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...

Let’s face it, XP is old. Really old. However in the business world, Win2000 and WinXP still have a strong foothold on the desktop. But thankfully XP is finally losing its grip. By the end of 2010 it’s speculated that 50% of business will be using Windows 7. This is largely due to the fact that more IT admins have given Win 7 the thumbs up as a...

Last night on the PCMech LIVE show, community member Jose_327 recommended a small script for Windows Vista and 7 called Take Ownership. What this does it really simple but at times you will find very handy. It adds an entry to the right-click context menu called Take Ownership. When right-clicking any file or folder, you will see the option. The reason this is...

One of the frustrating settings in Windows Vista that doesn’t work correctly as it did in XP is the ability to apply folder view settings of the current folder to all folders. You can still set this option the same way you would in XP, but it just doesn’t seem to work. Well, there is a fix available here. Just follow the instructions:Copy the reg...

Windows Vista users, if Service Pack 2 hasn’t hit your Windows Update yet it probably will very soon. So if you are curious about what is in this upgrade, here are the full details from Microsoft. Overall, there is nothing really to get excited about for home users (in my opinion at least). A few notable changes:SP2 improves performance for Wi-Fi...

One of the really nice improvements Windows Vista makes is the addition of the Search Bar to the Start Menu. This allows you to easily locate any program installed on your system by simply typing a few letters. A tool which enhances this functionality which you might find useful is Start++. There is a nice page here which gives a description of what Start++ does...

Certain commands in Windows Vista and 7 require “elevation” in order to execute. For example, if you run NETSTAT -B, a notice will appear that states: The requested operation requires elevation. What does this mean exactly? It’s means you need additional permission(s) to execute the operation. This is done by executing a Command Prompt as...

AIM is the primary instant messenger I use. Out of all the IM services I’ve used over the years, it is the most reliable. In addition, it runs flawlessly on any operating system. Whether you’re on Windows, Mac or Linux, you can run AIM. The latest client offering on the Windows platform is AIM 7 Beta 2. Short review: It’s awesome. If you use...

I made mention last week that if you were running XP illegally, you could still get Windows 7 by buying Vista, then buying the Windows 7 Upgrade and the total cost would be around $138. NewEgg now offers free Windows 7 coupons with certain Vista license purchases. The cost now? $109.99. With free shipping. This is something that wasn’t available last week,...

(Note: If you are running Windows XP or Vista legally, this article does not apply to you.) I’m not going to pretend for a moment that there’s more than a few of you out there running Windows XP illegally. You’ve seen the very nice $50 price tag of Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade and said, "Okay, I can afford that, but can I upgrade a...

Said honestly, Windows Live Movie Maker Beta, in a word, sucks. It lost so many features compared to the old Windows Movie Maker that it’s just not worth using. Are you stuck without a free video editor in Windows 7 at this point? No. You can install the old – and far superior – Windows Movie Maker in Windows 7. All you have to do is download...

Judging from the overwhelming positive response from Windows 7 users (including myself), I guess it’s no surprise that Gartner is telling clients to skip Vista entirely and just go straight to 7. What’s more is that it will happen relatively quickly as Microsoft appears to be on target for a late 2009 launch – and that’s ahead of schedule...

ZoomIt v3.01 by Sysinternals will allow you roughly the same screen-zoom capabilities that you have in a Linux desktop with 3D effects enabled (Compiz) or Mac OS X. It’s a nice small utility (only 129k before install!) and works in both XP and Vista. If you use your computer screen on a live webcast or make presentations to people often using your...

As you may or may not have heard, the next Windows will be literally called Windows 7. This has confused some people because the total number of Microsoft Windows releases has been way more than 7 – but I digress. Windows XP is version 5.1.2600. How do I know this? …that’s how. Windows XP was the NT kernel release after Windows 2000 (version...

I’ve mentioned on the PCMech Live show many times my disdain for the fact that if you’re one of the few running a 64-bit processor, your options for native 64-bit applications are few and far between on the consumer end. Chances are very high that the computer you’re using right now has a 32-bit CPU in it. Here’s the short-short...

One of the lesser-known features in Windows (ever since Windows 2000 and possibly even as far back as Windows 98) is the ability to have multiple application bars aside from the main taskbar itself. See video below for details on how to do...

A freeware utility called Rename Master is all you need to mass-rename any type of file you want to in Windows XP or Vista. While it’s true you can mass-rename file extensions from the command line in Windows, it’s not so easy to touch a specific part of a filename. But with Rename Master you can do this easily. See video below for...

I just recently upgraded to Windows Vista from XP. Then I had to wait for all the updates to install, then go around to all my hardware manufacturers websites to download there drivers and that also took awhile. Well, I found this little tool called vLite, that I wish I would have had when I did the upgrade. vLite is a tool that allows you to customize a Windows...

Although all the new features in Windows Vista are nice, they can slow down your computer. One of the biggest things you can do to speed up Vista, is by have a minimum of 2 gigabytes of ram. Although I had 3 gigabytes of ram and at times still found it to be a little slow. So here are some tips to help speed up Vista: 1. Use Windows Defender Windows Defender is...

Windows Vista has, by all accounts, been a huge public relations problem for Microsoft. The operating system came out and became well known for buggy drivers, system instabilities, software that didn’t work, etc. That reputation was EARNED, because it was accurate.Now, since then, Vista has indeed improved. Many kinks have been worked out. It is still a...