With Plug-In you can sound a cuckoo alarm every minute,
change your drab arrow cursor to a magic wand or do away with Windows’ Program
Manager. Plug-In from Plannet Crafters, is a shareware utility that allows you to
personalize your Windows desktop. You can also use it as a shell instead of the default
Program Manager. Though version 2.6 works under Windows 3.1 and later, it''s not really
optimized for Windows 95, and an upgrade is in the offing.
You can set up Plug-In to load up with Windows, or access
it later by clicking the Power Plug icon in the Accessories Group. The Control Center is
the program’s centre from where you can select different options. Custom Cursors lets
you change your basic cursor shape, the hourglass Wait cursor, the I-Beam cursor, and
enable cursor wrap at screen edges.
You can also keep a check on system resources including
memory and drive space by setting alarms and resource alerts. Or to break the monotony of
work (and perhaps get angry looks from co-workers) you set a piercing wail to indicate low
memory. The Title bar too can be configured to display the date, time, free memory,
resources, stop watch or nothing at all.
Plug-In |
PLUGIN.ZIP on PCQ Online. Plannet Crafters Inc, $20 registration. A shareware desktop shell and Program Manager replacement with options for custom cursors, title bar, alarms, talking clock and screensavers |
Windows users can integrate Plug-In with Program
Manager. The screensaver options available include assigning a hotkey to activate the
screensaver. This also makes a very effective "Boss Key". But the Instant
On-Instant Off screen saver option is however rather tricky. It"s supposed to
activate the screen saver when you position the mouse cursor at the lower left of the
screen and disable it altogether when it’s at the lower right. Usually, you are left
groping for the exact lower left corner before the screen saver comes on.
Plug-In doesn’t exactly overwhelm you with features.
Apart from setting up alarms, changing cursors and configuring the title bar, there’s
little else. However, there are lots of options to let you configure the software itself.
Plug-In’s more like a nice leisure utility than something for serious use.