Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Back in the day, when Windows XP was brand new and shiny, one of the New Features was the Desktop Cleanup Wizard. The idea was to help you keep your desktop tidy and un-cluttered.

Personally I never used it. I pride myself in maintaining a strict Desktop Clutter Policy and rarely allow any programs I install to take occupation on my desktop. Therefore I never needed the DCW, and could remove that annoying popup reminder all together.

Here’s how you do it

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Being called a computer geek is not uncommon for us here at mintywhite. But how much geekyness would you say it takes to actually qualify as a Computer Geek (or nerd) ??  Even if you don’t consider yourself a geek, maybe, just maybe after reading this – you can call yourself a computer savvy…

And I swear – the following story is all true.

… My friend, the carpenter …

Read the rest of this entry »

About a year ago I set out to create me a Windows 7 live CD. Finally, I am able to present you with the How-To. But before we get into that, let’s review what a LIVE CD is.

A Live CD is an actual Windows Installation that you carry with you on a USB Flash Drive or CD/DVD. The Windows Installation is portable, meaning that you can have your own windows running on any PC you encounter. The Live CDs are most commonly used to repair computers that have crashed or to rescue data from a hard drive before doing a fresh installation. The great thing about a Live CD is that it does not alter anything on the computer you use (almost like a sandbox). You boot the computer as if it is your own (from the CD/DVD or USB). You can pre-install all the software you like, making it available no matter where you are. Sort of a Laptop, but without the hardware.

In the Linux World it has been around for years ( and as Windows XP). But Windows 7, well it’s been a longer road. You have of course been able to download illegal Windows Live Copies on the net for a while – but now at last I am able to show you have to create your own legal copy (for your personal use), provided you own a Windows Setup Disk and license.

Enough chit chat, let’s get on with it…

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s not very often we get to see commercial products going freeware. Can you imagine this happening to Adobes Photoshop or Microsoft’s Office ? I think not. There are of course hundreds of freeware programs out there that will give you some or most of the same functionality, and now, we can add three more to the Best Freeware list.

Thanks to freewaregenius for pointing these out to us.

And the newcomers are…

Read the rest of this entry »