I should be clear that the only 64-bit desktop OS I have used is Windows 7 (Pro), but I can honestly say I have been running the 64-bit version with zero issues for the past 4 months. In fact everyone in our office, albeit only 5 people, have been using it exclusively as well with no compatibility issues with software. We run the usual MS Office 2007 suite as...

I’ve posted several times about how I believe you should shutdown your computer when you are finished with it for the day. If not manually then through a scheduled command such as: shutdown /s For cases where a “blind” automated shutdown is not doable, the utility WinOFF can help. AMP WinOFF is an utility designed to schedule the shut down of...

Have you ever been downloading a file and about 80% of the way, something interrupts it? This can be frustrating because (most of the time) you simply have to start the download again. For small files, this is not really an issue, but for larger files it can be a huge inconvenience. As an alternate to traditional downloading via a browser, try using a download...

If you use multiple monitors and are tired of seeing your background wallpaper repeated on both screens, a utility you might be interested in is DisplayFusion. With DisplayFusion you can add a taskbar to every monitor that works and looks just like the Windows Taskbar. Or take advantage of advanced multi-monitor wallpaper support, Flickr integration for image...

This is a departure from the norm, but I thought this would be an interesting tidbit for many of our readers. Have you ever wondered how the character in so many of Nintendo’s games came to be named Mario? Well, wonder no longer. For those of who just want the answer: [...] Nintendo borrowed Mario’s name and Italian heritage from a real man. That man’s...

This is the tag line for the aptly named free utility: SIW – System Information for Windows. As you can probably guess, the functionality is in line with the name: SIW is an advanced System Information for Windows tool that gathers detailed information about your system properties and settings and displays it in an extremely comprehensible manner. SIW can...

For those of you who like to brainstorm on the computer, you can’t beat the flexibility offered by mind mapping software. For this task, the software package XMind looks pretty impressive. XMind is an award winning open source program which, in addition to the expected package of features, offers quite a bit of sharing and collaboration ability (some...

Windows 7 introduced the incredibly useful Aero Snap function, but for those of you using Windows Vista and XP you can add this functionality with the freeware utility, AeroSnap. AeroSnap is a simple but powerful application that allows you to resize, arrange or maximize your desktop windows with just drag’n'drop. Simple drag a window to a side of your...

One of the really great new functions of Windows 7 is the Aero Snap feature which allows you to easily align multiple windows on your screen by dragging them to the side. While this works great if you only have a single monitor, if you have multiple monitors the Aero Snap does not work in the area between the two screens. However, this is easily overcome by a...

I’ve been seeing a about memory optimizers recently which make promises to clean up excessive amounts of RAM that Windows and some programs use. Much like “RAM doubling” programs which made the rounds during the Windows 95/98 days, virtually all of these programs are merely a ruse: Memory boosters, optimizers, and washers — whatever the...