Windows Tools, Help & Guides

In the last guide, I showed you how to extract files from multi-part archives. If you want to create on of these archives yourself, follow this guide. This guide will show you how to create multi-part archives with the following tools:

• 7-Zip
• WinRAR

Why would you want to create a multi-part archive?

• You want to email a large file to a friend but your email limits attachment sizes to 20MB.
• You want to host a file and want people to have a greater chance of wasting less time with failed downloads.
• You have a file that’s over 4GB and you’re moving it to a file system that doesn’t support such a large size (i.e. FAT32.)
• You need to spread the archive across multiple thumb drives, CDs, DVDs etc.

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Every now and then I come across something I want to download and find it’s been separated into multiple archives. This is usually done because the file size is large and, to avoid failed downloads, it’s split up into multiple pieces before it’s uploaded. The archive may also be split because the site on which it’s hosted restricts the maximum file size.

Case in point: the mintywhite 1003 font megapack is split into 20MB pieces so users are less likely to experience a failed download and have to start from the beginning (as many people don’t use download managers.)

This guide will show you how to extract multi-part archives like the mintywhite font megapack.

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As all screens are not created equal, which is why Microsoft have bundled a display color calibration tool with Windows 7. This tool is easy to use and this guide serves as a checklist for using it.

You should use this tool if:

• You’ve not calibrated your screen yet.
• You’ve changed monitors (even if it was calibrated with another computer.)

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If you’d like to play your portable audio player through your Windows 7 PC speakers (without unplugging them from the back of the PC), you can use a standard 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable. This way you can play your songs through your PC. I realize this tip isn’t for everyone but it’s useful for me as getting to the back of my PC isn’t that easy.

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Now, more than ever, we carry more digital information on thumb drives and, in many cases, this information is sensitive and, in the wrong hands, could be used in ways we’d like to avoid. In this guide, I’ll show you how to encrypt your USB drive so that only you can access your data.

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In an effort to help you find the kinds of wallpapers you like, I’ve put together 19 collections of wallpapers that cover 15 different genres. This week’s genre is Windows themed wallpapers. If you know of any other wallpapers that fit in this genre, please let me know. Looking for a different genre? Head here to see desktop wallpaper collections organized by genre.

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