If you are working in an environment that uses Windows 7, you can still see some of the coolest sites right there from your desktop. To do this, you will need to unlock Windows 7’s hidden themes.

You may have noticed that Windows 7 has a default country theme. For example, the Windows 7 that I bought has a United States theme listed under Aero Themes. But, it also has several other country themes stored in hidden files. Here is how you can access them.

Start by opening up Windows Explorer. Once opened, look for the Organize button located in the upper left side of the window on the top toolbar.

Click the Organize button and select Folder and search options from the drop down menu. This should open up the Folder Options window. Click the View tab. Under the section labeled Advanced settings, look for the value Show hidden files, folders, and drivers and select it.

Next, look for the value Hide protected operating and uncheck it. If prompted with a popup window click Yes, than click the OK button.

Browse to the path Windows\Globalization\MCT. Upon doing so, you should see five MCT- folders. Each folder represents a different country. Open up a folder of your choice, and open up the Theme folder located inside the according country folder.

You should see that country’s theme as AU, CA, GB, US, ZA, etc… Double click the theme to activate it and add it to your Windows 7 themes library.

Active any or all themes that you would like to install by clicking the according theme files via the MCT folders. After you have checked out the new themes, go ahead and change the Globalization settings back for Windows.

Launch Windows Explorer. Click the Organize tab and select Folder and search options from the drop down menu. Click the view tab and reselect Don’t show hidden files, folders, and themes. Also reselect Hide protected operating system files. Click the OK button.

That’s all there is to it. You should now have several new country themes available in your Windows 7 themes library. Right-click on your desktop and select personalize. You should now see your new themes listed.

Want to check out some more themes that Microsoft has released? Head on over to this page. Just find a theme you like and click the download button next to that theme.

It will save to your computer as a Windows 7 theme file. Double click the theme to activate and add to your theme library.

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How to Unlock Windows 7 Hidden Themes

YouTube – Movies, TV Shows

YouTube is the obvious favorite for user created videos on the web. However, YouTube is also accumulating a pretty decent variety of Movies and TV shows. Don’t expect to find any new releases on YouTube. But for classics, it can’t be beat. Best of all, most YouTube videos are clear, crisp, and have good volume.

Hulu – Movies, TV Shows

Hulu is run by aliens. Enough said.

Watch-Movies-Online.TV – Movies

A basic Google search for “watch movies” will return this gold mine of a website within the first couple listings. Watch Movies Online TV has gone through about 5 domain name changes over the past couple of years, for unknown reasons. No problems, the site is more of a social network than a video hosting site, as it containing links to movies.

Flixster – Movies, TV Shows

Flixster is mainly a movie/TV show review website and social network. However, they are constantly adding more movies and TV shows. Viewing experience is similar to that of Hulu.

Justin.TV – PPV Events

Justin.TV is a popular video streaming website and social network. If there is heavily anticipated PPV on, chances are, someone on Justin.TV will be streaming it.

UStream – PPV Events

UStream is just about the same thing as Justin.TV, with a different layout and interface. If you can’t find a PPV Event on Justin.TV, try UStream.

Quick Silver Screen – Movies, TV Shows

Quick Silver Screen is a website that organizes movies and TV shows from Megavideo, and organizes them into a YouTube like layout. Quick Silver Screen is much easier to navigate, and you can watch movies directly within Quick Silver Screen, without having to switch to Megavideo.

Joost – TV Shows

Joost has a good selection of television shows, short films, and music videos. If you have  Facebook account, you can use that to login to Joost.

OV Guide – Movies, TV Shows

OV Guide is more like a video directory than a place to watch shows. It works by pulling videos from several popular sources and organizing them into one searchable database.

FanCast – Movies, TV Shows

The best way to describe FanCast is: a Hulu alternative. Some viewers may enjoy the interface of FanCast more, as it has a more spread out navigation. If you can’t find something on Hulu, FanCast probably has it.

