FilerFrog integrates seamlessly with Windows Explorer. download and install the application to your computer. It won’t take long to see how quick and easy it is to use FilerFrog. It will organize your files and folders for you, all you have to do is tell them where to go!

Hint: A reboot will be necessary after the installation so be sure you have saved all your files and all other applications are closed.

Locate FilerFrog App

After the installation, you can open and use it by right clicking on the image or file you want to organize.

How To Extract A File From A Folder

FilerFrog allows you to easily extract files to and from folders faster than any tool of its kind. To move files from one folder to another, right click on the file and scroll to FilerFrog. In the drop down menu select Organize and then Extract Files to Folder.

Name the folder in the text box that opens and your image is now in that folder

You will now see a folder in the library you are working with. Here we are using pictures so in the picture library, you see the Home Decor folder I created and the file I extracted to it.

Move And Copy Files

To move more files or images to a folder, simply highlight the ones you want to move, right click on them to open FilerFrog and repeat the action of clicking Organize and Extract File To Folder. Select the folder and boom! They are all moved!

Delete Empty Files and Folders

In the Organize drop down menu we have been using, select the Delete Empty Files/Folders option. The application will search your local disk and delete any empty files and folders for you.

Split And Join

This option is best for combining folders of like content or If you begin a folder that grows too large to easily find content, you can reorganize it by using the Split and Join option. Open FilerFrog and in the drop down menu select Split to split the content or Join to join folders together.

Encrypt/Decrypt

To protect your files from unauthorized access, it’s important to encrypt any sensitive information. To do this, open FilerFrog and in the drop down menu select Security. Choose Encrypt and create a password to secure it. You will have to remember the password in order to decrypt the document.

Image Manipulation

Unless you are using FilerFrog mostly for work documents, the Image Manipulator will likely be the most loved feature of this application. This feature allows you to manipulate images right from Windows Explorer. Re-size an image, add a logo, and convert to JPG.

Just below that is Image Album which allows users to arrange photos in an easy to share PDF package. what family member wouldn’t love seeing pictures this way. You can also use it to send clients product images and suggestions!

I highly recommend using this app to organize your files and pictures. I worked with it to manage some of my files and it does the work for me in a blink of an eye without much effort! We would like to know what file manager you have used and how it compares to FilerFrog. Leave a comment!

Related Posts:

• What Is File Streams And How to Make Good Use of Them? [Explanation]
• How to Run your Older Programs in Windows 7/Vista
• Backup and Restore Your Hard Drive in Windows 7/Vista
• Tweak Your Windows With Ultimate Windows Tweaker

In this tutorial, you will learn about file streams and how you can put them to good use.

Each file in Windows system comes with a default stream where application can use to store information. A file can also have more than one of streams (also known as alternate streams), but they are seldom used by applications.

How To Hide Text Information On a File

It is a good practice for applications to store data in alternate streams rather than the default stream. However, almost every program we use don’t even care about this. They just use the default stream and forget about the possibilities of a file having more than one stream. Creating an alternate stream is as easy as using the command file:stream in command prompt.

To hide text information on a file, we just have to create an alternate stream and store information into it. In this case, we are going to use a file with the name “program.exe“.

Open a command prompt. To create a new stream, type:

notepad "program.exe:hide"

The next window will appear:

Notepad will create an alternate stream with the name “hide.txt” inside program.exe. Once we click yes we can save whatever text we want:

If you copy the “program.exe” file to another location, it will carry this file along. To access the stream, you will need to use its name, in this case ‘hide.txt’ which makes it even harder for someone  to read it.

How to Check If A File Is From External Sources

Windows use this feature to control the source of files. It is also a good way to improve your security since you can now find out the source of the file. To check if a file came from another computer or the Internet, right click on the file and select Properties.

In the general tab, you will see information about the file:

How to Manage File Streams

While you can easily create a stream, Windows doesn’t come with any tool to view which files have streams. Nor is it able to list out the streams associated with the files. If we want to see this information, you have to use a simple application call “Streams”. This is a old program created by Mark Russinovich, who is currently a Microsoft staff.

Download Streams by Sysinternals

With this program, you can see if a file contains more than one stream. It also show the name of that stream and the size.

From the image below, you can see that many files has a ‘Zone.Identifier:$DATA‘ stream. This is used by Windows to store information about the source of the file. It will only exist if the file is originated from other computers or Internet.

By default, Windows will block downloaded program from Internet. If you are sure about the safety of the file, you can use Streams to delete this data so Windows doesn’t ask you to unblock the program every time you run it.

Alternative means to view streams

If you are using Windows Vista or 7, you can use the dir command with /R switch to view the stream. In the image below, you can see that the streams information appear if we use the /R switch.

You can see that “file.exe” contains two streams. One is unnamed (the default) and the other is “Zone.Identifier:$DATA”. For a file that doesn’t came from another computer or Internet, this stream doesn’t exist.

Do you know of any other ways to hide confidential data within a file?

Related Posts:

• Use FilerFrog To Organzie Your Files & Folders In Flash! [Windows]
• How To Fix Network Problems Using Command Line Tools In Windows 7
• How To Block An Application Access to Internet From The Context Menu [Windows 7]
• How to Run your Older Programs in Windows 7/Vista

Here are the steps to make older programs run in Windows 7/Vista.

• Open Control Panel from the start menu of  Windows 7/Vista.
• Click on “Programs” from the right pane.
• Now you can see “Programs and features”. Under this header, click on “Use an older program with this version of windows“.
• The program compatibility wizard will appear with a caution message.
• Click “Next” to continue.

