Windows Tools, Help & Guides

I don’t know if you’ve read it already, but I just did a piece on RAM (Random Access Memory). I thought I’d follow-up with this tutorial on how to upgrade your Laptops RAM. Most of us have one time or another upgraded our Desktop Computer (if not, I’ll tell you all about that in a later article). But have you ever tried to do so on a Laptop ? Or, have you backed off, on account of -  it’s so tiny, and therefore must be tough to do ? Well, actually it’s just as easy – or easier even. Here’s how… Read more…

We recently launched our suggestion box (Read about it here) where we ask you to help us improve our site, and to come up with suggestions as what articles to write. In response to that Bert H. asked us to write: “A clear and concise explanation about RAM. A lot of my co-workers are clueless about what it is, what it does, and why upgrading is simple.”

RAM the story behind…

RAM (or R.A.M) is an acronym for Random Access Memory (pronounced ramm). This is, your computers short time memory, which temporarily stores important data or information while the computer is working. In the early days of Computer Development, all data and information had to be stored on magnetic tapes in reels. In order to retrieve the data, you had to rewind the tape to the beginning and then search through the tape until you found the part needed. With RAM you didn’t have to do that anymore. The CPU (Central Processing Unit, or the number-crunching part of your computer) could access “randomly” parts of the memory, without having to search through the entire thing. RAM is organized and controlled in a way that enables data to be stored and retrieved directly from specific locations. Which of course saved a lot of time and energy. Thus making the computer faster and more efficient.

Read more…

Two weeks ago, we posted a CompanionLink Review, and about a Competition, which was very kindly offered by CompanionLink themselves.

The results from the competition were very interesting, as 29 (22.8%) of you are using Outlook 2010, with 9 (7.1%) planning on upgrading, and 54 (42.5%) on Outlook 2007. You could see that our whole community are quite early adopters, as there was no-one using Outlook 2002, or 97, and just one person (0.8%) still running Outlook 2000.

Going to phones, there were just four (3.1%) of you using Android, 12 (9.4%) using an iPhone,16 (12.6%) using a BlackBerry, and 14 (11%) using a Windows Mobile phone. Interestingly, 11 people (8.7%) said that they do not own a phone.

These were really interesting results, and the three (randomly selected) winners have had their license keys e-mailed to them. Thanks to everyone who participated!

Personally, I don’t see the point in upgrading your hardware if your computer does everything you need it to. However, sometimes it’s nice to improve what you already have. In this guide we will learn how to make the most out of the hardware you have and make Windows Vista run faster. (Here’s a similar list for Windows XP and for Windows 7.)

I highly recommend you create  a system restore point before you follow this guide.

Note: There is a lot of crossover with this guide and the guide to extend laptop battery life; some of the procedures, listed below, will help save power.

Read more…

So you spend a lot of time searching the net.  Most of us do and with Google Chrome, searching is a breeze  You just type your query into the address bar and your preferred search engine will do the rest.

But what if you search a specific site and do so frequently?  Instead of searching for “Mintywhite” and then clicking the images tab on google.com for example, we can assign Google Images its own keyword.

Read more…

Last weekend we launched a new sticky topic in our Forum, called The Suggestion Box. Even though we try to make mintywhite a very great site, we can always improve, and “The Suggestion Box” is the place to comment on it. Not only site improvements, but also things you’d like us to feature.

To launch this new feature we got hold of 5 more licenses of WinXdvd Ripper of which we will give away ONE license each friday to the best suggestion of the week.

This weeks winner is:

Bert_H

Suggestion:A clear and concise explanation about RAM. A lot of my co-workers are clueless about what it is, what it does, and why upgrading is simple.

Answer: Look for the upcoming article.
The jurors, commented: Bert has made a well thought out suggestion, which is exactly what we were looking for.

Congratulations Bert_H.

Do you want to win next Friday ?

Make a Suggestion