SetGlobal

Now available for download! (It's free man)

SetGlobal is a command line application that I wrote a while ago. It is a useful application that allows you to manage environment variables. Ever since I discovered that you can create an environment variable and then launch it from your address bar in windows, I have found this to be a useful way of creating shortcuts to launch applications, websites, and directories. I like the idea of attaching a short friendly name to a long URL or directory. Then from my address bar on my desktop I can type %myvar% to launch a URL or directory. I suppose you can do the same thing with Windows shortcuts, but then you need to find the shortcut and click on it. For things that I use often, I find this faster and less cluttered. (See the tutorial for example on how to do this.)

SetGlobal is a way for me to create a list of variables in a batch file so that I can manage variables across different machines. You could just use control panel/system but I like this better. I like to have a separate file containing all my variables.
SetGlobal does the same thing as the set command in DOS except that it persists the environment variable.

It is your own personal Shrinkster for your desktop.

There are other uses of environment variables and by all means SetGlobal is a useful way of managing any environment variable. (Note, currently only user variables can be created. I thought this would be less dangerous).

Disclaimer: Setting environment variables can overwrite variables that other applications rely on causing those applications to not work properly. It is always a good idea to check to see if a variable is in use before creating a new one. SetGlobal will not let you overwrite standard Windows variables.

%cool%