Windows Tools, Help & Guides

If you use Google Calendar, you’ll know how useful and simple it is. In this guide, you’ll learn about a tool, which brings your Google Calendar entries to your desktop.

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The TaskSwitch Powertoy replaces the standard Alt-tab view in Windows XP. See below for screenshots.

Alt-tab in XP Before

Alt-tab in XP After

Download TaskSwitch Powertoy

This is an excerpt from the Windows Guides PC Security Handbook. To learn more or find out other security-related tips, download the PC Security Handbook now.

Data backup is essential. If you’d like to explore local backup options, download my Windows pocket guides. I strongly recommend using online (off-site) backups. Backing up your data online prevents data loss if your computer is damaged or stolen—or if your data is wiped by malware.

Online Data Backup

By far my favorite solution for online backup is Mozy. Mozy offers free online storage (up to 2GB with paid options too.) I’ve had Mozy installed on my laptop for over two years and it has saved me on more than a handful of occasions.

Setup is simple and after downloading Mozy, you can specify what you want to back up and when. Mozy will automate your backups and let you decide when it backs up (specific times), what causes it to back up (low CPU usage), and how often (one, two, three etc. times a day.)

I just let Mozy run and it alerts me after a successful backup:

You can specify what types of files to backup or specify folders— it’s up to you:

Mozy even integrates into My Computer so you can browse and restore your backed up files (even ones you’ve deleted from your computer):

MozyHome Features

• Open/locked file support: Mozy will back up your documents whether they’re open or closed.
• 128-bit SSL encryption: The same technology used by banks secures your data during the backup process.
• 448-bit Blowfish encryption: Secures your files while in storage, providing peace of mind that your private data is safe from hackers.
• Automatic: Schedule the times to back up and MozyHome does the rest.
• New and changed file detection: MozyHome finds and saves the smallest changes.
• Backs up Outlook files: Disaster-proof email protection.
• Block-level incremental backup: After the initial backup, MozyHome only backs up files that have been added or changed, making subsequent backups lightning fast.

Download Mozy for Free

Download MozyHome Free

If you like to write or if you are compelled to write by work, school etc, you know how distracting it can be to use your computer. If I am not focused, I can take hours writing a paper because I take time to check my email, browse websites, play with my computer etc. In this guide, you’ll learn about Write Monkey and I’ll run you over the best features.

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If you’re watching a video in full screen on the computer and you want to turn the system volume up, you need to minimize the video clip, click the audio item in the system tray and turn it up from there. This can be very tedious; thus I looked for a good solution to this problem and found Volumouse. Volumouse provides you with a quick and easy way to control the volume on your system—simply by rolling the wheel of your wheel mouse.

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If you hold a lot online meetings or if you want a good way to show family members or friends how to complete a task on the computer, you may find Yuuguu a great solution for your needs. Yuuguu is an online collaboration system, which has a free version that is highly functional. I tested this program out with a friend and I am very impressed with its capabilities and want to share it with mintywhite readers.

Like an Instant Messaging Program with Screen Sharing

My first impressions of the program is that it’s like an instant messaging program with screen sharing capabilities. I took a couple of screenshots while using the program and they are shown below:

Upon logging into the system, I notified my friend wants to communicate with me:

As you can see, this program acts like an instant messaging program:

From there, you can share your screen and even control your computer. An example of how this can be useful is as follows: if you have a couple of family members who wanted learn how to use a program, you can have them join you and they can watch you demonstrate the task they’re trying to learn. From there, they can try the same function while you watch and help them along the way.

Yuuguu is still a relatively new program but shows great promise and I highly recommend it.

Download Yuuguu