This is an extensive, but by all means not complete, feature list:
NextSTART Menus:
Menu Positioning: Menus can be rotated (i.e. turned into horizontal menus) and even rolled up to take up as little screen space when not in use.
Large Menus: Menus too large to fit on the screen can be made to scroll using scroll arrows at the bottom or display each 'page' of information in an individual menu.
File System Menus: File system menus are menus that display the contents of folders. These menus automatically update if a file is added, deleted or renamed for that particular folder, and you can use them as drag & drop targets, just like you would if they were Explorer windows.
Easy Menu creation: New menus can be created using nothing but drag & drop or through the built-in Menu Editor. Individual menus can then be invoked through the use of hotspots. Hotspots, in turn, can be associated to specific windows, desktop areas, or screen edges and corners (bump activation).
Configurable Mouse Actions: Different mouse clicks on menu titlebars and endcaps perform different actions. By default, right clicking on a menu titlebar or endcap closes the menu, middle clicking rolls up the menu and double-clicking opens NextSTART Preferences. Menu Titlebar and Endcap mouse click actions are user-configurable, though, and you can assign different actions such as: Show Preferences, Roll Up Menu, Rotate Menu, Close Menu, Close Sub-Menus and Toggle between Always-On-Top and Normal Z-Order.
Configurable Recent Documents Menu: The Windows Recent Documents menu shows the 15 most recently used documents. With NextSTART you can extend the number of recent documents displayed to as many as you find useful.
Special Folder Menus: NextSTART is able to display special shell menus, such as the Favorites Menu, Control Panel, My Computer, etc...
Sub-theme support: NextSTART child menus can now have a different look from parent menus. Couple this with the ability to 'hardcode' specific themes to specific menus and/or hotspots and you have one of the most flexible and powerful skinning engines around.
NextSTART Startbar:
Systray Button: Besides the normal systray 'hide inactive icons' button, NextSTART systray clock button can also completely - and automatically, if desired - hide the whole systray from view.
Startbar Section Reordering: This is huge for left-handed people, or for people who like to customize absolutely everything: all sections in the NextSTART startbar (Start Button, Quick Launch area, Tasklist, captured WorkShelf modules and the systray) can be re-ordered. This means you can put the Start button at the right of the taskbar, if you want.
Floating Startbar: The NextSTART startbar does not have to be necessarily attached to a screen edge: in fact, it can be undocked and left floating anywhere on your desktop.
Independent Systray and Tasklist sections: For those who don't like Startbars or prefer a minimalist desktop, the NextSTART startbar can be deactivated - or even left running to serve as a container for other objects - and the tasklist and systray placed anywhere on the desktop.
Configurable Icon Sizes: The size of the icons used in the Tasklist and Quick Launch section are completely user-configurable.
Task Management:
Task Snapshots: the NextSTART tasklist and WorkShelf's Tasks shelf display snapshots of the actual windows, which are automatically refreshed to keep the contents always up-to-date. Window snapshots make it much easier to identify a specific document in a task list filled with identical icons.
Powerful Tasklist Context Menus: Right clicking a task button in the NextSTART tasklist or WorkShelf's tasks shelf displays a context menu from where you can perform all the usual functions PLUS Restore and Close all similar windows (i.e.; all Internet Explorer windows), set an application's opacity level and customize the task icon displayed for that window.
Task Reordering: CTRL + Left clicking a task button in the NextSTART tasklist and dragging allows you to place the button exactly where you want it to be. Now you can group your favorite applications in the tasklist just where you want them, without having to worry about the order in which applications are opened or closed.
Task Customization: Task icons can be quickly customized by dragging and dropping a PNG, TIF or ICO file into them.
Task Filtering: Specific tasks can be filtered out of the tasklist or only made to show up when minimized.
Task Grouping: Tasks in the NextSTART tasklist can be merged into groups or automatically sorted by application.
Configurable Mouse Actions: Different mouse clicks on task buttons perform different actions, which are user configurable. You can associated the following actions to Left, Right and Middle clicks on task buttons: Minimize, Bring To Front, Bring to Front, Front/Minimize, Tasks Menu, Minimize Similar, Close Similar and Restore Similar.
NeXuS:
Multi-Dock system: Create multiple docks for a variety of customized needs.
Multi-Level Docks: Organize applications within collapsible groups, or 'sub-docks'. You can nest as many sub-dock levels as you like.
Magnification: With magnification docks take a minimum of screen space until interaction is required. You can also set the magnification span (number of icons affected by magnification), from 3 to 7 icons.
