Today, we bring you a quick tip with which you may or may not be familiar. On it’s own, this tip isn’t useful but this is a supporting guide for tutorials where you’re told to change a file extension without any explanation of how to show the extension (disabled by default in Vista and 7) in the first place.

This guide will show you how to show file extensions in Windows XP and Windows Vista/7.

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Do you frequently have the same folders open when using your PC? i.e. your My Documents, My Music, Homework folders etc? If you do, it may be a little tedious to open these folders when you log off and on or restart your computer.

Here’s a quick tip to restore these folders when you restart or log off and on.

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Localization:

For those of you tuned in from around the world – welcome. I’m a Kiwi (a person from New Zealand) and this article was written primarily to address NZ Windows Media Center users lack of access to the Electronic Program Guide from Sky Broadcasting.

Having said that, there are topics covered herein that could well be of use to others beyond the borders of New Zealand. Our primary tool in this article is “Big Screen EPG” that’s now being used by many people around the world to push the contents of an XMLTV file (the EPG information) into the Windows Media Center database. If this sort of thing is of interest to you, please read on.

Did you miss the previous posts in this series?

• Big Screen EPG Puts the “E” in Electronic Program Guide [Part 1 of 3]
• Big Screen EPG Puts the “E” in Electronic Program Guide [Part 2 of 3]

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You’ll recall from New and Improved EPG that Big Screen has just released a final (not a beta) version of their Big Screen EPG program that grabs program guides from the internet, prepares them, and loads their data into Windows Media Center’s Program Guide to use in conjunction with the WMC Live TV function. We ran through a basic setup of the program in part I, in part II we’ll cover the setup process in more detail, examining the options and perhaps arriving at a transparent process that will provide you with the best EPG for the New Zealand broadcast area.

Did you miss the previous post in this series?

• Big Screen EPG Puts the “E” in Electronic Program Guide [Part 1 of 3]

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Aerofoil reduces your computer’s power consumption when it is running on battery. It does this by automatically switching off some features, like the Aero glass interface, Windows sidebar, muting the sound etc. when your notebook is running on battery.

It can also switch across different Windows power plans, enabling one power plan when plugged in and a different one when running on battery.

Windows Guides’ Rating	Compatible with	System
4 out of 5

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If you’d like to convert your Windows Vista or 7 to make it look like OS X Snow Leopard, you can learn how in this guide. Here’s what we’ll cover in this guide:

1. Create a system restore point.
2. Patch your system files with UXTheme Multi-patcher.
3. Download Snow Leopard for Windows 7.
4. Take Ownership of Your Files.
5. Install Snow Leopard for Windows 7 theme.

Please note: this guide involves modifying system files and you should proceed with caution.

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