Free Tube – Internet TV

Free Tube has several channels that you may recognize, and many you may not. Channels are broadcasted from around the world to Free Tube, allowing you to watch many different types of shows.

Luutit – Movies, TV Shows

Luutit is like the IMDB with links to actual movies and TV shows. Of course, not all listings have links, but many of them do. You can also submit your own links if you want.

Channel Chooser – TV Shows

Channel Chooser is pretty much like watching cable TV on the internet. Most channels are actual streams of television shows, some are internet exclusives.

Ninja Video – Movies, TV Shows

Ninja video has a lot of the more popular movies and TV shows. The site is very simple to navigate as you just click movies or TV shows, and all movies or TV shows appear in a long list along the left hand side.

Beeline TV – TV Shows

Beeline TV is an international TV show website that broadcasts channels from all over the world. Shows are sorted by country and viewable within Windows Media Player.

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15 Websites to Watch Movies, PPV Events, and TV For Free

Partitioning a Disk

1. Connect your drive to the Mac. If you have an internal hard drive, follow Apple’s instructions for installing it in your machine. If you have an external USB or FireWire hard drive, plug the drive into a port and power it up.

If you are using a Flash drive, simply plug it into the USB port. If the drive is already formatted, OS X will mount it, and it will appear on the Desktop. If OS X cannot read the drive’s format (or if it is not formatted), OS X will prompt you to partition and format it.

2. Launch the Disk Utility application if it has not already launched.

3. Choose the disk you wish to partition from the list in the left pane, and then click on the Partition button. The current partition information, if there is any, will appear in the right pane of the window.

4. Choose the Volume Scheme from the drop-down menu in the right pane of the screen. If you choose to create multiple partitions, you can resize the partitions by dragging the divider between them on the screen, or clicking on an individual partition and entering the size in the Size field.

5. Enter the Name of each partition, and choose the Format from the drop-down menu. If you want to use the partitions on Windows machines, make sure to choose FAT as the format type.

6. If you would like to boot from either of the partitions, click on the Options button. If you would like to boot an Intel Mac, choose the GUID Partition Table. If you would like to boot a PowerPC, choose the Apple Partition Map. If you would like to boot a Windows computer, choose Master Boot Record. Once you are done, click OK.

7. When you are satisfied with the settings, click Apply. OS X will unmount the disk, repartition it, and mount the partitions on the Desktop.

Formatting a Disk

1. Choose the partition you would like to format from the list of partitions and drives in the left pane.

2. Click the Erase button.

3. If security is an issue, click on the Security Options button. You will be given additional erase options, including performing a zero-fill, and performing multiple-pass erases. Choose the option that suits you and click OK.

4. When you are satisfied with the settings, click the Erase button near the bottom of the window. OS X will unmount the partition and perform the erase actions you selected. When it is done, it will re-mount the partition.

5. Repeat steps 1-4 for additional partitions and disks you would like to erase.

When you are done, if you would like to shut down, disconnect, or eject the disks, don’t forget to unmount them so your data does not get damaged. To do this, you can drag the disk images on your Desktop to the trash.

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Partition and Format a Drive in OS X

What some users of Window 7 don’t know is that you can change the name of your computer to just about anything you want. Learn how to change your computer’s name in Windows 7 to something more useful.

Why Change a Computer’s Name?

There are three main reasons why you may want or need to change your computer’s name. First, if you bought your computer from one of the major manufacturers such as Dell or Gateway, your copy of Windows 7 arrived pre-installed.

During installation, the manufacturer probably gave the computer a boring or cryptic name. Something more descriptive would make it easier to find on a home network.

Second, many Windows 7 users like to name their computer based on to whom it belongs or where is it located. Naming a computer “johnscomputer” or “livingroomcomputer” makes it much easier to identify on a network, especially in a home with multiple computers.

Third, if you buy a new computer, you may downgrade your old one to a backup or printer server for the other computers in your home. Renaming the old computer to something more descriptive makes it easier to locate on a home network. Whatever you reasons, rest assured that changing the name of a Windows 7 computer is simple.

