In my last article (An Explanation of the Pros and Cons of Using RAID on Your Computer), we discussed the problem of heat build-up during the very hot Auckland summer months and how a RAID 5 configuration with 4 disks can sustain the failure of a single disk. RAID protections provide one part of what should be an overall strategy to protect your data and your computer from heat.

In this piece we divert a bit from our standard hardware/software fare and look at the computing environment as a whole. We will postulate that a tidy workspace is, in fact, a happy workspace and suggest a few tricks to make your work-space more productive and more comfortable.

The three biggest factors driving the design of my workspace are heat, noise and clutter. If I can minimise these three and maximize my computing power and productivity (all within family budget constraints, of course), I will have archived the objective.

The three primary physical components available for modification are the room, the cabinet and the PC (also referred to as the Box or Tower).

The Room:

The ideal design would be a copy of a corporate computer room with climate control, raised floor and glass interior walls. Your computers would be rack-mounted and networked throughout your house with a patch panel to distribute computer services to every room.

If you’ve got the resources, and your wife will let you do it – please do.

The rest of us are probably stuck with a home office which is usually a converted bedroom, and we don’t have a lot of latitude for change.

My office has several problems that affect my productivity.

• It gets messy
• It gets hot
• and It gets noisy

As I get older I find it more and more important to keep my resources organised. So much stuff had accumulated in my office that I was spending more time looking for a resource than I was actually using it. Problem area #1 was first on my hit list. It is also made up of several components:

• Tools and parts and papers lying about
• Wires connecting the various bits of equipment
• Three out of five times the part or tool I needed was elsewhere

Number 1 has been the easiest to tackle with a quick fix. I’ve instituted a “no shop work” policy and banned all of my “project” tools back to the workshop in the garage. Additionally, I’ve developed an exit strategy that requires me to tidy up the office each night so I can hit the ground running in the morning.

To reduce the clutter and improve the look of the room a good part of the project was dedicated to removing or hiding all the visible wires.

Capping:

Ok, I confess, this picture is a bit staged and I wish I’d taken more pictures of the mess before blasting through with a clean-up, but you get the idea and probably have a scene like this of your own very much like it.

Capping is a square pipe tacked against the floorboard with a snap-on cover. Just tack the 3-sided part against the wall where you need it, run the wire inside, and then snap on the cover. Not quite as tidy as running the wire through the wall, but you need special tools and know-how to accomplish that. Capping is sold in a variety of sizes.

A big advantage to capping is that the cover can be removed and the wiring reconfigured to meet changing conditions.

Under the Carpet:

Depending on the size of your wire and size of the gap between the carpet and the molding, a thin wire can often be hidden in that space. Speaker wire is a good candidate for this, coaxial wire less so.

The wire can be pushed into the gap with almost anything that isn’t sharp (don’t use a fork for example). A chopstick is my tool of choice, there are more dangerous options …

Whenever you need to go under the carpet, always stay as close to the wall as possible – even the thinnest speaker wire will produce a lump.

Over the Roof:

In some circumstances a wire on the roof might be the best plan. The wire obviously needs to be of a grade that can withstand outdoor conditions, and any joins require extra weather- and water-proofing. Just be sure to tack it down securly. The tacks (below) are a good option as is hot glue or silicon. Don’t want the wire making any noise on a windy night.

Exterior wiring will eventually need to extend back into a room, a terminating plate (like the one shown above) is easy to install and gives the work a professional look.

Power Leads:

Mounting a power board on the back of a unit or on a nearby wall can give the appearance of order and the excess cable can be gathered and secured above the floor with cable ties, rubber bands, whatever, but a word of caution here, don’t wind up a big length of mains extension wire and leave it on the floor – it becomes a magnetic coil, heats up and bursts into flames.

Power leads emit radiation that can interfere with voice, data and video communication. As a general rule it’s best to keep the two types of cable separate. If you must run the two together and you get interference on the com lines, investigate shielded com lines as an alternative.