Auto-Hide: Docks attached to screen edges can auto-hide and pop up on demand.
Auto-Collapse: Floating docks (i.e. docks not attached to a screen edge) can collapse into a single control tile and un-collapse on demand.
Multi-Monitor Support: Docks can be docked to any screen edge or left floating on any monitor.
Document Thumbnails: Documents dragged to a dock show up as thumbnails for easy identification.
In-Dock Modules: NeXuS supports all WorkShelf modules, from the clock to the net meter!
Reserve Screen Space: Makes sure docks attached to screen edges are not covered by maximized windows.
Respect Reserved Screen Space: Makes sure docked docks do not overlap other docked items such as the taskbar.
Virtual File System Objects support: Allows you to drag special Explorer objects, like Control Panel items and the My Computer icon, into docks.
Powerful Dock Manipulation options: Create docks from existing WorkShelf shelves, detach sub-docks, turn docks into sub-docks, duplicate docks, delete docks - all this using simple drag-n-drop and/or context menu options.
Keyboard Navigation: Docks can be brought to the foreground and dock items launched through the use of user-specified hotkeys.
PNG and TIF File Support: Supports the use of .PNG and .TIF as well as .ICO files for object images.
Special FX: Lots of special effects such as icons zooming on selection and shifting to make room for items about to be dropped, icon bouncing on application launch, visual feedback for specific actions, incredible water ripple effect that makes docks behave like a liquid surface whenever you click on them plus sound events for when the dock collapses and pops up or sub-docks open.
Complete Customization: Virtually every aspect of every dock is customizable: from icon size, to magnification size, to dock behavior.
WorkShelf:
Sticky Shelf: Automatically switches to the specified shelf after launching an application or after a short period of idle time. Ideal if you want to keep a particular shelf - such as the tasks shelf - always visible.
Auto-Collapse: Collapses automatically to a small strip of tabs, or even to a thin edge, when not in use.
Auto-Collapse Override: Manually un-collapse a shelf by clicking on the un-collapse symbol and the shelf remains open regardless of the current auto-collapse settings.
Mouseover Activation: Automatically un-collapses and activates the shelf, after a suitable delay, if mousing over the tab area.
Auto Shelf-Switch On Mouseover: Automatically activates and switches to a particular shelf, after a suitable delay, when mousing over a tab.
Multi-Row Shelves: Shelves can display as many rows of icons at once as you want. Double click a tab to fully expand the shelf so it displays all the items contained in it.
Single or Double Click Launch: You can select if items in shelves and docks are launched by single or double clicking on them.
Click & Hold: Clicking and holding on a folder object in the shelf or in a dock automatically displays the contents of that folder in a NextSTART menu.
Multi-line Icon Labels: Objects in WorkShelf can have multi-line labels. Choices range from no label to 3 lines of text.
Icon Label Positioning: Labels in shelves can be positioned above the icon, below the icon or alternate from icon to icon (which provides more horizontal space for each label).
Customizable Icon Spacing: The vertical and horizontal spacing between icons in WorkShelf can be configured individually.
Modules:
'Place Anywhere': Modules can be placed almost anywhere: as full blown desktop modules on your desktop, as smaller in-shelf or in-dock modules, or even inside the NextSTART startbar.
Individual Themes: Each module has its own theme, which can be different from the theme applied to the other modules. To allow this, a handy 'lock theme' feature is provided for each of the desktop modules.
Easy Module Selection: Desktop Modules can be quickly and easily turned on or off via a 'Desktop Modules' context sub-menu present in the context menu of every module and the shelf's left mini-tab.
Bring to Front: Due to their nature, desktop modules can be easily covered up by other windows. That is why a handy 'Bring to Front' feature has been implemented in which all desktop modules are simultaneously brought to the foreground.
'Wallpaper' Modules: Desktop Modules can be 'glued' to the desktop, so that they never cover other windows, or put inside docks, shelves or even the NextSTART taskbar for easy access.
Optional 'Auto Arrange' Desktop Modules function: whenever you load a new theme, desktop modules now neatly re-arrange themselves at the right edge of the screen, thus preventing differently sized modules from overlapping each other or even go partially off-screen because of their previous size and position.
Desktop Module Animation Support: The desktop Email Checker, Recycler and Wanda modules support custom animations. This means that the email module can now display a rotating envelope whenever you have new mail, that the Recycler can light up like a furnace when you move items over it, and that Wanda can have a new - fish - face.
Email Checker Module:
Multi-Account: The Email module can monitor has many different email accounts as you require.
