Alienware theme for XP free download

Hard Drive Defragmentation

Hard Drive Defragmentation

Windows Disk Defragmenter Utility let you "re-organize" the used spaces of your hard drives. You can think of your hard drive as a drawer with full of stuffs that you just dump in again and again. The problem is, when you need to find something from that drawer, you might need to spend a good amount of time to search through the mess. Same for the Windows operating system, your hard drive is the messy drawer, and Windows just has to search through it to execute your command. So it's time to re-organize it to make your PC run faster.

The defragmentation process might take a very long time, depending on the usage size of your hard drive. To clean up your PC and to speed up the defragmentation process, it is recommended to do a drive cleanup prior to the defragmentation. For information how to do a disk Cleanup, see this article.

Most likely, operating and application files are stored in your "C drive", but it doesn't hurt to do a cleanup + defragmentation on all of your hard drives every once in awhile.

Use this trick at your own risks

1. Launch the Disk Defragmenter utility by either:
   - "Start" >> "Programs" >> "Accessories" >> "System Tools" >> "Disk Defragmenter", or:
   - "Start" >> "Run", enter "dfrg.msc" then press Enter.
2. Select the disk you want to perform defragmentation (i.e. "Local Disk C") and click "Defragment":
   
   
   
   
3. Windows starts to defragment your selected hard drive as follow:
   
   
   
   
4. This process might take awhile depending on the size and usage of your hard drive. During this process, your computer might be running slow. Fortunately, you can always pause and resume the process if you want to use other applications on your PC at a normal speed.

Hard Drive Cleanup

Hard Drive Cleanup

Wonder why your computer is getting so slow lately? Most often, it's just your hard drive is getting full or carying too many junk files. Most of these files are temporary files and perfectly safe to be deleted. Cleaning up your hard drive every once in awhile will improve your PC performance.

You might wonder: Why Windows keeps those files if they're not necessary? "Temporary Internet Files", for example, everytime you browse to a webpage, your web browser requests the contents from the host, saves them locally as cache, then displays the contents to your browser window. Now, to speed up the access time when you come back to the same page, your web browser might re-use those cache files if they're not changed from the webpage.

"Temporary Internet Files" are just one example of the temporary files you can clean up. Follow the steps below to clean up other temporary sources as well.

Most likely, temporary files are stored in the Operating System drive ("C Drive"), but it doesn't hurt to do a cleanup all of your hard drives every once in awhile.

Use this trick at your own risks

1. Launch the Disk Cleanup utility by either:
   - "Start" >> "Programs" >> "Accessories" >> "System Tools" >> "Disk Cleanup", or:
   - "Start" >> "Run", enter "cleanmgr" then press Enter.
2. Select the disk you want to clean up from the drop-down box (i.e. "Local Disk C") and click "OK":
   
   
   
   
3. Windows will calculate the space on your selected hard drive. This might take a few minutes depending on the size of your hard drive:
   
   
   
   
4. Once Windows is done with the calculation, Disk Cleanup Utility displays. Here you can select which temporary sources you want to clean up (under "Files to delete"). It doesn't hurt if you select them all when you really need some spaces on your hard drive. Notice the usage size on some of these sources may be very big
   
   
   
   
5. Click "OK" after your selections, then click "Yes" on the prompt.
6. Disk Cleanup Utility starts to clean up your hard drive. This might take a long time depending on the current usage level of your hard drive. During the cleanup process, your computer might be very slow, so go watch a TV show or something. After cleaning up your hard disks, perform a disk defragmentation could really help your pc run faster.

Change Your Desktop Wallpapers the Easy Way with DeskSlide

Change Your Desktop Wallpapers the Easy Way with DeskSlide

Looking to add some variety to your desktop instead of looking at the same wallpaper day in and day out? Have fun changing your wallpapers automatically with DeskSlide.

DeskSlide Setup

As soon as you finish installing DeskSlide and start it up, you will be presented with the Configuration Wizard. The Currently Displayed Photo Window will also automatically display at the same time. Click “Next” to get started.

This is where you will be able to add any photo folders that you want to DeskSlide’s photo library list. Click on the “Plus Sign” to add a folder and on the “Minus Sign” to remove one.

Here is an example of how the listing will look. Once you have finished, click “Apply” and then “Next”. You can also include subfolders if you desire (very nice!).

Choose the layout style that you would like to use with your photos and decide what DeskSlide will do with small photos. Notice that you can specify a specific size for what is classified as a small photo (nice!). Click “Next”.

Specify the amount of time that you would like in between changes to your wallpaper. Click “Next”.

That now has DeskSlide configured to suit your personal style. Click “Finish” to exit the Configuration Wizard.

DeskSlide Management

Once you have exited the Configuration Wizard, you will be able to view the Currently Displayed Photo and the Current Photo List Windows. You can easily access both windows at any time as shown here.

The Right Click Menu for the Current Photo List Window…

And the Right Click Menu for the System Tray Icon.

Conclusion

If you are looking for an easy way to add some variety to your desktop, then DeskSlide can provide a simple hassle-free way to change your wallpaper and brighten up your day. Have fun!

Links

Download DeskSlide (version 2.1.0.12)

Dual Monitors: Use a Different Wallpaper on Each Desktop in Windows 7, Vista or XP

Dual Monitors: Use a Different Wallpaper on Each Desktop in Windows 7, Vista or XP

One of the most popular articles around here has been the article I wrote a year ago about using different wallpapers on each desktop using Active Desktop in Windows XP. The problem with that article is that it didn’t work in Windows Vista… but now we have a great solution that is also free.

Instead of paying money for software to use separate wallpapers, or creating a wallpaper in Photoshop, Jon Tackabury has created a Free piece of software that lets you easily set separate wallpapers for each desktop.