For Windows Vista

• Now 3 options will appear. You can run program compatibility wizard for those programs that are already installed but not running properly by choosing the the option”I want to choose from a list of programs“. There is another option that allows you to choose the location of the setup file of the application which you are going to install in Vista.
• After choosing the appropriate option, you have to select the operating system in which the program is compatible. Here I have chosen Windows XP service pack 2.

• The next window allows you to change the display settings for the application. This is only necessary if you experienced any problem with the display.

• If your programs need the administrator privilege to run, check the box Run program as administrator and click “Next“.

• Windows will now check if the program compatibility settings work fine for the older program. Once it is done, it will show a UAC security prompt. Click “Allow“
• If it finds any compatibility issue, it will show an error message.

• If everything is fine, go back to the compatibility wizard page and choose “Yes, set this program to always use these compatibility settings“. Click “Next” and then “Finish“.

For Windows 7

• It will list all the installed programs.
• Pick the incompatible program from the list. If you have not installed (or can’t install) the program, you can choose “Not listed” to select the setup file of the program.
• Now two options will appear. The first is for testing with the recommended settings and the second one is for customizing the settings. If you are having problems with the display and user permissions, choose the second option.

• If you choose the recommended compatibility settings, the system will find the suitable settings for the program. If you have chosen the second option, you will see a window where you can configure the display and user permission issue.
• Click on “Start the program“.
• Once it is done, go back to the program compatibility wizard and click on “Next“.
• Choose “Yes, save this settings for this program“.

You can also set the compatibility mode by right clicking on the executable file.

• Right click on the executable file and choose Properties.
• Select the Compatibility tab.
• Check the “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” option.

Make the necessary configuration and click OK.

You will have a better chance of running the older programs in Windows 7 than on Vista. However, it still doesn’t guarantee to work for all software. You might want to contact your software vendor to see if a newer release of the software is available.

Related Posts:

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• Use FilerFrog To Organzie Your Files & Folders In Flash! [Windows]
• What Is File Streams And How to Make Good Use of Them? [Explanation]
• Backup and Restore Your Hard Drive in Windows 7/Vista

This article will discuss the method to create a clone of your hard drive or entire system including documents and settings, installed programs, registry settings, personal data etc. As a XML document file you can further process it. I hope since now you will never be in trouble when your computer will crash. You can also create a system repair disc which will help you in future to repair Windows 7.

Backup Creating Procedure:

1. Click on Start menu and open the Control panel. At the left side of the window click on the “Back up your computer” option.

2. Look at the left pane, there will be two options, one for creating a backup of your entire system and the other for creating a system disc. Click on the first to create a backup file.

3. Now an another window will appear to select the saving location of the drive image file. There will be three options, first one for saving it in your hard drive, second for write in a CD or DVD, and the last one for uploading. Here we choose the first option. Select the drive from a drop down list and then click “Next” at bottom.

4. Now select the hard drive/drives which you want to create a backup. See the screenshot below, the operating system installed drive will be selected by default. If you want to add the remaining drives to take a backup just tick the small square box beside the drive symbol. Here in my PC Windows 7 is installed in drive D:/ and that’s why it has automatically selected the drive. Click on “Next” to continue.

5. An another window will open containing the details of your given instructions. Click on “Start backup” at bottom. I have done a backup for 28GB and it came to 23GB.

6. Now the backup creating process will start and take several minutes to finish. It will create the backup in XML document format.

Restoring Backup Procedure:

I have tested the method in Windows 7 but it works in Vista also. Once the backup is created now you have to restore it.

1. Follow step 1-2 of Backup Creating Procedure and click on the “Recover system settings or your computer” option.

2. Now the interface will be changed and click on “Advanced recovery method” to restore your computer using the just created drive image.

3. Look at the window. There will be two options first one for restore your computer using the newly created image and the other for reinstalling by your Windows 7 disc. The previous files will be kept in a Windows.old folder and you can further retrieve the files from here. Choose the first option to use the backup image.

4. Now a window will open to remind you whether you want to store the last updated data in a removable drive or not. Simply click “skip” to continue.

5. Just click on the “Restart” button and it will automatically start to restore the just created backup after restarting. Windows Vista allows you to browse the backup file from your hard drive but in Windows 7 the system will automatically detect the backup file from hard drive.

6. Just before the restoration process starts, a alert window will appear to ask for your confirmation. Click “yes”.

7. The restoration process will start and it will take around 15 minutes.

Quick Restore Procedure:

1. Follow backup creating step1-2 of backup creating procedure and then click on the “Recover system settings or your computer’” option.

2. Now click on the option “Open System Restore”.

3. This will show you two options, one of which will suggest you for restoring with recommended method. Select this method and click on “Next”. You can change the restore point by selecting the second method.

4. Thus you will get a confirmation window to restore. Click on “Finish” to continue. Now an another final confirmation window will open. Click on “Yes”.

System Repair Disc Creating Procedure:

1. Click on the “Create a system repair disc” option in step 2 of Backup Creating Procedure.

2. A small window will  open. Insert a blank DVD and hit the  “Create disc” button to finally create the system repair disc. It will take a few minutes.

3. Boot the newly created DVD by restarting your computer.

4. Choose your language and select “Repair your computer” option.

I hope you will face no problem during the backup creating and restoring session. So don’t waste time and take a backup of your computer because near about 30000 viruses are launching per day.

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• Titanium Backup: The Best Backup App For Android Power Users
• Deja Dup Makes Backup A Simple Task [Linux]
• What Is File Streams And How to Make Good Use of Them? [Explanation]

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.