Many power boards have mounting holes on the back side of the board. In my experience these holes are very hard to line up correctly. Instead I’ll drill through those holes as they seem to be located in positions that avoid any internal wires and mount the board with screws drilled in from the front. Be sure to counter-sink the holes so that the top of the screw is flush with the board face and doesn’t interfere with any plugs.

Vanity Panel:

Basically it’s a large sheet of material that acts to cover the ugly stuff behind it

If you’ve run wiring through your desk some wires may hang down and look at bit messy, you can tidy these wires behind a panel to hide them from view. If you put this panel on hinges or make it easily removable you will still have plenty of flexibility should an equipment change be required.

You can do the same thing with walls

an inexpensive noticeboard did the trick here. I re-wired the power lead on my “Cent-o-Meter” to feed directly into the box eliminating the plug, and pinned the USB lead on my Weather Centre behind the board so it doesn’t show up quite so much.

Capping on Steroids:

In my particular situation a large number of cables must be run from the desk where my keyboard mouse and monitors are to the computer cabinet where my 2 PCs live crossing a space of clear carpet about a metre wide.

The solution shown below is a section of white square box down pipe attached to the wall with 2 screws. The shot above gives some indication of the wiring that would otherwise be exposed. A curtain rod is used to thread the cables from one end to the other.

In this picture you can also see another important tool in cable management – the white tags indicating what is at the far end. They are a bit pricey – $4.00 (US) for a pack of 24 but they can save you time and frustration when you are tracking down a fault in your system.

Cable Tidies:

There is a variety of gizmos available to help you in this effort. Number one is a pieces of 2 – 4 meters plastic tube split down the middle, into which a special installation tool can placed that will enable you to cover and contain a collection of wires. One big wire is easier work with (and looks better) than a bunch of smaller wires.

Number 2 is simple and free, although perhaps best suited to storing unused cables.

Number 3 – This “handcuff” looking device works like one too to clamp a number of loose cables in a single large thread.

Number 4 – These holders are fixed to the desk or the wall and hold a group of wires in place.

Number 5 – Velcro. Fairly expensive, but very re-usable

And lastly, Number 6 comes from the garden store. It’s a simple spool of light wire with a built-in cutter at the base. Intended for flowers, the wire does a good job on quick, temporary jobs.

Having a clean and tidy workspace may not be for everyone – it requires a little more work and a bit of discipline and may not, in the end, enhance your productivity. I’ve worked under my new regime for about a month now and I think I’m a bit more productive, but I know it keeps my wife happy and I find thinking about going in to my office to work a more pleasant experience.

But I won’t claim a final victory now. As with the currently accepted scientific theory: it’s only true until it’s not. In our next episode we’ll look at heat and noise.

In our next chapter we’ll take a look the storage cabinet and modifications to the PCs – both designed to improve system cooling.

About Deck Hazen

A computer user since 1976, Deck enjoys testing new software and reconfiguring his equipment to squeeze the most out of it. "Computing has come a long way since those early days" Deck recalls "I get a real kick out of watching the industry grow - getting paid to write about it is just icing on the cake!"

The lack of security may lay in an outdated browser version, but also in the plugins, add ons and what not installed. The over eager use of plugins (as done in MSIE and Firefox) is why I personally dread most browsers. Mostly because these plugins tend to clutter my “browsing space” but also due to the lack of security.

How do you know how safe your browser experience really is ?

The short answer is: BrowserCheck By Qualys

BrowserCheck by Qualys is a free tool that allow you to test your browser and plugins for known security issues, vulnerabilities  and outdated software.  But that’s not all. BrowserCheck also help you solve your discovered problems by offering links to the new and updated software you need to fix your Browser issues.

Clicking on each topic in the results page, will show you which driver, plugin and version BrowserCheck found on your system and what action they recommend you take.

All links is directed to the vendors / developers sites so you don’t risk downloading from an unknown or unsecure site. In other words, the BrowserCheck is not scamming you to use a certain software or paid subscription.