Once the software is installed, you’ll notice a new tray icon. Clicking the Desktop Wallpaper item from the menu will open up the dialog where you can set the wallpaper.

You can click on each desktop in the display, and set display settings differently for each monitor, or span the wallpaper across the two.

Or you can even load wallpaper from Flickr, which is an incredibly cool feature. Type in “vista wallpaper” for some really nice images.

If you chose the Settings from the tray icon popup menu, you’ll notice that this application also adds a set of shortcut keys that can be used to move windows from one monitor to the other.

This is now a must-have application for my multi-monitor configuration. This application is donationware, which means you don’t have to donate anything, but you really should consider it.

Download DisplayFusion from Binaryfortress (Vista/XP/Win7)

Amazing Desktop Wallpapers: the Castle-Themed Edition

Amazing Desktop Wallpapers: the Castle-Themed Edition

Today we continue to bring you collections of cool desktop wallpapers. Today’s collection is Castle themed wallpaper fun.

Click on any of the images below for a larger version of the image more suitable for using as a wallpaper. Since everybody’s desktop might be a different size, you may have to crop or adjust the images for best effect.

Make sure to check out our Abstract Art and Linux Desktop collections too!

Access Hidden Regional Themes in Windows 7

Access Hidden Regional Themes in Windows 7

Windows 7 offers you location specific Aero themes based on the language and location you pick during installation. Here we will take a look at accessing other hidden themes from different countries.

When you first start the Windows 7 installation the first thing you will do is select a language, time and currency format. This is where Windows determines what themes you’re presented with by default.

Being from the US I’m presented with location specific themes from the United States with desktop backgrounds such as scenery from Maine, Idaho, Oregon etc.

To access the other international themes copy and paste the following path into the search box and hit Enter.

C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT

In the MCT folder you will find additional themes for Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Great Britain.

You can go in and grab just the Wallpapers…

Or go into the Theme folder double click on the the thumbnail to add it.

Here you can see I added all of them and now they will be available under the My Themes section for when you want to change them around.

This is a neat little trick that will let you customize Windows 7 with hidden themes already available. Also if you want to get more themes head over to the Microsoft site.

Create Keyboard Shortcuts to Applications in Windows

Create Keyboard Shortcuts to Applications in Windows

DENZIL ANIL DSOUZA

Do you need just one or a few special keyboard shortcuts for your favorite program(s)? A quick modification to program shortcuts will get you up and running without installing additional software.

Creating New Keyboard Shortcuts

Go to the start menu shortcut for the program, right-click on it, and select properties.

When the properties window opens click in the shortcut key text area. All that you need to do is choose an appropriate letter for the program (i.e. O for Opera, E for Editra, etc.) and type it in the blank.

You will not need to type any other keys or combination in…the “Ctrl + Alt +” will be automatically entered for you as soon as you type the letter in. Click OK to finish creating the new keyboard shortcut.

Those new keyboard shortcuts will speed up access to your favorite software.

Another example from our system using “I” for Iron Browser.

Certainly much quicker than using the start menu.

Conclusion

If you only need one or just a few special keyboard shortcuts then this method provides a quick and simple solution.

Add the Vista Style Sidebar Back to Windows 7

Add the Vista Style Sidebar Back to Windows 7

If you are moving from Vista to Windows 7, you might miss the Sidebar which was introduced in Vista. Today we take a look at a couple options for getting a Sidebar back in Windows 7.

Copy Files from Vista

Note: In this example we are using 32-bit versions of Vista and Windows 7. Make sure you are logged in with Administrator credentials.

If you have a Vista machine running, we can copy the Windows Sidebar files over to the Windows 7 machine. On the Vista machine navigate to C:\Program Files and copy the Windows Sidebar folder and all of its contents over to a flash drive or network location.

On the Windows 7 machine go to C:\Program Files and rename the Windows Sidebar folder to something like Windows Sidebar_old.

Now copy the Vista Windows Sidebar folder into C:\Program Files…

Now you will have both folders…Windows Sidebar and Windows Sidebar_old in your C:\Program Files folder.

Right-click on the desktop and select Gadgets.

There you are…the Original Vista Sidebar is back and will act as it did in Vista.

Move Sidebar Gadgets

Another work around if you don’t have a copy of Vista, you can simply move the Desktop Gadgets you want over to the right side of the screen and they will stay there…no dock needed.

Type gadgets into the Search box in the Windows Start Menu and click on Desktop Gadgets.

Then drag the included Gadgets you want over to the right side of the screen. Or click on the link to Get more gadgets online to find more.

Once you have them where you want, each time you reboot they will still be in the same location. This holds true no matter where you place them on your desktop as well.

Install Desktop Sidebar

If you want an enhanced sidebar that includes a lot of different features, and don’t have a copy of Vista, you might want to check out Desktop Sidebar Beta (link below). This is a freeware application that works with Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7.

After installation you can access it from the Start Menu…

Here is how it will look after you launch it…

It includes several pre-installed panels including a clock, Media Player, Search Bar, Slideshow, Messenger, Outlook inbox, Tasks, Quick Launch, Performance…and a lot more.

It is highly customizable and allows you to change skins, add various levels of transparency, and a lot more.

One caveat with going with Desktop Sidebar is we didn’t find a way to add Windows Gadgets to it (though there might be a plugin for it that we’re not aware of). But there are so many options, you may not mind. However, you can still use the desktop gadgets as you normally would in Windows 7.

Believe it or not, some people actually prefer the Vista style Sidebar and would like it back in Windows 7. With these options you can get the Vista Sidebar back if you have a copy of Vista, place the Gadgets on the desktop, or go the freeware route.

Download Desktop Sidebar (freeware)