Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Portable applications are programs that require no installation and can be used on a thumb drive on any machine that works with thumb drives. Back in college, I would use a portable version of Firefox as it contained all my personalized settings. I’d even carry a portable version of Photoshop to work on images I’d use on this site. That was a long time ago and I don’t really have need for portable applications anymore; however, if you like portable programs (or you want to give them a try), you’ll love this list over at Gizmo’s Freeware.

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I’ve been a fan of uTorrent for a while now.  It’s free, fast, lightweight, highly configurable, cross-platform and now, looks great.

A new look isn’t all uTorrent brings to the table.  Apps have been introduced thanks to Project Griffin meaning extra functionality without bogging down the core client.

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A few days ago, I asked you if you use Windows 7’s XP Mode. Thank you to those who took part in the poll. Here’s what you said:

What Did I Learn from This?

I learned a lot from this poll and I’m glad I asked the question. Specifically, I learned that a lot of you use XP Mode (even in the home) and I also learned that a lot of you don’t know what XP mode is.

What’s Next?

Expect to see some guides in the near future on the following (subject to change) topics:

• What is XP Mode?
• How to improve performance when using XP Mode.
• How to share files between your host machine and XP Mode.

Thank you again to everyone who took part in the poll.

I was reading a newsletter the other day that was using he words Swap File, Paging File and Virtual Memory, interchangeably. Now this confused me and I realized that this might be a great topic for an article. I’ve been around computers since the age of 7, and I still find those things rather confusing.

I’ve previously written about RAM (Read It Here) so I’m going to assume you have a good grip on that topic. Now let’s dig into the world of Virtual Memory.

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Many of us have a Hotmail (or live) account that we manage along with our regular emails. Personally I like to keep it as a separate account on a separate system. Mostly because that’s the email account receiving most spam. But that’s just me I guess.

There are several ways to make Hotmail (live) collaborate with your outlook or other email software. You can set it up as a separate account in Outlook (Read How here), or you may use Windows Live Mail which supersede Outlook Express. But, what if you just want to FORWARD the incoming emails into another account ?

Restrictions apply

Forwarding your emails is possible (Microsoft can’t afford not to). However there are some built-in restrictions that might cause problems for you. I will address those later on. First, lets show you How to:

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Slow computers need lots of patience

USB has become a daily part of our computer life. Almost any gadget or external device use the USB port to connect to your computer. Some devices also rely on our USB ports to get power or charge their battery.

Problem is that the USB ports doesn’t support true high-speed data transfers (at least until version 3 becomes generally available). Granted, USB is an ingenious way of connecting devices to your computer. It really revolutionized the home computer when it became a system standard. However, too much of a good thing, often results in sluggish computers and slooow file copying. Why’s that ?

In this article I’m going to try answer that and give you a few tips and tricks on how to improve your USB (and computer) performance and to avoid those sluggish moments.

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