On my first run I found that not only was my browser outdated (by a couple of days), but so were my Flash-, Pdf-, Quicktime and Java plugin. I was able to download and solve these issues within 5 minutes, and now I’m browsing even more secure than before. Now it’s your turn…

https://browsercheck.qualys.com/

About Thomas

Computer geek from the age of 7, which amounts to 30 years of computer experience. From the early days (when every computer company had their own OS) of DOS, Windows 1.0 through Seven...

Uninstalling applications is never as seamless a process as installing them. Although Windows PCs come with a built-in utility, the Add or Remove Programs utility, that allows users to easily uninstall various applications and software, it usually fails to do the required job when you need to uninstall certain applications, such as McAfee Antivirus suite or DirectX.

Incomplete uninstallation may cause errors and complications on the system. Leftover processes of a previously installed program may interfere with other running processes and cause application errors, as well as performance related issues, such as frequent software crashes and system slow downs. This is why it is absolutely essential that when you remove a program you ensure that all its associated processes, files, and registry entries are also permanently deleted.

With the help of two examples, McAfee antivirus suite and DirectX we discuss how to uninstall programs that may not get completely removed using the Add or Remove Programs utility.

Before we discuss this, let’s see how to use the Add or Remove Programs utility to uninstall applications, such as Microsoft Office 2007.

Uninstall Office 2007 using Add or Remove Programs

Uninstalling programs using the Add or Remove Programs utility is simple, as this example shows.

1. Click Start and then click Control Panel to open its corresponding window.
2. Double-click Add or Remove Programs.
3. Locate and select Office 2007.
4. Click Uninstall.

In the following section, we discuss how to completely uninstall applications, such as McAfee Antivirus and DirectX that the Add or Remove Programs utility may fail to remove.

Uninstall McAfee

When it comes to removing antivirus suites, the Add or Remove Programs utility is often found to be wanting. This may be because of the fact that such programs place their files and entries deep into the system and the Add or Remove Programs utility fails to remove them completely.

Most Antivirus software manufacturers, therefore, release an uninstaller tool for their line of products. It is best to use such uninstaller tools – these tools are typically distributed from the software manufacturer’s website for free – to remove antivirus software. In case the software manufacturer does not provide an uninstaller tool, you may use a reliable professional uninstaller tool.

To remove McAfee, first remove the software using the Add or Remove Programs utility – the same way as you uninstall any other application. Next, visit McAfee’s official website and download MCPR.exe, which is the uninstaller tool for McAfee products. After you have downloaded the MCPR.exe file on to your desktop, double-click it to run the uninstaller tool.

Uninstall DirectX

DirectX is an application that is built-in to your Windows system. An attribute peculiar to DirectX is that it cannot be uninstalled using the Add or Remove Programs utility, as the application does not appear in your installed programs list.

If for some reason you need to remove the version of DirectX installed on your computer then simply remove the DirectX entry from the registry and Delete the DirectX folder.

Important: Before making any changes to the registry, always back up the registry first. You can make registry backups either manually or by using a reliable registry maintenance software.

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and press Enter.
2. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\DirectX
3. Delete all the keys for DirectX.
4. Right-click the Directx folder in left-pane and click Delete.
5. Restart Windows.

Note: It is not possible to completely remove DirectX from the PC as it is an integral part of the operating system. The above steps uninstall the upgraded version of DirectX from the PC and reinstall the default DirectX version for your Windows operating system when the PC is restarted.

James Ricketts is a writer whose work can be seen at Instant-Registry-Fixes.org. To find out more about his work or to contact him, please visit Instant-Registry-Fixes.org.

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

Featuring: WIM-images and Diskpart

When I first bought my netbook from Acer it came with the  Windows 7 Starter (scam) Edition. Luckily for me I had an extra Home Premium license I could use. Problem was that the graphics driver needed was not available for download, and was not available through Windows. A fact I only discovered once I had re-installed windows. Another irritating thing I discovered was that the bundled software that was pre-installed with my windows starter edition, did not run anymore.

