Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Many programs use sound to some degree, such as alerts, music or other effects. Sometimes you want to mute sounds coming from a specific program or the windows system (Then you should read this post). If you don’t want to mute the sound entirely, but would like to lower it or let one program play louder sounds than others, well this is how:

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TuneUp Shredder is one of the many utilites that comes with TuneUp Utilities 2012 (full review) and is automatically available* after you install TuneUp Utilities 2012 (trial) (aff)

Even after emptying the Recycle Bin, files can be retrieved from your hard disk until they are physically overwritten. If you want your files deleted, permanently, use TuneUp Shredder to completely remove traces of your files. Doing this is both useful and strongly recommended if:

• You sell your PC
• You sell your hard drive
• You are returning a drive for warranty repair, replacement, or refund
• You loan your PC to a friend and you’re not sure what you’ve deleted recently
• Your PC is borrowed (school loaner, corporate laptop etc.)

To shred a file:

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Windows Guides’ Rating	Compatible with	System
5 out of 5

PROS: Tuneup Utilities 2012 is built upon years of tweaking and re-tweaking to get the most out Windows with all types of hardware. The Program Deactivator removes overhead from your system by temporarily disabling applications (and their associated processes and services) while you enjoy the benefit of more system resources–for your important tasks. Economy Mode saves battery while you’re on the go. CONS: An upgrade is required each year to get the latest features (like Economy Mode in 2012 and the Program Deactivator in 2011.) VERDICT: If TuneUp released a product for cars, mechanics would go out of business. TuneUp Utilities makes PC maintenance easy–very easy. I recommend this program for users who are not comfortable tweaking and maintaining their PC and would like an easy way to keep things in check and have a PC that runs without unnecessary interruption. PRICE: $29.95 (Upgrade) $34.95 (Full Version as of 11/13/2011) VERSION REVIEWED: TuneUp Utilities 2012 DOWNLOAD: TuneUp Utilities 2012 15-day Trial (aff)

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If you have more than a couple of PCs in your home, it’s easy to get confused and forget which PC you’re working on. For example, on my current home network, it have the following Windows PCs: D7UH, D7UG, LXHM, L7UR, L7UM, PI2R, and PI3R. After a few remote desktop connections, I would get lost without BgInfo.

BgInfo shows key information about your PC right on the desktop. BgInfo is a standalone executable and can be pinned to your Taskbar. Then, when you’re on any PC, you can launch it (if it isn’t already running) to bring up information like: computer name, MAC addresses, computer name, operating system and service pack etc.

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There are a ton of Sysinternals tools for troubleshooting and non-troubleshooting. If you want a collection of troubleshooting tools (very helpful if you’re working outside your PC network at a friends house, a business you’re helping/working for etc.), then you can download the Windows Systinternals Suite. This suite is regularly updated and currently sits at a whopping ~13MB:

Download Sysinternals Suite

Download Sysinternals Suite

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In the previous guide, you learned about the Sysinternals tools. In this guide, you’ll learn how to launch Sysinternals tools from the web. This can save valuable time and give you the tools you need when you need them i.e. you’re at a friends house and they’re asking for help with their PC.

Launching Sysinternals tools from the command line/Run dialog is easy. First, you’ll need the list of names of the Sysinternals tools, which can be found here: live.sysinternals.com

Once you have the name of the tool,  launch the Run dialog (Winkey+R) and type the following:

 \\live.sysinternals.com\tools\toolname.exe

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