How to Change the Name of Your Computer

Before you begin, make sure you are using a Windows 7 account with administrative rights. Begin by clicking on Start and then right clicking on My Computer. Select Properties from the menu that appears.

This opens the Systems Information window. On the far left of this window, click on Advanced System Settings.

You should now be looking at the System Properties window. Click on the Computer Name tab and notice that next to where it says Full Computer Name, you can see the computer’s current name. Now, click the Change button.

You should now be looking at the Computer Name/Domain Changes window. Locate the box labeled Computer Name and type anything you want to use as this computer’s name.

Again, consider naming it something useful such as the owner of the computer, its location, or how it is used in your home or on your network. Click the OK button when you are finished and restart your computer.

A Few Caveats

Although changing your computer’s name is quite simple, there are a few caveats of which you should be aware. If you do connect your computer to a home network, it is possible that pathways pointing to the computer or its files will cease functioning.

You may need to edit these connections to reestablish these links between and among multiple computers or devices on your network. This is especially true of network drives, ghosted drives, mapped drives, or connections to a wireless printer.

Some of the connections may update automatically but there is no guarantee. It might be wise to make a list of such connections before you change the name of your Windows 7 computer.

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How to Change Computer Name in Windows 7

1. On the Mac, open System Preferences, and click on Bluetooth. Make sure that On and Discoverable are checked.

2. On the Blackberry, click on Manage Connections and click the checkbox next to Bluetooth On.

3. On the Mac, click on the plus mark in the lower left corner of the Bluetooth window. The Mac will begin Searching for Bluetooth devices using the Bluetooth Setup Assistant.

4. On the Blackberry click on Setup Bluetooth, and on the Add Device Screen choose Listen.

5. The Mac will discover the Blackberry and display it in the Bluetooth Setup Assistant window. Select the Blackberry from the list and click Continue.

6. The Mac will display a numeric passkey that must be typed on the Blackberry.

7. At the same time, the Blackberry will prompt you to enter the passkey.

8. Once you’ve entered it, the Blackberry will ask you if you want to Accept connection request from the device (where “the device” is the name of the Mac). Click Yes.

9. The Mac will display the Bluetooth Mobile Phone Setup window. Choose Research in Motion from the Phone Vendor menu, and choose Blackberry IP Modem from the Phone Model menu, and then click Continue. The Blackberry and the Mac are now paired.

10. On the Bluetooth window, choose the Blackberry from the list and click on File Sharing Setup.

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Transfer Files from Blackberry to Mac via Bluetooth

This means you can send email invitations for a dinner party and have your guests RSVP directly from your email.  Of course, there are more practical business purposes too, like asking a group of employees how many of them need help with a project.  The possibilities are endless.

Part 1:  Sending a Poll

Open Outlook.  Click New and then Message. In the window that opens, click the Options tab.  Towards the middle of this window, click the button that says Use Voting Buttons.

A drop down menu appears.  You can choose several answer possibilities, such as approve/reject, yes/no, yes/no/maybe, or create a custom answer.  In our example, the question is Are you coming to dinner?, thus a yes/no/maybe answer is appropriate.

Address your message to the appropriate people in your contact list.  Make sure to ask the question, either in the subject line or in the body of the email.  Click Send.

Part 2:  Answering the Poll

Everyone on your list receives a message with your question and a special option to vote just above the time sent stamp.

When the recipient clicks the Click here to vote link, they then select from your list of possible answers.

A window appears asking if they want to send the message now with just the vote, or edit the response.  If a more extensive reply is needed, your recipient can make their reply by simply selecting Edit the response before sending.

Part 3: Tabulating the Results

After your recipients have replied, all that is left is to tabulate the results.  To do this, go to your Sent Items folder and select your original message with the vote question.  It has a special icon beside it.

In the message, click the View voting responses box.

A new window will open showing the results of your poll.

