Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Like Windows Vista, Windows 7 comes with a suite of Parental Controls tools to help you protect your children from viewing inappropriate content on your PC or from using a computer during restricted hours. In this guide you’ll learn how to do the following:

• Create a new user account for your child.
• Set up Parental Controls for a Windows 7 user account.
  • Set time limits for account access.
  • Control games by rating, content, or title.
  • Allow and block specific programs.
• Restrict access to specific websites.

If you use Windows Vista, the settings are almost identical; however, a Windows Vista-specific series of guides can be found here: Vista User Accounts and Parental Controls Series.

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Windows Forums member, cnitin, has written a guide which teaches you how to put a “Toggle Hidden Files” button on your right-click context menu.

This is useful if you frequently work with hidden files but don’t want them showing all the time. Instead of going into the folder options and changing the setting each time, you can use a convenient toggle that can be accessed by a right click in Windows Explorer.

Want to change the text from “Toggle Hidden Files” to something less obvious like “Update View”? Just download the zip file, attached to the guide, open toggle.reg in Notepad, change the bolded part of the following line, and save the file before running run.cmd:

@=”Toggle Hidden Files“

Just download the attached zip file (link to the guide below), and double click run.cmd. There are also instructions to do this manually, but the cmd file works just fine.

Learn how here: Add “Toggle Hidden Files” Option to Context Menu

You may have experienced that from time to time your Wireless Connection just stops working or you get disconnected. Usually this is fixed by right-Clicking the WLan icon in the Tray and choose Troubleshoot.

What this does amongst other things is to reset your wireless connection using the ipconfig release and renew feature. And usually it will do the trick.

But if this is a reoccurring problem that means something else is wrong.

Your TCP/IP protocol might be corrupted and needs resetting. This is for some reason something you need to do yourself and (as far as I know) not being done by the Troubleshooter. Read the rest of this entry »

The problems you must face using an Antivirus are not always obvious. By not properly uninstalling an antivirus programs, you can experience system instabilities.

It is not unusual that you find problems when installing a new antivirus program due to traces of the older one.

The first choice you should use is the uninstaller that comes with the software. But if something happens on the process the following list can solve your problems:

Panda

Panda has created an uninstall program for every product, so select the proper one:

Panda Antivirus, Firewall 2007 Uninstall Utility

Panda Antivirus, Firewall 2008 Uninstall Utility

Panda Antivirus, Firewall 2009 Uninstall Utility

Panda Antivirus, Firewall 2010 Uninstall Utility

Kaspersky

Removal Tool for Kaspersky Lab Products

This removal tool can uninstall all versions of Kaspersky Antivirus and Internet Security but under 64 bit operating systems versions 6 and 7 of the products.

Norton

For reasons that I don’t understand, Norton Antivirus leaves a lot of  traces even if you uninstall it using the default uninstaller.

Norton Removal Tool

F-secure

F-secure has created an extensive page about how to removal its antivirus:

Advanced F-Secure product removal

There is an uninstaller tool but F-secure only recommends it as a last resort.

Bitdefender

Bitdefender Uninstall Tool

Avg

Avg Remover

Avast

Avast Uninstall Utility

McAffe

How to uninstall or reinstall supported McAfee consumer products using the McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool

Which program did we miss? Now you’ve removed your bloated AV software, check out the free Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE).

So you have your brand new Windows 7 PC and you’re ready to rock. Did you know that if you create separate user accounts, your whole family and friends can have access to their own personalized desktop, files, and opened programs?

Learn, in this guide, how to create a new user account in Windows 7.

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Did you read about Driver Magician v.3.5 the other day ?

Micael Lee, the brain behind Driver Magician offered 10 licenses to be given away to our readers, in return for your valuable input. Competition has now ended and the winners have been picked acordingly. Thank you for all contributions

Driver Magician offers a professional solution for device drivers backup, restoration, update and removal in Windows operating system.

Read on to see who the lucky 10 are

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