Enso is a desktop application for Windows XP that enables fast and easy access to a wide variety of functionality, making computing both more efficient and more fun.

In its simplest form, Enso is a very handy program launcher/switcher that lets you manage large numbers of programs without breaking a sweat. The user interface is simple: the CAPS LOCK button, bane of typists everywhere, is disabled, and when pressed instead calls up an unobtrusive command interface to the top of the screen. Here, you can type a command like ‘open …’, where the ellipses would be the name of a program in your Start menu that you wanted to run. No more digging through several layers of menus for that application you constantly use!

Another helpful command for those of us (I know I’m guilty) who keep huge numbers of windows open while we work is ‘go …’. The Go command works like a simpler ALT+TAB keypress, letting you pick exactly which of the 15 windows open you want to go to. This command even works in your web browser on the tabs in each window! Not everyone will appreciate the value of this one immediately, but when you are working quickly with a lot of different things, it can be a life-saver. These options are extremely useful, and would be reason enough to use Enso on their own, but there are many more!

There are more options included in the basic package, but you can download more to plug into Enso. Enso Words provides you with a spellchecker, dictionary, and thesaurus via the Enso interface, shattering the old limitations of many programs that don’t have these tools built-in. There are even Beta versions of packages to control your media, search the web, and translate text from one language to another, all at the touch of a few buttons. Enso may sound hard to use or learn, but once you see it in action and start getting used to using it in, you’ll wonder how you ever did without it.