Please note: the voting function only works if your recipients are using Outlook.  When tested in a web-based email account, the voting links did not appear.

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Send a Poll in Outlook 2007

Thus, picking a web host that will work great for you initially is key. Chances are, you have probably heard of the following hosting companies. Here is how they stack up as far as bang for buck, reliability, and overall deal.

GoDaddy

Godaddy is one of the most popular web hosting companies, most likely due to heavy commercial advertising. Overall, Godaddy is a good webhosting company that offers just about any feature one could ask for in a web host.

Godaddy offers a do it yourself solution for just about any adjustment that you need to make with your domains and hosting. For example, with Godaddy, you can switch the primary domain on your hosting account yourself, by using the change of primary domain wizard.

Some smaller hosting companies do not officially offer a do it yourself solution for things like this. It can be done, but usually requires a call to customer support to have them do it. Godaddy does however, have one major con. They are always trying to market something to you.

It’s not uncommon to get 2-3 emails a day from Godaddy that are marketing some product to you or trying to make you upgrade to something more expensive. Also, Godaddy does offer a surplus of more features than traditional web hosts. However, they also charge you for the majority of them.

Godaddy’s rates tend to fluctuate a lot, but they do offer a lot of promos which you should take advantage of. The right promo code will get you a domain for 7 bucks and 20% off of your hosting.

HostGator

Hostgator is a very simple web host to use. They also have some of the best customer support in the business. When you purchase a domain through Hostgator, you are actually using Registry Rocket services to acquire the domain.

From there, Hostgator registers the domain name to your hosting account. This can be seen as a slight disadvantage. If you want to make domain changes on your account, you have to know how to adjust DNS servers yourself, and do it through Registry Rocket.

However, if you don’t want to bother with making changes like this, just send Hostgator an email and they will do it for you, no charge.  Hostgator has good uptime, and they don’t bug you with marketing offers.

Hostgator rates for hosting and domain purchasing are mid range in price for a web host. But, they do accept promo codes, which can save you a couple bucks here and there.

Media Temple (MT)

Media Temple is the chosen host by a variety of different labels including: Adobe, Diesel, JQuery, Starbucks, etc… They market themselves as a premium web host. MT’s UI software is unique, similar to Godaddy.

They don’t use cPanel like the majority of generic hosts. Media Temple’s hosting plans are really only suitable for sites that get a lot of traffic. Their prices are considered very high. The lowest Media Temple hosting plan starts at $20 a month, and prices only go up from there.

They do a decent job at not bugging you with marketing plots, and the letters that they do send you are often times useful. Media Temple support is decent.

Blue Host

Blue Host is known for having some of the best hosting rates. Hosting plans start at $6.95 a month and most of the time you can get hosting for under $5 with a good promo code.

As far as reliability, Blue Host has had some trouble in the past, as many users have reported that their sites have gone down. However, Blue Host has gotten several positive reviews as well.

Similar to Hostgator, Blue Host uses the cPanel interface. Blue Host tends to stay on top of hosting trends and add features when necessary and demand is there. Support for Blue Host is generally good.

Conclusion

In conclusion, here is my opinion on the final ranking of the four web hosting companies:

1. Hostgator

2. Godaddy

3. Blue Host

4. Media Temple

Don’t agree? Tell us why you think the order should be different. Or tell us your favorite web hosting company and why it’s better than the four I mentioned here. Enjoy!

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So, to save us all the heartache of not having that expensive product key in the event of a system crash, let’s all recover our Windows 7 or XP keys right now and save them to an external hard drive, or at least a USB drive. Here’s the easiest way to do it:

Go to WinKeyFinder.com and download the Simple Keyfinder. It is a very small 38k zip file. The product information says it works with Windows 2000, 2003, XP, and Vista, but we tested it in Windows 7 and it worked like a charm.

Double-click the zip file you just downloaded and choose extract all files at the top of the menu.

In the menu that appears, browse to choose a place for Simple Keyfinder to extract, then click extract at the bottom right off the window. Make sure the box is checked next to Show extracted files when complete.

