Windows Tools, Help & Guides

We already know from Deck’s great posts and RSVR85’s Media Center customization guide that Windows Media Center is a robust media hub with a great user interface. The ability to pull in internet TV, act as a DVR for broadcast TV, and serve as a library for music, pictures, and videos has made it my choice in my home entertainment center. However, it does have its shortcomings, one of which is its inability to play some types of video files without third-party software. I’m going to show you how to make this a non-issue by configuring Windows Media Center to utilize non-Windows Media Player programs to play these files.
Read the rest of this entry »

The latest version of Microsoft Virtual PC lets you run applications installed on your virtual Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 without loading the whole operating system in the background. In this guide you’ll learn:

• How to turn on Auto Publish to view programs on Windows 7’s start menu.
• How to run Windows XP Mode applications in Windows 7.
• How to add XP Mode programs to Windows 7’s start menu.
• How to exclude XP Mode programs from Windows 7’s start menu.

Read the rest of this entry »

This How To guide is going to show you how to customise or completely change the backgrounds in the Windows Card Games (Solitaire, FreeCell, Hearts & Spider Solitaire).

Read the rest of this entry »

When you’re using Windows XP Mode in Windows 7, you’ll likely need to access files on your host (Windows 7) machine. Luckily, Windows Virtual PC makes this really easy and there’s not much you have to do. In this guide, I’ll show you how to access your files in the intended way and also show you a trick that will make file sharing between the two operating systems even easier. Specifically, this guide covers the following topics:

• Basic file sharing.
• Customizing file sharing.
• Sharing removable devices (USB drives.)
• Send files to your host machine via the “Send to” menu.

Read the rest of this entry »

On Saturday, we asked you which antivirus software you use on your personal desktop.

Thank you to everyone who took park in the poll. Here are the results:

Read the rest of this entry »

Although, by today’s standards, Windows XP doesn’t require much in the way of system resources, Windows XP Mode, running in Windows Virtual PC, can feel a little sluggish at times. This is because Windows XP Mode, by default, runs with 512MB RAM. In this guide, I’ll show you how to increase the allotted memory to Windows XP Mode using Windows Virtual PC Settings.

Note: A couple of weeks ago, we asked you if you used Windows XP Mode and many of you responded by saying you didn’t know about it so we wrote this guide: What are Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode and How Do I Use them? This is a good place to start if you’re new to Windows Virtual PC and Windows XP Mode.

If you get to the end of this guide and still have questions about Windows Virtual PC or XP Mode, please ask them in the Windows 7 forum.

Read the rest of this entry »