Yesterday I posted about input devices, and mentioned that I couldn't configure the thumb button of my
Microsoft USB Comfort Optical Mouse 3000 to enter the Alt+Tab keystroke. So what did I set as the functionality of the thumb button? I just had it configured to the default Back button functionality, which I found myself never using, and left it at that. Then I found a utility that lended itself very well to being mapped to the thumb button.
Clipboard Recorder is a utility that stores the last 100 snippets of text that have been copied to the clipboard. Among it's several interfaces, there is a pop-up menu that can be activated with the keystroke Ctrl+Alt+V. I mapped this keystroke to my mouse's thumb button and, viola! My favorite mouse configuration ever!
I don't know how I lived without a clipboard history up to now. As a software developer, it is indispensable. Copying and pasting sections of code is something done every day, and it's very nice to be able to copy code knowing that you'll need it later, but not worrying about overwriting it in the clipboard, and maybe having to store it in a temporary text file. Also, our defect management software at work leaves a lot to be desired, and I find myself copying and pasting the same 3-4 pieces of information into several places, including VSS.
I love Clipboard Recorder and that's why I registered it on "
Support Your Favorite Small Software Vendor Day" last month.
Some other utilities that I use daily:
And some utilites that I use every now and then:
Also, I have
del.icio.us utilities links to tools that I want to check out some day.
Update:I'm counting this as my official "Tools Day" blog post, in support of Jim Holmes and James Avery's new book "
Windows Developer Power Tools".
Labels: tools