Wait… What are Ribbons?

I notice some of you might not know what I’m talking about, so here’s the run-down. A ribbon is a part of the window that allows you to access certain options without having to navigate through menus. It often appears as a wide toolbar at the top, much like the one in MSPaint. Allow me to show you what I mean:

The red arrow points to the ribbon in MSPaint. Just remember that this is a screenshot of MSPaint from Windows 7. Also note that Windows 8 wants to include a toolbar similar to this one on the top of every explorer window. The idea itself, though, originally came from one of Microsoft’s most popular products: Microsoft Office 2007.

What’s the Big Deal?

Microsoft right now is in a hurry to thwart Apple’s conquest over the general public and enhance its interface in a way that would level the playing field back the way it was. So, it decided to throw in a few gizmos that people might find handy. Most computer novices don’t know how to copy and paste something without right-clicking an element and clicking “Copy,” and so forth, meaning that they don’t know that you could simply press “Ctrl+C/V” to do the same thing in less time. Microsoft asked itself, “So, what if we include copy and paste buttons (big ones) on the top of Explorer?” Indeed, this would help the helpless novices save a little time while transferring data, and the entire ribbon itself has a data-driven interface that would ease the experience even for expert users. Let’s have a look at the ribbon, shall we?

The options included, I think, are phenomenal for those who are just beginning to learn to use Windows. Microsoft’s goal here was clear: Create a new interface that will allow people to find the functions they use the most in an easier fashion.

Some criticism exists, like the fact that certain buttons in that screen will have a near-zero-percent usage among end-users. Windows 8′s explorer window, in my own personal opinion, could still use a touch of improvement before it can call itself “competitive” against what Apple has to offer. Linux itself has many interesting features in its interfaces also, making it a worthy competitor. If Microsoft wants to pull this off, it has to better analyze where it is now and where it must go to achieve a higher level of customer satisfaction.

Leave your comments below and tell us what your opinion is regarding this matter!

The Q&A

NOTE: Some of the questions will be rephrased and will not appear exactly as they were written in MTE’s inbox, for the sake of simplifying the query and giving as much space as possible to the answer. If you believe your answer was not adequately answered, go ahead and leave a comment at the bottom. We’ll get to you ASAP.

Q: How can I run anti-malware and anti-virus tools when my PC’s infected with something that just won’t allow any of these tools to run?

A: That’s a very good question, especially since there’s been a ton of malware recently that disables your antivirus solutions and leaves you shooting bullets in the dark. Here’s the trick, though: Most viruses and malware that enter your computer assume you use a mainstream antivirus solution, like ESET NOD32 or BitDefender. Try something like Malwarebytes and you’ll notice a difference. The program is subtle enough and doesn’t tell viruses: “Hey, I’m coming after you!” Instead, it just silently goes through your computer and plucks out anything screwing it up. Download Malwarebytes here. Hopefully, this will help you combat your issue. Best of luck!

Q: What are the best free hard drive backup/imaging utilities?

A: It’s great that you asked! I personally think everyone who has sensitive data must back it up at least once a month. Windows 7 already contains integrated backup solutions and disaster recovery, but if you don’t have a taste for what MS has to offer, you can always use other third-party solutions like Paragon Backup & Recovery. EaseUS has a free backup program as well, and it’s coming up from under the woodwork lately. Give both a try and see which one accommodates your needs better.

Q: What screen resolution do I need to see everything on web pages? In a lot of the web pages I see everything, except for certain elements (like “Send Payment”).

A: The vast majority of websites on the web evolve along with the computers that visit them. As technology has evolved, so has the “standard minimum resolution” of computers. Newer websites take advantage of higher screen resolutions on computers. If you are using an older rig, you’re probably not going to see a complete page without zooming out or scrolling left and right. As of 2012, the minimum standard resolution a computer should use to see the web well is 1280×1024. You can probably still get away with 1024×768, but I highly recommend going higher in the spectrum. If your computer isn’t compatible with either of these resolutions, or you still have problems viewing the full page after you changed the resolution, try holding “Ctrl” on your keyboard and pressing “-” to zoom out. Alternatively, you can hold “Ctrl” and rotate your mouse wheel to zoom out or in.

Q: How do I sort my “All Programs” submenu in my “Start” menu alphabetically?

A: Windows 7 does this by default already, so I’m going to assume you’re using an older version of MS Windows. In XP, try right-clicking on any folder in your programs menu and click “Sort by Name.” That’s it! In Vista, you can configure this through your Control Panel. Just follow this path:

Control Panel -> Appearance and Personalization -> Taskbar and Start Menu -> Customize the Start Menu -> Sort “All Programs” Menu by Name.

You might notice you can’t do this in Windows XP, but there’s a simple registry hack to do this. Just go to this path in your registry: 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder

Once there, delete the “MenuOrder” key. If you don’t know how to do this, I suggest you read the TTG registry tutorial. It will teach you everything you need to know. Don’t forget to back up the registry before you start!

Q: I just switched to Windows Live Mail and noticed that I can’t send a page in an email. How do I do this? I’m using Windows 7.

A: I’m assuming you are attempting to send the page through Internet Explorer. The lack of this option is due to the fact you haven’t selected a default mail provider through IE. Once you place WLM as the default email provider through IE, you’ll have the option back.

To do this, click your “Start” menu and click “Default Programs.” Once in that window, click “Set program access and computer defaults.” Select “Custom” and click “Choose a default email program.”  Choose “Windows Live Mail.” Once finished, make sure that you select “Internet Explorer” when clicking “Choose a default web browser.” Once you’re done, click “OK.”

Open up Internet Explorer, navigate to a page and try the “send page by mail” option again. This usually does the trick and fixes any issue. Remember to do this every time you switch to a new email program. The “send link by mail” option should also work after these fixes. If it doesn’t, let me know through the comments section and I’ll work with you to solve the problem.

Why Wasn’t My Question Answered?

If you asked a question and it wasn’t answered here, it could be one of three reasons:

• Relevance: Your question needs to be totally relevant to the Windows operating system.
• Detail: Try to include as much detail as you can, such as the Windows version + service pack you’re using.
• Other Reasons: For some unfortunate reason, we couldn’t include your question in this edition. We’ll try our best effort to include the question in the next edition.

Want to Ask a Question?

If you have questions you think might fit well with MTE’s next edition of “Ask a Windows Expert,” send us an email at windows-help [at] maketecheasier.com. Leave comments only to discuss the questions presented here. If you want to ask a question, use the aforementioned email address.