A new window will appear listing the contents of the unzipped file. Double-click SimpleKey_Finder. If windows gives you a warning screen, click run.

This will open a window telling you your product key.

Don’t worry about writing it down—the program creates a text file containing the product key in the same folder where you extracted it. By default, the file is named WinKeyFinder_found_Key.

Save this file to an external hard drive or USB drive so you will have it if you need it. System crashes occur more often than any of us like to admit, but now we will all be prepared to restore our operating systems.

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Looking for an easy way to get your email delivered straight to your desktop? Chances are, one of these applications will work great for you. There are also a variety of tips and advice for modifying your email to be more convenient.

Windows Live Mail

Windows Live Mail is an application of Microsoft’s Essentials pack, which comes with Messenger, Writer, Photo Gallery, Movie Maker, Family Safety, and Toolbar as well. When you download Windows Live, you will get an installer for all of these programs. However, you can choose just to install Windows Live Mail. Get Windows Live Mail here.

Microsoft Outlook

Okay, Microsoft Outlook is not a free email forwarder. However, Outlook comes with all major versions of Microsoft Office. Have Microsoft Word, Power Point, Excel, etc, installed on your computer? Chances are, you have Outlook as well. Outlook can seem confusing if you are new to it. Check out some of these posts to see if Outlook is the best solution for you.

- Easy Way to Remember Attachments in Outlook.

- Hot to Use Away Messages in Outlook

- Fix Common Microsoft Outlook Errors

- How to Export Contacts with Outlook

You can learn more about Outlook, and Microsoft Office here.

Thunderbird

Thunderbird is a free email app developed by Mozilla, the same company that makes Firefox. Thunderbird is full featured desktop client that uses a minimalistic, easy to navigate interface. You can learn more about Mozilla Thunderbird here.

Spiffy

Spiffy is not quite an email forwarder, but more of an email notification app. It works with Gmail and sends general messages to your desktop whenever there is mail activity within Gmail. Spiffy is a great lightweight application for anyone looking for the “instant notify” features of email clients, but prefer to compose and read messages within a browser. You can learn more about Spiffy here.

Looking for a way to check Gmail messages while offline within your browser?

Zimbra Desktop

Zimbra Desktop is a desktop email client from Yahoo. Thus, if you like the interface of Yahoo’s online mail, Zimbra is probably for you. Although it is distributed by Yahoo, it is compatible with Gmail and AOL as well.

If you use Y! Mail, Zimbra Desktop is most likely going to be your best choice, as setting up Yahoo mail accounts with many other email forwarders has not always worked the best. Learn more about Zimbra Desktop here.

Opera Mail

Opera Mail is a desktop client distributed by Opera Software. You may be already familiar with Opera through their popular web browser. Opera Mail is said to be one of the first email clients that is built directly into your browser. You can learn more about Opera Mail here.

Postbox

Postbox is a premium desktop email client developed by Postbox, Inc. Although it costs $40, it has received several great reviews and some people find it well worth the price. Want to try Postbox before you decide if it’s worth it? Get a free 30-day trial here.

GMX

Although GMX is not a desktop email client, it still brings several innovative features to traditional email services. Tired of using Yahoo mail? Give GMX a try. It has received some great reviews by consumers as well as tech gurus. Learn more about GMX here.

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There are still many people out there who use programs like Sun’s OpenOffice suite and are perfectly happy with it.  However, these same rebels often fail to realize that while they can open our .doc files with no problem, Word users cannot open their .odf files.  At least, not without a little help.

Believe it or not, Sun does offer a plugin for opening .odf files with the Microsoft Office Suite.  The installation process is about as lengthy as possible for this simple plugin, but it is still much nicer to open .odf files in our familiar Word interface than to download and install OpenOffice just to open files from the occasional rogue user.  The installation is three parts:

Part 1:  Register with Sun and download the Sun Downloader

It seems redundant to download a downloader, but like their Microsoft rival, Sun requires you to do just this…but not before supplying them with your name and email address, which solidifies your new Sun account. To start this process, go to the Sun.com plugin page and click Download Now.

