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Here's what I'm playing with today: ObjectDock.

Object Dock is a configurable dock in which you can stick all those programs you use more frequently, without having to go to the Start Menu and find them. It sits on your desktop, at the bottom or side, and you can make it hide, float or stay on top. Mine pops up when I mouse to the edge of the screen, which I never do by accident.

For standard always-on apps like Agent and Firefox it's not really needed. But I also have docked Thunderbird (for another email task), Word, iTunes and WMP, Acrobat Reader (another snazzy new made-over look with AR8) and calculator. By defaults you get (more than) My Documents, My Computer, Calendar and My Music. All you do is drag an icon or a shortcut (also works with bookmarks) onto the dock, and shift it around to suit.

I'm finding it pretty useful so far. I'm testing it by turning off TBird and Word when not in use (I usually leave them on all day once opened) to see if this app makes it easier to open them on request. Probably not, really. But it is handy for what it does. And when you drag an icon off the dock to get rid of it, it goes up in a puff of smoke!

That's got to be worth the price. Which is zero for the basic version, upgrade available.

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