Windows Tools, Help & Guides

I’ve tested many online solutions for creating PDF documents online – and most work okay. Granted most of them add their pesky watermark telling everyone you’ve used their software, but if you can live with it, go a head… I can’t!  This time I have found a couple of great tools which allows you to create PDF documents from any URL or document. Free of charge. No watermarks. And very very fast.

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In this guide I’m going to walk you through installing 3 or 4 separate operating systems on one PC – ideal for someone who wants to try out all of them on the same hardware or learn an operating system other than Windows. There are five basic steps to making this work:

1. Configuring your disk partitions to hold 3 or 4 different operating systems.
2. Installing your preferred version(s) of Windows.
3. Installing Mac OSX. (Not surprisingly, this is the longest step)
4. Installing Linux Ubuntu.
5. Configuring the GRUB boot loader to include all OS partitions.

Setting up Your Disk Partitions

This is the first and in my opinion most important step to setting up a multiple-boot system. Unless you are using third-party software, changing partitions can really screw up your system, as certain actions are not allowed in Windows’ Disk Management program (combining empty space to the left of the system partition, etc.). I like to set up the partitions for EVERY operating system before I start. This way there is no creating/splitting/combining partitions later in the process. There are three different disk managers for the three different types of operating system, so things could potentially get out of hand very quickly.

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FotoSketcher is a free program which takes your digital photos and turns them into works of art. This program is really easy to use and can produce some really good-looking results. There are different styles available including the following: pencil sketch, pen and ink drawing, and various painting renderings. The program also comes with built-in tools to help you manipulate your photos.

One of the only issues I have with this program is the fact that you cannot open PNG graphics to manipulate them. This is not a major problem, but I’ve come to expect most programs supporting this format.

FotoSketcher works on all versions of Windows and can be downloaded below. See some examples of the effects, FotoSketcher can produce, below.

Examples of FotoSketcher’s Results

Download FotoSketcher

I’ve tried a number of screen capture utilities and use some of them to create screenshots for www.mintywhite.com. I’ve compiled a list of the five best free screen capture utilities.

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An In-depth Look at Windows 7

A few days ago, I shared my initial thoughts on Windows 7. After spending more time with the operating system, I now share my findings and whether or not I feel Windows 7 will be a worthwhile upgrade.

I agree that Microsoft ran a little faster than they new how with Vista, which hurt them a lot. Windows 7 better be good, or people will either stick with XP until 2013, or switch to Linux, Mac, or the next big OS (will there be one soon?)

In this review, I’ll explore some of the new features Windows 7 brings and whether I like them or not. I’ll take a look at updated core applications, desktop and window management, home networking, and built-in troubleshooting. Then you decide… is Windows 7 a worthwhile upgrade?

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www.mintywhite.com is giving away one (10) copies, worth $79.99 each, of Edraw Max Pro to ten (10) helpful Windows Guides readers! Simply make a helpful comment somewhere on this site (excluding the fourms) to be automatically be entered into the competition. Multiple comments will faciliate in winning.

The comments will be judged by me and based upon the following criteria:

• Does the comment help other readers get more out of the article
• Does the comment add to the article
• Is the comment well written?
• If the comment is a tip, does the tip work?

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