You will then be asked to login.  If you already have an account with Sun, login.  Otherwise, click Register and supply the necessary information.  Unfortunately, there is no way to bypass this step.

Once you have registered or logged in, you will be shown a page with the size and name of the file you will eventually download.  Don’t get too excited—you are still two steps away from seeing that .odf file in Word.  For now, put a check next to the name of the software and click Download Selected with Sun Download Manager.

Sun then downloads a JNLP file.  Once it is finished downloading, run the file.  A Java loading screen will appear, followed by a license agreement.  Click Accept to install the download manager.

After the download manager installs, it then asks for your download preferences.  Browse to find the folder where you want to download your plugin install file.  The other options on the page ask for how you would like the download manager to handle a situation where the download is forced to restart.

If you would like it to retry to download the file in this case, tell it the maximum number of times you will permit it to retry.  The download manager will create a log so you can later look up how successful your download was—choose how much space you will allow it to use for this purpose.

Overwrite behavior refers to what the program should do if it encounters a file by the same name.  The safest option here is the default:  Rename the existing file.  Finally, if you want it to automatically unzip your file after it downloads, leave the default selection and click OK to go to the download screen.

A new set of dialogue boxes will open.  From here, click Download to start your install file download.  It will show your file’s download progress throughout the download.

Part 2: Unpack the Windows Installer File

Your install file is now in whatever directory you selected in the previous step.  It will be called odp-3.1-bin-windows-en-us and will appear with this icon:

Open the file and a window should appear thanking you for downloading the plugin and explaining the files you just downloaded still must be unpacked.  Click Next.

You are then asked to choose a place for these files to be unpacked.  The suggested place is a new folder on your desktop.  This is a good idea so you will remember to delete these files later.  After you have chosen a place for these files, click Unpack.

Part 3:  Final Installation via Windows Installer

The end is near!  After the files unpack, the Windows Installer will automatically open the Installation Wizard to finish the process.  You will see a screen welcoming you to the wizard.  Click Next.

Agree to the license agreement on the next page by selecting “I accept the terms of the license agreement” and click Next.

The next window asks where you want to install the plugin.  The default selection is to install to program files.  This is a pretty good choice, unless you have a designated folder for office plugins somewhere else.  Click Next.

There is one last installation window that simply asks if you want to review or change any of the settings you just selected.  When you are ready, click Install.

Finally, a window will appear telling you the plugin was installed successfully. Resist the urge for a happy dance, and instead try to open the .odf file that prompted this adventure.  It should automatically launch in your version of Word.

This plugin will work with all versions of Microsoft Office made after 2000.  It will open OpenOffice files not only with Word, but also with PowerPoint and Excel.  You can find the plugin on Sun.com’s plugin page.

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Along with the new window management features in Windows 7 comes shortcuts for those features to completely bypass the mouse. This makes the new features more user-friendly, and solidifies the hope that Microsoft really is listening to their customers.  Well, at least the share our affection for shortcuts.

Windows Logo + Right Arrow: Sends the window to the right half of the screen.  This is a new feature in Windows 7—usually, you must drag the window all the way to the very bottom right corner for Windows to recognize you want to dock this window on the right. This shortcut sends the window there with just a button click.

Windows Logo + Left Arrow: Sends the window the left half of the screen.  When used with the shortcut above, you can see your windows side by side. This is great for comparing products online or fact checking with the internet in one window and a Word file in another.

Windows Logo + Home: Minimizes or restores everything but the current window. Windows 7 allows users to “shake” the current window to minimize all other windows. This shortcut takes the place of the awkward shaking.

Windows Logo + +: Hitting this shortcut will zoom in. Windows 7 has a magnifier that works with almost any window. This shortcut activates the magnifier.

