Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Often we face errors on our PCs which, with a quick web search on the error text, are easily resolvable. Did you know you can copy the contents of an error message (or any dialog box) to your clipboard? When you’re faced with an error, press Ctrl+C to copy the error title and text to your clipboard.

This:

Becomes this:

—————————
Warning, grasshopper
—————————
You haven’t paid homage to Windows Guides today
—————————
OK
—————————

Simply paste the error message into the search field; I find this a lot quicker than transcribing the error message in to your favorite search engine yourself.

In this guide, you will learn what the Windows Registry is, how to access and configure it, and how to backup and restore it.

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There are a number of ways to capture screenshots without any additional software in Windows. You can:

1. Capture the whole screen (and automatically save it if you have Windows 8)
2. Capture a part of the screen or a window
3. Capture a series of screenshots in a document

This guide covers the tools built in to Windows and how to use them.

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If you store photos on your home PC and don’t back them up, I really recommend you do. Hard drives fail all the time yet I still get many emails and PMs asking for help with data recovery. Even if you use an online backup solution, I still recommend taking an inexpensive local backup on optical media periodically.

I have my photos synced on two hard drives at home, on a remote server (RAID 10), and with a third-party storage provider. I’m still paranoid about losing my life’s memories in photos so I like to take a snapshot of my photo data every two years. By making a biannual backup, you’ll always have 3-5 viable sets of discs (they don’t last forever) with your important files—should you ever lose or overwrite them. Hopefully this guide is helpful and gives you something to do with the remaining 88 of the 100 DVDs you purchased on sale three years ago…

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Windows Guides’ Rating	Compatible with	System
4.5 out of 5

PROS: Lightweight and simple. Performs its main task—reporting file-by-file disk usage—in an intuitive manner and provides the ability to visually drill down to the largest files and directories on your hard drive. Essential for SSD users running out of space! CONS: The only “con” is WinDirStat has pretty much looked the same since its release in 2003. The treemap view is great but it’s a little bit of an eye sore by today’s standards. Still, the software is bug free and provides data quickly and efficiently. VERDICT: If you want to save disk space, this utility is essential. PRICE: Free VERSION REVIEWED: 1.1.2.80 DOWNLOAD: WinDirStat

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XP, Vista, 7, and Windows 8 come with a built in voice database, which you can access via the Microsoft SAPI (Speech Application Programming Interface); in this guide, you’ll learn how to get your computer to say what you type using one of three methods.

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