Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Featuring: WIM-images and Diskpart

When I first bought my netbook from Acer it came with the  Windows 7 Starter 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.

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In this guest post, James Ricketts discusses how to troubleshoot computer problems related to internet issues. Find out more about James at the end of this post.

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.

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Windows Guides’ Rating	Compatible with	System
4 out of 5

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.

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A few weeks ago we posted a full review of Screenpresso, which is an excellent screen capturing tool for Windows. The Screenpresso team is kind enough to let us have 5 Screenpresso Pro licenses (each license costs about $28) for Windows Guides readers. Don’t miss this great opportunity to win yourself a Pro version of Screenpresso!

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:

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Windows Guides’ Rating	Compatible with	System
5 out of 5

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

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In this guest post, Tibor Schiemann, President and Managing Partner of TuneUp discusses how to restore lost data and repair damaged file. Find out more about Tibor at the end of this post.

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.

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