1: Open Folders in a New Process

If you understand processes, you might realize how this is a monumental feature for you. If you don’t understand how processes work, let’s just say that every single folder you open adds up to “explorer.exe” and doesn’t open a new instance of the application. That means that everything you’ve opened is governed by that same “explorer.exe” application. What if “explorer.exe” crashes? This would mean that everything you ever opened will have to be closed, including the taskbar, within the task manager application included in Windows. Believe me when I say that it’s an enormous hassle. So, what do you do?

While holding the “Shift” key, right-click “Computer” within your “Start” menu. Now, click “Open in new process” and you’re done! You should have the following result:

As in the image above, you should see two processes named “explorer.exe.” If you didn’t, re-read the instructions. Perhaps you missed something. Don’t forget to hold “Shift” while right-clicking “Computer.”

2: Reduce Volume of Other Applications When You Get a Call

This one comes handy when you’re an office user and you depend on Skype or other applications to complete calls in your daily life. Instead of lowering the sound volume manually for each other application you use, you can easily configure Windows to reduce the volume of everything else to give you better call quality. You can even mute everything else if you want complete silence – something handy when you’re conducting interviews. The whole shebang is in the “Communications” tab of your “Sounds” menu. For those of you who don’t know how to get there, just right-click the speaker icon in the bottom right corner of your screen and click “Sounds.” It takes you to a window like this:

In the above window, the “Communications” tab has already been selected. Notice how you have the option to either reduce the volume of other sounds by 80% or 50%, or even the option to mute everything else currently playing on your PC/Laptop/doohickey. Once you click “OK,” the settings will apply automatically.

3: Problem Steps Recorder

Have you ever had a problem that you would like to explain to someone with screenshots and concise steps? There are some things so complex that you can’t really explain them only in a couple of phrases, so you’re left with a really difficult choice: Either you bring your PC over to a technician, or you just sit there and try to put two and two together without any guidance. Fortunately, Windows 7 takes care of this issue with a little application known as the Problem Steps Recorder. The program automatically records everything you do on your computer, including keystrokes, after you press the record button, and saves a file to a place of your choosing containing all the information necessary for someone to see what’s wrong.

Just click your “Start” menu, type “PSR,” and press “Enter.” This will open this window:

It’s that simple! Be warned: Once you hit “Start Record,” everything you do will be recorded on your computer. And, by everything I mean everything. Make sure you don’t have anything private on your computer that you would not like someone else to see. There will be screenshots of every event. Make sure you take advantage of the “Add Comment” button to help make things easier for the person who’s helping you take care of the problem. Once you click “Stop Record,” the application will ask you where you want to save a ZIP file of your recording. If you open the ZIP  file and then open the recording within it, you’ll see something like this:

4: Switch Display Modes (And Calibrate Each Display)

Let’s face it: Tons of computer users nowadays need more than just one display to work efficiently. Microsoft implemented some juicy features for power users who have multiple displays that allows you to work with them quickly without moving your mouse all over the place and clicking through a labyrinth of menus. What’s wrong with indulging in the sweet, sweet taste of Windows shortcuts? That’s why you switched over from XP, right?

In order to quickly switch display modes, you only need to press the Windows key and the “P” key on your keyboard. That wasn’t so hard, was it? If you’re doing it right, this comes up:

As for screen calibration, Windows has a tool known as the “Display Color Calibration Wizard.” This can be found in the personalization menu when you right-click somewhere on your desktop, but who wants to waste time and click through a ton of stuff? There’s a simpler solution: Click your “Start” menu, type “dccw,” and press “Enter.” You’re in!

Mind you, but I think that guy looks creepy! Anyway, that’s part of the calibration process.

5: Minimize All Windows With a Wiggle

There’s nothing more frustrating when you have a bunch of windows open than, well, seeing a bunch of windows open. Sometimes, you just want to see your desktop and catch a breath of fresh air. There are three ways to do this without going through a lot of trouble minimizing each window manually. The first way is by pressing “Win + D.” That’s an easy, straightforward way, but perhaps you’re someone who’s more comfortable with the mouse.

Your second way of minimizing all windows, using the mouse, is by clicking a bar on the lower right corner of the screen. Still, you need precision and you might not be nimble enough to do this without wasting a bit of time. Here’s the bar, if you didn’t notice it:

Both of the options will get you where you want, but none of them let you explore your inner child and have a little fun. Restore a maximized window, right now, and wiggle it around a bit. Try a little more intensity. Did your computer just go nuts? Nope! It just minimized everything and led you straight to your desktop.

Let us know below in the comments section what you think about these top-secret Windows 7 features!

Where’d The Product Key Go?

Up until Windows XP, the product key was always stored in the registry, within the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key, under the “ProductID” key in “Windows” under “SOFTWARE”, making the path something like: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Windows\ProductID. Unfortunately, that’s not the case since Windows Vista. It seems that Microsoft wanted to make it difficult for you to find your product key, so that you end up buying another license when you lose one. You don’t have to do this if you use Magic JellyBean KeyFinder. Although it sounds like something fishy, it is a legitimate application that scans your Windows installation for your product key.

Oh, and here’s the other thing: The Windows “ProductID” doesn’t show the key anymore, but shows a special ID to help Microsoft identify and distinguish between one Windows installation and another. This is used to prevent two Windows installations from using Windows Update, since it’s against the company’s policy to use one Windows installation on more than one computer.

Using KeyFinder

First of all, download KeyFinder’s ZIP file from this link. Open the ZIP file and extract it to a folder named in a way that you’ll remember in your local drive or on your desktop. Within the folder, you’ll find a file called “KeyFinder.exe”. Double-click it and you’ll find a screen that looks like this:

As you can see, you can also recover other product keys for anything else you install on your computer, depending on whether they have a key or whether they store their keys in a central location. Some applications store their keys in a file within their respective directories. For this, you’d have to do a little more investigation.

Conclusion

If manual searching doesn’t work, you can always find your product key with handy little applications like the Magic JellyBean Keyfinder. The alternative, in case Keyfinder doesn’t do anything for you, is Belarc Advisor, an application that gives you a full audit of your computer but also includes the product key. If everything else fails, you could always try your luck with Microsoft and give them a phone call for a replacement product key. It’s probably going to take a long time, but with luck, you’ll resolve your problem as quickly as possible.

As a habit, it is always good to backup your license keys when you first got your hand on the CD/DVD. You can easily take a photo of the license key with your mobile phone and upload the pic to your Dropbox, or Google+ account, so that when you need it, you know where to look for it.

Let us know what experiences you’ve had with the application and don’t hesitate to ask questions below. We’ll be more than happy to answer them!

