This site is the official Internet distribution point for MaDdoG Software, and should contain everything I've released. If you have any questions about what you do or don't see here, please email me at matt@maddogsw.com. 

Recent news and program releases:

[8/19/03]: Flurry bugfix for crashes in the preview in the Screen Saver tab of Display Properties on some ATI Radeon video cards. This is build 11, bringing it to version 1.1.1 (download).

[8/10/03]: A Flurry update, version 1.1 (build 10), brings more visual options, support for multiple monitors, and better handling of machines without enough OpenGL clout to run it (it even kind of limps along on my laptop now, instead of just turning the screen black). Download the new 1.1 version here, and please send feedback.

[5/20/03]: What's this? Something new? How about a Windows version of Flurry, Calum Robinson's screen screen saver for Mac OS X that's so pretty Apple started bundling it with the OS. It won't turn your PC into a Mac, but it eases the pain a little... now if only Apple would bring us the iTunes Music Store! Download Flurry for Windows and try it out, or for the curious, get this version including complete source code.

[8/23/01]: Fixed a drag&drop crash in PlacesBar Editor; download here if you already have MSCOMCTL.OCX or here if you don't.

[5/30/01]: PlacesBar Editor evidently didn't work on systems missing a certain registry key; it's been updated to create that key and should now work on all 2000/ME/XP versions of Windows. Download here if you already have MSCOMCTL.OCX or here if you don't (or aren't sure -- but it's 500K more to download).

[5/29/01]: A brand-new program! PlacesBar Editor lets you customize the PlacesBar which appears as a list of folders on the left side of the Open and Save dialog boxes in Windows 2000 and Windows ME. (Sorry, doesn't work with other versions of Windows.)

[5/29/01]: If you're having problems with PaneKiller not expanding shortcuts, I've added some information about the cause of this problem and how to fix it to the FAQ.

[4/5/01]: Another set of minor PaneKiller updates; version 1.45 brings another fix for DesktopX compatibility and some other minor tweaks. Of course you can download it here (still just 349K).

[03/06/01]: New web host. I apologize for any downtime you may have noticed over the weekend; maddogsw.com is now hosted (very competently) by the ETM Network. Things shouldn't look too different for the time being, but please let me know if you notice anything broken on the site (broken links, pages look wrong, etc.).

[02/25/01]: I got a second monitor for my system, and I'm quite pleased with it -- having two monitors really is an improvement! Sadly, it breaks a lot of software that was written under the assumption that there's only one monitor. Even more sadly, that software included PaneKiller. But there's good news! Here's PaneKiller 1.44, with support for multiple-monitor systems, and several other bug fixes. Download or read more! (I also updated the collection of PaneKiller screen shots, finally.)

[01/23/01]: And finally, a new release version of PaneKiller! More new features crept into this than I intended for a .01 release; see the list of new goodies here or just go download it here.

[08/31/00]: New beta of PaneKiller! This will be 1.43. The changes include:

• better support for Windows 2000 (Find menu, better Windows key support, fancy uninstall)
• tooltips with file information
• the ability to put PaneKiller on the right-click context menu for all folders in the system
• customizable text for the main menu caption and Start button
• resizable tearoffs
• improved keyboard interface even more.

Download PaneKiller v1.43b1 here.

[05/28/00]: Sorry it's been so quiet lately. I've had a bunch of other things to do, but I've been working on MaDdoG stuff here and there too, and am starting to bring stuff to completion. There's a bunch of good stuff coming up!

For today: a new revision of CmdUtils. This includes some bug fixes (in particular, wild cards now work with PropsFor and Context under Windows NT or 2000), but the big news is that I've now released the source code under the terms of the GPL. That means you're free to figure out how I did everything (and unless I completely missed some easier ways of doing things, there are some interesting WIndows problems solved in there) and include it in your own programs, if you are a programmer. Hopefully this'll be helpful to someone. Download the whole package (124K) including source code.

