ms-windows
It’s about that time for me again: my desktop is a couple years part its prime and my laptop just died (no display, no hard drive activity, no wifi, and a recent history of turning off suddenly for no good reason – those are all bad signs, right?), which means the near future holds a new PC for me. Which means a blank slate on which to impose my computer-using will. Setting up a new computer goes through five stages:
The First 10 Free Apps to Install on a New Windows PC
Top 10 Tiny & Awesome Windows Utilities
It's the little things that make a Windows system great—like utilities that use less than 10MB of memory to make your life easier. Here are 10 apps that pack a lot of greatness into very little space. Note: Most of these apps do, indeed, use less than 10MB of hard drive space when installed, or use that much when they're running in the background. Some will scale in use as you demand more or less from them—DisplayFusion or UltraMon, for example, when handling very high-resolution backgrounds or a wall of monitors—but all should have an almost negligible performance impact on a modern system. 10.
The adoption of tags on the internet has almost become a prerequisite on any blog, website or social networking site. The ability to simply add a keyword to anything allows for much better organization and easier searching when something needs to be referenced in the future. Most often they are used on blogs but they are also used in various ways on social networking sites such as Delicious , news sites like Newsvine or even online stores like Amazon . Any site that generates regular or changing content will usually have some sort of tag system in place. So why just the web? Why can’t we have it on our PCs as well?
How to create tags for your windows files with TaggedFrog
If your Windows PC keeps getting slower and slower, it may be time to rebuild your computer and reinstall Windows from scratch. That it, you wipe everything clean, do a fresh installation of Windows and reinstall all software programs. Check these tips and checklist for rebuilding a computer.
How to rebuild your computer and reinstall Windows without heada
VirtualBox
Running other operating systems on a Mac is nothing new, and with the advent of Intel-based Macs we've seen a flood of virtual machine software: Parallels Desktop for Mac , VMWare Fusion , and Codeweavers CrossOver Mac . These products enable you to run Mac OS X and another operating system simultaneously. For many of my consulting clients who are switching from PCs and who already have a licensed copy of Microsoft Windows, I've been using Sun's Open Source xVM VirtualBox product. Why?
How to speed up your PC's startup
You just hit the power button your PC, and now you've got enough time to brew a fresh pot of coffee for the entire office—because that's how long it takes for your computer to go from "on" to "ready to work." If your PC's bogged down by a bunch of programs that automatically start up when it does, it can take forever to get started every morning. Without a major hardware upgrade, there's not much you can do to cut the time it takes for Windows to actually boot—but you can trim and tweak the amount of time it takes for your desktop to get to a working state. Let's take a look at a few ways you can cut your Windows' desktop's loading times using built-in utilities and third-party tools.When you install a new piece of software on your computer these days, more often than not it will set a little bit of itself to start up automatically when your PC does, either to check for updates, make it seem faster, or just remind you that it's there at all with a little icon in your system tray.Many people don't realize that rather than installing dozens of applications, you can control nearly any aspect of your computer with simple shortcuts that don't take up any resources. You can even take this approach a step further and assign shortcut keys using the built-in Windows hotkey functionality, or access them from the keyboard using your favorite application launcher . Let's take a look at a number of simple shortcuts to control some frequently used tasks. Mute the System Volume If you use your computer to listen to music, you've no doubt had to fumble for the volume controls or hit the off switch so the person calling won't know that you are listening to Cornflake Girl loud enough to wake the dead. What I've always done is create a shortcut key that will instantly mute the speakers so I can answer the phone.
How to control your computer with shortcuts to common windows ta
How to get Vista's best features in XP
Despite the fact that most of you prefer XP to Vista and would rather Microsoft extended XP's shelf-life , several new and improved features available in Vista would be great to have in XP. This new functionality may not be enough to get you to switch to Vista, but that doesn't mean you're out of luck. Let's take a look at a few ways you can incorporate Windows Vista 's best features into your current XP PC for free. We're going to focus on Vista's small and large features that are missing from XP, separated into three categories: applications, functional, and aesthetic (e.g., transparency is aesthetic, the new start menu search is functional). This list is not exhaustive, but it does cover the features readers feel make Vista worth it . Bring Vista's Best New and Improved Apps to XP
How to add quick access to your filesystem with Direct Folders
Windows only: Freeware application Direct Folders jumps quickly to any folder on your filesystem (and then some) for quick navigation through regular Explorer windows or save dialogs. After installing Direct Folders, double-click any free space on an Explorer window to bring up the Direct Folder menu. From there you can choose one of your favorite folders (or even apps), add new favorites, or access recent folders. With a lot more time-saving functionality worth using (like automatic folder resizing), Direct Folders seems almost magical. For a full run-down of everything it can do, check out the demo screencast .The other evening I turned off my Windows XP system and busied myself with other matters, only to find the machine churning away several minutes later as it worked through its shutdown process. I could've understood the delay if it were installing updates, or even if some program or service had hung the system. But this was a typical PC shutdown, and it was taking forever. "There's gotta be a better way," I thought, and after doing a little research, I found a bunch of Registry tweaks that reset Windows to close shop like it's late for the bus ride home. Keep in mind, any changes to the Registry can be troublesome, so you may want to make these alterations one or two at a time just to make sure they don't futz up the works (it'll also be easier to diagnose any problems that may arise). And for sure back up the Registry by creating a restore point before you begin.
How to shut down Windows in an instant
Par Mark Russinovich Paru le 14 septembre 2007 Introduction Vous êtes-vous déjà demandé quel programme a un fichier ou un répertoire particulier ouvert ? Vous pouvez désormais le savoir. Process Explorer affiche des informations sur les descripteurs et les processus DLL ouverts ou chargés.
How to supercharge the Windows Task manager with Process Explore
Windows only: You've popped open the Windows Task manager and found a runaway process hogging memory and CPU cycles but you have no idea what it's for or whether or not you can safely end it. The Quick Access Info bar quickly looks up information about a process running on your computer in an online database, which lets you know what the task does, whether or not it's spyware, and if you can safely end it. As many as 20 to 30 processes may be running invisibly, silently in the background on your PC.
How to decypher the Windows Task Manager with Quick Access InfoB
by Gina Trapani After I wiped my hard drive clean and reinstalled Windows XP last week, I booted up into an pristine, default operating system - that felt a lot like a hotel room just before I rolled my luggage in, tossed my jacket on the couch, unmade the bed and set my toothbrush next to the sink. I had no idea how many changes I'd made to Windows to fit my preferences over the years until they were all undone. Today I've got a list of the most important Windows customizations that make my PC feel like a place I can get work done in more smoothly and easily. Hop in for a quick ride around Windows dialogs, tabs, menus and toolbars to get your XP fitting like a glove.