Requirements to use this tool :

1. A USB Drive or simply a pendrive with at least 4GB in free space.
2. A Windows 7 or Vista or Server 2008 (whichever you are trying to install) bootable DVD Disc or ISO Image.
3. A PC that has Windows 7 or Vista or Server 2008 already installed. You can borrow one from your friends or use the other one (if you own another) that has a DVD drive. This app is designed to work on these platforms only.

NOTE : Though this utility lets you create a bootable USB, your PC must be able to support booting from USB for this to work. You can check the BIOS settings and set the USB drive to select primary boot device as USB Drive.

Now after making sure you have fulfilled all the three necessities mentioned above start with the steps below

Steps to create a Bootable USB Drive :

1. Download A Bootable USB from the following link onto the PC mentioned in the 3rd step in the requirements section.

• Download Bootable USB Drive Creator from Skydrive.

2. Load the OS DVD onto the DVD Drive or mount the ISO Image file onto a virtual drive of the same PC.

3. Its a portable utility and hence don’t need installation. Simply run it. Check the option “I have read and accepted the following License Agreement“. Now click on OK button to launch the main application. The app looks somewhat like below.

4. The app will then carry out the following 4 steps:

• Check USB drive (To check whether your USB drive is attached or not)
• Format USB drive
• Choose DVD or ISO image (To copy the required files to USB drive)
• Start the process to create bootable USB drive

By now I’m sure you have figured out that this great tool will now end all worries for those really looking forward to experience Windows 7 but unable to do so due to the lack of a DVD drive.  Hope this small trick solve your problem. Fee free to ask questions.

Related Posts:

• Make Your Windows XP/Vista Functions Like Windows 7
• How To Properly Maintain Hard Drives with Defraggler
• How To Dual Boot Windows XP And Vista
• Use FilerFrog To Organzie Your Files & Folders In Flash! [Windows]

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.

The first step to getting rid of IE 8 is to open the control panel and click on the Program and Features applications.

This application will show you a list of all the programs installed on your machine and allow you to uninstall them. Except for one small problem !

As you can see, Internet Explorer 8 does not show up in the list of programs installed on your machine. Since, IE was installed by Microsoft as part of a system update, The Programs and Features application doesn’t consider it a normal user application.

IE 8 shows up as an update installed on your computer. To get to that list, click on the “View Installed Updates” link in the left sidebar.

You will now see a list of all the updates that you’ve ever installed on your computer. If, like me, you’ve had your windows install for a long time, this will be one long list. Browse through the list and find the update which says Internet Explorer 8.

Select it, and click on “uninstall”. Follow the instructions, if any, and let the uninstaller take charge. Once the uninstall is complete, restart your computer and carry on with your IE 8 free life.

Related Posts:

• Use FilerFrog To Organzie Your Files & Folders In Flash! [Windows]
• What Is File Streams And How to Make Good Use of Them? [Explanation]
• How to Use CSS3 Pie to Modernize Internet Explorer
• How To Fix The Common Problems In Internet Explorer 8

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.

Once you have downloaded (and extracted) the application, simply double click to launch the UWT.

The tweaks are classified under seven categories, namely Personalization, User Accounts and UAC, System Performance, Security Settings, Network Tweaks, Internet Explorer and Additional Tweaks.

Personalization

This is where you tweak the looks and feels of the Windows Explorer, Start menu and taskbar. You can get it to show/hide menu bar, drive letter, open folders in separate process, disable context menu in Start menu, remove Volume icon from taskbar and many more tweaks.

User Accounts and UAC

Configure the settings for user accounts and UAC.

System Performance

If you are always wondering why is your computer so slow and how you can make it run faster, the System Performance section gives you plenty of options to tweak the performance setting of your computer.

Security Settings

This page doesn’t really deal with the back end security of the system other than giving you the option to disable a number of applications. From the Administrative panel to the applications and Windows update, you can choose which applications you don’t need and disable them here.

Network Tweaks

Internet Explorer

The UWT is able to detect which version of IE you are using and provide the relevant options for you to tweak. Most of the options are available in the IE option page, but this provides a centralised place for you to control all the IE settings.

Overall, the Ultimate Windows Tweaker is a simple, small and powerful tool for you to control the settings of your Windows Vista/7 in a centralised place. For those who are not accustomed to tweaking the registry and accessing the command prompt, this will provide a good tool for you to power up your Windows experience.

Ubuntu users can use the UbuntuTweak to tweak your system.

Related Posts:

• Use FilerFrog To Organzie Your Files & Folders In Flash! [Windows]
• What Is File Streams And How to Make Good Use of Them? [Explanation]
• Improve Your Windows Performance With Mz 7 Optimizier
• How to Run your Older Programs in Windows 7/Vista

Remove the Windows 7 boot entry

Previously when you install Windows 7, it modifies the bootloader and makes it the default OS to boot up. If you are going to uninstall Windows 7, you will have to remove the entry from the bootloader so that you don’t have any conflicts when booting up later.

Download and install EasyBCD.

Run EasyBCD. On the left pane, click on the Add/Remove Entries.

On the right pane, highlight the Windows 7 entry and click Delete.

Close EasyBCD.

Download GParted iso file and burn the image to a CD.

Boot up your computer with the Gparted live CD. On the main screen, you should see your Windows Vista and Windows 7 partitions.

There are two ways that you can deal with your Windows 7 partition:

1) reformat it and use it as an additional partition to your Vista partition

2) remove the partition and return the extra space back to the Vista partition

Reformat Windows 7 partition

Highlight and right click on the Windows 7 partition. Select Format to -> ntfs.

Click Apply.

Remove Win 7 partition and return it to Vista partition

Highlight the Windows 7 partition and click the Delete button.

Next, highlight the Windows Vista partition and click Resize/Move. Increase the New Size to the maximum. Make sure that the Free Space Preceding and Free Space Following is zero.

