I really love little apps that make my existing software more useful. SecondShell is just such an app; it adds some useful tweaks to Windows. Particularly useful is how it allows users to toggle maximizing the current window horizontally or vertically just by hitting some hotkeys (Ctrl+Alt+Right arrow and Ctrl+Alt+Down arrow, by default). It’s perfect for those times when you need a bit of extra room in your window — perhaps to see a long line of code, or the whole of an email — but don’t want to have to maximize the window completely and obscure the whole screen. And as it’s a toggle, you can quickly revert back to the window’s original size just by hitting the hotkey again:
Other features include the ability to move and resize windows by clicking anywhere on the window and then using Alt-click to move and Alt-Right-click to resize, to make the Caps Lock key substitute for the middle mouse button (especially useful on laptops), and to minimize windows by right-clicking anywhere the title bar, and to close them by middle-clicking. It also allows you to define your own hotkeys in order to launch up to 10 different applications.
SecondShell is a very lightweight portable app (there’s no install involved — just unzip it and run) so you could easily carry it around on a USB flash drive. It’s free, though donations are encouraged, and works on Windows XP and later.
Do you use any apps like SecondShell? Share them in the comments.

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