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Multibar is a skinnable Windows dock that helps you organize your applications, files and folders. It provides instant access to gadgets and shortcuts, and enables searching YouTube, Wikipedia and Google without cluttering your desktop. Multibar remains hidden by default, and only appears on mouse hover, hence it can house several useful shortcuts without consuming a large chunk of your desktop space. The functionality of Multibar can be further enhanced with the help of add-ons.
After installation, you can start Multibar from the start menu or desktop shortcut to get the overlaying sidebar dock. The dock provides weather and search gadgets, along with shortcuts for Firefox, Windows Media Player, My Computer, Shutdown, Restart, Hibernate, logout etc.
You can add more shortcuts to the dock by either dragging and dropping icons to it, or via right-click context menu.
The dock is highly customizable, and you can change it’s skin, enable hotkey support, change dock position, (up, down, left and right), change dock transparency, icon size and much more. Settings can be accessed either by clicking the Cog wheel from the top of the bar, or, again, via right-click context menu. The options provided in this section are quite elaborate, and can help you fully customize the bar to suit your requirements.
Multibar comes with 17 different themes, which, themselves, are also customizable (dock opacity, for instance).
Multibar is still in early development, and it seems that is likely to get better as more add-ons and updated versions of the program become available. For now, the only issue that you are likely to face are a few minor lags. For example, it can take slightly longer than usual for an application to open when you launch it via Multibar. Hopefully, these issues will be ironed out by the developer in upcoming versions.
Multibar works on Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, including 64-bit system architecture.
Download Multibar
Всевозможных лаунчеров для Windows существует огромное количество, но далеко не все из них могут похвастаться такой функциональностью, как наша сегодняшняя героиня. Программа Multibar пытается всеми силами быть полезной своему хозяину, взяв на себя выполнение чуть ли не десятка самых разных компьютерных задач. Посмотрим как это у нее получается.
Multibar — это многофункциональный док для Windows, служащий для быстрого запуска часто используемых программ. В этой своей ипостаси он сильно напоминает всех своих предыдущих конкурентов — Y’z dock, ObjectDoc, RocketDoc, которые, в свою очередь черпают вдохновение в интерфейсе одной всем известной операционной системы. Точно такая же стыкующаяся к любой стороне экрана панель с большими иконками, красивыми эффектами и сменными шкурками. Разумеется есть возможность легко как добавлять нужные кнопки или ссылки на сайты, так и быстро удалять их.
Основное отличие и достоинство Multibar состоит в возможности расширения функциональности за счет системы специальных дополнений. Эти дополнения скачиваются с сайта программы и представляют собой отдельные небольшие программки, призванные решать самые разные задачи. На момент написания в каталоге насчитывалось 22 единицы, но разработчики обещают не останавливаться и пополнять перечень дополнений.
Среди этого обширного списка есть как откровенный шлак, дополнения рекламного характера, так и выполняющие весьма полезные функции. Погодный информер — известит вас о текущей погоде и прогнозе на несколько дней. Фотоальбом представляет собой удобное средство организации и управлениями фотографиями на вашем компьютере, а легкий и удобный Просмотрщик поможет их продемонстрировать. За развлечения отвечает универсальный Проигрыватель, которому по силам воспроизведение как локальных аудио и видео файлов, так и онлайнового радио. Упорядочить все задачи и не забыть о нужных делах поможет Планировщик, а если вас посетят умные мысли, то их можно сохранить с помощью дополнения Заметки. Кроме этого, есть здесь и простенький торрент-клиент, утилита для снятия скриншотов, диктофон, хранитель паролей и многое другое. Разумеется все эти мини приложения отлично интегрированы с основным доком, умеют показывать служебную информацию на иконках и вообще образуют довольно симпатичную и удобную экосистему.
В целом Multibar поначалу производит довольно приятное впечатление, берет за душу элегантным оформлением и поражает многообразием функций. Однако когда эмоции поостынут, то возникает вопрос — а нужен ли пользователям такой “и швец, и жнец, и на дуде игрец”? Откажутся ли они от своего любимого Winamp и привычного uTorrent ради соответствующих дополнений Multibar? Не знаю.
Multibar
A useful toolbar to be placed on your desktop
One of the things that most Windows users like and are surprised about Mac OS X is the dock (the taskbar with shortcuts), and now they will be able to use a similar bar on their operating system thanks to Multibar.
Quick and flexible access to applications and documents
The first thing that Multibar does after being installed is analyze the operating system to detect which are the applications and the documents that are used most by the user, so that it can add shortcuts to them.
As well as shortcuts to applications, Multibar includes a shortcut to a collection of free online games, weather forecast information about the computer’s location and a search tool to find any file.
Add more icons using ‘drag & drop’.
To be able to add more shortcuts to Multibar you only have to drag and drop the icons on the toolbar.
Another interesting thing about Multibar is that it includes multiple themes, thus the user can use the one that adapts best to his/her operating system, and it can be placed on any of the four sides of the screen.