Click Apply.

Once all the operations are completed, exit GParted and restart your computer. You should now boot into your Vista. Depending on the option you choose, you will have either a new blank partition that you can use to store data or a bigger Vista partition.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Related Posts:

• Use FilerFrog To Organzie Your Files & Folders In Flash! [Windows]
• What Is File Streams And How to Make Good Use of Them? [Explanation]
• How to Run your Older Programs in Windows 7/Vista
• Backup and Restore Your Hard Drive in Windows 7/Vista

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.

Configure Your Options

Making sure that you have set the correct options inside of CCleaner is very important if you plan to automate it. For example, what if you decide to run it every night and you have it set to clean out your recent documents or cookies. That could become very frustrating in a very short time.

Start by opening CCleaner and selecting the options you want in the Windows Cleaner section that opens by default. I can’t tell you what settings to use because everyone will have different needs. All I can tell you is that you need to think about each option carefully and consider that possible outcomes.

The next piece that you’ll want to look at is the Advanced Options. Click on the Options button in the lower left corner of the window, then click Advanced. Make sure that Save all settings to INI file is checked.

Create the Scheduled Task

Open up the Start menu in Windows, then go to All Programs –> Accessories –> System Tools –> Task Scheduler. If Windows prompts you to tell you that it needs your permission to continue, simply click the Continue button.

Once the task schedule window is open, click on Create Basic Task. A new wizard will open to help you through the process.  Give your task a meaningful name and description. I chose “System Cleanup” for the name and “This task launches CCleaner to perform a system cleanup on a regular basis.” Click Next.

The Task Trigger window is where you determine what causes the task to run. In our case, we want a time period to be the trigger. I personally find weekly to be sufficient, but you can choose daily or monthly depending on your individual needs. After you select your trigger, click Next.

Now the scheduler needs you to get a little more granular by selecting the day of the week and the time that the task will run.  This choice is very important. For example, if you turn your PC off at night, then you don’t want to run the task in the middle of the night. You also don’t want the task to run when you are likely to be in the middle of using the computer. Once you decide on the finer details, click Next.

Now it’s time to tell the scheduler just exactly what you want it to do. It defaults to Start a program, so just click Next. Click the Browse button and locate the CCleaner.exe program file. The default location is:

C:Program FilesCCleanerCCleaner.exe

In the Add arguments section, add the /AUTO switch. This tells CCleaner to run automatically without waiting for user input.  Click Next to get to the Summary screen. Check the box next to Open the Properties Dialog for this task when I click Finish and click the Finish button.

In the Properties window, check the box next to Run with the highest privileges. This is required so that the task can run without prompting you for administrator privileges. Next click on the Conditions tab and check the box next to Wake the computer to run this task. This will bring your computer out of sleep mode in the event that the power saver settings have put it to sleep.  Click Ok to finish the process.

You can try out the task to make sure everything was configured properly by right-clicking on your new task and selecting Run.

If everything is ok, you should see the CCleaner icon appear in your system tray.

You can get more info about CCleaner from the CCleaner website, or from our handy walkthrough.

Related Posts:

• How To Properly Maintain Hard Drives with Defraggler
• 4 Tools To Make Vista’s UAC Less Annoying Without Compromising Your Security
• Microsoft Pledges to Eliminate Pre-Packaged Bloatware With ‘Signature’
• The Review of FX Photo Studio [Mac]

Taskbar

In Windows 7, the new taskbar features big icons for you to access your favorite application easily. In Windows XP/Vista, this can be easily achieved with Windows 7 Taskbar Iconizer. This is a simple program that you can use to switch the taskbar interface. There is no installation required and you can easily switch back to the original looks.

Download Windows 7 Taskbar Iconizer.

Double click the application to run.

Click on the image to the right to “iconized” your taskbar. Restart your computer for it to take effect.

AeroPeek for Windows XP/Vista

Windows 7 comes with this AeroPeek feature that allows you to view thumbnails of opened windows, take a peek of the desktop when mouse hover on the right-bottom corner and also highlight the active window and make the other windows transparent.

To achieve these effects, we will use a combination of AeroPeek utility and Visual Task Tips.

Download and install AeroPeek and Visual Task Tips. The AeroPeek application requires .NET framework 3.5 to run. If you have not installed, download it here.

Restart your computer. Run the AeroPeek and Visual Task tips via the Start menu. You should be able to achieve the transparent windows and thumbnails effects.

AeroSnap for Windows XP/Vista

The AeroSnap feature automatically resize the window to half the screen size and snap itself to the side when you drag the window to the side (either left or right). When you drag the window to the top of the screen, the Window maximize to full screen.

In Windows XP/Vista, this can be achieved using AeroSnap.

Download and install AeroSnap.

Run AeroSnap via the Start menu. Now drag your window to the side and release and see it miraculously resize and snap itself to the side. You can also drag the window to the top of the screen to maximize it.

It is difficult to show the full effect of the AeroSnap in screenshot. You should try it out yourself.

AeroShake for Windows XP/Vista

AeroShake is another feature in Windows 7 that allows you to minimize all windows, except for the active one by shaking the window with your mouse.  In Windows XP/Vista, an AeroShake application was developed using AutoHotKeys scripts.

Download Aeroshake. There is no installation required. Simply double click the downloaded application to run. Drag your active window with the mouse and give it a few big shake. You should see all other windows minimize to the taskbar.

That’s it!

Note: If you are looking to transform your XP/Vista to Windows 7, AskVG has written a very good guide to transform your Windows to Windows 7 without using transformation pack.

