Have you ever wondered what is that files/processes that are running in the background of your computer and causing all your applications to slow down, or even crashed? Well, I know you can easily fire up your task manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del) and see what processes are running, but what I wanted to say is, do you really know what are they, their functionalities and whether it is safe to delete/disable them so as to free up some system resources?

In the past, there has not been an easy way for noobs like us to understand what is behind the scene. With File Inspect, this suddenly become a breeze (and you can easily become an expert and boast to your friends).

File Inspect Library is an educational site that provides detailed information of all (if not, most) the processes/files running in your Windows machine. You simply type in the process/file name and it will bring you its description, functionality and whether it is safe to delete/disable them. Cool, isn’t it?

Let’s delve into it further.

I’ve been a web-mail kinda guy since a long time ago. I ditched my email clients (Mail, Entourage, and Thunderbird) and prefer to keep my GMail handy on any computer (or sometimes cellphone) that I use, wherever I am. But Postbox might just change my mind.

This free open-source mail client (available for Mac and Windows) combines few great features that can help users manage their emails better.

Dropbox, Sugarsync and Zumodrive are some of the great online storage services that you can use to store, sync and access your files right from your desktop. However, they only offer a meagre free storage space (less than 5GB) that may not even be enough to backup your MP3 files. On the other hand, Windows Live Skydrive provides a whopping 25GB of online storage space, much more than the storage space of some of the 1st generation netbook and it is even enough to install a whole operating system on it. As good as it seems, there is one limitation. Skydrive is purely web based and does not provide any desktop-based application for you to sync your computer data with the cloud.

If you are looking to access your Skydrive account from your desktop, Gladinet is the application for you.

Mounting ISO images in your OS is a great way for you to view and run the content of the disk image without having to burn it into a CD/DVD. While Mac and Linux come with native support to mount ISO images in the system, Windows, regardless which version you are using, doesn’t come with this feature. In this article, we will show you how to mount ISO files in your Windows at a price of free.

We are all familiar with WordPress, the popular software that makes blogging an easy and enjoyable task. WordPress MU is an extension of WordPress that gives you the capability to create multiple blogs in one domain. One good example of WordPress MU in action is WordPress.com.

If you want to use WordPress MU on your site, but wanted to test it thoroughly before making it live on the server, the best way is to create a local server and test the installation in your computer first. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create local sever on Windows (using Xampp) and install WordPress MU.

In Opera browser, there is this inbuilt mouse gestures function that allows you to control and automate your browser with mouse action. In Firefox, you can also install FireGestures to enable the mouse action feature. Now, how about bringing this little useful features to your Windows so you can control your desktop with a stroke of the mouse?

Is this a familiar scene for you?  Someone has sent you a file with the .docx extension and you can’t open it?

Fear not, help is on the way.

Since the early days of Office 2003, Microsoft has been offering a free download of an application called Word Viewer that allows users to open documents created with Microsoft Word on Windows-based computers that don’t have Office installed.

The caveat here is that you have to download to different installers.  The first one installs Word Viewer 2003 and the second installs the Office Compatibility Pack.  This second download is what allows Word Viewer to open documents created with Word 2007.

In this walkthrough, I’ve created a test.docx file and sent it to a bare bones Windows XP installation.  Let’s have a look at how I was able to view it.

How many times have you stared at the vast collection of ebooks that you have and wondered if there was a better way to keep track of them?  I certainly have. Time and time again I sift through my ebooks as I attempt to locate one that I knew I had somewhere. I knew that there must be a better way and finally I found it!

Calibre is a “one stop solution to all your ebook needs”. The site wasn’t lying. This handy application is a free, open-source, cross-platform (Windows, Linux, OS X) ebook library that offers incredible value and useful features.

In this walkthrough, we’ll look at installing Calibre in Windows and check out some of the basic features.

I recently wrote about a great software utility that opened up a world of information about your motherboard, CPU, and RAM. Well, I have another great utility to tell you about, only this time it’s all about your graphics card.

Though manufactured by different companies, GPU-Z from TechPowerUp does look a lot like the aforementioned CPU-Z. The interface is eerily similar and the name is a perfect match. On the positive side, these two Windows applications bring incredible value at a price that can’t be beat – free! The pair complement each other as incredible tools to have on your belt.

Let me take you on a tour of this powerful graphics card information utility.

If knowledge is power, then CPU-Z from CPUID will make you feel like a superhero. This handy little tool was featured in the MakeTechEasier 101 best free computer software downloads list. CPU-Z is a Windows only tool that gathers information on some of the main hardware components of your computer.

The information that it collects is quite detailed and is focused around you CPU, mainboard, memory and general system info about Windows and DirectX.

Throughout the rest of the post, I’m going to walk you through getting CPU-Z and harnessing it’s awesome power on your own PC.