Not long ago, I was tipped off to a handy add-on tool for Windows XP that lets you right click and open a DOS command window in the context of a folder you right-click in Windows Explorer. It’s called, simply, “Open Command Window Here” and you can download it from Microsoft’s PowerToys for Windows XP page.
Here’s a screenshot showing the context menu.
For working on batch files, testing Ant scripts, FTPing files, or just about anything that requires a command prompt this is a great shortcut. And check out the other PowerToys like the Alt-Tab replacement which gives you a thumbnail view of the application window when you press Alt-Tab. Nifty!
Now after reading Steve Carl’s Google Office Beta post and Writely and Friends post, I’ve got some more tools to play with some more! I have been working with Google Spreadsheets and find them great with only one more feature I want — I want that drag-and-fill feature that Excel has where your formulas are calculated all the way down a row. I’ve got a shared spreadsheet for doing mortgage qualification calculations. I think anyone can have access to it which is a very cool feature, I think. Google Spreadsheets had all the financial formulas I needed to re-create an Excel spreadsheet I made and since I’ve shared it with friends and family often, it seemed like the perfect candidate for sticking into Google Spreadsheets. So there you go, a practical application of a collaborative tool.