Transform Windows XP into Windows 7 without using Customization Pack

Transform Windows Vista into Windows 7 without using Customization Pack

Related Posts:

• Use FilerFrog To Organzie Your Files & Folders In Flash! [Windows]
• What Is File Streams And How to Make Good Use of Them? [Explanation]
• How to Run your Older Programs in Windows 7/Vista
• Backup and Restore Your Hard Drive in Windows 7/Vista

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:

Shrink your Vista and create new partition

In your Vista, go to Start -> Control Panel. Click on the System and Maintenance.

Scroll down all the way to find the Administrative Tools. Create on the Create and format hard disk partitions. You should see information about  your current hard drive partitioning.

Right click on the chart diagram and select Shrink volume.

A window will pop up to ask you to enter the amount of space to shrink. This is the size that you want your new partition to have. For Win 7, you will need at least 10GB of hard disk space. Click Shrink after you have confirmed the shrinking size.

Back to the Disk Management window, you should see two partition now: one is the C drive and a new unallocated partition. Right-click on the Unallocated partition and select New Simple Volume

Set the volume size of the new partition and click Next.

Next, it will ask you to specify the drive letter of the new partition. To avoid confusion with the drive letter of the CD-ROM, I decided to go with G:. You can set your own drive letter though.

In the next screen, you can specify the file format and Volume label. It is recommended to change the Volume Label to something that is easy to identify, such as Windows 7.

The partitioning will now start. Once it is done, you should see something like this.

Close everything. Place in the Windows 7 DVD and restart the computer.

Installing Windows 7

Boot up your computer using the Windows 7 installer DVD (you might have to configure the BIOS to get the computer to boot from CD-ROM). Let’s the installer run and follow the instruction until you reach the point where it asks you to select the installation partition.Make sure you select the partition that you have just created (not the Vista partition).

Finish up the installation. It should be done in about 30 minutes time.

When it’s done, it will auto-restart. On the boot up screen, you should be able to choose between Windows Vista or Windows 7.

To dual boot windows XP and windows 7

The procedure is the same as the dual-boot between windows XP and Vista.

Accessing Windows Vista partition from Windows 7

When you boot into Windows 7, you will find that you won’t be able to access Vista partition. This is because in Windows 7, both the partitions are registered as Drive C:, thus it only displays the partition that the system boots up with. To solve this issue, simply go to Disk Management and change the drive letter of the Vista partition.

In your Windows 7, go to Disk Management.

Right-click on the Vista partition (the one with the blank entry) and select Change Drive letter and Paths

Click Add to assign a drive letter to the Vista partition.

Save and close all windows. The Vista partition should appear in your Explorer now.

Related Posts:

• Use FilerFrog To Organzie Your Files & Folders In Flash! [Windows]
• What Is File Streams And How to Make Good Use of Them? [Explanation]
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In my system I store backups and archived data to the external drive, mostly items that I don’t plan to access frequently.  That being said, there is no reason why it couldn’t be a little quicker when I am using it.  Windows Vista has a little known tweak that will speed up your external USB hard drives and I’m going to show you how to do it.

The trick to improving the external drive’s performance is in something called Write Caching.  The PC Guide defines write caching as:

Caching reads from the hard disk and caching writes to the hard disk are similar in some ways, but very different in others. They are the same in their overall objective: to decouple the fast PC from the slow mechanics of the hard disk. The key difference is that a write involves a change to the hard disk, while a read does not.

When write caching is enabled, when the system sends a write to the hard disk, the logic circuit records the write in its much faster cache, and then immediately sends back an acknowledgement to the operating system saying, in essence, “all done!” The rest of the system can then proceed on its merry way without having to sit around waiting for the actuator to position and the disk to spin, and so on. This is called write-back caching, because the data is stored in the cache and only “written back” to the platters later on.

Due to the fact that caching tells the operating system that it is done even though it isn’t, there is always the potential for data loss if power is cut.  The screenshots below show the warning that explains the you must use the Safely Remove Hardware feature to disconnect the drive.  Failing to do so could cause data loss.  It is also recommended to have your computer connected to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to assist with unexpected power outages.

Now that the education piece is out of the way, here is how to speed up your external USB drives in Windows Vista.

Start by opening the Control Panel, then open Device Manager.  Expand Disk Drives and locate your portable drive.

In my example, I’m using a Western Digital 300 GB external drive.  Double-click the external drive that you want to adjust to access the properties window.

Once open, click on the Policies tab and select the Optimize for performance radio button.  Click Ok to save your changes.  You should see a prompt like the one below advising you to reboot.

The settings won’t actually take effect until you reboot your computer.  Once the reboot is complete you’re done!  Wasn’t that easy?

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Enter Defraggler, a powerful and easy-to-use defragmentation tool for your Windows managed hard drives.  This defrag tool really sets itself apart from it’s competitors by being a quality product with the perfect price tag – free.  This tutorial will give you a nice overview of the Defraggler tool, as well as provide you with the necessary knowledge to use it effectively on your home computer.

First off, lets get to the meat and potatoes.  Why do you need to defrag?  Simply put, your Windows file system frequently fragments it’s file system by placing pieces of each file that it writes to disk into the first available spots.

The result is an increase in the time it takes to access a file, because the file can be cut into pieces and spread about the physical disk.  By defragging your disks, files are relocated so that all of the pieces are in the correct order and placed next to one another.  Defragging can easily extend the live or your hard disks and improve system performance.

Install Defraggler

You can get started by downloading and installing the latest edition of Defraggler.  I won’t bore you with the details of the installation, because it is incredibly straight forward.  I strongly encourage you to keep all of the default settings when you install the application, it will make things a whole lot easier.

Launch Defraggler

You can launch Defraggler from the desktop icon or the Start Menu.  Once open, you’ll be presented with the main window, as shown below.