The solution? The hidden recovery partition.

Most new computers today comes with pre-installed Windows and bundled software. These licenses or programs does not come with an installation disk, package or user-manuals. Instead the setup files (or recovery disk) is stored in a hidden partition on your hard-drive, together with various extra drivers and tweak files. At the end of this article I will show you where to look for the files and how to retrieve them, but first lets unhide the partition. To unlock or get access to this hidden partition we need to unhide it. This can be achieved using the built-in DiskPart Tool. You can choose to get access to the disk on a one-time basis or permanently assigning a drive letter for it. In most cases you are able to assign a drive letter using the Windows Disk management tool. The Recovery Partition is normally set to have no drive letter by default. We can override this feature by using Diskpart.

Diskpart

Diskpart is a Command Line Utility which allows us to control every disk and partition on our system. We have shown you different uses for this tool on occasion, and this time we will use it to get access to the hidden partition. To make a hidden partition available we need to assign a drive letter, and this is how:

1. Click Start-button and type DISKPART and press Enter.
2. Click OK when the UAC prompt you
3. In the Diskpart Dialogue Window, type: list disk This will show you a list of the disks  installed on your computer.
4. Type Select Disk 0 (where zero is the disk we want to use, if you have more that one disk you might want to try accessing one by one until you find the right one)
5. Type List Partition. You will see a list of all partitions on the drive, in my case there are two. One large and one small. The small one is the one we want to change. You can also identify the hidden partition by the fact that there are no drive letter assigned to it.
6. Type Select Partition 1 (Where 1 represent your partition)
7. Type Assign If successful you should get an Auto-run dialogue.
8. Type Exit to close the Diskpart Tool.

Hidden on reboot…

On some computers the partition will be hidden again on the next boot. This is due to a setting called “nodefaultdriveletter”, which tells windows that the partition is to be hidden by default. If you would like to keep the partition visible,  you will have to change the setting.

1. Open the Diskpart tool
2. Type Select Disk 0
3. Type List Partition
4. Type Select Partition 1 (Replace 1 with the corresponding letter)
5. Type Detail Partition This will display the settings for your partition. If the Type is set to 27 the partition is set as hidden.
6. Try one of the following commands: Set ID=07 OVERRIDE attributes volume clear hidden
7. Type Assign to assign a drive letter.
8. Type Exit to close the Diskpart Tool.

The next time you boot your computer the partition will still be visible.

Looking through the Recovery Partition Folder

Now it’s time to do a bit of digging inside the Folders. The location of drivers and software will vary depending on your brand or computer type. In my case, everything I need is  hidden inside the ACER-HQ1 folder. You will see many different folders containing everything from Windows Recovery or setup-files, drivers and the licensed software that came bundled with your computer. The content of these folders will most likely be WIM-files or images. The Windows Imaging Format (WIM) is a file-based disk image format (like ISO, RAR and ZIP). It was developed by Microsoft to deploy its latest Windows operating system releases, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008, which use it as part of their standard installation procedure. It works equally well with older versions of Windows.

Windows Setup Files Found in the Recovery Partition

Accessing WIM-Images

To access the contents the WIM-files you need a WIM capable reader. I suggest you use WinMount which works similar to WinRAR, but allow you to mount WIM-images temporarily.

Inside a WIM-image you will usually find 2 folders and a xml-file (it may vary). Usually the content you seek is within the folder named 1 (one). After mounting you might need to copy the contents to a new folder before installing the program or driver. Once you have done that, you can install the software as you please.

Bundled software licenses

In order to make sure you don’t install the bundled software onto other computers most setup files have a CMD-file attached to it. This is a scriptfile that will check the identity of your computer before allowing the setup to start. Delete this file to avoid it from running.

The serial is usually found inside an INI-file or a XML-file. And that should be all you need to know. Good Luck

Download WinMount

Download WinMount

About Thomas

Computer geek from the age of 7, which amounts to 30 years of computer experience. From the early days (when every computer company had their own OS) of DOS, Windows 1.0 through Seven...