TinySpell Comes To The Rescue

I know it’s kind of an annoying trend that many applications are starting to apply “tiny” in front of their names, which is a lame excuse for laziness when coming up for a name, but “tinySpell” does its job. They even went through the trouble of introducing a lower-cased “t” to the front of the application’s name. So, if you want to include spell check, download the application here. After you finish downloading this little piece of software, extract the ZIP archive and double-click the executable in the directory. Now, write some stuff anywhere. Misspell something on purpose. Did you notice the beep? This will happen every time you write something erroneous.

If you don’t like the beep, right-click the task bar icon and click “disable beep.” It comes useful, though, when you have a ton of applications open and are likely to forget the icon. Sometimes, it has false positives, and you can correct that by right-clicking the icon and adding a word to its dictionary. Just look at the options it has:

Disabling TinySpell on Other Applications

It might get annoying for tinySpell to correct your spelling in games and other applications like Visual Studio, where most of what you type would be gibberish to any spell checker anyway. So, if you want to disable a particular application, click on “Applications” in tinySpell’s menu. You could even disable all applications with the exception of a few. Check out the “Applications” window and see how easy it is:

Test TinySpell

Open tinySpell and then just open Notepad. Start typing a bunch of gibberish and you’ll see how quick this application catches your mistakes:

Now try clicking on the small pop-up that tinySpell was generous enough to show you, and you come up with something like this:

The application quickly comes up with spelling suggestions that are most likely to match the word you spell, without occupying over a hundred megabytes of RAM like Microsoft Office 2010 does. When I asked people why they used Microsoft Office, they often said that they use it to take advantage of spell & grammar checking, as well as formatting. When I tell them about tinySpell, they’re ready to try some alternatives alongside the nifty little app. One person even said that he was ready to switch to Wordpad. Honestly, I’d keep using MS Office, because of the value it adds to my journalistic work, but I know a lot of people that could take advantage of tinySpell in their daily lives.

Enjoy the application, and let me know what you think of it in the comments!

tinySpell

Using Keep Focused

Since there isn’t a lot to Keep Focused, there really isn’t any setup other than downloading it. One you double click on the exe file, you should see a window something like this.

The anatomy of the window is pretty easy to figure out. First off, start by writing your task in the text box.

Once you have it all typed in, you click OK. That’s all there is to using this window. Pretty easy so far, huh? I thought so.

The other parts of the window are where you want the session log to store and to view the session log. If you haven’t used Keep Focused yet, there is no log and you should see an error. After you use Keep Focused, you will see a log like this when you click the View Session Data File button.

What Keep Focused looks like while running

When you have your task entered, the window will disappear. You will see a small little window thingy that pops up in the middle of your screen that stays on top of all other windows and applications.

Keep Focused will count down from 25:00 to zero. When this happens, you will get an alarm to let you know to take a break.

When you acknowledge the 25 minutes are up, the counter starts over with a 5 minute break. This is when you can check your Facebook or SMS messages.

Because the little window starts out in the middle of your screen, you will likely need to move it. If you hover over the small hand icon to the left of the window, you will see a cross appears. when you see this cross, you will be able to click and drag the window where you want it to be.

If you finish your task early, you can click on the white box next to the hand icon to stop the counter. This box is NOT a pause button. The point of the application is to keep focused on the task at hand, not pause it every 3 minutes to check your phone or comment on Facebook or Twitter.

Conclusion

Like I mentioned earlier, Keep Focused is very small and can be run from a USB stick. This makes it ideal for using while mobile or if you are working on a shared computer. If you try using the Pomodoro Technique for a couple weeks, heck, even a couple days, you will see that once your body quits fighting the urge to give in to distractions, you probably won’t go back to your old ways.

What is your biggest distraction while working?

Keep Focused

How to Find Out Your Windows License Type

First of all, many people don’t understand the differences associated with Windows license types, except for the fact that OEM versions are cheaper. An OEM version of Windows will allow you to install the operating system within one system’s specifications. The retail version allows you to move Windows to a different computer. We’ll talk more about this later, but let’s first learn how to find out your windows license type if you don’t know what installation you have already. Often times, if you bought your computer from a PC manufacturer, you will have an OEM version. Still, you can never be sure.

Click the “Start” menu, right-click “Computer” and click “Properties.” Once there, you’ll see a product ID at the bottom of the screen. If it contains the letters “OEM,” you have an OEM version of Windows. Otherwise, you have a retail version. Quite simple, isn’t it?

What Happens to OEM Windows Versions?

After you install a new motherboard on your computer, an OEM version of Windows will not work. Simply put, Microsoft interprets a new motherboard as a new system. If you want to transfer the OEM version of Windows to a new computer, you can try your luck and call Microsoft about the issue. Most likely, you’d have to re-install Windows 7 on the system, forcing you to give up all of the programs installed on the hard drive. In other words, you have to be ready to start from scratch.

What About Retail?

Lucky you! If you have a retail Windows installation, you can move it from one computer into another (without copying it on multiple computers at the same time) without issue. As soon as you are done mounting your motherboard, just start the system like you normally would. Windows will take a very long time to start, as it installs the necessary drivers to run with the chipset and motherboard. I’d recommend installing the new motherboard drivers before dismantling the old one. Once you’re done installing everything on the driver disc, you’ll notice that your new motherboard installation won’t affect your Windows startup as much because the computer won’t be overwhelmed with a barrage of driver installations to finish.

Besides the pretty box, there’s a reason why the retail version is almost 3 times more expensive than the OEM version. Still, you must reactivate Windows after you start your computer, to acknowledge that you have moved that Windows installation into a new computer. Remember not to make the mistake of installing Windows in multiple computers at once. Windows licenses only apply to one computer at a time. In this case, there’s a reason why many people prefer Linux.

Although there are many FTP servers available for Windows, either they are very costly or their free versions are very limited. So I have selected FileZilla FTP Server which seems to be the best in its class. Among so many other features, the ones I like the most are the user management interface and the permissions which can be assigned to any user. I can easily create groups and users and assign them certain read/write permissions in order for accessing and working on the FileZilla FTP Server. The permission sets are very similar to Linux permissions along with advanced options.

Configuring Dynamic IP

First of all, we need to address a problem with every home user – there is no static IP. The IP is the network address associated with your computer. Most Internet Service Providers do not provide a static IP address to the home users. If there is no static IP address, you will need to change the server address each time you restart the Internet router. For resolving this problem, we will be using a dynamic DNS service. No-IP is a very basic but free dynamic DNS service which can serve our purpose easily.

Go to No-IP.com and create a free account. After your account is fully active, you can download the No-IP dynamic update client for Windows. The installation of the update client is pretty straight forward and does not require any user input or manual configuration.

When you start No-IP dynamic update client from the Windows start menu, it will ask you for your registered email address and password. After signing in, you will need to create a host name for you computer. You can create the host name here. Just enter the host name with DNS Host (A) as host type and leave the rest of the options as default. Click on the Create Host button to create the host. Configuration will take some time (one minute or so) to propagate.