Analyze

As you can see, it’s very straight-forward.  Start by selecting the disk you want to perform maintenance on in the upper portion of the window.  Next, click the Analyze button to have Defraggler assess the current condition of the file system on the selected drive.

This shouldn’t take very long to process.  Once complete, you’ll see a report similar to the following screenshot.

Defrag

You can click the View Files button, if you are interested in seeing which files are actually strewn about the drive.  That step is only for interest sake and has no impact on the defrag process.  To start the process, click on the Defrag button.

Depending on the size of your drive, the amount stored on it, and the amount of time since the last defrag, this process could take a considerable amount of time to complete.  It’s also resource intensive, so don’t start this task while you have a lot of work to do.

Save it for when you might have some downtime and can afford to be away from the computer for an hour or more.  Mine didn’t take very long to complete, only about 15 – 20 minutes.  Here’s a sample of the report you can expect to see once the job is done.

That’s it.  Pretty simple stuff.

You should repeat this process for each drive on your system.  You can even defragment your portable USB drives.  Even though you have done a great service for your PC, you’re not done yet.  Performing a defrag is a great step in the right direction, but to properly manage your system you need to defrag on a regular basis.  Defraggler can help!

Scheduled Maintenance

Clicking on the Settings menu, then Options, will open up the main Options dialog box.  Click the Schedule tab to set up a schedule that works for you.

Select the drive that you want to schedule maintenance for via the Drive dropdown list.  A good place to start is Local Disk (C:).  Next place a checkmark in the checkbox labelled Schedule defragmentation for chosen volume.  This will activate the lower options, allowing you to specify an interval.  This part is personal preference, but I prefer to defrag my drives on a weekly basis.  For most users, this will be acceptable.

Now you just have to pick a starting date and time.  Do yourself a favor and select a time when the system will not be in high demand from it’s user(s).  If you have more than one drive, repeat the process by selecting a different drive from the dropdown list and follow the steps you followed for the first drive.

As you can see in the pictures below, I staggered the days that my drives are defragmented, mainly because of the resource requirements to get the job done.

Just click Ok and your system will do the rest.

There are some advanced components that come with Defraggler and one of them is to check the drive for errors.  You can access this utility via the Action menu.

Checking for errors can take a significant amount of time.  In fact, I’ve seen it take a couple of hours to actually finish, so don’t start this task unless you have plenty of time to kill.

Summary

Defraggler is an important addition to your PC toolkit.  The benefits of learning to use this tool will definitely be seen through extended hard drive life and improved file access performance.  It’s easy to use, free to download, and you can set it and forget it.

If you run into any problems, Piriform provides a great support forum that represents a community of help resources.

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Here is the tutorial to create a dual boot Vista/XP system. It is divided into 3 scenarios: Installing XP/Vista on a blank unformatted hard disk, installing Vista with XP pre-installed, installing XP with Vista preinstalled.  You will find yourself in one of these scenarios.

Installing windows XP and Vista on a blank unformatted hard disk

Step 1: Insert in the WinXP installer CD and boot up the computer into the blue WinXP installer screen.

Press Enter, follow by F8 to reach the hard disk selection screen.

Press C to create a partition. Enter the partition size for WinXP. Press Enter

It will prompt you again to allocate partition size for the remaining space. This time, enter the partition size for Vista and press Enter. Vista will need at least 15 GB of hard disk space.

Once done, the installer will bring you back to the hard disk selection screen, now with two partitioned hard disk.

Select the partition that you going to install WinXP and press Enter.

When it prompts you for partition format, select “Format the partition using the NTFS file system“.

Proceed with the Win XP installation.

Step 2: When you have completed the WinXP installation, insert in the Vista installer CD and reboot the computer into the Vista installer mode.

Follow the instruction on the screen until you reach the point where it asks you to select the partition. Choose the partition that you created for Vista.

Proceed with the installation.

When it is done, it will reboot and you will be able to choose if you want to boot up Win XP (Earlier version of Windows) or Vista.

Dual boot Vista with Win XP pre-installed

Let’s say your hard disk is already installed with Win XP and you want to create a dual boot between your existing Win XP and a new installation of Vista, here’s how you do it.

Follow the instruction here to create a new partition for your Vista installation.

Once you have created a new partition, follow the Step 2 above to install your Vista (make sure you select the correct partition when installing Vista, else you will erase all the data in the WinXP partition).

Dual boot WinXP with Vista pre-installed

If you have bought a new system that comes with Vista pre-installed and you want to create a dual boot between the existing Vista and a new installation of Win XP, here’s how you do it:

Follow the instruction here to create a new partition for your WinXP installation. (Alternatively you can use the Disk management in Vista to resize and create the partition).

Once you have created a new partition, follow the Step 1 above to install your WinXP (make sure you select the correct partition when installing WinXP, else you will erase all the data in the Vista partition).

After you have installed WinXP, you will find that it has erased the bootloader and you can’t boot into your Vista anymore. To fix this, put in your Vista CD and boot the computer into the installer screen.

Choose Repair your computer

Highlight the Vista partition and click Next

Click on Startup Repair from the list of option

The installer will now restore your Vista bootloader. When it is done, it will prompt you to restart your system. Click Finish to restart.

It should boot back to Vista now.

In your Vista, download and install EasyBCD

Launch the application.

On the left pane, select Add/Remove Entries. On the right pane in the Add an Entry section under the Windows tab, select Windows NT/2k/XP/2k3 under the Type dropdown bar. Name it Windows XP and click Add Entry.

Close the EasyBCD application and restart your system. You should be able to select to boot into Windows Vista or XP now.

That’s it!

