Windows Tools, Help & Guides

If you are the one who always helps your friend to reformat/reinstall Microsoft Windows on their PC or laptop, most likely you will have their Windows equipped with at least a free anti-virus software (so they will not bug you anymore to do the reinstallation due to incurable viruses), and a couple of maintenance tools for some advanced users. However, since there are new threats and viruses appearing everyday, and the security software companies always have their product updated every week or so, you can’t really (unless you have too much free time) keep your downloaded security software installer updated. Not only that, I have actually quite a number of friends having different preferences on the anti-virus/anti-malware software, so again you can’t really satisfy them all (again, unless you have too much free time). Read the rest of this entry »

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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Many of us have a Hotmail (or live) account that we manage along with our regular emails. Personally I like to keep it as a separate account on a separate system. Mostly because that’s the email account receiving most spam. But that’s just me I guess.

There are several ways to make Hotmail (live) collaborate with your outlook or other email software. You can set it up as a separate account in Outlook (Read How here), or you may use Windows Live Mail which supersede Outlook Express. But, what if you just want to FORWARD the incoming emails into another account ?

Restrictions apply

Forwarding your emails is possible (Microsoft can’t afford not to). However there are some built-in restrictions that might cause problems for you. I will address those later on. First, lets show you How to:

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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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This is the first in a series of articles taking a detailed look at Windows Media Center (WMC) as offered in Windows 7. We’ll look at the main features as well as some of the minor goodies — we’ll point out a few short-comings and explain how some of these short-comings are overcome with some great 3rd party programs.

Our conclusion is that WMC provides an easy and attractive console for many of your digital entertainment sources – movies, TV, radio, music, photos – and more.  One remote control  drives the  system, it looks great, there are a host of plug-ins and add-ons to fill a few functionality gaps , and it’s free with the Windows 7 operating system.

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