Windows Logo +  –: Conversely, this shortcut allows you to zoom out. It should be easy to remember—plus zooms in, minus zooms out.

Windows Logo + G: Displays gadgets in front of other windows. So, if you are making use of the gadgets and want to see what they are doing behind your current windows, just quickly hit this shortcut and the gadgets appear on top of your current windows.

Windows Logo + Up Arrow: Maximizes the current window.

Windows Logo + Down Arrow: Minimizes the current window.

For other little-known shortcuts for all Windows versions, check out Windows logo key shortcuts.

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New Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows 7

In today’s world, where everybody has a mobile phone with a camera or even a digital camera, moments are easily captured and kept. They are also easily shared using various photo-sharing platforms like Flickr or Picasa’s online Web albums.

More importantly, people can now easily share photographs on social networking sites they use like Facebook or MySpace.

It is common, however, to take a picture and then it comes out really great, capturing the moment forever. It is perfect. Well, almost. Sometimes, we inadvertently get some elements into the picture that ruins the whole photograph.

True, you can use photo editing software like Picasa or Adobe Photoshop to edit the photos, but these usually require some editing skills for you to be able to touch up your photograph nicely.

Thankfully, there is InPaint 2.3. With InPaint 2.3, you can effortlessly touch up photos and leave out the elements you do not want in your photograph.

Here are the straightforward steps to do that:

1. Open your desired picture by clicking on the wand icon found at the top left part of the screen.

A menu will pop up, choose Open and select your picture.

2. Your picture will be displayed. Zoom in or zoom out as necessary.

3. In this image, let’s say that you want to create an illusion that the waters are deeper than it is. You therefore chose to delete the people seen on the right most area of the seas. To do this, click on the Rectangle marquee icon, and select the area you want to modify.

4. Click on the Run icon and wait for a few seconds. After a while, the people you have selected are gone. In its place is water.

5. For a more precise enhancement, you can use the polygon marquee tool. In the example below, you have decided to enhance the boat out of the picture and replace it with water. You must identify the end points of the boat.

6. Click on the Run icon again, and wait for a few seconds. The yellow boat will disappear like magic.

The final photo looks like it was taken without the boat or the extra people in the water. This image manipulation took less than a minute to complete, without even going through complex techniques.

InPaint 2.3 gives you a professional looking and perfect photo without having to spend too much time on it.

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InPaint 2.3 – Image Manipulation Made Easy

Bluetooth allows you to create a network between objects very quickly, and it eliminates the need for cables. It can be used for external input devices like keyboards, mice, and headsets, or it can also be used to transfer data from device to device.

Even though it is a relatively easy technology to use, it’s not always intuitive to use. This is how you pair a Bluetooth Travel Laser Mouse from Logitech with Mac OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

1. Click on the Apple menu and choose System Preferences.

2. Click on the Bluetooth icon.

3. Click the checkboxes next to On and Discoverable on the Bluetooth window.

4. Click the checkbox next to Show Bluetooth status in the menu bar.

5. Turn on the mouse by switching the power button on the bottom of the mouse to ON.

6. Click the Connect button on the bottom of the mouse.

7. Click the Set Up New Device button and OS X will attempt to connect to the mouse.

8. When OS X finds the mouse, it will list it under Devices on the Bluetooth Setup Assistant window. Click Continue.

9. OS X will finish pairing the Bluetooth mouse, and will indicate when the connection has been made.

10. If you open the Bluetooth preferences window, you will see a list of all of the connected devices.

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Pairing a Bluetooth Mouse with your Mac

First, click the start button. Right click directly on the button where it currently says Shut Down. The only link available says Properties—click it.

In the menu that appears, click the selection menu next to Power button action. From there you can choose the power function you use the most often. In our case, that option is Sleep, but if you are using a networked computer, you might want to choose Log Off. If you share a family computer, you might want to choose Switch User.

Click Apply and OK. If you click the start menu now, you will see the power button with the option you just selected. We predict far fewer four-letter-word utterances in your near future.

