Monday's Mac Gadget by John F. Braun Want That Mac OS X Feeling? Try Power Windows June 12th, 2000 Power Windows 2.4.1 ($10 Shareware) Greg Landweber If you've had a chance to see a preview of Mac OS X, via MACWORLD or other means, you no doubt noticed some of the new user interface features of Aqua. One of the more interesting, and even useful, features is translucent menus, where you can still see a faint image of what is behind a menu while the menu is being displayed. Power Windows offers this and other interface enhancements to users going back to System 7. After downloading the package, drag the Power Windows icon to your System Folder, and let Mac OS place it in your Control Panels folder. Then restart. Once you get to the Desktop, you may already notice one of the features of the package if you have any windows open. Instead of popping up on the screen, they appear with a cool fade-in effect. Likewise, when you close a window, it will disappear with a nifty fade-out effect. Translucent Menus, Just Like Mac OS X The other features will make you feel right at home once you update to Mac OS X. If you click on a menu, it will be translucent, so you can see what is behind it. If you dismiss a menu, it will fade out, rather than abruptly disappear. Window dragging behavior is also improved. When you move a Finder window, you drag the entire window, rather than just an outline of it. The window can be solid or translucent. You can also enable multitasking, which will update background windows you uncover while dragging. For those who want some of the benefits of Aqua without having to wait for OS X, Power Windows fits the bill. Have any other Mac OS Gadgets you'd like us to look at? Let John know via e-mail, or share it with the rest of us in the Mac Gadget Forum. Monday's Mac Gadget is here to help you with those cool things that we all just have to have on our Macs. Shareware, Freeware, Postcardware, Emailware, and even commercial apps, Monday's Mac Gadget is here to help you find and use the best of these programs. John is a software engineer who works in the corporate R&D group of a Fortune 500 company, focusing on all aspects of communications technology. He has several degrees that claim he knows what he's doing when it comes to computers. After watching co-workers reinstall Windows, search for device drivers, and experience other horrors during the day, he's glad that he comes home to a Mac (compatible) computer. Have any comments, suggestions, or favorite Gadgets? Drop John a line at You can also Post Your Comments below. Current Monday's Mac Gadget Want to Supercharge Your Dock? Check Out Todos! - August 21st Worried About Your Mac Getting Jacked? Get JackSMS - June 12th Want iChat with Tabs? Try Chax! - April 3rd Visit Monday's Mac Gadget Archives for more great Mac Gadgets!