Ron writes: One thing I find really annoying is that when first putting something into a folder,the default under the view tab is for Auto-arrange icons, which I never want to do.Is there a way to get around that?The standard way to set a default icon arrangement since Windows 95 all the way to present is to click View, then Arrange Icons By and then select...

"GUI? We don’t need no steenkeen GUI!" Or words to that effect. When you use an operating system long enough, you will inevitably be drawn into the world of the black-as-night zero-graphic command line. In Windows it’s known as the Command Prompt and in Mac or Linux as simply the Terminal – but I’m going to concentrate on...

Autoruns is a free utility from Windows Sysinternals that will show you exactly what your Windows loads on each startup. While true there are other utilities that will show this same information, when you want every single possible detail, Autoruns is the tool to use. By default, on launch the tab you land on is "Everything", and it will show...

Kenny writes: How can I move/remove data/pictures/emails from a WinMe PC to a Win 7 PC using either a wired network, USB or Ethernet cable? I have been unable to network the WinMe to the Win7 PC. This is a bit of an odd one, because what Kenny is attempting to do is connect an MS-DOS based Windows (WinME was the final Windows using MS-DOS as the actual OS) over...

At this point, those of you who don’t have a great deal of technical knowledge are probably wondering “What exactly is a non-Unicode Application, and why would I want to run it?” A Non-Unicode application is, essentially, any program that’s not written in the default language of the Windows platform. That’s a horrifically simplified...

When Microsoft introduced the taskbar with Windows 95, this was as far as I’m concerned the greatest breakthrough in desktop GUI productivity. Why? Because before that, desktop UIs simply weren’t designed for multitasking very well. Yes, they could multitask, but the way in which it was done was awful. In just about every GUI prior to Win95, all...

This is a quick tip but a good one to know. Strangely enough there is no way to rename a task once it’s set in Windows 7 Task Scheduler. You can right-click/Properties or edit the task until you’re blue in the face (or screen, ha ha), but you can’t rename that darned task. There is a workaround however. Right-click your task and select...

It’s a fact of life that the more you use your PC the more bloated and inefficient it becomes until eventually it gets to the point where you just can’t put up with it any longer. Sure there are lots of things you can do to hold back the eventual slowing up and general sluggishness of your trusty PC. Obviously you should have a good anti-virus program...

Windows, love it, hate it or tolerate it, has definitely changed concerning what’s considered "standard maintenance" for the OS these days. A few things that applied to older Windows do not apply to newer editions, or not as often. Here are a few of them. Reinstall the entire OS once every 6 months It was standard practice to do this with Windows...

The vast majority of Windows users use their operating systems with what’s known as administrator access, which simply means "access to everything and can run anything". Linux on the other hand does not do this by default. The admin account as far as I’m aware on every Linux box is the user root, however for every modern on-hard-drive...

Microsoft’s System Sweeper is: …a recovery tool that can help you start an infected PC and perform an offline scan to help identify and remove rootkits and other advanced malware.I’ve not had the opportunity to test this software as of yet, but the fact Microsoft is offering this is pretty darned cool. They make mention that this isn’t...

I am a Windows user, therefore I have to reboot periodically. These days I reboot with much less frequency compared to years ago because Windows 7 handles things a lot better, but even so you’re still not out of RebootsVille completely. Even today there are people who for whatever reason sincerely believe rebooting your PC doesn’t fix common issues....

Windows Themes are easy to work with but a pain to find the actual files for. The .theme file itself is actually nothing more than plain text settings, similar to an .ini file. What does a .theme file contain? Theme settings for fonts, window control sizes, colors, what screen saver is selected, sounds selected, mouse pointers selected, and so on. What...

There’s a fair amount of geeks out there who prefer their UIs to look “computery”, and that’s what the videos below are about. Windows had more or less the exact same look for five years (1995 to 2000) before XP came along with the Luna theme, and then Vista and 7 with Aero. However it’s generally true that you can customize much...

I asked for this app review because I have a really hard time staying organized. This isn’t a great trait for someone who wants to write professionally – or for anyone else with deadlines, multi-step tasks, projects, ingredient lists, or any other number of things integral to GTD – Getting Things Done. My friends have often said it’s...

Any of you reading this have been here before: You’re in the middle of an important project whether it be personal or business, and you encounter an error or an unexpected problem getting something done on your computer. Murphy’s Law seems to dictate that the more important the project is to you, the more complex or trying the problem seems to be. If...

With Windows, the maximum virtual memory in 32-bit is capped at 4GB and the page file size at 16TB. In 64-bit Windows, virtual memory can be 16TB in size with a maximum page file size on 256TB. Does this mean you need to stock up on gobs and gobs of HDD space for maximum performance? No, because RAM is faster than a hard drive is. It is far more desirable to...

Back when I was using Windows XP, one of my always-had-installed-no-matter-what utilities was Sizer. The reason? Because I like being able to resize any window I want to specific sizes. Then Windows 7 came along and Sizer didn’t work in it, so I was bummed out about that. FireSizer was good for Firefox and gets the job done in fine style, but only for...

So, my wife was using her laptop one day to look up a word. She Googled the word and was taken to a dictionary site of some kind. Up pops a warning message saying her computer was infected and that she needed to run some scan or something. Not knowing that she was about to be taken by a classic “bait-and-switch” scam, she clicked it. Laptop = infested with...

Creating nested directories using Windows Explorer can be quite tedious. First you have to create the master folder, open it and then create the sub-folder, open it then create another sub-folder… you get the idea. As a quicker alternative, you can use the “MkDir” command line tool to easily create the entire folder structure with a single...