Bonus Tip: In the menu above, if you click Customize, you have complete control over what appears on your start menu.  If your start menu is displaying too many recent programs, you can minimize the number shown in the selection box at the bottom of the menu.

If you would rather not search through all of your programs to find the ones you use most often, you can also increase this number.

For those of you who are minimalists, you could go through the entire list of possible things to display on the start menu and select don’t display this item and your start menu would look far less cluttered.

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Customize the Power Button on the Start Menu in Windows 7

Thus, when you use Windows 7 with Boot Camp, you are simply booting directly into Windows instead of OS X. This is a great way to run Windows on a Mac because it gives all of your Mac’s power (RAM, processor speed, etc.) to Windows.

With virtualization software, such as VMware Fusion or Parallels, your Mac’s power (RAM, processor speed, etc.) is being distributed between both OS X and Windows.

Decided that Boot Camp is for you? Here are some things that you will need before getting started:

• An Intel based Mac
• Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard install disc (the discs that came with your Mac or a retail copy of OS X)
• At least 16GB of free hard drive space (recommended by Apple)
• Boot camp assistant (should be on your Mac already, located at Finder > Applications > Utilities)
• A genuine Microsoft Windows 7 install disc

Installing Boot Camp and Windows 7

*Apple just recently released an official Boot Camp update for Windows 7. Doing a software update (click the Apple logo, select software update from the drop down menu) should automatically get you this update. But just to be sure, you can get it here).*

Step 1: Navigate the path Finder > Applications > Utilities. Double click the Boot Camp Assistant icon to launch it.

Step 2: Click Continue on the Boot Camp Introduction screen to proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Step 3 is the partitioning of your Mac’s hard drive. For Windows 7, Apple recommends using at least 16GB to hold Windows 7. Most likely, you do not need this much space to actually install Windows 7.

However, if you plan on installing any programs within Windows, or having any significant amount of files on Windows, be sure to partition your hard drive accordingly.

Click the Partition button. Wait for Boot Camp Assistant to partition your hard drive. Once it finishes, you should have a BOOT CAMP drive icon on your desktop.

Step 4: Insert your Windows 7 install disc into your Mac’s DVD drive and wait for it to load and recognize. Click the Start Installation button from the Boot Camp Assistant screen.

Step 5: Your Mac should automatically restart and boot into the Windows 7 installer, rather than OS X. The next screen that you come to will be a prompt screen, allowing you to choose which partition to install Windows 7 on.

Make sure that you select the BOOT CAMP PARTITION that you just created, by clicking on it once to select it. Click the link that says Drive options (Advanced). Click the Format button. A prompt screen should pop up saying “This partition might contain…”. Click OK.

Step 6: Windows should now be installing on your computer. Throughout the installation process, Windows will reboot itself a couple of times and you will be required to eject the install disc from your Mac’s DVD drive.

Do this and let Windows, finish installing completely. Fill out your Name, language, etc. Upon successfully installing Windows 7, you need to do a Windows Update to get the latest fixes and Windows released drivers. Restart your computer before proceeding to the next step.

Step 7: Once Windows boots back up, you need to install a couple of additional drivers. Insert your Mac OS X disc into your Mac’s DVD drive and wait for it to load. Click the Run setup option from the prompt window.

Step 8: Click Next on the first screen of the Boot Camp window. Accept the terms and click the Next button again. Put a checkmark next to Apple Software Update for Windows. Click the Install button.

Step 9: Let the installer complete, it may take a couple of minutes. After it completes, click the Finish button to exit out of the Boot Camp installer window.

Step 10: Eject the Mac OS X install disc from your computer and restart your computer.

Using Boot Camp: That’s all there is to it. Boot Camp and Windows 7 should now be running on your Mac. Upon powering on your computer (right when you hear the chime), hold down the option key on your Mac to go to the boot menu. From here, you can choose if you want to use OS X or Windows 7.

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How to Use Windows 7 with Boot Camp