Today, we rely on the Internet to carry out various functions and it is no fun when your web browser, such as Internet Explorer, develops an error and fails to load. In this article, we will discuss how to resolve common errors associated with Internet Explorer as well as the following topics:

• How to remove additional toolbars from Internet Explorer, such as the yahoo toolbar.
• How to resolve system error 5
• Essential PC maintenance activities that every Windows user should perform to prevent common Windows errors and issues from occurring.

Iexplore.exe Application Error

Iexplore.exe is the executable file of the popular web browser Internet Explorer. You may encounter the following error when you try to start Internet Explorer 6.0 on a Windows XP computer:

“Iexplore.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”

Typically, the error occurs when the following conditions hold true:

• Browser Helper Objects (BHO), such as Morpheus, Morpheus Shopping Club, WURLD Shopping Community, or BuyersPort are installed.
• You are logged in to your computer with a limited user account.

The error occurs when the installed BHOs try to make changes to specific system files and registry entries but cannot do so because of limited access. You may perform either of the following tasks to fix the error:

• Log on to your computer as an administrator.
• Remove the BHOs from your computer.

Uninstall Yahoo Toolbar

To achieve this, perform the following steps:

1. Close any open Internet Explorer Window.
2. Click Start and then click Control Panel to open its corresponding window.
3. Next, double-click Add or Remove Programs.
4. Now, locate and select Yahoo Toolbar.
5. Click the Uninstall button.
6. Restart Internet Explorer.

System Error 5

This error occurs if there is a problem with permissions to access another Windows computer. For instance, you may receive the error while trying to access a Windows Vista computer on your network from a Windows XP computer using the Net View command. One of the common causes of this error is Time Synchronization issues. Assuming this is the cause the error, you can resolve the error by performing the following steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and press Enter.
2. At command prompt type NET TIME /QUERYSNTP and press Enter to execute the command.
3. In case an error is reported, type NET TIME /DOMAIN /SET /YES and press Enter.
4. Also, ensure that Time Zones are set correctly.

Essential PC maintenance activities

By regularly performing the following PC maintenance activities you can not only prevent various Window errors, but also resolve various PC performance related issues.

Run malware scans – Install a robust antimalware software, update it regularly, and perform regular malware scans on your entire computer to ensure your Windows PC remains safe from malicious programs.

Update Windows files – Keep the built-in Automatic Update feature enabled to ensure new Windows updates are automatically installed on your computer.

Update third-party drivers – Use a reliable driver update tool or manually update your third-party drivers regularly.

Clean the Windows registry – Clean your Windows registry regularly using a top-rated registry cleaner tool to ensure your registry remains healthy and error-free.

James Ricketts is a writer whose work can be seen at Instant-Registry-Fixes.org. To find out more about his work or to contact him, please visit Instant-Registry-Fixes.org.

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

PROS: Easy. No Expertise needed, what so ever. Just run it, follow the wizard. CONS: Still in Beta. But that’s about it VERDICT: If you are looking for a simple solution to create bootable Setup disks. This is the tool for you. It takes no more than 5 minutes to complete. PRICE: FREE VERSION REVIEWED: 0.7.0000 (BETA) DOWNLOAD: WinToFlash

WinToFlash

I know, there are many solutions on how to create a Bootable Installation Disk for Windows. In a post (not too long ago) Rich showed you how to do exactly that – “the old-fashioned way” (Read it Here). Now I bring you a great piece of freeware to do the job for you: WinToFlash. Don’t get me wrong, the “old school” still works, and good too. But if you feel uneasy using tools without a familiar GUI interface, then WinToFlash is the way to go.

Win2Flash is still in beta and does not (yet) come with an installation package. Simply Unzip the files to a folder and you are set.

What you need

1. Installation CD/DVD (original of course)
2. USB Flash Disk
3. Win2Flash Software

Any Windows Version – Easy

Win2Flash has two options: Wizard and Advanced. The Advanced settings allows you to control how your Flash Drive is formatted, which windows version to use and so on. For most users, the wizard will suffice.

