What Is File Streams And How to Make Good Use of Them? [Explanation]

win7if-ico-postWhen Microsoft designed Windows, instead of using a normal attribute to store information of a file (for example, the date the file was created), it decides to store this information in a hidden place. This hidden place is known as the file streams.

In this tutorial, you will learn about file streams and how you can put them to good use.
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How to Run your Older Programs in Windows 7/Vista

windows-compatibilitySometimes, it can be very annoying to get an older program to run in Windows 7 or Vista. These programs are often not compatible with your current installation of Windows, and yet they are essential for your daily usage. So what can you do about it? Luckily, there is this Program Compatibility Wizard in Windows 7/Vista that can make things slightly easier. What the wizard does is to make the Operating System behaves like an earlier version of Windows so older programs can run on it smoothly.

Here are the steps to make older programs run in Windows 7/Vista.
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Backup and Restore Your Hard Drive in Windows 7/Vista

Windows7-logoThere are a lot of software in internet, by which you can create and restore a backup of your hard drive but a large number among them does not work in Windows Vista/7. Often, at the time of restoration, the backup file made by a third party software either does not work or crash your operating system. So it’s preferable to create a backup by such a program which is provided by your operating system. Windows Vista/7 provides you this facility. Take a backup of your computer before system crash and store it in a safe location for restoration.

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One More Way to Install Windows 7/Vista/Server 2008 From a USB drive

pen driveThere are plenty of ways that you can install Windows 7 from USB drive. We have covered two, and here is another one for you.

The following free tool is created by one of the AskVG.com readers created exclusively for the sake of the site. This free tool is coined as A Bootable USB (ABUSB) and it allows you to easily create a bootable USB drive for the purpose of Windows 7 or Vista or Server 2008 installation.

Now let us proceed to the steps to create a bootable USB Drive with Windows 7 or Vista or Server 2008 installation files on it.
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How to Uninstall Internet Explorer 8 in Windows Vista

Internet Explorer I like to call myself a reluctant Windows user, at best. Microsoft Windows is something I use only when I have to and even then I make sure I don’t touch Internet Explorer even with a 10 ft pole.

Needless to say, whenever I login to my Windows desktop, every couple of weeks, I usually have a slew of updates waiting for me to install them, which I always dutifully install. That’s what updates are for, right ?

Well, this is where the sad part of the story begins. I haven’t really had a problem with any MS updates till now but when Microsoft, in a recent update, pushed Internet Explorer 8 on my computer, all hell broke loose. A lot of web based applications I rely on daily started acting weird. Active-X Add-ons that I need for my work stopped working. IE 8 crashed a lot more and was much more buggy than IE 7 and that is saying something, considering that I hardly used IE 7 also .

Which is why I decided to get rid of IE 8 once and for all and write this post so that it may benefit others who are in a similar situation. I use Windows Vista so some of the instructions might be Vista specific.

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Tweak Your Windows With Ultimate Windows Tweaker

ultimate-windows-tweaker Think you know your Windows well? Wait till you have tried out Ultimate Windows Tweaker, then you will know how much more things that you never know exist can now be tweaked and configured.

Ultimate Windows Tweaker is a freeware Tweak UI Utility for tweaking and optimizing Windows Vista and 7, 32-bit & 64-bit. There is no installation required and it can simply be downloaded and used as a portable application. With a few mouse clicks, you will be able to tweak your system and make it runs more faster, stable and more secure.

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How To Uninstall Windows 7 And Return The Partition To Vista

uninstall-win7If you have previously dualboot your Windows 7 and Vista and now you wanted to remove it, either because you don’t like it or you are running out of hard disk space, here is the way to do it:

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How To Auto-Clean Windows Vista With CCleaner

automate ccleaner If you’re not familiar with everyone’s favourite system cleaner, CCleaner, it’s a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool.  This application does a very nice job at cleaning up after you, assuming that you actually remember to run it. In today’s fast-paced world, many of us don’t have the time or capacity it takes to remember all of the little things that have to get done.  System maintenance is no exception.

In this tutorial, I’m going to walk you through setting up CCleaner to automatically run on a schedule in Windows Vista so that you can simply set it and forget it.

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Make Your Windows XP/Vista Functions Like Windows 7

windows 7If you have downloaded and try out Windows 7 beta on your computer, you will know that it comes with plenty of useful features and an improved usability over its previous version. If you like the features very much and would like to implement them to your existing version of Windows (XP or Vista), here are some applications that you can use to make your Windows XP/Vista functions the same as Windows 7.

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How to Dual Boot Windows Vista And Windows 7

windows-selection

For those of you who have waited long for the beta release of Windows 7, Micosoft has finally released the link for you to download a copy to test. In case you have not downloaded, here is the link:

  • Windows 7 beta 32-bit version
  • Windows 7 beta 64-bit version (the download is no longer available)

The file size is about 2.4GB in size, so make sure you are on a broadband connection and have several hours to spare. You will have to burn it into a DVD to use it.

Once you have downloaded it, you will have to install it on a working machine in order to access the full functionality. As this is still a beta release and not suitable for daily production use, it is not wise to erase or upgrade your existing Vista to Windows 7. A good way is to create a dual boot system where you can choose to boot into Vista or Win 7. Here’s how it’s done:
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