Now you can easily access your computer through the host name provided by no-ip. In my case, it is sanix.serveftp.com.

Setting up the FTP Server

Now that you have setup a dynamic DNS service on your computer, you can proceed forward and download FileZilla FTP server.

During the setup process, you will need to choose the components to be installed with the FTP server. I would recommend keeping the install type as Standard. Another important part of the installation process is choosing the port for administration interface of FileZilla server. The default port is 14147. Let’s keep it default for this tutorial but you can change it to any value between 1024 and 65535.

If you want to start the FTP Server with Windows startup, you should select install as a service, automatically started with Windows. Otherwise select the manual option but you will need to start the server yourself upon Windows restart.

Once installed, you will find the FileZilla server icon in the system tray. Double click on the icon to access the configuration option.

A Connect to Server dialog box will appear. If you want to have an administration password, you can input the password here and then click OK without changing other settings.

Configuring your FTP Server

Now the real fun begins when we start to configure the actual FTP server. First we will be creating some groups. Groups enable us to manage the users easily. We can apply certain permissions and restrictions on the group which will be applied to all the users in the group. For creating a new group, go to “Edit menu –> Groups” and then click on the add button under groups.

Now that we have created the first group, we will be adding some users to this group. Go to “Edit menu –> Users –> Add” for adding the users.

Once you click OK, you will be able to create passwords for each user under the account settings.

For each group or individual user, you can assign different folders which will be shared to those users and groups. To add a new folder to a group, go to “Edit menu –> Groups –> Shared folders“. You can click on the Add button to create a share folder for that particular group. Once created, you can easily set permissions for that particular direct under a specific group. The file permissions include the following:

For Files

• Read
• Write
• Delete
• Append

For Folders

• Create
• Delete
• List
• List + Sub-folders

That’s all what you need to setup a very basic FTP Server on your home computer. You can go through the advanced settings under the Edit menu. Please note that if you want the FTP server to be available to the network users, it needs to be in Active mode. If you want to restrict the access to the FTP server, lock the server by selecting the lock option in the server menu.

Connecting to your FTP Server

Once everything is configured and the FTP server is active, you can go to another computer on the network and access the FTP server by using your Local IP address. If you want to access it from the Internet, you can use the dynamic DNS address which we have already setup at the start of this tutorial. The address will look something like this: username.no-ip.com:21. Please note that the administration port no. is different from the server listening port. The server listening port is the one on which the clients will connect to the server. The default listening port is 21. You can change it through options but make sure that whichever port you select should be open in the firewall and computers can communicate through this port. The administration port is only for administering the FTP server and can be used only internally without giving access to the outside world.

Hopefully this guide will enable you to create your own FTP server on your home computer.

Image credit: Multiple Wired To Ftp by Big Stock Photo.

Calculate Difference Between Dates

Go ahead and click the “View” menu in Windows 7′s calculator and click “Date calculation.” The calculator’s window will extend to show you an interface where you can enter two dates. Once you enter them, your computer will calculate how much time has passed between the dates, in two forms. The first form shows you how many years, months, weeks, and days have passed since then. The second form will show you how many days altogether have passed. You’d be surprised how useful this tool is, especially if you want to know how long you were together with someone.

Unit Conversion

Under the “View” menu, you can also find “Unit conversion” – a feature which lets you convert between all sorts of different units. I honestly don’t use this very much, because I usually type “130 mph in kph” in a Google search and get a straight answer. You might find it useful, though, considering that everything is there on your computer, even when you’re offline. The Windows 7 calculator’s unit conversion dialog has almost every unit you can think of, save for the highly scientific ones. It includes things like Joules, Watts, BTUs/minute, Fahrenheit, Celsius, you name it! Give it a shot and come back after a few hours to read the rest of the goodies you get.

Calculate Mortgage & Vehicle Lease

What better way to learn about how much a bank wants to screw you over than to have a mortgage calculator handy on your desktop! Thanks to Microsoft (and, perhaps, this article), it might get a bit more difficult for banks to lure people into unreasonably high payments. You can find the mortgage calculator and all the features below this one under the “Worksheets” submenu of the “View” menu.

Now, here’s a trick I’m sure you know, but I’d like to show you anyway. Select “Monthly Payment” in the drop-down list on the top. Enter the value of the house you want to buy under “Purchase Price,” and fill in the rest of the requested information.

That result is your monthly payment for x amount of years. OK, so now I want you to put the value of the monthly payment into the other side of the window (the “classic calculator” side). Multiply the value by 12 and then multiply it again by the amount of years the mortgage will be for.

Yep! That’s the amount you’re going to end up paying for the house in the end. It’s never a pretty number. After that, take a deep breath and add the amount you put for down payment to that.

There’s also a “worksheet” for vehicle lease, similar to this one.

Fuel Economy (In MPG & L/100KM)

If you are on the road frequently, Windows 7 also added some nifty calculations for fuel economy, allowing you to input how many miles/kilometers you traveled and how many gallons or liters of gas you spent. You can find out how much gas you spent on a trip, the fuel economy of your vehicle, or the distance you traveled. My advice: If you really want to economize, walk to a small business nearby.

Before We Say Adieu…

I really hope that you discovered something new today (I certainly did), and find these features useful. Leave a comment below and tell us all about your experience playing with/using the features!

What’s The Problem?

It seems like a good time for Linux users to speak out against this if they use both operating systems on the same computer. While there’s no problem with UEFI itself, the “secure boot” feature in the architecture might make it impossible for Windows 8 computers to let another operating system piggyback on them. “Secure boot” was a feature implemented to prevent the computer from using a malicious boot loader that would corrupt key components. Unfortunately, the method of OS loading isn’t compatible with that of Linux, and we still don’t have word about whether Apple plans to make a new OS that goes around this or at least uses the the technology.

Windows 8 Certification Requirements

As part of the certification requirements, all PCs that want to run Windows 8 will soon have to conform to the UEFI architecture and make it possible to boot Windows 8 through secure boot. The standardization involved worries me, because Linux will be pushed out of the picture unless one distribution comes out that also conforms to the new demands of Microsoft. That shouldn’t be difficult, but there probably could have been other ways to implement UEFI without requiring modifications to the operating system attempting to run on the computer. How much boot loader malware is there, anyway? I thought some motherboard manufacturers protect against that already.

Concerns by FSF

The Free Software Foundation found that this new requirement for Windows 8 certification might hinder free operating systems from being installed on newer computers. The foundation currently holds a petition, which you can sign here. The petition demands Microsoft to make UEFI’s “Secure Boot” feature in a way that will allow free software and operating systems to run on computers. It also says that computer manufacturers should include an option to disable this feature, so that free software like Linux will run on any computer.

