Samer from the FreewareGenius weblog steps away from reviewing software to take a look at how to create shortcuts on your USB drive. The problem: You can't create relative shortcuts in Windows, but since your USB drive letter can change each time you plug it in, shortcuts with full paths can break. Samer details how to use batch files to create shortcuts with relative paths, then goes a step further and converts the batch file to an EXE and gives it the same icon as the program it's launching. In his example, he's making a quick shortcut to Eject the USB drive using previously mentioned EjectUSB. If you're a real thumb drive junky, you can use batch files to quick-launch your USB workspace as soon as you plug in your thumb drive.

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The How-To Geek offers a quick guide to creating a shortcut that Outlook users and inbox addicts might find helpful/irresistible—a keyboard switch to pull up your Outlook screen, whether it's open, closed, or minimized. The trick is creating or copying a standard Outlook shortcut, and adding a /recycle switch to the end of the "Target" field, forcing Windows to switch to an open window if one's available. The trick makes Outlook easier to keep minimised, and super-convenient to pull up for a quick email check, if that's your style. Got another shortcut that makes good use of the /recycle option? Share it in the comments.

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Venerable URL shortening service TinyURL has caught up with its rivals by adding a feature allowing you to define your own short names (or as it calls them, custom aliases), rather than just accepting the supplied random stream of characters. Most of the obvious choices have already been grabbed, but it's worth a try if you have a particular abbreviation in mind and a long site address to deal with. Some points to bear in mind: you can't associate a given URL with more than one abbreviation, and for short site names the abbreviated version might not end up much shorter.

Windows only: Free Windows utility DesktopOnTop adds an icon to your system tray that provides quick access to the files and shortcuts on your desktop, in either a pop-up list or a mini-desktop view. The right-click list isn't all that much more convenient than the "Desktop" toolbar that Windows itself provides, but the ordered desktop view is a boon for those who stack and filter their files on their background. The major drawback to DesktopOnTop is that its mini-desktop's wallpaper won't match yours (unless you cede your wallpaper to one of its designs), but color-picking and transparency settings can make it unobtrusive. DesktopOnTop is a free download for Windows systems only.

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Photoshop enthusiast and frantic video editor Deke McClelland fits 101 tips for Adobe's premiere product into five minutes of video, and the results are surprisingly watchable. Granted, a lot of the tips are simply shortcuts you may or may not have discovered, but McClelland fits a good bit of real advice—such as which tools to just stay away from entirely—into his frantic run. Worth a listen to catch shortcuts you might not have known, and real advice from a serious Photoshop enthusiast.

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Windows only: Free, open-source application Types is a lightweight, user-friendly tool for editing default applications, icons, and context menu options for filetypes in Windows. You can already tweak these settings in the File Types tab of the Folder Options menu in Windows Explorer (Tools -> Folder Options), but frankly, the default tool is overly complicated. Types provides a very simple and intuitive interface for making the same tweaks, and you don't need to dig through the File menu to use it. Types is free, portable, and works in both XP and Vista.

Certain networking or file-sharing programs will always bump up against Windows Vista's super-finicky firewall, and turning it off is no one-click affair. The How-To Geek has a useful addition to what, by now, might be a collection of Vista shortcuts: Turning the firewall on and off with a quick double-click. Hit the link below for a guide on making on and off shortcuts, complete with icons that make it clear what you're doing.

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Windows only: Wizmo, a free tweak and hack utility for Windows systems, is a tiny but powerful little stand-alone app that lets you create shortcuts for all kinds of things you might want to do in Windows. If you're looking for a way to quickly turn off a laptop monitor to save juice, for instance, create a shortcut to Wizmo and add the -monoff option for instant screen darkening. You can restart your wireless reception, blank out your background image, pop out a CD, and do much more—just run the program by itself to get a list of command switches. If you've already got a lot of little apps that accomplish these tasks, you might think about consolidating for easier reformats and portability. Wizmo is a free download for Windows systems only. Thanks, billspaced!

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Windows only: Freeware application Desk Drive monitors your computer for new media—like a new CD, DVD, or thumb drive—then automatically creates a desktop shortcut pointing to your newly mounted media. Disabling autoplay is safer and less annoying than leaving it enabled, but that means you have to open up My Computer every time you plug in a thumb drive or insert a new disc. Desk Drive gives you quick and easy access to that media from your desktop as soon as you plug it in, similar to the default (and arguably better) behaviour found on Macs. The downside: Desk Drive takes up way too much memory (around 17MB in my test), so it may not be worth it unless you've got boatloads of RAM.

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You've been talking to (or screaming at) your Windows PC for years, but unless you were willing to shell out hundreds of dollars on pricey software, chances are it wasn't listening to a word you were saying. With Microsoft's new freeware tool, Windows Speech Recognition Macros, the days of you talking into your computer's unsympathetic ear are over. Not only is it listening, but it's up to the task of doing whatever you want it to.

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