One feature of the Windows 7 taskbar I don't quite agree with is the inability to pin folders somewhere other than Windows Explorer. I have two or three key folders that I'd like to access from my taskbar - and I'd rather not have create new toolbars to do it.

Alastria software's 7stacks has the solution. It's a small (about 800Kb) program that creates OsX-like stacks as standalone shortcuts. Unlike your native Windows 7 folders, each 7stacks shortcut behaves like a separate executable - so you can pin as many as you like to your taskbar.

Apart from the stack view, you can also display folder contents as a menu (plain old lists) and grid (pictured).

To see 7stacks in action, you can watch a brief demo I captured after the break.

[via Into Windows]

NetDrive is a Windows utility that lets you treat remote FTP sites as if they were local drives. The first time you connect to an FTP site, you have to create a profile. But once you're connected you can copy files to and from the FTP site using Windows Explorer or any other file explorer of your choosing. No FTP client required. To disconnect from the FTP server, just bring up the NetDrive window again and hit the disconnect button.

You can also configure NetDrive to automatically map an FTP site as a Windows drive every time your computer boots up. This could come in handy if you want to use a file backup utility to automatically back up files to an FTP server, or if you constantly need to copy files to and from your web hosting server.

NetDrive includes profiles for a few anonymous FTP servers including the KDE, GNOME, and FreeBSD projects as well as Adobe, Apple, HP, and Microsoft servers. You can also create your own profiles.

[via Inspect My Gadget]

It looks like somebody at Mozilla is listening. Just yesterday, we asked when we could get a version of Firefox 3.5 that didn't have the silly "release candidate" next to its name. Now we have an answer: Tuesday.

Webmonkey and Betanews are both reporting that Mozilla has confirmed that's the date it will push out the full version of Firefox 3.5. The latest version of the popular web browser has been available for testing for months, but by removing the beta and/or RC label, Mozilla is essentially saying that the browser is ready for the public to use without fear of encountering major bugs of security flaws. You know, until some major bug of security flaw is discovered and Mozilla pushes out Firefox 3.5.1.

Firefox 3.5 includes a number of changes from Firefox 3.0, including faster Javascript rendering and a private browsing mode which allows you to surf without saving your personal data. It also supports viewing some web video in a browser without any plugins.

In related news, Mozilla's released an update to the mobile version of Firefox today. Fennec Beta 2 for Nokia Internet Tablets and Alpha 2 for Windows Mobile was released today. The latest version of Fennec includes performance tweaks and a new theme.

[via Mozilla Links]

Sure, you know that your CPU heats up when you ask too much of it. But do you know just how hot it gets? Real Temp can tell you. This light weight Windows application can monitor the temperature of a wide variety of Intel processors including single, dual, and quad core CPUs.

You can configure Real Temp to show your CPU temperature in your system tray or just run the executable program when you just want a quick look at your system health.

The program also lets you run executable files when the temperature hits a certain point. So you could create a script that would allow the program to do things like shut down your system, kill tasks, or shoot you an email letting you know that your computer is about to explode.

Some of Real Temp's features are tied into bulkier system status monitors. But Real Temp is a light weight app that comes in a 170KB ZIP file and which uses less than 4MB of RAM when running.

[via gHacks]

Jake is a cross-platform collaborative file-sharing client that lets you create a folder and keep it synced for everyone you invite. It's built on open-source tools like Jabber, and seems to have a lot of features going for it. You can't really beat it for ease of use: setup is just adding a folder and inviting people, with no server-side fiddling to do. Even better, you can set Jake up on your intranet if you want to use it for work-related purposes.

The main difference between Jake and similar solutions like Dropbox is that Jake doesn't store files on a central server in the cloud. It just uses Jabber, XMPP and other open-source tools to sync the folder for users when they're online. Although Jake saves a log of the changes users make to the folder, it doesn't back up old versions of the data - again, no central server. This makes it slightly less powerful than some other, similar file-sharing services, but it makes setup a lot easier.

Creating playlists can be tedious, and every bit of information can help. While some people maintain the ID3 tags in their MP3 files in excruciating detail, others (like me) can't seem to find the time. But when it comes to finding the tempo, no amount of manual ID3 tag maintenance will help.

If you're trying to put together a playlist that contains songs that are a similar speed, knowing the beats-per-minute of each song is immensely helpful. Luckily, there is a free download called BPM Analyzer from MixMeister that will analyze all of your MP3 tracks, and update the ID3 tags in them with exact BPM information. With that done, it's a simple matter of sorting your music library by the beats-per-minute field.

Now you can put together an upbeat energy-boosting playlist full of fast songs, a mellow playlist with slower songs, or pretty much anything you desire. And for the nerds like me, it's just another piece of information to sort and group your music by.

BPM Analyzer is available on both the Windows and Mac operating system.

[via Lifehacker]

Right on schedule, Microsoft has begun taking pre-orders for Windows 7. In the US anyway. Customers in the rest of the world will have to wait a little longer. But if you're in the US you can pre-order Windows 7 upgrade packages for about half off, bringing the price of Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade to $49.99 and Windows 7 Professional Upgrade to $99.99.

Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade will still set you back full price, or about $219.99 And at least at Amazon, there are no discounts for full retail versions of the operating systems yet. That means you'll end up paying $199.99 for Home Premium, $299.99 for Professional, and $319.99 for Ultimate.