Microsoft’s Response

Surely enough, Microsoft was watching the dilemma and responded to the issue, saying that there’s already an option within their hardware prototypes to disable secure boot attempts from the motherboard. We’re still not sure, though, whether you’ll be able to run Windows 8 with secure boot disabled. Microsoft has admitted indirectly, however, that the option could turn up missing on certain platforms that weren’t released by the company. In other words, any OEM can choose to omit the option to disable secure boot, making this the first step towards a world without a free OS.

Solutions

Many people don’t realize this, but there are already solutions to boot loader attacks implemented by some OEMs. All of these solutions do not interrupt the hooking process involved in making the operating system load. Authentication can be achieved through chips on the motherboard, just like secure boot does, without making the operating system change its primary boot code. While I’m not the biggest expert in operating system development, I’m still aware that there are other ways of achieving the same thing. Why do you think Microsoft chose secure boot, which would force OEMs to implement a uniform standard architecture? Leave your opinion in a comment below!

Photo Credit: BIOS Configuration Screen – Microsoft

Technology is always evolving, fast. The computer that you bought last year is now obsolete and you are planning to get a new one. Before you walk into the store and pay big bucks to the retailers for the latest PC in town, check out this guide on how you can get a better computer, with more juice and power, without breaking the bank.

For those of us who are not geeky in nature, the easiest (and the most expensive) way of getting a computer is to walk into the retail store and pay for the computer on the shelf. The truth is that, the price of that computer is often twice (or more) its actual cost price. To make it worst, that expensive computer you are getting may not even be the latest model. By selling you an older model, the retailers are making sure that you will have to go back again the next year to upgrade your PC. If this sound familiar to you, stop for a while and think, how can I get a better computer with paying an extra dime for what it should cost?

Build Your Own Computer

It may sound like a complicated task meant only for the geek, but apparently, it is not. With a little research and effort, anyone can build their own computer. The biggest benefit of building your own computer is that you can pack a beast into the computer case for only a fraction of what you are going to pay in the retail store. To make it even better, you can mix and match the different hardware and customize the computer to suit your needs and not the other way round.

The difficult part of building your own computer lies in the sourcing of the various hardware. There are different brands and models of motherboard, CPU, RAMs, hard drive etc and they are all interdependent. Choosing the best combination will require you to do plenty of research. As usual, Google is your best friend. Make full use of it for your research. Once you overcome that, putting them together is just a piece of cake.

Buying the hardware

The essential parts that make up a computer are the motherboard, CPU (with cooling fan), Memory RAM, hard drive, computer case, power supply, keyboard, mouse and monitor. Optional parts include the graphics card, sound card, wireless adaptor (if your motherboard doesn’t come with it), DVD-ROM, extra cooling fans, speakers and various gaming controllers if you are into gaming.

You will want to invest in the motherboard, CPU and RAM. This is the backbone of your computer. The motherboard will determine which type of CPU and RAM you can use. The CPU will determine the speed of your computer and the RAM determines the response time of your applications. My order of preference: first choose the CPU, follow by the motherboard, and then the RAM.

Rule of thumb: don’t get the latest release of the CPU. They might boost the highest speed and latest technology, but they are often very expensive and most of the OS and software are not optimized to fully utilize it yet. Instead, go for the second (or third) best, but choose a motherboard that allows you to upgrade the CPU in the future.

As for the RAM, if possible, fill it up to the maximum that your motherboard can support. If not, try to get a minimum of 8GB RAM. You won’t regret on this.

Use Linux Rather Than Windows

If you are not looking to buy a new computer, but are thinking of boosting the performance of your existing PC, you might want to consider switching your primary OS to Linux (my recommendation is either Ubuntu or Linux Mint for middle to high end computer, and Lubuntu for low-end computer). In my experience of using both Linux and Windows, I have found that Linux has always outperformed Windows in terms of speed, stability and hardware compatibility. This is not to say that Linux is better than Windows, but just that the way that Linux is built makes it suitable for all type of hardware, particularly a low-end computer. If you are building your own computer, using Linux also means that you will save up money on getting a Windows license, so it is killing two birds with one stone.

However, switching to Linux is not as easy as it seems. You have to prepare to learn everything from scratch as the user interface and inner working of Linux is significantly different from Windows. Ubuntu has made it easy to use, but still, it is different from Windows. In addition, if you have a particular software that you need and it is only Windows compatible, switching to Linux is definitely not a good idea. In this case, the best solution you have is to optimize your Windows for the best performance.

Optimizing your OS and Regular Maintenance

Last but not least, your computer will work best if you maintain it regularly and optimize it for the best performance. In Windows, this means clearing the Recycle bin, un-installing unnecessary programs, cleaning up the registry and temporary folders, removing unnecessary services from startup etc. You will be surprised how much speed you can gain by cleaning up you computer regularly. If necessary, reformat your hard disk and re-install Windows again. That will clean up everything and give it a brand new life. The same applies to Linux as well.

Other than that, you should also clean up the internal of your computer (hardware). Open up the computer case and vacuum the internal clean. Keep it dust free and you will find that the fan is no longer as noisy and the CPU is no longer heating up as fast.

Image credit:
Desktop Computer by BigStockPhoto
Hands Installing Computer Parts by BigStockPhoto
two businessmen passing each other money by BigStockPhoto

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Windows 7 doesn’t come with a native application for you to track your Internet usage, but there are several useful and lightweight third-party apps that can easily get the job done.

1. NetStat Live

NetStat Live (NSL) is a small, easy to use TCP/IP protocol monitor which records all incoming and outgoing traffic (the bandwidth, not the data) and lets you see the exact throughput on both incoming and outgoing data. To put it simply, it measures your Internet usage and display them in a easy to read format.

If you noticed, NetStats Live is more than just a bandwidth monitor. It also tracks your CPU usage and show you how quickly your data goes from your computer to another computer on the Internet. So if your Internet connection is slow, you can find out which point of connection is slowing down the data transmission.

NetSats Live

2. tbbMeter

tbbMeter is a bandwidth meter to help you monitor your Internet usage. It comes with a graph to allow you to see how much data your computer is sending to and receiving from the Internet in real time.

The good thing about tbbMeter is that it is highly configurable. You can change the visual style to show animated icon, scrolling graph or bar meter and get it to display the traffic for all Internet connection or only for local connection.

There is also plenty of test tools that you can use to test your Internet connection. My personal favorite is the Speedtest that measure how fast my Internet connection is.

