Run multiple instances of a software (Tip/Trick)

There are several software or applications which are designed in a way to run in single instance only like internet messengers for example Yahoo and Gtalk.

If you wish to login to your multiple Gtalk accounts for chatting with others and get mail notifications by click on the shortcut of Gtalk, it will open the one already running rather than opening up a new window.

Here is the trick on how to come over this and run multiple instances of same software or program. In the example below it is demonstrated how to run and login multiple Gtalk accounts.

Step 1: Right click the Gtalk icon that you use and click properties.




Step 2: On the properties window under the shortcut tab in target field, add /nomutex in the end after giving a space. Then click ok to apply changes and close the properties window.




Step 3: hurray.. now as many times you will click on Gtalk icon we just modified, it will open a new window of Gtalk that can be used to login into a different account, no matter if you are already logged in or not.




Note: This is a simple system property that most of us are not aware about.
Few software might respond unexpectedly on trying this trick.
In case of any troubles please remove the setting applied in shortcut property.

Power menu

One of the most simplest yet powerful freeware is power menu. It allows a user to control visibility and positioning of a window or a program by adding menu options to window menu.



Features provided by this application are:

• Make window always on top
• Minimize a window to system tray
• Set transparency level of any window
• Set process priority of applications

This system utility program has made manging applications and working experience with them lot better. I can continue chatting with my friends while I am watching a movie by setting chat window always on top and by setting the transparency level I don't even miss what is going on below the chat window.

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Inno Setup - Free setup maker or installer

Inno Setup is one of the best free solution I have found and have known for years now. I found this wonderful software in a CD which came along with a magazine. I was in school and was making my first software and needed to make a installer for the same. It was very hard to use any of the enterprise level professional solutions like install shield. I even tried few other such free setup makers before coming across Inno setup but they would show alert that the setup was made using an evaluation version. That was really annoying.

Then finally I used Inno setup and found it very easy to use. I was really surprised to see the level of simplicity. Not just it had a fabulous wizard that helped me step by step in making a setup, it also had a editor where I could edit the source code to make the setup of my first software look like more what I wanted it to be.

Inno setup is fully supported by all the versions of windows including vista that makes sure that you never face any compatibility issues.

Special care is taken to make sure that as this solution is made free even for commercial use, it can actually be used for commercial use. Few features to support this statement are:

• Multilingual support (multiple languages supported)
• Support for setup types (Full, minimal, custom)
• Uninstaller (quite obvious I know, but its really important)
• Password protected installation

Inno setup had also been a SIA winner for consecutively 3 years.

In a nutshell Inno setup is a free professional solution for individual and enterprise needs of software deployment that is recommended by me and quality approved by SIA.

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HTTrack - Professional Website copier Free

Few years ago I used to go to cyber cafe for accessing Internet and come across very useful resources on Internet like scripts library, image galleries and online e-books. Some times the location for those resources would get changed, removed or protected. So after looking for a solution to these problems I found HTTrack that copies or creates an exact mirror copy of the website you wish to copy locally for off line browsing.


Now today I have several e-books which I try to access today are now password protected. And in the days when I dint had any Internet connection in my house HTTrack was of a great help to me as I could copy important website portions, scripts etc for working on them from my home.


I never faced any performance issue or any problem with it after using it for more than 3 years now. Initially I did used to face some difficulties while using HTTrack but after reading its manual all the difficulties were gone.

HTTrack is a highly professional website copier that is absolutely free of cost that is not just available for windows but for linux as well.

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StartupRun - Windows start up management

Time to time we install several software which runs a application or set of applications every time you start your computer. Some times it gets very annoying as it makes your system run slow or behave unexpectedly. Some of us do stop these programs from task manager but still every time the same thing needs to be done.

There are several software on internet which provides tonnes of system management features but they are really a pain at times. StartupRun is a freeware program that just manages windows startup programs. You can easily enable, disable and even remove them from start up.

It is a simple program that doesn't require any installation just run the program and you are on.

You must stay very careful while making changes as it may result in unexpected behavior from your computer.

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RK Launcher - MAC dock for Windows

MAC is famous for its elegant design and high user friendliness. One of the things that is considered to be identity of a MAC desktop is its dock. A dock is a bar on which commonly used shortcuts and currently running applications are placed. Something like task bar in windows.


I have been using RK Launcher for a long time and now got addicted to it. It is more easier to use than just windows task bar but it cannot replace it entirely as well. If I don't have dock on my desktop then I start getting a feeling that something is missing.


RK Launcher is freely available with almost all the features of dock in MAC. It is an active project that is getting even more better and better with time.


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Tabbed Console Interface - TCI

Few months ago I started working with Ruby on rails for developing web applications. It involves lot of tasks to be performed and monitoring them via console. Developers who are aware of linux and have done development on it must be aware about how easy it is to work with console or shell GUI in linux as it is tabbed and has several features to assist in development.

In windows we don't have such options and we need to work with multiple DOS boxes flying here and there. It is really a big pain swapping between several DOS windows on your screen.


Finally I could find TCI which enables you to get similar features like in linux for example tabs for having several DOS prompts under one roof and several advanced features that make working with DOS a happy experience.

TCI enables you to easily modify look and feel of DOS like background which can even be set to transparent.


Currently TCI is available for 30 day trial with full functionality and it is available at very reasonable price. Ease of development obtained after moving over to TCI is worth while paying.

Features:

• Create up to 64 tabs, of any console (Win32 or DOS) applications.
• Reorder and rename existing tabs.
• Save or print all or part of the scrollback buffer.
• Create any size window ( 80x25 or greater) and a scrollback buffer of up to 20,000 lines.
• Attach existing console sessions to the TCI window.
• Detach TCI tabbed windows.
• Select and copy text in either line or block mode.
• Search the scrollback buffer (with regular expression support).
• Programmable toolbar to start new tabs or send keystrokes / commands to existing tabs.
• Adjustable transparency level (separately configurable for active and inactive windows).
• Complete configuration adjustment through interactive dialogs.
• Supports Windows Drag & Drop.

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Qlock - World clock

Qlock is one of the best freeware software that I have seen thus far. It has all the basic features available in free version which can be further upgraded to advanced features. I have been using Qlock for a couple of weeks and found no problem what so ever. It is very light on memory consumption and is very user friendly.

Qlock has a database of world cities with their timezone and DST information. It also gives option to manually add more cities.

Before I used to use a website to check for time of other places and it really was an added effort but now with Qlock I can know the time of as many places I want by just looking at my laptop.

Qlock can be used in different variations suiting your requirements and preferences. Currently on my desktop it looks like.

Qlock stays on top of all the screens so I have placed them at a place so that it doesn't hinder any of my work.

Below are free screen shots from the qlock website.


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