Updates Notes: 01-Apr-2000

Last year, I wrote a short letter to Post Database's Helpdesk regarding PowerDesk, a feature filled replacement for Windows Explorer. Among PowerDesk's many add-on programs is a toolbar program similar to LaunchMate. After my friend Petch told me that he was happy with PowerDesk's toolbar program, I decided to give it a try to see how similar/different they are.

The bottom line is that while PowerDesk's toolbar can do about 80% of what LaunchMate can, it also has a number of features unavailable in LaunchMate. At first glance it looks like an old program from Hewlett Packard called "DashBoard", in that it provides access to many special functions besides program buttons, such as access to your various printers, system monitoring, a DOS prompt, etc. What's missing however, are many toolbar enhancements, such as toolbar coloring, graphic backgrounds, and the raison d'être of my LaunchMate article - automatic video switching.

If you're already using PowerDesk, you might want to give it a try. It took me about 10 minutes to customize PowerDesk's toolbar so that it works like my LaunchMate, and it looks like this (figure 2).

If you're using LaunchMate, make sure to keep tabs on the updates (the latest version is 3.0.0.20) at: http://tdrware.virtualave.net/LaunchMate/lmdwnld.htm.