There are many more features in tbbMeter that are not mentioned above. You really have to try it out to see how useful it is.

tbbMeter

3. BitMeter OS

BitMeter OS is slightly different in that it is cross-platform compatible and it works from your browser rather than a standalone application.

Once installed and started up, it will fire up your browser and display the traffic graph in a new tab.

The main page shows the traffic graph, but you can also select to view the History, Summary, Query (for a specific date range) and even set a alert when your network usage goes above a certain amount.

For those who love a clean interface without clutter and need the ability to zoom into a specific date in the history, BitMeter OS is the one for you.

BitMeter OS

4. FreeMeter

FreeMeter is a small and portable application that acts like a widget on your desktop. It used to be open source, but the developer took down the Open Source tag because someone took the code, rebrand it and publish it as their own. The latest version is now closed source and is only available for download on the developer’s website.

This application is pretty simple. It tracks your traffic usage and show them on the graph, real-time. There is no history or summary feature, but you can run the ping utility to see if a site is up. For those who need a small tool to monitor a spike in Internet usage, this is the one to go for.

FreeMeter

5. Bandwidth Vista

If you need to know the geo-location and IP of the connection that you are making to and from, then Bandwidth Vista is the application for you. Once installed and activated, you will see a map of the world and the traffic graph at the bottom of the map. Points are placed on the map to show the countries/locations of the connection made.

Other features of Bandwidth Vista include a ping utility and an alert function to notify you of excessive data usage.

Bandwidth Vista

Which is your favorite application to track Internet usage?

Image credit: Big Stock Photo

1. Openproj

Openproj is so far the best free and open source alternative to Microsoft Project. Openproj is the best alternative because there is very little time and effort required to shift from Microsoft Project to Openproj. It can even open MPP and MPT files created from Microsoft Project but one drawback of Openproj is that it will not be able to save the file back to MS Project file format but rather save it in an XML file which can be opened universally by any XML reader.

Download Openproj

Openproj is compatible with Mac OS, Windows and Linux.

2. Gantter

Gantter is a free web based project management application that is especially targeted for small businesses and home users. The biggest feature of Gantter that I like the most is that it can be easily integrated with Google docs. You can also import your MPP files created in Microsoft Project but Gantter will save files in XML format. You can either save your projects locally or on Gantter cloud servers.

Visit Gantter

3. Teambox

Teambox is another free web based project management tool.  Teambox is much like a social network of all the people who are working on a project. You can easily assign tasks, leave comments and fix due dates and this functionality is given just like we post anything on Facebook or any other social network. This makes it stand off from other project management tools. If your requirement is heavy collaboration among the team, Teambox is the perfect solution for you. The free edition of Teambox supports up to 3 projects and 50MB of online space.

Visit Teambox

4. Rally Community Edition

Rally Community Edition is another web based free and easy to use project management tool. This tool is an ideal solution for small business free for up to 10 users. You can easily plan and track tasks with Rally community edition. The distinction of Rally Community Edition is that it provides personal dashboards for all the users and combines social media tools for better collaboration and getting the right things done at the right time.

Visit Rally Community Edition

5. FreedCamp

FreedCamp is another feature rich web based alternative to Microsoft Project. The thing that attracts me towards FreedCamp is their claim on their homepage:

Over 48 universities, and 31 thousand professionals from 188 countries use Freedcamp every day!

FreedCamp offers an extremely easy to use dashboard which even newbies can get familiar with easily. FreedCamp works in modules and you can install any application that suits your project. This approach is especially successful as people have the flexibility to work on only the tasks and tools that they would like to use. All extras will never be installed. You can install the basic apps during the signup process. The basic apps includes a to-do list, discussions, milestones, time and files.

Which is your application of choice for managing your projects whether at the office or at home? What do you think is the best way to manage projects easily? Is it through using the software or doing things manually?

Image credit: Big Stock Photo

What People Like About MS Tablets So Far

We have to give Microsoft at least some credit with the tablet version of W7, considering that it allows support for lots of hardware that other tablets aren’t yet exploring. Tablets running the OS are also pretty powerful and really have the potential to pack a punch. After all, it was Microsoft who introduced tablets in the first place. Its form factor and specifications were similar to the iPad even back in 2003, so why did the company fail to get market share in the very thing it invented?

Microsoft’s Mistake

Microsoft’s biggest mistake was perhaps how it made its first impression when introducing tablets. Its first tablets were very over-engineered and flimsy, offering nothing more than an overly priced and heavier version of a laptop, with less processing power. Why on Earth would anyone make such a stupid investment? The fact Microsoft even made a penny out of this franchise was attributed to the amount of effort they put into marketing the product and convincing consumers that they really needed a bulky, bloated, and downgraded version of a laptop that’s 20 percent more expensive. Here’s another one: Although tablets had touch screens, users didn’t have to adapt to them. The voluntary touchscreen, in consequence, was never used and people just stuck to the keyboard and touchpad included in the tablet.

You then had the precision issue. Microsoft’s first and second-generation tablets included operating systems that didn’t cater to the touch of a finger. Since the operating systems weren’t made for touch, they could only interpret dot coordinate signals, without properly triangulating what you wanted to “click” with your finger. That’s where the iPad overtook Microsoft’s clumsy interface. Windows 8 will supposedly improve over that and include a more touch-friendly GUI, as opposed to an improvised mouse-and-keyboard GUI.

Windows 8 Tablets Might Prove Inconvenient

Windows 8 Tablets cannot be ARM-based, like the iPad and Android tablets. Turning to ARM would mean that the tablet will not harness the power of a fully optimized x86/x64 hardware architecture that would otherwise put a fully-powered computer in the palm of your hand. Obviously, Microsoft wants to let you use the tablet more without recharging it. The average user prefers to have 8 hours of continuous use as opposed to 2-4 hours. You’re out of luck, though, if you want to run Microsoft Office suite on ARM, among other desktop applications. Windows fanboys, though, wouldn’t have it any other way, and would rather run a tablet that still supports PE executable format.

Microsoft is going to have an application marketplace, though, just like Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market, where you can download apps that might imitate some of your favorite desktop programs in a low-power environment. It seems possible at the moment that MS wants to make it possible for W8 to run on both ARM and non-ARM tablets, giving you more choices, although the company never mentioned this. Note that in ARM tablets, you also lose support for non-proprietary USB peripherals.

So, MS stands at a crossroads. It must decide whether the future tablets will continue to have short battery lives to preserve the ability to run desktop programs and attach to USB devices, or whether the tablets will have a higher battery life and lose the features people used their tablets for in the first place. Any way you look at it, MS has a lot to lose with either decision.