1. After you unzip the Win2Flash software, insert the Windows Setup Disk and connect your USB Flash Drive.
2. Start Win2Flash and click the Wizard button, and Click Next (Twice)
3. In the Basic Parameter Window, choose the Windows Files and Flash Drive Path.
   
4. Click Next
5. Now Win2Flash will ask to format your Flash Drive and start copying the setupfiles.
6. Close the application when done (There is no Exit Button).

And that is it. WinToFlash takes no more than 5 minutes to complete, giving you a hassle free Flash Drive Setup Disk.

About Thomas

Computer geek from the age of 7, which amounts to 30 years of computer experience. From the early days (when every computer company had their own OS) of DOS, Windows 1.0 through Seven...

What Do I Win?

A copy of Screenpresso Pro worth $28.

How Do I Win?

There are only a few steps to win a copy of Screenpresso Pro:

Step 1: Check out our review Screenpresso and download Screenpresso FREE and install (or run it as portable app if you do not wish to install.)

Step 2: Send a screenshot of your beautiful desktop to the built-in min.us sharing option (no registration required). Use the built-in editor to tell us what’s on your desktop. Example of the link and image.

Step 3: Comment on this post with:

1. The link to your screenshot on min.us (or other image sharing website if you prefer.)
2. Any suggestions you have for the Screenpresso team (counts as a second entry to double your chance of winning.)
3. Your Twitter username/Facebook profile link or another way to contact you if you win.

Optional:

• Like Windows Guides on Facebook
• Follow Screenpresso on Twitter
• Share this giveaway via Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, Stumbleupon etc.

Terms and Conditions

a) Giveaway is open to everyone, regardless of geographic location.

b) Each reader can have a maximum of two (2) entries (one for a screenshot and one for a suggestion to the Screenpresso team.) Extra comments will not be counted as an entry.

c) Each reader can only win one (1) license for Screenpresso Pro.

d) Giveaway entry deadline is 7th of March 2011, 00.00 AM GMT.

e) The winner will be randomly selected from eligible comments.

f) 5 copies of Screenpresso Pro are available for the giveaway.

g) Windows Guides decision is final.

Once we choose the winners, we’ll notify you via the contact method you left in the comments.

Good luck guys!

About ghost301

Biomedical Engineer graduate in Malaysia, currently Software Application Engineer and UI/UX Designer in Materialise. Graphic Design/UI/UX/Tech/Formula 1/Gadget/Android/iOS Enthusiast. Windows Guides writer (mintywhite.com) and run Techie Talkz.

Windows Guides’ Rating	User Rating	Compatible with	System
5 out of 5	Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

PROS: The free version gives you access to your PC with no restrictions that would make it difficult to use your PC remotely. CONS: The only con is the pro features are not free but I have no objections to their pricing structure. VERDICT: If you want to work on your PCs remotely, this tool will do everything you need. You don’t need to set any complicated firewall rules, set up any kind of DNS to access your PC, or worry about anything complicated. LogMeIn just works. PRICE: Free (For LogMeIn Free) VERSION REVIEWED: Host version 4.1.0.1578 DOWNLOAD: LogMeIn

LogMeIn Features

LogMeIn lets you:

• Access your personal computers
• Access your personal computers from your mobile device
• Network your devices together
• Support your friends’ and family’s PCs

Once you’ve signed up for a free account, you’ll need to install LogMeIn on each PC that you want to access remotely. Then, when you log in, you’ll see a list of your computers (online and offline):

Clicking Remote Control will give you access to your PC (from any internet connected PC in the world):

You can even access your desktop from your mobile device; here’s a couple of screenshots from my iPhone:

I’ve been using LogMeIn for the last three years and I can’t recommend it enough. I just hope they always keep a free option available.

Start Using LogMeIn

LogMeIn

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

Have you ever accidentally deleted the wrong photo? Or emptied the Recycle Bin and not realized that an important folder was in it? Unfortunately, it only takes a single mouse-click to lose a file.

