Something that I have often wondered why it hasn’t been included in Windows is the ability to rearrange the buttons on the taskbar. Want to move Outlook to the far left of your taskbar? Want to ensure all buttons relating to Word are together to the far right? Well, there is no built-in way to do this in Windows except to close every application down and reopen them in the correct order. Step forward Taskbar Shuffle.

This is a very simple but extraordinarily useful application that allows you to do just that. It works with all versions of 32-bit Windows and a 64-bit version is in development as of the time of writing.

Theres not much I can say about it as it really is such a simple concept. The installation is quick and fuss free, and once completed you can simply drag and drop the taskbar buttons to rearrange them on your taskbar.

You can even do the same with the systray icons, although you have to hold down CTRL while you do this. It’s a nice simple little app, and best of all, it’s free! (donations accepted by the author at http://www.freewebs.com/nerdcave/taskbarshuffle.htm).

When thinking about windows automation the question, “how many ways can you skin a cat?” springs to mind, because there are so many different scripting languages and tools. Visual Basic Script (or VBS) for example is built-in to Windows making it very accessible.

But one that I have rediscovered recently is a tool called AutoIt which is now in its 3rd generation. It’s compatible with all versions of Windows old and new (including Vista), and those of you that are familiar with BASIC are going to love it.

AutoIt is completely free and a reasonable 4MB download provides you everything you need to get started. Read more…

So, this is the first blog I have ever posted. I don’t even really know how to do this stuff so I’m gonna keep it really basic for now. How about if I just write, la laa la laa laa hum ti tum. That way although it doesn’t mean anything at least it takes up a bit more page.

So now I’ve said “Hello World” to you all I can hopefully create some more useful entries in the days to come.

Thanks for stopping by.