IMAP Support: Besides the common POP3 accounts, the Email Module allows you to monitor IMAP accounts for new messages as well.
SSL Support: Supports the SSL encryption protocol required for connecting with Gmail servers, among others.
Configurable Ports: You can specify which ports to use to access your email server.
Automatic Launch of Email client: A user-specified email client can be automatically launched upon arrival of new mail.
Talking Announcements: The Email module is capable of telling you when you have new mail and how many new messages you have.
Balloon tooltip Systray notifier: For those who dislike sound notifications, if you enable the email checker systray icon, a balloon tooltip will popup notifying you whenever you have new mail. As with all systray balloon tooltips, it comes to the foreground but does not steal the focus from the currently active window. After a short while, the balloon tooltip fades away all by itself.
Clock Module:
Time synchronizing: The clock module can synchronize your system time with that of the Atomic Time servers on the Internet.
Time Announcement: The clock can announce the current time, either automatically every hour or on-demand, in a female or male voice.
CPU Meter Module:
Active Programs List: The CPU Meter module, besides reporting the current total CPU usage, and provided the theme takes advantage of this, can also display a list of the applications using the most of the CPU, and their percentages, at a given time.
Most Active Programs History: Displays a list of the most active programs in the last minute, each entry one second apart from the other. Useful if some program temporarily peaked the CPU usage but you didn't have a chance to see which it was at the time.
RAM Meter Module:
RAM Usage Statistics: The RAM Meter provides details of your current RAM Usage, from Virtual to Physical Memory.
Net Meter Module:
Bandwidth Usage: The Net meter displays in a graphical and textual manner how many bytes are going out and coming in through your Internet or LAN connection.
Network Statistics: Provides a mind boggling array of statistics concerning TCP/IP, IP, UDP, ICMP In and ICMP out.
Active Connections Dialog: Displays a list of all the currently active TCP and UDP connections, their current status and which applications are using them. It also automatically resolves IP addresses into Hostnames for each of these connections, so you know exactly which servers your system is connecting to.
Recycler Module Module:
Skinnable Recycle Bin: The Recycler Module does everything your Windows Recycle bin does, but it is also skinnable and can be used to delete Winstep specific objects like Internal Commands and docks.
Weather Monitor Module:
Monitors Weather Conditions: The weather monitor allows you to display very detailed information about the current weather conditions in over 5,000 cities worldwide.
Simple Country/City location selection: No need to deal with ZIP or METAR codes - you can select the current location to monitor by selecting the country and then the city.
Imperial or Metric Units: You can choose whether to display information using metric or imperial units.
Wanda Module:
Fortune Cookie Reader: Very famous and cherished in the Linux world, Wanda displays random 'quotes' on a specified interval period.
Copy & Paste Quotes: If you find a Wanda quote particularly deep or amusing, you can select the text in the balloon tooltip, copy it and save it for later.
User Defined Quote Files: Wanda gets its quotes from two sources: local quote files and the internet. You can change or add as many quote files as you want.
Internet Quote Source: Wanda is capable of retrieving quotes from an Internet database with over 50,000 quotes.
Internet Quote Storage: Wanda is able to save the quotes retrieved from the Internet into a local quote file.
General:
Middle-Click Emulation: For those unfortunate enough not to have a mouse with a middle mouse button, you can emulate middle mouse clicks by pressing CTRL and SHIFT while you left click.
Internal Commands: Winstep Xtreme supports over 80 different internal commands, which can be placed on the shelf, docks and menus or associated to NextSTART hotspots. Internal Commands perform special actions such as Exiting Windows, Log Out, Hibernate, Eject CD-ROM, etc...
Virtual Shell Item support: Virtual items are items that do not really exist as files in your hard disk, but as 'virtual items'. Examples of this are the contents of the Control Panel and My Computer folders. All Winstep applications are perfectly capable of handling these items, inclusive in drag & drop operations from Explorer to Winstep and vice-versa.
Image and Video Thumbnails: Thumbnails are used extensively in the shelf and docks to help you quickly identify specific documents or images. NextSTART's context menus also allow you to visualize image and video files in menus. This is extremely useful to help you identify specific files when using NextSTART to browse through your hard drives.Reserve Screen Space: The NextSTART startbar, docks attached to screen edges and docked shelves can all reserve screen space so maximized applications do not cover them.
Respect Reserved Screen Space: The Shelf and docks can be made to respect screen space reserved by other applications, so that a docked shelf or dock does not overlap the Windows taskbar, for example.