So, what is the best way to go about restoring this lost data? It’s important to avoid write operations on the hard disk or flash drive inup anymore.question—if you can. Deleted files are never actually erased or destroyed; only the “pointer” to that specific file is gone, so it will not show

The good news is that the data will remain intact. The bad news, however, is that the Windows file system will mark the file as “overwriteable”. What this means is that the physical space used to store the deleted file is now designated as free space, where new programs can be installed, new files can be saved, or new data can be created. The accidentally deleted file will most likely be fully or partially overwritten, and in the latter case, it will be damaged.

By just turning on your PC and starting and shutting down applications, Windows automatically creates temporary files on your hard disk. Depending on your start configuration, this might be a few, or hundreds of, megabytes of data. You’ll eventually destroy the accidentally deleted file.

Three Data Recovery Solutions to Consider

First, a warning. Before you start the repair process, back up your entire disk or, if that’s not possible due to too many errors, copy all of your important data onto an external hard disk or burn it onto a DVD. Now we can get into how to remedy the situation through three options that won’t cost you a dime.

Depending on your situation, the following tools might come in handy for restoring your lost or damaged data. For those looking for a tool to easily rescue files from a hard disk, USB drive or camera card, the free trial for TuneUp Utilities’ Undelete feature is one of many great options available.

What about recovering data on damaged CDs or DVDs? Error correction in today’s laptops and PCs is great, but it can’t perform miracles. If you’re trying to access the files and the only thing you hear is the drive spinning around, I recommend CD Recovery Toolbox to get to your data and find out if it’s recoverable. I actually tried the free tool, which is capable of restoring CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays/HD DVDs, on three disks that were more than seven years old and heavily scratched. It worked flawlessly; I restored whole files that I backed up in 2003 and haven’t looked at since.

Lastly, if you’ve fallen victim to files that won’t open or just go missing all of a sudden, programs that suddenly won’t run anymore and show “invalid” file messages, or a Windows-based system that won’t boot up and gives hard disk warnings, try using your PC’s built-in disk checker. If you’re lucky, this is just a case of some bad drive sectors that can be easily repaired.

Here’s how to use Microsoft’s built-in disk checker. Click on the Windows Start orb, enter “cmd” and wait for the result to show up. Right-click on “cmd” and click on “Run as administrator”. Once the command shell pops up, enter “chkdsk /f /r /b”. This will launch the most effective repair tool Windows has to offer—it corrects all errors, finds and restores damaged sectors, and marks them as “bad” (if they are not recoverable). Finally, hit “Y” and restart your machine.

Depending on your hard disk, this can take a couple of hours. All of your files should come back as good as new, but watch out for further errors because should problems persist, there likely is a hard disk defect.

Tibor Schiemann is the President and Managing Partner of TuneUp. For more tips and tricks on restoring lost data and repairing damaged files—and keeping your PC running smoothly—visit the TuneUp Blog about Windows at http://blog.tune-up.com.

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

Windows Guides’ Rating	User Rating	Compatible with	System
4.5 out of 5	Note: There is a rating embedded within this post, please visit this post to rate it.

Screenpresso Features

If you are dealing with some tasks that require you to take a lot of screenshots (for example: a software application engineer who is responsible to look for bugs and test software), a simple but full-featured screen capture tool is necessary.

By the term simple, I mean the entire screen capture experience has to be natural so that the user can start using it right away without much exploring. Of course, if a really simple screen capture is needed, we can just opt for the Print Screen button on the keyboard. However, for advanced tasks with screenshots, like annotation and sharing, a full-featured application is needed. There are already plenty of screen capture tools for Windows that have the criteria mentioned, but most of them doesn’t come with a friendly price tag. If you are looking for a cheap (or should I say free?) alternative, there is only one program that is simple but full featured: introducing LearnPulse’s Screenpresso.

