Windows Tools, Help & Guides

This is an excerpt from the Windows Guides PC Security Handbook. To learn more or find out other security-related tips, download the PC Security Handbook now.

Data backup is essential. If you’d like to explore local backup options, download my Windows pocket guides. I strongly recommend using online (off-site) backups. Backing up your data online prevents data loss if your computer is damaged or stolen—or if your data is wiped by malware.

Online Data Backup

By far my favorite solution for online backup is Mozy. Mozy offers free online storage (up to 2GB with paid options too.) I’ve had Mozy installed on my laptop for over two years and it has saved me on more than a handful of occasions.

Setup is simple and after downloading Mozy, you can specify what you want to back up and when. Mozy will automate your backups and let you decide when it backs up (specific times), what causes it to back up (low CPU usage), and how often (one, two, three etc. times a day.)

I just let Mozy run and it alerts me after a successful backup:

You can specify what types of files to backup or specify folders— it’s up to you:

Mozy even integrates into My Computer so you can browse and restore your backed up files (even ones you’ve deleted from your computer):

MozyHome Features

• Open/locked file support: Mozy will back up your documents whether they’re open or closed.
• 128-bit SSL encryption: The same technology used by banks secures your data during the backup process.
• 448-bit Blowfish encryption: Secures your files while in storage, providing peace of mind that your private data is safe from hackers.
• Automatic: Schedule the times to back up and MozyHome does the rest.
• New and changed file detection: MozyHome finds and saves the smallest changes.
• Backs up Outlook files: Disaster-proof email protection.
• Block-level incremental backup: After the initial backup, MozyHome only backs up files that have been added or changed, making subsequent backups lightning fast.

Download Mozy for Free

Download MozyHome Free

In previous guides, I showed you how to encrypt your files in Windows (XP) (Vista/7) In this guide, I’ll show you how to decrypt these files. You may need to decrypt your files in the following circumstances:

• Moving files to a new computer
• Reformatting your current machine and using your encrypted files on the new installation of Windows

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I previously showed you how to block ads when browsing; however, InPrivate browsing in IE8 takes some time to learn which content needs blocking. Windows Forums moderator rsvr85 has written a guide, which shows you how to update InPrivate’s block list with AdBlock’s list, which will cut out ~80% of ads instantly.

AdBlocking in IE8

Windows Forums moderator rsvr85 has written a guide, which shows you how to upload directly to Windows SkyDrive from your desktop. To achieve this, you’ll need a Windows Live account.

Upload to Windows SkyDrive from Desktop

Many people willing to pay for file encryption programs but did you know Windows XP, Vista, and Seven have built in file encryption capabilities? File encryption is more and more important as our data is the coming more mobile by the day. If you were to Lucia laptop, a password may protect your information but if the person who finds your laptop takes out your hard drive and put it into a now the computer all install is a different operating system on your hard drive, they may still have access to your files. In this guide, you will learn how to encrypt your files in Windows Vista. See this guide for XP.

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In this guest post, James Ricketts explores DLL errors and how to resolve them. Learn more about James at the conclusion of this post.

DLL or Dynamic Link Library is a term that is referred to a particular type of file that can be shared by different programs whenever they need to perform certain general tasks. DLL files eliminate the need for having separate files for the same tasks that are required by applications. This not only reduces the space required by the hard drive, but it also makes the applications more efficient.

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There are many ways to organize your files on your computer and provide shortcuts to them. In this guide, I hope to provide some inspiration; hopefully you can come up with some great ways to access the data on your drive.

I’ve written about how to organize your files in the past and in this guide I will focus mainly on how to get to those files easily without installing any extra software.

Creating Shortcuts to Your Data

I don’t store my personal documents in the conventional place Windows provides. This is because I frequently change operating systems and have different systems on one machine so I need a central repository of files. More information about this can be read here including instructions of how to implement this properly.

First Organize Your Files

I highly recommend organizing your files in an intuitive and efficient manner before working on how to get to them. Below is a screenshot of my E partition which is my media drive on my laptop:

As you can see, I organize my files by media type and I’ve also customized the folder icons.

Creative Shortcuts on Your Desktop

Recently, I’ve taken to using over-sized shortcuts on my desktop. I don’t usually have any icons on my desktop but I’ve found the shortcuts to be both aesthetically pleasing and useful.

(Click to enlarge)

To achieve this effect, do the following:

1. Right-click on the folder, you want to create a shortcut to, and click Create shortcut
2. Copy the shortcut to your desktop
3. Click on a blank space on the desktop, hold the CTRL key, and scroll your wheel mouse to change the size of the icon
4. To remove the shortcut overlay icon, follow this guide

You now have a desktop with oversized and stylish shortcuts.

Create Your Own Shortcut Tool Bar

If you have a setup similar to mine, mentioned above, you can easily make a shortcut to all the folders appear on your taskbar with the icons you previously selected. To achieve the effect shown above, do the following:

1. Right click a blank space on the start menu, select Toolbars > New Toolbar…

   

2. Select the parent folder with the links to your folders you want shortcuts to

   

3. The folder will now appear on your start menu

   

The previous steps may be enough to provide you with a useful shortcut system; to change the text label to icons, do the following:

1. Double-click on the folder name on the start menu to expand to the subfolders
2. Now right click the folder name and deselect Show Text and Show Title

   

3. Resize the toolbar as needed to achieve the following effect:

   

Further Customization

Do you have any other ways to customize your shortcut icons? Do you have a good Dock-style solution or method that does not require extra software? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Windows, by default, put a small arrow on shortcuts to indicate they are a shortcut and not a file. This feature is very useful and can help you determine what type of file you are dealing with. If you are customizing your desktop or a folder, you may not want these shortcut overlay icons as they may ruin your design. In this guide, you’ll learn how to remove the icons from the shortcuts with a simple program.

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Windows update is an excellent way to keep your computer up to date and protected from the latest vulnerabilities. Sometimes, Windows update will apply a patch that requires your computer to be restarted. Many times, this restart comes at an inopportune time as you may have a lot to get done that day. Windows Vista does not bug you as much as Windows XP, because you can change the interval at which Windows to remind you to restart your computer. Regardless of your operating system, you may just want to stop the notifications entirely and restart your computer the end of the day. Why do not recommend this, I often find myself delaying the restart process. In this guide, you’ll learn how to stop Windows update notifying you until the next time you restart your PC.

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Windows Vista comes with an innovative and useful Start menu, which is highly customizable. In this guide, you will learn how to customize the power button on the Start menu in Windows Vista. if you frequently lock your computer, and then having the lock button right there on the start menu and will likely be very useful; however, if you usually just shut down your computer using it, you may want to change the default button action.

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