Full Multi-Monitor Support: The Shelf and docks can be docked to any screen edge or left floating on any monitor. Same for the NextSTART startbar, which, like the Shelf, can be made to span multiple monitors.
Hotkeys: You can open, activate shelves, docks and menus and run programs using nothing but the keyboard! Each shelf, dock or menu can have a hot key associated to it, which, when pressed, opens that particular object, bringing itf to the foreground and un-collapsing it in the process if necessary. Items in docks and regular shelves can also have key combinations associated to them, which, when pressed, execute the program without the need to bring WorkShelf or NeXuS to the foreground first. All hotkeys are system wide, that is, Winstep Xtreme applications do not need to have the focus for the hotkeys to work.
Per pixel alpha: Allows incredible eye candy effects and themes that will blow your mind! Everything can be semi-transparent - or have only parts of them semi-transparent - and blend smoothly with the background. You don't have to wait for Windows Vista: the next generation in User Interfaces is already here.
PNG and TIF Icon support: Use can use PNG, TIF and ICO files to specify object images.
Special FX: lots of special effects, such as icons zooming in or magnifying on selection, shifting to make room for items about to be dropped, icons bouncing on item launch, incredible water ripple effect that makes the shelf and docks behave like a liquid surface whenever you click on them, lots of sound events for when you empty the recycler, select a new tab, open a menu, collapse the dock, etc..., and lots of different types of menu open animations.
Individual Hotspot Button bitmaps: Hotspots are areas used to activate menus or run programs when clicked on. Hotspots can also be visible buttons and use their own independent bitmaps.
Sounds:
Silent Period: A 'silent period' can be specified in which no sound events (like saying the time, or the arrival of new mail) occur, unless the operation is initiated by the user. This prevents the speaking clock from waking up the household at 3'clock in the morning.
Sound Themes: The user can associate their favorite sounds to specific events, or select from a list of already available sound themes.
Sound Theme Lock: Sound themes can be locked, so that changing themes does not affect your carefully selected library of sounds for specific events.
Context menus:
Send To, Open With, context menu options: The context menus for file system and virtual objects in NextSTART, WorkShelf and NeXuS not only provide all the options you would expect to find on Explorer's context menus as they manage to add quite a few more useful functions. All context menus for Winstep applications are skinned by NextSTART.
Make Shelf From Folder: This context menu option allows you to quickly create a new WorkShelf shelf by right clicking on a folder object in any Winstep application.
Show Container: Opens an Explorer window displaying the folder containing that file system object.
Browse Container with NextSTART: Displays the contents of the folder for that file system object in a NextSTART menu.
Internet:
Proxy Support: Winstep Xtreme provides transparent proxy support for all functions that depend on the Internet to work, like auto update, online cookie retrieval, and weather and email checking. There is no need to configure anything since proxy settings are automatically retrieved from Internet Explorer, but, if necessary, you can also manually specify Proxy settings.
Auto-Update: Winstep Xtreme can automatically check for updates over the web, download and install them.
Time Synchronization: The clock module can synchronize the time in your PC with atomic time servers on the web.
Fortune Cookie Retrieval: Wanda can automatically retrieve new 'fortune cookies' from an online database of over 50,000 different fortune cookies, keeping your supply of cookies always fresh and never stale.
Weather Information Retrieval: The Weather module can retrieve weather information for over 5,000 cities worldwide through the Internet.
Email Arrival: The Email Checker module can warn you about incoming email messages that need to be downloaded. The Email module works with POP3 and IMAP servers, and is also compatible with the SSL protocol (a requirement to access Gmail accounts, among others).
Drag & Drop
Document Launch by drag & drop: Documents can be opened in a particular application by dropping them on the target's application icon in the shelf or dock.
Re-Arrange Menus, Shelves and Docks via Drag & Drop: The contents of menus, shelves and docks can be quickly re-arranged, copied or moved via simple drag & drop.
Easy drag & drop image customization: Just drag & drop an ICO, PNG or TIF file over a taskbar, shelf or dock object to change the object's image.
Spring Folders: Drag an item over a menu folder item and that folder will automatically open as a sub-menu. Dropping the item on that menu will then copy or move the object into the associated file system folder.
Spring Tabs: Drag an item over a shelf's tab and WorkShelf will automatically switch to that shelf so you can use it as a drop target.
Auto Scroll on Drag Over: Shelves can hold more items than those currently visible, in which case scroll arrows appear at the right of the shelf. Dragging an item over the scroll arrows will automatically scroll the shelf up and down so you can drop the item exactly where you want to.
