I would like to share with you, particularly if you are a new reader:

How-to: Use your computer to alert you of incoming land line calls: This article looks at how you can connect your phone to your computer via a modem. We then look at a number of utilities we can use to pop up a caller ID message on our screen telling us who is calling. This can be used to track your calls, or to block unwanted calls. It is easier to setup than it sounds. 

Windows Mobile: Tools to improve your data input speed: This article looks at a number of software keyboards you can download and use on a Windows Mobile Device. The built in keyboard is fairly small, making data entry extremely slow. Taking advantage of these keyboards will help you get the job done much quicker.

Vista: I noticed while writing this article, that it has been exactly 1 year that I have been running Vista on my computer. There were some early hiccups as it was new (and still the shop install), but I reckon that it is great. I would not go back to XP. Most of the problems I have seen over the last year are with laptop manufacturers installing Vista on computers that only just scrape into the Vistas minimum requirements.

When a computer starts up and boots into Windows, there are a bundle of other programs that load up with it. Some of them are needed, but others are unnecessary and do little more than slow down a computer.

When I am told that a computer is running slow, the first thing I do is look in the locations that call these programs to load, and I cull the programs that are not necessary. There are numerous locations (registry, startup folders and win.ini) where these programs are called from, so the process can take quite a while.

Startup Manager is a free utility that shows you each of these locations in a single, easy to use interface. Just check out the screenshot of it. This is certainly a no nonsense program.

Startup Manager shows you what is going to be loaded at startup. All you need to do is untick the items that you no longer want to be part of your daily life.

The startup programs should probably be checked every 6 or so months to keep your computer running lean. The list can expand very quickly, often without the users knowledge. Using this utility can save a lot of time. It is one of those useful programs to keep on a USB disk, so that you can load it up quickly in the case a friend is in need.

Get your copy of Startup Manager for free from StartupManager.org.