This is where Microsoft introduces the W8 Metro interface, an interface that supports applications that will run on ARM-based devices and still preserve most of the functionality that desktop applications would have. You will probably be seeing a version of Microsoft Office that runs on Metro, but you won’t be able to run heavy client applications that occupy larger amounts of memory and require stronger processing.

Here’s another problem: What makes MS W8 tablets different from iOS and Android OS tablets, then?

Here’s where the answer becomes unclear, because at the time of this article’s publication, we don’t have sufficient clear information regarding Microsoft’s tablet environment to go fully in-depth with specifics. It’s likely that Windows will preserve the application marketplace idea and keep Metro the way it is, providing a low power tablet. This will obviously disappoint those who want to migrate from W7 tablets to W8 versions.

The unwillingness for software manufacturers to recompile all their software into an ARM-compatible environment might also make things worse, since they have no interest in involving themselves in a tablet that has high chances of totally failing to get any substantial customer base. Many people use Windows for desktop PCs and laptops, yet very few actually own a tablet that runs the operating system for reasons previously stated above. It might take at least a few months for the MS app marketplace to gain any sort of momentum and this might lead people away from MS tablets.

Put all this together, along with the fact that Apple and Google won’t let a new MS tablet go unpunished, and you can see why Gartner puts Microsoft’s market share on tablets in 2015 at 0 percent. What are your thoughts on this issue? What do you think Microsoft should do?

1. It Still Runs 32-Bit Applications

Not so long ago, people were making a transition from 16-bit to 32-bit. Today, there are still many people running 32-bit versions of their operating systems when 64-bit editions are available for fear that their old applications might not run on the newer version. To those who know how processor registries work, this would be like worrying whether you can put the same amount of clothes in your new washing machine with a 9 kg capacity as you did with the older one that had a 7 kg capacity.

Processors work much like onions, with several layers of registers. Two 16-bit layers compose a 32-bit layer, and one 32-bit layer always sits within a 64-bit layer. That allows for total reverse compatibility. I still almost exclusively run Win32 applications, although I run a 64-bit version of Windows 7.

2: The OS Recognizes More RAM

Windows x86 users often complain that they don’t even see all 4 GB of memory when they have that much RAM installed. Guess what happens when you install 8 GB of RAM on your x86 system?

Windows x64 is able to detect as much RAM as you put into it without any hitch. There’s no magic trick you have to perform to add memory, and you don’t have to fight with the system to get it to recognize everything. In the end, you come out winning, especially if you’re a gamer. In fact, x64 supports up to 192 GB of RAM!

3: Less Driver Fuss & BSODs

I’m serious. You’ll have less problems with compatible drivers and less blue screen errors (crashes) when you use a 64-bit version, particularly because drivers on Windows x64 are digitally signed. Heck, I keep the computer on for months on end without stability issues. That’s something I cannot say about my experience with x86 versions. The only setback, though, is with older drivers that don’t run on 64-bit systems. 32-bit drivers cannot run on Win64. Make sure you think of this when making a hardware purchase.

4: Lower Response Time

Despite the fact that, at the time of this article’s publication, there are less 64-bit native applications out there, you can still enjoy the benefits of faster response time with bigger processor registers used for every single hardware signal in Windows. The operating system will handle just about any request you make at the bat of an eyelash because all your hardware will be using a bigger bit width. The Windows environment itself, to say the least, will run almost solely on the 64-bit channel and run faster.

The Other Side of The Coin

Wait a second… If you’re still using a computer with less than 4 GB of memory, you shouldn’t be in a hurry to upgrade. The addressing system on a 64-bit machine might have a lot of unnecessary zeros to work with, which ends up being a waste of time. If you still use legacy applications or old devices that didn’t express compatibility with Win7, you’re in for a headache if you try to run a 64-bit OS. There still are reasons an upgrade would be illogical, but on more modern systems, you’re good to go.

Let us know if you have good/bad experiences running the x64 version of Windows 7 below.

On the first run, it will prompt you to perform a system scan so it can find the problems that are slowing down your PC.

You can click the big “Scan” button to start the scan immediately, or you can click the “Show scan options” link for more configuration options.

Beside the Scan button, you can also select the Scan action, whether to perform a simple “Scan Only”, or a “Scan and Repair”.

If you select the “Scan Only” option, after the scan, it will show you the report of the potential problems that slow down your PC. You can go through the list and select the stuff you want to remove. Lastly, click “Repair Now” to repair the problems.

The System Advisor tab, as its name implies, comes with a series of advices to help you optimize your PC. For example, if you are running Windows on a low-end PC, it will advise you to disable the Aero Effects. Similarly, you can go through the list and select the options that you want to disable. Next, click the “Fix selected” link at the right sidebar. Done.

The Advanced Tools tab comes with many tools such as Disk Maintenance, System Tweaks, Internet Optimizer, Registry Maintenance etc. You can click on any of the tool and run the related optimization.

All in all, Auslogics Boost Speed 5 is a feature-rich optimization tool that covers a wide range of options for your Windows PC. If you are looking to automate the cleaning and optimization process of your PC, this is one software that you can consider using.

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Update: Contest closed.

Here’s what you need to do to participate:

Tweet to Enter

All you have to do is click the link below and send out the resulting tweet (or just copy and paste), then leave a comment below with a link to your tweet. That’s it!

This giveaway begins now and ends Thursday, 12th January 2012 at 2359hrs Pacific Time. The winners will be selected at random and announced via email.

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Auslogics BoostSpeed 5

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First Things First

If you’re going to make a change to your computer, you should create a restore point prior to that. If you don’t know how to create a restore point, it’s rather easy:

1. Go to “Start -> Control Panel -> System and Security -> System > Advanced System Settings” (this link appears on the top left area). Got it? Good! Click the “System Protection” tab and then the “Create” button near the bottom of the window. You should be here:

2. Once you’re done typing something in that text box, click “Create” and wait for the magic to happen.

Now that you’ve created your own restore point, you have to know how to use it to restore your computer in case something happens. Simply navigate to “Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore”. Once in the restore application, everything else is pretty much self-explanatory so I’ll spare you the details. That’s all you need to know to make sure your system is ready for a creepy change.

The Fun Stuff

Before we get started, just download the Windows 7 Start Button Changer application here and extract it to a folder of your choosing. Now, you’re all set for whipping out the magic wand! Follow these instructions carefully:

1. Right-click the executable you extracted and click “Run as Administrator”. Accept the annoying pop-up asking you to authorize the application and let’s just keep going. You should see something like this:

2. Click the top right start button and browse to one of the sample files that came with the application. This is in the same folder as the EXE file, called “10 Sample Orbs”. Double-click your favorite orb and wait a second. Your computer will freeze and the taskbar will be unavailable momentarily while the application updates everything. Do not restart your computer or reset it while in this process.