Therefore, access your favorite program quicker and order your desktop thanks to Multibar.
Requirements and additional information:
- You need to have an active Internet connection to access the games and the weather forecast information.
- Instructions to install extensions on Chrome
In fact, Multibar is a toolbar that will help any user place orders on a computer screen and access their applications faster. What’s more interesting is that you can immediately download this useful tool completely free for your Windows 7/8/10 to experience the great features that it brings.
About Multibar free download for Windows
More specifically, the app will include a shortcut to a collection of free online games, weather forecast information about the location of your computer, and a search engine to find any file. Therefore, you absolutely can see this application as a solution tool for finding files quickly and easily.
Obviously, after installing this application, you will be able to quickly and flexibly access applications and documents with extremely smooth operation. The only thing you need to do is analyze the operating system to detect which apps and documents are used the most by users, and then you can add shortcuts to them.
Another cool feature of the app is that it also allows you to add more icons using ‘drag and drop’ to create more convenient shortcuts. What’s even more amazing is that this app also includes a variety of themes, so the user can use the theme that is best adapted to his or her operating system and it can be placed in any position on four sides of the screen.
Download and Installation:
- Open the Chrome Web Store: [Chrome web store].
- Search for “MultiBar.”
- Locate the extension by “Maxim A. Balakhin Jr.” and click “Add to Chrome.”
- Confirm the installation by clicking “Add extension.”
Using MultiBar:
- MultiBar will create two new folders in your bookmarks bar: “Other bookmarks” and “Bar1” (or a name you choose to rename it to).
- You can add bookmarks to any folder, but leave “Bar1” empty for now.
- Clicking the MultiBar icon in your Chrome toolbar will switch the active bookmark folder to the next one in the sequence. (For example, clicking it once will switch from “Other bookmarks” to “Bar1”).
Additional Notes:
You can rename the folders created by MultiBar by right-clicking on the folder name and selecting “Rename.”
You can add more folders (Bars) by right-clicking on an existing folder and selecting “Add folder.”
Backup your bookmarks before using MultiBar, as it might rearrange them during setup.
2. Multibar for Renoise
If you’re referring to Multibar within the Renoise music production software, it’s not a separate feature but how Renoise refers to its multiple channels/tracks.
In Renoise, each horizontal line in the editing window represents a channel or instrument track. You can add or remove channels as needed to create your musical composition.
Using Multibar in Renoise
- To add a new channel, right-click in the empty space below your existing channels and select “Insert channel.”
- You can rename channels by double-clicking on the channel name and typing a new name.
- Each channel can hold a different instrument or audio sample. You can assign instruments and samples to channels using the “Sample instruments” window.
Download the Multibar app for PC Windows now so you can access your favorite programs faster and have smoother experiences.
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FULL SPECIFICATIONS
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Multibar is a stylish and smart application dock for Windows. It is designed to help you get to your files, folders, and tools faster. For instant access, Multibar supports hotkeys and quick launch commands. As an added bonus, it also helps with un-cluttering your desktop.
When Multibar first launches after its installation, it will proceed to index your files and folders. This step is necessary if you want to use the instant search feature. Unfortunately, Multibar presently can only index your C drive.
Multibar opens at the touch of a button and that button is your [Windows] key. When you click this hotkey, your cursor will instantly jump to the instant search field (red arrow in screenshot below). In the window below you will see a selection of quick launch commands. Type in a program or folder you want to open or click your [Tab] key to move to the other items in the instant search window.
When you hover over an application icon in your Multibar, it will show the recently used files, provided you didn’t disable this Windows feature. Hovering over a folder will show its content.
You can manually open the Multibar with your mouse by clicking the little pull-down label on the side or top of your screen. It is also shown directly below.
When the dock is open, click the tools icon in the top left corner to access Multibar’s settings.
If you don’t like the fact that the Multibar opens when you hit the [Windows] key, you can disable this hotkey. Further hotkeys can be accessed and modified via the respective tab.
Through the settings you can customize the look and feel of your Multibar. Decide where on your screen it is located, how it behaves, change the size of the icons and the background, and set which icons are shown.
Presently, you have the choice between 11 different skins for your Multibar, which are available via the Themes tab.
Multibar comes with a small selection of added tools: games, a friend meter, and a weather forecast tool. More addons (some premium) can be found on the Ticno homepage. The smart folders feature advertised on the installation screen appears to be missing in the current build.
The only default addon worth mentioning here is the weather forecast tool. It determines your present location based on your IP address and will show a five day forecast when you hover over the icon in your Multibar. The games and friendmeter addons didn’t work for me and I recommend to disable them via the addons tab in the settings.
Taken together, Multibar is a very sleek, unobtrusive, and intuitive to use application dock for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.
MakeUseOf has previously written about docks, please check out these articles:
- How To Create A Dock In Windows Vista
- Docks – The 6 Best Friends of your Windows Taskbar
How do you organize and access your shortcuts to files, folders, and applications? Do you love your chaotic desktop or have you found other ways to handle them? Please share your strategy with us!