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No doubt the Vista User Account Control (UAC) is the single biggest irritation in the whole operating system, but if you are thinking of turning it off altogether, you better think twice. UAC is a security feature that can help prevent unauthorized changes to your computer. By turning it off, you will lose all protection and put yourself in great risk of virus and malware attack. Hopefully, you have not forgotten that Windows has the most number of virus attack in the World.

A better way to deal with the UAC is to tweak it such that it continues to run in the background without popping out the annoying prompt every few seconds. Here are four software that you can use to make your UAC less annoying without compromising your security.

TweakUAC

TweakUAC is a simple tool that allows you to switch your UAC to quiet mode. In other word, it allows you to easily disable the UAC without having to restart the computer. In the quiet mode, you will be elevated to the adminisrator privilege and there won’t be any annoying prompts that pop up every few seconds. This mode is ideal when you need to perform some administrator tasks such as installing/uninstalling applications, cleaning up your system, moving files around and etc.

There is no installation required for TweakUAC. You simply double click on the application to run it. Whenever you are done with your stuff, just run the application again to turn the UAC back on. A neat and simple tool that doesn’t take up much memory and space.

Smart UAC

What SmartUAC does is to replace the UAC with a more powerful and intelligent user control. After the installation, the standard UAC will be disabled and the SmartUAC will take control of the system. In the event where there are potential threats occur, the SmartUAC prompts will appear rather than the standard UAC popup. The difference between the two prompts is that you can get SmartUAC to remember your selection so that it can automatically handle the same event next time it occurs. The longer you use SmartUAC, the less popup you will see.

In addition, SmartUAC also runs in the background and scan the programs for any malicious threat. When such threat is found, a Red Alert prompt will appear to inform you of the potential danger. Similarly, you can pick the course of action for SmartUAC to handle for future event.

Norton User Account Control tool

Unlike SmartUAc, the Norton User Account Control tool will replace only parts of the standard UAC. It will continue to utilize the UAC security feature while providing a more informative and user-friendly interface. When a standard UAC prompt appears, it only inform you of the program that is running. It does not recommend any action or remember your choice. Norton UAC tool is different in such that it displays the security information (signature information of the application) and prompts recommendations based on an assessment on the user-action. There is also a “remember me” feature that allows users to suppress future prompts from the same action.

As can be seen, Norton UAC tool collects user input and is able to make its own assessment without any unnecessary prompts. This is definitely a better and less annoying way than the standard UAC to manage your system.

UAC Snooze

As its name implies, UAC Snooze allows you to temporary stop UAC prompts for a user-defined amount of time and then automatically turn it on once the time is up. During this time, you will be granted elevated privileges so that you can perform all your administrator tasks. The snooze can be set by simply clicking the icon on the system tray.

This is a simple tool that allows you to do your stuff without the annoying UAC prompt. In case you forgot to turn it back on after you are done, the snooze function will come in handy.

UAC Snooze comes with a 30 days trial period after which it costs $5 to register.

How do you deal with the annoying UAC?

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First of all, make sure you have already installed both VirtualBox and Windows Vista guest. If you have not, here is the complete installation guide.

Secondly, make sure you have updated your VirtualBox to the latest version (2.0.4). There are some issues in the earlier version which will cause the mounting to fail.

In your Ubuntu machine, open up Virtualbox (Applications -> System Tools -> virtualBox).

Highlight the Vista VM entry (make sure that it is in Powered off state) and click on the Settings icon at the top.

On the left, click on the Network. On the right, make sure that the Enable Network Adaptor and Cable Connected are checked.

On the left, click on the Shared Folders. Then, click on the icon on the far right.

Select the folder that you want to use as a share point. Give it a name.

Click OK to close the Settings window.

Boot up your Vista VM.

Install the guest addition. (Skip this step if you have already done so)

Restart the Vista VM.

Open your Windows Explorer, click on the Map Network Drive

In the Folder input text, enter

\\vboxsvr\sharename

where sharename is the name of the share folder that you add just now. Make sure that the Reconnect at logon is checked. Click Finish

You should now see the shared folder mounted as a network drive.

That’s it.

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For writing or creating office document, press:

• F1 – Display Help
• F2 – Rename the selected item
• CTRL + C – Copy the selected item
• CTRL + V – paste the selected item
• CTRL + X – Cut the selected item
• CTRL + Z – Undo an action
• CTRL + Y – Redo an action
• CTRL + RIGHT ARROW – Move the cursor to the beginning of the next word
• CTRL + LEFT ARROW – Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous word
• CTRL + UP ARROW – Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph
• CTRL + DOWN ARROW – Move the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph
• CTRL + SHIFT + Arrow – Select a block of text
• SHIFT + Any arrow key – Select text within a document
• CTRL + A – Select all items
• ALT + F4 – Close the current document
• ALT + SPACEBAR – Open the shortcut menu for the current document

In your sidebar:

• Windows logo key + SPACEBAR – Bring all gadgets to the front and select Sidebar
• Windows logo key + G – Cycle through Sidebar gadgets
• TAB – Cycle through Sidebar controls

In Photo Gallery:

• CTRL+ F – Open the Fix pane
• CTRL+ P – Print the selected picture
• CTRL+ I – Open or close the Details pane
• CTRL+PERIOD (.) – Rotate the picture clockwise
• CTRL+COMMA (,) – Rotate the picture counter-clockwise
• CTRL+ E – Search for an item
• ALT+LEFT ARROW – Go back
• ALT+RIGHT ARROW -Go forward
• PLUS SIGN (+) -Zoom in or resize the picture thumbnail
• MINUS SIGN (-) -Zoom out or resize the picture thumbnail
• CTRL+Mouse scroll wheel – Change the size of the picture thumbnail
• CTRL+B - Best fit

You can also set a shortcut key for your favorite application.

