CandyPick #1: Rapid Environment Editor, freeware Windows environment variables editor
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CandyPicks are short articles about great pieces of software that are worth trying out. In many cases, like today’s selection, the CandyPick will be an application that solves a specific problem or use-case scenario. CandyPicks articles are intended for anyone, regardless of technical level, that is interested in discovering awesome software.
The Problem
A week ago, my colleague Adrian wrote a CandyWrap article intended primarily for developers about Rundll32.exe and the system PATH environment variable (see Wikipedia for more info about PATH variables). Basically, your system PATH variables are a set of information that tells Windows (in this case) where important system directories are located and are also used to determine how certain processes (or applications) work.
On the surface this may not sound like the type of issue that your average person, or even some power-users, would ever care about… until they try to install a piece of software and it fails for some reason; which is exactly what happened to me recently.
It wasn’t until Adrian asked me to look at my System PATH variable that we discovered the deep dark secret it was hiding; it was missing a reference to the Windows system directory!
How did this happen? Well, because of my days of IT consulting (oh, what fun), I’ve seen instances where installing *certain* third-party software adds a value to the PATH variable and instead of appending to the existing values, wipes them out and leaves its own. This is just plain sloppy programming and bad form, at best. At worst, it is downright ridiculous since it has the *potential* to cause time-consuming headaches down the road.
The Right Tool for the Job
When you need to edit system PATH variables, you want an easy way to back them up and restore them if necessary. Currently, Windows does NOT include an interface for backup and restoring environment variables, and the user-interface that’s available for editing them is cumbersome to use. Enter Rapid Environment Editor.
Rapid Environment Editor is a freeware program for Windows that makes, viewing, editing, managing and backing up (and even restoring, if necessary) your environment variables a snap. It employs a simple, yet elegant “tree-style” view to display the values, which makes checking (or editing) a breeze.
The program’s installer is tiny (less than a megabyte) and as logically follows, the app itself is light on its digital feet as well. Rapid Environment Editor can also run in “portable” mode so you can drop it on a USB drive and use it anywhere you need.
While most people will never need to worry about their system PATH variables, I still recommend checking yours to make sure they include the necessary values. If your system PATH variable is missing the following entries, do yourself a favor and append them to the beginning of the entry now. It may end up saving you headaches and time down the road (PATH values are separated by semicolons).
Tip: Necessary System PATH variables
%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem
Alton Brown, the culinary connoisseur and TV production mastermind may be an ardent supporter of “multitaskers” in the kitchen, but in the software world, I find that my needs are usually served best by “unitasker” apps like Rapid Environment Editor. It has one job to do, and it accomplishes the task with deft aplomb. If you’re looking for an easy way to view, edit and manage your system PATH variables, do yourself a favor and try Rapid Environment Editor.
This is Dr. Apps—- signing off for this edition of CandyPicks. Thanks for reading!
Software: Rapid Environment Editor
Version: 3.2 build 563, published April 3, 2010
Publisher: Oleg Danilov
Installer size: 0.98MB
License: Freeware
Language: English, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Swedish (Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Latvian, Polish, Slovak and Spanish are available but not currently complete)
Homepage: http://www.rapidee.com
This post is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
(Material Disclosure: None. Neither Dr.Apps nor OpenCandy has received compensation fro m the maker(s) of Rapid Environment Editor for the creation or posting of this content.)
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by Robert E. Paradis / May 18, 2010
I am relatively new to the internet, and now seventy-six years old, (as of June 1,2010.). If this set of programs are pay type, I wll be unable to use them. Also, what brand of windows are they for, as none is specified. Thank you.
by Amit Agarwal / June 8, 2010
Verify all the paths in the PATH directory…
I found your entry interesting thus I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…