Windows Tools, Help & Guides

A few days ago, I asked you if you use Windows 7′s XP Mode. Thank you to those who took part in the poll. Here’s what you said:

What Did I Learn from This?

I learned a lot from this poll and I’m glad I asked the question. Specifically, I learned that a lot of you use XP Mode (even in the home) and I also learned that a lot of you don’t know what XP mode is.

What’s Next?

Expect to see some guides in the near future on the following (subject to change) topics:

• What is XP Mode?
• How to improve performance when using XP Mode.
• How to share files between your host machine and XP Mode.

Thank you again to everyone who took part in the poll.

I was reading a newsletter the other day that was using he words Swap File, Paging File and Virtual Memory, interchangeably. Now this confused me and I realized that this might be a great topic for an article. I’ve been around computers since the age of 7, and I still find those things rather confusing.

I’ve previously written about RAM (Read It Here) so I’m going to assume you have a good grip on that topic. Now let’s dig into the world of Virtual Memory.

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Virus, spyware and other types of malware are here to stay. Our main problem is becoming a little paranoid about the subject. One of the reasons that drives to this situation is that many people–even skilled ones–are not aware of the symptoms of having a malware infection.

This post is just a basic list, I am preparing a more advanced article about the same topic so take this one as an introduction.

The best way to know if your computer is infected by some sort of malware is by using an antivirus to detect infections. So, what is the point in this list? Sometimes, the security utilities have problems detecting some sort of virus, as happens with the more sophisticated viruses out there.

Slow performance could be seen a sign of infection, but as there are so many reasons that can drive to this behaviour is not included in the list.

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Slow computers need lots of patience

USB has become a daily part of our computer life. Almost any gadget or external device use the USB port to connect to your computer. Some devices also rely on our USB ports to get power or charge their battery.

Problem is that the USB ports doesn’t support true high-speed data transfers (at least until version 3 becomes generally available). Granted, USB is an ingenious way of connecting devices to your computer. It really revolutionized the home computer when it became a system standard. However, too much of a good thing, often results in sluggish computers and slooow file copying. Why’s that ?

In this article I’m going to try answer that and give you a few tips and tricks on how to improve your USB (and computer) performance and to avoid those sluggish moments.

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I recently posted in Windows Forums about what I think will be the emphasis in Windows 8 development. In a nutshell, I talked about “the cloud”. For those of you not familiar with this terminology, just think about local storage; your C: drive. Now imagine all of the things you hold dear on that little hard drive platter floating around on the internet, ready for you to grab from anywhere. Photos, contacts, e-mails, notes, files, application settings; the list goes on and on. That is the concept of the cloud. Read the rest of this entry »

Operating systems have become more complex over time. For an every-day user, it’s really a hard task to find what programs are slowing down their machine and for what reasons.

The most common performance problems are related with physical memory.

As I wrote in a comment answering a reader, Ben, in another post:

5 Things You Should Know About Microsoft Security Essentials

Programs use more RAM (another name for physical memory) if there is more available. Thus, you cannot associate high memory usage with bad memory usage. If your machine has resources (one of these resources is RAM), there is no problem using them if they’re available for use. But what about when you hit the limits of your physical memory?

What can an every-day user do to find out if their machine is using all of it’s current physical memory and, therefore, needs more RAM?

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