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The 50 Best How-To Geek Windows Articles of 2010. Even though we cover plenty of other topics, Windows has always been a primary focus around here, and we’ve got one of the largest collections of Windows-related how-to articles anywhere. Here’s the fifty best Windows articles that we wrote in 2010. Want even more? You should make sure to check out our top 20 How-To Geek Explains topics of 2010, or the 50 Windows Registry hacks that make Windows better. How to Customize Your Windows 7 Taskbar Icons for Any App Would you like to change out the icons on your taskbar with a beautiful set of icons that all go together? Here’s how you can change out the random candy-colored icons for a stylish icon set of your choice. How to Customize Your Windows 7 Taskbar Icons for Any App Change the Windows 7 Taskbar Color Sure, you can hack Windows and install a custom theme if you really wanted to, or pay for a software package to do it for you.

Change the Windows 7 Taskbar Color With No Extra Software (Stupid Geek Tricks) Giving a computer to somebody else? The 33 Essential Free Utilities for Every New PC. The Windows ecosystem is filled with more programs than we will ever need. But while you know to install essential programs like Firefox and Steam onto every new PC, there are plenty of core utilities you should install before downloading any application software. We pick out the 33 most useful utilities that enhance the Windows operating system.

These aren't apps used for productivity (like word processing or web browsing) or entertainment (like video playback or gaming). Instead, they strengthen the backbone of Windows by optimizing hardware and system software. From single-purpose diagnostic tools to user-interface replacements, these programs provide general support to overhaul the gestalt of the Windows experience. Think you have every utility to bend Windows to your wishes? Cobian Backup After recommending SyncBack SE in our last app roundup, our readers turned us onto Cobian, an independently-developed backup utility that is as elegant as it is powerful.

Executor / Launchy CCleaner. Justbeamit.com. 5 FREE Programs to make your computer (slightly) easier to use and look cool(ish) This is a neat little gizmo that sits on any side of the screen. In its original format, I found it slightly obtrusive (it covered up the tool bars). I used these solutions. Make it too small to obstruct the toolbars (I did this) Put it at the left of the screen (the right has the scroll bar) Set it to 'Pop up on Mousover' in the dock settings. This will mean that it won't pop up unless you scroll over it. Some other similar programs are: Objectdock download Mobydock download Y'z dock download Rk launcher download Xwindows dock download Orbit dock download All of these are perfectly good, but again, I prefer Rocketdock. You can download Rocketdock here. ✉ GuerrillaMail.com.

My Favorite Smallware. Downloadable Computer Repair CDs. One of our Technibble forum members, PcTek9, and a handful of other Technibble members have compiled a large list of CDs for various computer repair tasks. In this list, the following types of CD are available for download: Antivirus Boot CDs, Recovery Disks, Hardware Diagnostic Boot CDs, Network Testing/Monitoring, Data Recovery Boot CDs and Special Purpose CDs. Some of these are free to download, some are not.

Be sure to read the EULA for the CD’s you download and the applications you use to make sure you are allowed to use them in the manner you plan to use them in. Many of the CDs contain a variety of different programs and some of the applications are free to use as you please, but some of them disallow commercial use. So be sure to read and abide by the EULA for whatever you use. Also, some of these CD’s may set off an antivirus false positive due to their virus removal, password cracking, system file changing nature.

Creating Multiboot CDs. 150 Best Windows Applications Of Year 2010 [Editor's Pick] AddictiveTips is popular for covering the latest and greatest desktop applications, having one of the largest collection of Windows freeware reviews on the web. Now that 2010 has come to an end, we take a look back at the best 150 applications. We plan to cover more topics in 2011, including Cloud OS, Mobile (Android, WP7, iOS), Mac, and much more, apart from extensive Windows coverage. The AddictiveTips team wishes you a very Happy New Year! Without further ado, here are the best 150 desktop applications (in order from January to December) that we covered in 2010. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. iBin (Recover files from USB Drive) 6. 7.

To download from Grooveshark and SoundCloud, give SciLor’s Grooveshark Downloader and SoundCloud Downloader a shot. 8. 9. ei.cfg Removal Utility (Create Windows 7 Universal DVD by removing Versions) 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Also check out Moo0 File Shredder. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Also check out 7sDocs. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. Another similar tool is WindowsMaster. Roundup: 15 Must-Have Free Software Programs for Your PC. Over the last three years, the writers here at MakeUseOf have profiled thousands of software apps on the website. With all these thousands being presented to you, it’s hard to decide which apps to use and which ones to discard. To make it easier for you, we have managed to compile a list of the top 15 absolute must-have tools for everyday tasks. These are the essential programs that we recommend you install and keep on your arsenal. 1.

Firefox / Chrome (Web Browser) 2. 1. Both Firefox and Google Chrome are excellent browsers. You can see all add-ons for Firefox at 10 Cool Extensions for Google Chrome 10 Cool Extensions for Google Chrome Read More 2. AVG Free Anti-Virus is the most popular free anti-virus software in the world. Most of the MakeUseOf authors use AVG and we highly recommend it to others. For those of you who frequently shop online and do regular online banking, AVG recommends AVG Internet Security. Download AVG Free (Platform: Windows only) 3. 4. Perform Everyday Tasks for Free. 15 Online Tools that You Will Come to Love as a Tech | EmergingTechs.com. I have compiled a list of 15 free online tools that will help you greatly as a tech. I’m sure that there are other good ones that I have left out so please feel free to post the ones that you like as well.

IPTools offers a wide variety of online networking tools. With this site you can look up IP address information, check spam databases, run pings, run traceroutes, lookup WHOIS information and much more. BugMeNot allows you to find and share logins for sites that require you to register. This tool is great to use when you don’t want to have to go through the process of creating an account for a site when you just want to login once for something like a driver. SpeedTest.net allows you to test your Internet connection speed. It’s great to use when you want to see if your ISP is holding up on their end of the bargain. Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking site that allows you to bookmark sites and view them from any computer.

DLL-files.com has a huge library of downloadable dll files. Mobile Computing with iPhone and Android. Stealth. Bootdisk.Com.