Archive for the ‘Windows’ Category

How to set up and use PortableApps on your USB thumb drive

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

The PortableApps.com Suite is a collection of free portable apps including a web browser (Firefox), email client (Thunderbird), office suite, calendar/scheduler, instant messaging client, antivirus, sudoku game, backup utility and integrated menu, all preconfigured to work portably. This guide will take you through installing and setting up PortableApps to best ...

How to add custom folders to the Microsoft Office 2007 Save As dialog box

Monday, May 5th, 2008

Previously I did a tutorial on how to customize the "Save As" shortcut folders in XP. But that tutorial doesn't apply to the Microsoft Office Save As window. This brief overview will show you how to add custom folders to the MS Office 2007 "Save As" dialog box. By adding ...

The differences between XP and Vista folder locations

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

So you've upgraded to Vista. Now you're wondering where exactly your files and folders went. This chart breaks down the differences between where Windows XP kept files and where Windows Vista keeps files. Windows XP         Windows Vista   C:\Documents and Settings\         C:\Users\ C:\Documents and Settings\your-username\My Documents\         C:\Users\your-username\Documents\ C:\Documents and Settings\your-username\My Documents\My Pictures\         C:\Users\your-username\Pictures\ C:\Documents and Settings\your-username\My Documents\My Music\         C:\Users\your-username\Music\ C:\Documents and ...

How to display file extensions in Windows Vista

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

This brief tutorial will show you how to display file extensions (and a number of other file and folder options) in Windows Vista. If you're new to Vista but a pro with XP or Windows 2000, even you might be a bit stumped as to where the file and folder ...

How to create a shortcut to the Command Prompt with Administrative Privileges in Vista

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

This tutorial will guide you through creating a shortcut to the Vista Command Prompt that automatically opens with Administrator privileges.

How to speed up Vista using a spare USB thumb drive

Saturday, April 26th, 2008

This brief tutorial will take you through the steps to enable ReadyBoost, a feature of Vista that allows you to improve your PC's performance by utilizing the faster speeds of flash memory vs. your hard drive. It's similar to adding more RAM to your PC, without having to actually add ...

How to split .avi files in Windows, OS X or Linux

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

Using BananaSplitter you can split .avi files (divx or xvid) in Windows (95/98/NT/2000/XP/Vista), Linux/BSD/UNIX or OS X. BananaSplitter works across all these platforms because it's written in Java, so you will need to have Java installed.

How to disable the balloon tips in Windows XP

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

This brief tutorial will show you how to disable the annoying "balloon tips" in Windows XP.

How to keep any Windows program “always on top”

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

Using the very aptly named (and free) AlwaysOnTop application, you can set any Windows program to remain "on top" of all the others.

How to determine which codecs are used in audio and video files (Windows)

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

Using the great little app MediaInfoGUI .NET 1.0, just drag and drop your audio and/or video files into the window, and all the information about those files is displayed. click to enlarge note: as the name implies, the Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework (or higher) is required.

How to temporarily disable Flash in Internet Explorer 7

Monday, April 7th, 2008

Using the free app Toggle Flash, you can enable and disable Flash with the click of a button. Keeping reading for full instructions.

How to convert almost any video file to play on your iPhone or iPod Touch

Monday, March 31st, 2008

This tutorial will walk you through the steps required to convert pretty much any video file to a format that your iPhone and iPod Touch can play. And the software used to accomplish this is free.

How to open Office 2007 files using Office 2000, XP, or 2003

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

You can open, edit and save Office 2007 files using an older version of Office (2K/XP/2003) if you download and install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack. So if you've been sent a file created with Word, Excel, or PowerPoint 2007 - and you don't have MS Office 2007, you'll still ...

Overview: CoolMon 2 - a Windows system monitoring utility

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007

Using CoolMon 2 you can create a 'window' or series of windows on your desktop that will display system stats such as CPU, RAM and page file usage, hard drive usage, MotherBoard Monitor temperatures, fan speeds, various network stats and much, much more. This overview will introduce you to CoolMon ...

How to access uTorrent from a remote PC

Monday, December 3rd, 2007

This tutorial will guide you through setting up uTorrents Web UI (User Interface). The Web UI allows you to remotely connect to the computer running uTorrent, through a web browser, and control all of your torrents.