[05/28/00]: Also new today: the Programmer's Corner. Here you'll find some information on problems I ran into while writing the software here, and how I solved said problems. Of course, right now, the main content here is the CmdUtils source.

[03/15/00]: SetSound was mentioned in LockerGnome last weekend, and it almost instantly got another 6000 downloads! Thanks to Chris, and all the people who downloaded it. As many of you have mentioned, it's still rough around the edges (that's why the version number was 0.11!) -- problems mostly fall into two groups:

• Problems installing (it prompts you for a disk you don't have, etc.)
• Problems running it (can't figure out how to, or it complains you're doing it wrong)

I've updated the ReadMe.txt included with SetSound, as well as adding a FAQ and other information, addressing exactly these questions. If you download SetSound v0.20, this information is included; you can also read it here.

If you're wondering what's going on with PaneKiller, it's still alive; I just haven't had any time to work on it... there will be a version 1.43. There will! Someday.

[12/01/99]: CmdUtils get a facelift... now at version 1.4, they include a new experimental Bin tool (empty, or view the size of, the Recycle Bin). Meanwhile, PropsFor and Context work on root directories (or drives) now, so you can say "propsfor c:\", and Context adds support the Cut, Copy and Paste commands on the context menu.  Download here.

[10/17/99]: PaneKiller v1.42 brings more bugfixes.  Read the description of what got fixed, or download now.

[10/08/99]: PaneKiller v1.41 brings some cosmetic bugfixes, mostly for Windows 2000 users.  Download here.

[08/26/99]: PaneKiller v1.40 is here!  Everyone go download it.  Enough said.

[08/21/99]: PaneKiller v1.40 beta 2 is out!  It enhances the Rename feature, hot corner-access, and tearoffs that survive when you log off -- all of which were new in 1.40 beta 1 -- as well as adding a new "All Programs" menu that condenses the contents of the normal Programs menu, and fixing the CD autorun/hidden desktop bug.  And of course there's more that you have to go find yourself...

[07/20/99]: It's been a while since there have been any PaneKiller updates, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on it.  In fact I've added so much stuff that instead of releasing just some of it as 1.33, I've decided to just make the next version 1.40.  It includes everything from the 1.33 betas, and a lot more: tons of new keyboard features, a bunch of new ways to access PaneKiller (Windows key, mouse-button combos on any window, or moving the mouse to edges/corners of screen), and a lot more.  See the complete list here, or go download the beta.

[06/18/99]: I've just updated Boot ChoOSer, with a cleaner interface, optional hotkey, and the ability to boot between multiple versions of Win9x as well as Windows NT and 2000.

[06/09/99]: The new look for this site, and the new MaDdoG logo, are thanks to Peter Joison, who was mean enough to hate my design and nice enough to promptly give me a better one!  Visit his site or drop him a line and say thanks.

[05/06/99]: Just noticed that PaneKiller got rated 5 stars from the ZDNet Software Library (www.hotfiles.com).  Check it out...

Program info and downloads:

You can download my programs from the individual information page for each program (see the quick links on the left), or from the following master lists:

• Current programs, designed for 32-bit Windows (95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000, and XP)
• Older programs, designed for Windows 3.1, should still work on Windows 9x or NT

Who is MaDdoG?

MaDdoG Software is written, directed and produced by Matt Ginzton. I kicked this off during high school, continued it through my college career at Stanford University, and manage to occasionally have time to hack on things despite my current day job at VMware.

My aim is to create unique software that's high in functionality, low in bugs, and easy to download -- you won't find any huge file sizes here.  Attention to detail and responsiveness to feedback leads to a quality and polish that can be rare when dealing with computers... I really want to write software that people like to use. If you think something you see here needs improvement, tell me!

Most of the stuff on this site is free and if I had unlimited time, it all would be!   But try PaneKiller and I hope you'll agree that it's far more than just functional; I put countless hours into it responding to user feedback and trying to get the little things right.  $10 a copy isn't much, and I'm definitely not getting rich off of it; my programs are still mostly a labor of love, but if you like what you see here, please consider supporting my efforts to continue developing great stuff.