• Open a Windows Explorer and navigate to your favorite application. Right click on the application and select “create shortcut“.
• Right click the new shortcut and choose ‘Properties‘
• In the shortcut tabs, click on the shortcut key and press any character to denote the shortcut. It will be in the form of “Ctrl + Alt + the character you choose“.
• Press OK.

Done. You can now use the shortcut key to launch your favorite application in the desktop.

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Vmware Server is a free to download virtual machine tool that allows you to install the various type of operating systems under a virtual environment.

Before you attempt to install Windows Vista, please make sure that your computer has at least 1GB of RAM (preferably 2GB), 16GB of hard disk space and a genuine Vista CD.

Here are the steps to install Windows Vista in Ubuntu using Vmware Server.

Download the VMware Server software from VMware download site. Remember to register to get your license key. You will need it for installation.

Launch Archive Manager and extract the downloaded file to /tmp directory

Next, we need to prepare our system for VMware installation.

In your terminal,

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential
sudo apt-get install xinetd

Now the installation,

cd /tmp/vmware-server-distrib (or whatever directory you have extracted to)
sudo ./vmware-install.pl

The installer will then guide you through the installation. Press “Enter” for all the questions. The last step require you to enter the license key.

Once installed, launch the VMware from Application -> System Tools -> Vmware Server Console

Click “Create a new virtual machines”

Choose “Typical” in the Virtual Machine Configuration

Under the Guest Operating system, choose “Microsoft Windows”. At below, scroll down to “Windows Vista (experiemental)”

Enter the name of your virtual machine and choose the location where you want to save it.

Under Network Condition, choose use “Network Address Translation (NAT)”.

Under the Disk Size, allocate 16GB to the disk size and make sure the split disk into 2GB files is checked. If you just want to try out Vista, uncheck the allocate disk space now.

Ok. Now insert in your Vista installer CD.

On the VMware console, click “Power on this virtual machine”.

The virtual machine will now boot up with your installer CD and guide you through the Vista installation process.

Once the installation of Vista is completed, press “Ctrl + Alt” to get out of the VMware console.

On the VM menu, select “Install Vmware tool”. Now you’ve got enhanced graphics and mouse cursor that can move in and out of the virtual machine.

That’s it. Done!

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I suppose to use that as the title for this post, but I decided to change it. The reason being, whether you like it or not, Windows Vista is here to stay and will eventually replace Windows XP. Rather than discussing whether Windows Vista is suitable for gaming, it would be more worthwhile discussing why Vista is going to replace WinXP and become the next gaming platform.

Taking a look at the multi billion gaming industry, it is not hard to see that 90% of the games are designed to play in Windows. It is obvious that Microsoft benefits the most out of this. As such, it would be foolish of Microsoft if they were to make their latest generation of OS unsuitable for gaming.

If you ever study Vista in details, it is easy to see that Vista is really built with gaming in mind. Here’s why:

1. DirectX 10

Without a doubt, Vista’s latest DirectX 10 technology is changing how the game is designed in the future. Microsoft discarded its DirectX 9 architecture and rebuilt DirectX 10 from the ground up. Its newer shader model allows game designers to create game with higher graphical quality.

In addition, DX10 also has more rigidly defined specifications, which means more consistency among the various hardware. Rather than worrying about the compatibility of the hardware, game designers can now focus more on the features they want to implement.

As compare to DX9, DX10 also has a better resources management and load balancing between the CPU and GPU. More graphical calculation are now offloaded to the GPU, which means faster gaming performance without increasing the CPU load.

2. Game Explorer

Windows users should be very familiar with the Windows Explorer where you can manage your file and data easily. There is also the Internet Explorer that Microsoft incorporate in its OS since Win98. In Vista, Microsoft includes a Game Explorer to enable the users to easily manage their games. Players can now install, organize, launch, and remove all of their games all in the Game Explorer. Plus, game-related information such as publisher, developer, website addresses, and game ratings can also be shown on the Game Explorer.

3. ‘Game For Windows’ (GFW) Branding

Since the launch of Vista, Microsoft has been actively promoting the ‘Game For Windows‘ brand. All game has to meet the following standard in order to receive the GFW tag:

• Quality. Games have to pass Microsoft performance and reliability standards.
• Compatibility. Games must be able to run on both XP and Vista, including both 32 and 64 bit editions. Other compatibility includes Microsoft XBOX 360 controller for Windows, including the Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows, widescreen resolutions and more.
• Safety features. Game must be able to support the Vista parental control features, which gives parents more control over the type of game their children play.
• Easy to Play. Games must be easy to install, find, remove and most importantly, incorporate into Game Explorer

4. Games for Windows LIVE

This GFW LIVE is an extension of the Xbox 360 LIVE. What it does is to provide interoperability between the Xbox 360 and Windows Vista platforms. This means that Vista gamers can now play against Xbox 360 gamers in real time.

5. Native Support for Xbox 360 Controller

Vista includes the native support for Xbox 360 controller, which means users can now have a larger choices of gaming controller. Simply plug in the Xbox 360 controller to your Windows Vista PC’s USB connector, and you’re ready to go. New accessories include the Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows. This allows you to connect the Xbox 360 wireless controller, wireless headset, and wireless racing wheel to your PC.

Conclusion

When Vista first launched, there was not a single DX 10 graphics card and game around. This explains why there is a lot of uncertainty and argument of using Vista as a gaming platform. With the launch of DX10 graphics card by Nvidia and ATI, along with the newer generation of DX10 game (Crysis, Company of Heroes), gaming in Vista has only just started.

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