Messenger Plus Live is an add-on for the Windows Live Messenger which adds a multitude of new features to the main program. Messenger Plus Live works with Windows Live Messenger 8 and 8.5 and can be used on Windows XP and Windows Vista.

The new Messenger 8.5 for instance is missing several features that the previous versions had included and Messenger Plus! Live adds them again to the software. Besides offering the build in functionality it also supports user created scripts and offers hundreds of them on the official website.

The main features of Messenger Plus Live are Tabbed Chats, Quick Text, Custom Sounds, Colors and Formatting options, Messenger Lock, Contacts on Desktop, HTML Chat Logging and Personalized Status. Several of them are pretty useful already but the real beauty are the scripts that can be installed as well.

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Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager is a free software for Windows XP created by Microsoft to make it easier to backup and restore files on USB devices that get connected to the computer. It was primarily designed as a backup and restoration utility but offers several other features that make it worthwhile.

It is possible to label USB devices, set them to autorun and copy files to and from. Backing up files is a standard operation that should be done by everyone who owns important files. To backup or restore the USB device you simply click on the Backup / Restore tab and select the USB device from the list.

After that you can choose to backup files or restore them. If you choose to restore them you can select that the USB device should be cleared of all data before the backup gets restored.

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I always thought that it would be pretty nice to be able to add the most used folders and applications to My Computer. I personally use My Computer to achieve two goals. First I use it to access my DVD and virtual drives to start applications for instance. The second use is that I access folders that I tend to use very often. Folders like my mp3 collection, profile folders and several applications fall under this category as well.

The free software Folder2MyPC is able to add folders to My Computer. This is only one of the features but the most important one for me. Just execute the program and follow the Create Folder menu to create a new folder that appears in My Computer afterwards. I tested it on my Vista notebook where the folder appeared immediately and on my XP desktop where it did not show up. I suspect this is because I use customized themes. Maybe it appears when I restart my computer.

Besides adding folders to My Computer you can also add any application to My Computer or the Control Panel. This is another great way of being able to access several applications fast without having to use the start menu, shortcuts or browse the computer to find them.

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I mentioned three days ago in my blog that the Autopatcher team released the June 2007 patches for Windows Vista and just now they announced that the updates for XP can be downloaded as well from their sites. In case you missed the last post here is what Autopatcher does.

Autopatcher provides a single executable that includes all patches for the operating system that you are choosing either of the month - called Updates - or complete which are called core releases. After downloading you can execute the file and select if you want to install all patches or only the ones that affect your system by manually adding and removing patches from the list of available patches.

The following downloads are right now available at the Autopatcher website:

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The default clock that is shown on every Windows operating system in the lower left corner was always a thorn in my eyes. It displayed the time but the current date was always a click away. I always wanted to change this and customize the way the clock was displayed in the system tray leaving the boundaries of the Microsoft clock.

Tclock 2 is a freeware that offers a simple way to customize the system tray clock the way you want. The main feature is the ability to select the exact format of the data and time in the system tray by either choosing a locale like English (United States) or using a fully customized form like hh:nn:ss mm/dd/yy for it.

It is furthermore possible to use AM/PM, 12H instead of 24H and write the months and days instead of using digits for them. That is however not all that can be achieved. You are free to select the font, the font size, the position and height plus width of the clock.

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