If you do get issues, use the restore point you created to your advantage. If you can no longer boot to your desktop normally, don’t panic! Press “F8″ on your keyboard right before the Windows loading screen comes up. A menu will appear with a bunch of booting options. Choose “Safe Mode”. Make sure you don’t opt for safe mode that has networking, as you don’t need the Internet to restore your computer. Once in safe mode, you can restore the computer to a previous point and breathe a sigh of relief while you wipe that sweat from your forehead.

Using the samples, you can get creative and make your own start orb templates if you wish. If you ever make one, make sure you post it here in the comments section! We’d love to hear about it!

What Happens?

If your hard drive starts acting nasty, you’ll know it because the computer loads much more slowly than usual, perhaps executing this behavior on one or two programs in particular. BSOD (blue screen) errors will happen more frequently than previously when they were absent. Although these also may be signs that your physical memory and other components might not work properly, you shouldn’t discount the possibility of the hard drive being the cause of this mess. Other problems that narrow down to the hard drive are CRC errors when transferring files from one folder on the same drive to the other. Other times, the progress bar just stays stuck in the middle and doesn’t move for hours.

Why Does This Happen?

Hard drives aren’t eternal, and neither are solid state drives (SSDs), contrary to what some may say. SSDs, in fact, are more volatile than hard drives. The degradation of a storage drive’s interior is something perfectly natural and happens after years of use, depending on the quality it was manufactured with. This degradation manifests itself in the form of bad sectors, which are small areas of the drive that can no longer be used due to physical damage. To ensure that your drive doesn’t risk being further damaged, you must run the disk checking utility in Windows to mark the areas that aren’t functional anymore. 

Notice how close the R/W heads come to the platters. The precision necessary makes the hard drive a very delicate instrument.

Before You Run Disk Checker

Try restarting your computer. There are times when your drive might have a minor fluke. Don’t restart your computer like you usually do. Shut it down, wait 20 seconds, and turn it back on. This gives the drive time to reset its read/write heads and bring the internal platters to a complete stop. If your hard drive is having errors only working with one file, try putting a copy of it somewhere else on the drive. See if it works after that. If it’s still not working, the file might have a problem, not the drive.

Running Disk Checker

To run the disk checker utility, access your command prompt. If you don’t know how to do this, click your “Start” menu, go to “All Programs -> Accessories -> Command Prompt“. Once in the command prompt, type “chkdsk /r” and press “Enter” on your keyboard. If and when you get a prompt, type “Y” and press “Enter.” Once you restart your computer, the disk checker utility will run on its own. Let it do its job and it will take care of your drive.

If you’re curious, the “/r” flag tells the “chkdsk” utility to scan the drive for errors and recover readable information from bad sectors. If the utility finds errors, it will also correct them because of the implication of the “/f” flag. If someone tells you to type both “f” and “r” flags, just use the “r” one and let them know that they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Photo Credit: flickr

Why Would You Want This?

Perhaps you might not understand the need for a context option to open things with Notepad, but it might become clear enough once you start trying to edit SRT and SUB files without using third-party applications. Perhaps you want to edit a PHP or HTML file without having to open anything fancy. What if you know your way around things enough not to need any of those applications that only take up space on your hard drive and bloat up your memory for nothing?

If you’re a developer looking for a quick way to fix a line of code when something goes wrong instead of having to wait for a bloated Visual Studio to open, you’re going to wonder where this feature’s been all your life.

The Tutorial

The best part of this feature is that it doesn’t take a lot of steps and isn’t difficult to put into your computer. The following short tutorial will lead you to Notepad Enlightenment, I promise:

1. Press “Start + R” on your keyboard. This brings up the “Run” dialog.

2. Type “regedit” in the dialog and press “Enter” on your keyboard. This takes you to the registry editor.

NOTE: From here on in, don’t change anything unless instructed by this tutorial. Any stray changes to the registry might damage it and render your computer incapable of functioning. Back up your registry before making anything minor or major, like this project. Read the rest of the tutorial to determine whether you are capable of comprehending all of the steps. If you feel unsure about even one step, I recommend you forgo this experiment, because it involves modifying key components of the skeleton that holds your operating system up.

3. Navigate to “HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell.” You should be here:

4. Right-click “shell”, hover your mouse over “New”, and select “Key”. Name the key “Open with Notepad”.

5. Create another key under “Open with Notepad” called “command”. Select the new key you just created.

6. Right-click “(Default)” on the right side of the regedit window and click “Modify”. Under value data, type “notepad.exe %1″. This tells the context menu to open notepad with the contents of the selected file inside the window. Here’s what the final result should look like:

Now, go to a PHP file or something you consistently open using Notepad. Right-click on it, and click “Open with Notepad”. You just made your own little context menu with almost no effort. You can wipe the sweat off your forehead, but make sure you proceed with tons of care every time you work in the registry.

What’s This All About?

Normally, you start the defragmenter utility by going to your “Start” menu and navigating from there. Obviously, this might be inconvenient for you if you need to defragment frequently. You could have multiple hard drives or a RAID configuration. There are a number of different reasons why you would want a context menu for defragmenting hard drive when you right-click on one.

I conducted a small survey of computer users who neglect drive defragmentation. Why?

More than half of those people said that they’d prefer the utility to be more reachable. So, I came up with an answer for that. The following is a tutorial that teaches you how to put a context menu when right-clicking your drive that lets you defragment it:

1. Access the “Run” dialog on your computer by pressing “Start + R” on your keyboard.

2. Type “regedit” and press “Enter.”

3. Navigate to “HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\Shell“. It’s going to be tough to sift through all that if you have as much junk on your computer as I do. Here’s where we are so far:

4. Right-click on “shell”, click “New” and click “Key.” Label it “runas“. Your “shell” key should look like this, expanded

5. Right-click the “(Default)” key and click “Modify”. Write “Defragment” under “value data.” Click “OK”.

6. Right-click on an empty space in the right side of the screen, navigate to “New”, and click “String value”. Name it “Extended”, but don’t give it a value.

7. Create a new key under “runas” just like how you created one in “shell”. Name it “command”. Here’s where we are so far:

8. Now, we’re going to edit the command subkey, so select it. Edit the “(Default)” key value to:

defrag %1 -v

You’re done! Here’s how your final product should look like.

Now, you need to restart your computer before the changes take place. Once restarted, you should see a context menu for defragmenting your hard drive when you right-click on it. Please note that you shouldn’t be editing your registry if you have no experience in doing it previously. It’s a rather meticulous library your operating system relies on, and if you mess something up by accident, your computer won’t forgive you easily. Try backing up the registry before you try any modifications, regardless of your previous experience.