All versions have a release date of October 22nd. Amazon is limiting pre-orders on Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade and Windows 7 Professional Upgrade to 3 per customer, and the pre-order pricing expires on July 11th or once Microsoft sells a set number of pre-orders. Not that anybody knows exactly what that magic number is.

[via Engadget]

Microsoft has unveiled the consumer prices for Windows 7. Here's the rundown of prices for a full version:

• Windows 7 Home Premium: $199.99
  
• Windows 7 Professional: $299.99
  
• Windows 7 Ultimate: $319.99
  

The prices are lower for users who are upgrading from Windows XP or Vista:

• Windows 7 Home Premium: $119.99
  
• Windows 7 Professional: $199.99
  
• Windows 7 Ultimate: $219.99

But wait, there's more. Starting tomorrow, US customers will be able to pre-order the operating system at much lower prices:

• Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade pre-order: $49.99
• Windows 7 Professional Upgrade pre-order: $99.99

Discounted Pre-order prices will also be available in Canada and Japan for the next few weeks. A pre-order program will launch in the UK, France, and Germany starting July 15th.
There will only be a limited number of pre-orders available. But here's the other bit of good news. If you buy a computer running Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate from a participating OEM or retailer between June 26th, 2009 and January 31st, 2010, you'll likely be able to upgrade to Windows 7 for little or no cost.

There's no information on how much Microsoft will be charging computer makers for Windows 7 licenses, but odds are if you were in the market for a new computer anyway, the cheapest way to get Windows 7 will be to simply buy a new computer. PC makers tend to get much better prices than the general public.

Mozilla pushed out a third release candidate for Firefox 3.5 last night. If you're running an earlier release candidate or Firefox 3.5 beta, you may have woken up this morning to a message alerting you that there's a new security and stability update.

The tricky thing is Mozilla has a habit of leaving the "RC" out of the labels for its release candidates. This can prompt a lot of folks to think that they've just downloaded the final build of Firefox 3.5. The reason Mozilla does this is because if there are no major problems with the release candidate, effectively it will be Firefox 3.5. And it'd be silly to expect you to download and install an identical version of the browser just to get rid of the "RC" in its name.

That said, Firefox 3.5 RC3 is now available for download from the Firefox beta page. Existing users can upgrade by clicking the "check for updates" option in the Help menu of their browsers.

Yesterday I wrote up a little list of things I wished people would quit installing on their PCs. Today, I've put together a selection of handy programs those same people can use to take care of some of the annoyances I mentioned - and more.

Here are six (seventeen, really, but some are grouped) simple applications that will help - and they're all free for personal use!

1. PC Decrapifier - A lot of people that drop their systems off for repair say "take out any programs that don't need to be there." Well, that's exactly the kind of crud Decrapifier is designed to get rid of. It compares the programs on your system to a list of known bloatware (Wikipedia definition) and simplifies the removal process.

2. Malware Bytes - Those annoying popups you're getting? The weird pages you see when you try to search for something in your browser? Malware Bytes does a great job at removing the pests that cause those problems. It's usually the first program I run on horribly bogged-down computers. After a scan, clean, and reboot, they're usually much more cooperative.

3. Glary Utilities - The one-click maintenance mode in Glary is a wonderfully simple way for even non-technical users to keep their systems tuned. It tackles all kinds of tasks, from removing temporary file garbage and broken shortcuts to tuning up your registry.

One note: download the slim version to avoid the Ask Toolbar. You can opt out of it during the regular install, but slim removes it altogether.

Multi-protocol chat client Digsby received a major update today, with over 100 bug fixes and new features. At the top of the list, the new version should use about 50% less CPU cycles than previous builds.

Digsby is a chat client that lets you chat with contacts whether they're using AIM, ICQ, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, or Facebook Chat. It also lets you read and write updates for social networking sites including Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn.

Here are a few other new features:

• Search your buddy list by hitting Ctrl+F
• Improved file transfer reliability for AIM, ICQ, and MSN
• Support for entering your status on MySpace
• Added support for invisible mode on Gtalk
• New infobox based on WebKit

Some of these features have been available to Alpha testers for a while now, but the new build will allow all Digsby users to access them.

Microsoft kind of, sort of confirmed that that leaked images of the Windows 7 box art we spotted last month were legit when the company posted some nearly identical images on a Facebook page recently. But now it's really official. The Windows team has posted an item on the official Windows Blog showcasing the new packaging.

As you can see, the packaging is pretty simple and actually looks a lot like the Windows Vista packaging. But while the cover art may not have received a major redesign, the overall packaging has. The amount of packaging weighs 37% less than previous Windows packages, and the plastic case is recyclable. There's less inside the box as well. All you get is the case, a paper sleeve, and a brief "getting started" guide.

You can find a picture of an opened box after the break.

After months of private Alpha testing, the Boxee team has finally released a public alpha of the Boxee media center application for Windows. That means you can now run Boxee on Mac, Windows or Ubuntu Linux. The public alpha for Windows does seem to be a bit more stable and responsive than the earlier private alpha version.

Boxee provides you with a full screen browser designed for managing and accessing internet media as well as audio and video stored on your hard drive. Over the past few weeks, Boxee has gained a ton of features through a new "App Store" which allows third party developers to create plugins for the media center.

In addition to launching a public Windows Alpha, Boxee also announced last night a new partnership with MLB.com to offer live and recorded Major League Baseball games through Boxee. Boxee has also added support for Digg, Current.tv and Tumblr.