It has the best screen capture user experience

I have been using Screenpresso for screen capturing tasks ever since it was first released in 2009, and it keeps improving. I’ve tried numerous screen capture tools, and I must say Screenpresso provides the best screen capture user experience – and all my colleagues will definitely agree on this. If you have already used to press Print Screen button for screen capturing, Screenpresso will change your user experience in no time.

Screenpresso in action.

After you have installed Screenpresso, press the Print Screen button, and you will see how Screenpresso magically assists you in screen capture. As you can see in the screenshot above (OK, I admit that I didn’t capture this screen using Screenpresso), the mouse cursor will turn into a crosshair, and moving it around the screen will automatically highlight the area that can be captured in red. It does some pretty cool edge snapping to the screen, so you can choose to capture part of a window, or the entire window, or even the whole screen. Notice the zoom lens at the right bottom of the screen? It is really useful if you require a pixel-perfect screen capture, and it tells you the pixel size that’s highlighted. Besides that, Screenpresso does a very good job of capturing the window with clean Aero glass, but of course you can easily disable this feature in the settings. Want to capture a long webpage into a single image? No problem, thanks to the smart stitching mechanism in Screenpresso.

Which is better? The left or the right?

All of these features seem pretty simple, but a combination of them create an unrivaled user experience, in a free product. But there’s more …

It has a Powerful Built-in Editor

Applying annotation to the screenshots is both fun and efficient in Screenpresso. It has a very simple but powerful editor which allows you to do tons of editing, such as commenting, adding arrows etc. and you can even blur a region easily. One of the best features in the Screenpresso editor is their Add Image function. The developers have done a great job by providing users useful and ready-to-use images (check both the screenshots above for examples.) All are done in Screenpresso’s  built-in editor, without charging a single cent. Impressive?

Capture Sharing is Easier than Ever

Tons of sharing option. Screen captured with branding.

Besides providing great user experience and powerful editor, LearnPulse has also attempted to make sharing of screenshots easier. They have included numerous options for you to share screenshots easily; as you can see in the screenshot above. If you are not keen on using any services provided, you can just simply drag-and-drop the screenshots from the history to email or file-explorer for more sharing options. If you notice the screenshot above, there is some branding done on the screenshot, but this will only apply when you are using certain sharing options provided in Screenpresso, though I don’t find it intrusive at all in the screenshot. For the features that has the branding enabled, check their features list of Screenpresso.

It is a Portable Application

This great tool is not only available for your personal computer; it can be used as a portable application on a public computer as well. On the first run of the Screenpresso installer which can be found here, it will allow you to run it directly without installation, or install on the computer if you wish. This can provide high flexibility and the user is able to run it virtually in any Windows-based computers – another great user experience.

Screenpresso allows you to run as portable app, or install on your computer.

And … it has good customer support

I believe a good program without good support from the developer will not be success–most of the time. Learnpulse is always ready to listen to the users’ comments, complaints and suggestions, and they can be reached easily via their official Twitter account. I once suggested them to add a curvy line/arrow tools in their editor (after my colleague asked me about it) and they responded that they will add my suggestion to their ‘to do’ list – it’s pretty sweet if you ask me.

With the latest release in 2011 (version 1.2.1.4 at the time of writing), LearnPulse has looked into video capturing in Screenpresso. Although the free version can only capture a tiny 15 seconds video with branding. There is a Screenpresso Pro version which costs $28 (at time of writing) that removes all the brandings and has full length video capture. However, since it is a new feature, there aren’t any extra functions for the captured video besides sharing; however, I believe LearnPulse is working hard to improve Screenpresso to become the best screen and video capture tool for Windows.

If you looking for a great screen capture tool at no cost, look no further, try Screenpresso and you will be amazed!

Download Screenpresso

Download Screenpresso

About ghost301

Biomedical Engineer graduate in Malaysia, currently Software Application Engineer and UI/UX Designer in Materialise. Graphic Design/UI/UX/Tech/Formula 1/Gadget/Android/iOS Enthusiast. Windows Guides writer (mintywhite.com) and run Techie Talkz.