Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Windows Forums member, Uvais, shares a skin pack made by DeviantArt user ~hameddanger. The package is designed to work with Windows 7 SP1 (download Service Pack 1–SP1–for Windows 7) and will work with both the 32 bit and 64 bit version.

Note: Before installing this skin pack, create a system restore point.

Here’s what it looks like on my PC (click to enlarge):

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For some reason the developers of Office (2007 and 2010) believe that every letter or document you write should use a line-space setting of 1,5. Which really hasn’t been used since the day of typewriters. Back when you had no other layout option. Another thing annoying me is the custom setting og 10 pt. space after each paragraph you write.

Okay, this ensures that your letters (or emails) use lots of “air” and can easily be read by anyone. But being a graphics designer, this layout is ugly. Not to mention, how much space you waste. With a little tweaking you can save at least one page when printing your documents. And in these environmental times, thats not such a bad thing either.

Most users i meet doesn’t know how to fix this, or do so permanently, so this is how.

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In Windows there is a function that most users (experienced and “n00bs”) should use with the out most care: Compressing disk space to save space.

The idea is to let windows compress files much like ZIP or RAR to give you more storage. While it may seem like a good idea, doing so on your main drive (Where Windows is installed) will render your computer unbootable (if done wrong).

For some reason Windows – which will not allow you to accidentally format your main drive – does allow you to compress your boot manager and system-files. Causing an unbootable computer. Luckily there’s an easy fix, well as long as you have created a system Repair disk, that is. But sometimes even that fail – then what?

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If you have a bunch of photos shot at a huge 10 megapixels (and thus the huge file size) that you want to quickly share with your friends and family via email, Facebook etc., and if you are too lazy to fire up a slow-loading-and-complex image manipulation application, Image Resizer is possibly the best solution for you.

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If you’re making a change to your PC like installing new software, theming your desktop, or making registry and other software edits, you should create a system restore point. This will help you roll back any changes you’ve made if it all goes wrong or if you decide you don’t like the changes you’ve made and want a quick fix.

This guide will show you how to create a restore point in Windows 7. Here are guides for Windows XP and Vista:

• Create a System Restore Point in Windows XP
• Create a System Restore Point in Windows Vista

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Yesterday, we showed you how to tell whether you’re using 32 or 64 bit Windows and in the past we’ve shown you why you should use 64-bit Windows. Today we share a list, shown to us by Windows Forums member Jeet.

What does “Native” Mean?

Native is a term often used in the compting world to describe true compatibility. When something is native (in this case, a software program), it means it’s built to work completely in an environment (your PC) without compatibility patching. 32-bit programs will work in a 64-bit environment but to be truly “native” they need to be built for 64-bit addressing and communication with hardware without compatibility fixes.

In other words, 64-bit applications are designed to work in a 64-bit environment and, as a result of this, often perform better. To explore the merits of 64-bit, read this guide.

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