Here are a few of my favorite utility programs.

They are very small in size and a quick download but very surprising in their power.

They are stand alone programs and do not install themselves or change the registry. download them here.

1. My most used database. CATHY.EXE 56K

Cathy is a very small 56k (yes K kilobytes) database that will keep track of all your files on CDs DVDs hard drives, external hard drives, thumb drives, etc.

put cathy in the root directory of a drive or create a folder that will describe the drive or devices. ie make a folder called thumb drives.

put cathy in the folder, run cathy from the folder and then use the catalog tab to add drives.

Or a new feature allows drag and drop of the drive or folder onto cathy.

Plug in a thumb drive and catalog it, then do another and so on.

Make a folder called My DVDs and insert your dvd backups or dvds containing any kind of files. Catalog your audio mp3 CDs as well.

after you have cataloged what you want to catalog you can use the search tab to find files very quickly.

The data cathy finds can be exported to text or excel (CSV) and pasted into a text editor or an excel doc.

Help files in the new version posted here are very much better than the previous versions.

2. A very small spreadsheet SPREAD32.EXE 390K

Spread32 will open excel files and csv files and give a surprising amount of spreadsheet functions for its size.

It will save files as xls files for excel to retain formatting.

3. Iriver IFP series firmware.

Iriver UMS firmware 1.95. (make IFP 8xx series player a drive) Download this first (save to desktop or a place where you can find it for sure)

NOTE: a disadvantage to the UMS 1.95 is slower upload speeds and lower recording bitrates (max 96kbps)

notes on firmware (read first)

Instructions to upgrade firmware. (at Iriver site)

other firmware (original firmware) below.

latest Iriver firmware 1.75 for using music manager (not usb drive) not vista compatible