Best Windows Clipboard Manager Utility CLCL

Whether you are a writer, student, developer, systems adminsitrator, or just someone who works a lot with manipulating text, then you know that the built-in Windows clipboard utility is very limited.

So limited, in fact, that most power users resort to manually managing their own clipboard by opening a second program like Microsoft Office Word, or Notepad, or a Notepad replacement utility like Notepad++ and pasting each item copied to the clipboard for possible later use. Not only is this inefficient, but it wastes computer resources, and requires vigilant use. Focusing that much on making sure your data gets onto your makeshift clipboard saver, is bound to lead to errors, either in a missed clipboard save (always a critical one), or even worse, an error in whatever you are actually working on.

The solution to increasing your productivity and reducing errors is to use an enhanced clipboard utility. Often referred to as clipboard managers, a Windows clipboard replacement utlility works by expanding on the features of the built-in Windows clipboard. It won't keep you from hating Windows Vista, but it can make things a little better.

Unfortunately, many of these programs also build in dozens of other features that are seldom used by most users. This adds to the size of these clipboard programs and the amount of resources they take to run. Using up a bunch of memory just to hold a dozen or so recent clipboard entries is pretty wasteful, especially if you are not using the additional functionality.

After going through several of the latest clipboard manager utilities, I found that the best enhanced clipboard utility for most writers and other users, is one of the older ones called CLCL.

CLCL doesn't do anything fancy. What it does do, is save your last 30 clipboard entries. That means that every time you hit CTRL-C or right-click Copy or even drag your mouse up to Edit -> Copy, whatever you copied, gets stored by CLCL, just in case you need it again later.

What makes CLCL the top clipboard utility is that it is very small and does not use up large amounts of system resources. CLCL installs completely in a single directory. The only file it creates is an .ini file in its own directory. There are no registry changes, or stray DLLs scattered around your disk drive.

CLCL takes up less than 2 MB of RAM while running and sits unobtrusively and SILENTLY in your task bar. There are no distracting pop-ups or sounds or blinking icons. It just works, so you don't need to watch it do what it does.

The best thing is that CLCL does not interfer with the usual clipboard utility or its shortcuts. If you go through a hundred copies and pastes without ever accidentally overwriting something you copied earlier, you'll never even notice CLCL is there. But, if that critical time comes when an important paragraph of text has been copied from a source that cannot be accessed again, and you accidentally hit CTRL-C to copy a URL to a funny video on YouTube, you can breathe a sigh of relief that waiting for your double-click in your system tray, or for your ALT-C shortcut key press, is CLCL with that important clipboard entry that you wiped out saved for your subsequent use.

CLCL manages the clipboard entries according to your easy to set preferences. You can either keep the clipboard history saved, or have it cleared when you exit the program (or shut down the computer). CLCL handles text, images, and more without a hitch.

If you are looking for quick, easy to use, clipboard history utility that won't hog your resources or get in your way while you are working, CLCL, is the top clipboard manager for you.

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