2011-04-22

Tiny Windows utilities

I have a set of tiny utilities that I use on a daily basis but have never bothered to release.

Updated: The binaries are on github releases, and also a local mirror: tinies v002 archive.

All are in the tinies v001 archive, in both x64 and legacy format. Symbols, source and signatures are available. No installer is available; just drop them into your All Programs -> Startup folder.


shiftfocus.exe adds an extra set of hotkeys for focusing windows. Ctrl+win+arrow focuses the window to that side of the current window.

This makes the most sense with Aero's Snap turned on. If you have two windows "half-maximised" on a screen (i.e. one has been win+left'd, and the other win+right'd), then you can switch between them using ctrl+win+left and ctrl+win+right.


topkey.exe adds win+w to toggle a windows' always-on-top flag, and win+returnctrl+win+return (as win+return is stolen by accessibility from Win7) to create a new command prompt "in the current directory". (This works for Explorer windows, and things that have the directory at the start of the title, i.e. Notepad++.)


mousex.exe allows you to use an xbox360 controller as a mouse. Different analogue sticks are different sensitivity. A/B for left/right click. Shoulder analogue controls for the scrollwheel.


And, for more niche users:


powerstatustray.exe shows which drives are spun-up, and notifies you when a drive spins up or down. (Yes, actually, this one was released before.)


keydump.exe shows what you can keylog by binding globally to DirectInput. Most keylogging preventers/detectors completely ignore this, and/or only work through blacklisting, which is laughably pointless. It doesn't bother translating numbers into keycaps, but it's obvious whether it's working and whether it's been detected.


Others, to date:
  • aukiller: Legacy XP application.
  • foobar2000-loader.exe: Demo of pre-loading a dll into an application via the debug api.
  • keytoputty.exe: Take input and send it to a running instance of putty, i.e. to allow input during full-screen applications.
  • loaddlls.exe just calls LoadLibrary on all it's arguments.
  • noelev.exe: Legacy implementation of setting __COMPAT_LAYER=RunAsInvoker.
  • quickkey.exe: Legacy XP application.
  • unrequireadmin.exe: An even less healthy implementation of noelev.exe.


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