Free Tips and tricks for PC users

Utilities

2008-08-06T21:21:00.000-07:00

This is a installer that changes your windows XP desktop to a new interface that looks a little like vista. With new sound sequence and icons. If you don't like it, you can uninstall.

Speed Fan

This program shows temperature , voltage of multiple fans on your computer. Good for monitoring system temperature. If there is any unusual rise in temperature, it is time to clean the fans or even replace fans that have broken down

Gamma panel

For those who are familiar with power strip for ati, this is the alternate choice. It can adjust the brightness and correct gamma with a simple user interface whether be it for games or watching videos.

USB Disk Ejector

Have you ever try to figure out which device is the correct one that you should remove from the safety remove hardware icon? This is an application that allows you to identify and help you eject the device easily. Good for external storage if you are afraid of ejecting the wrong one.

New Gadgets

2008-07-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

Creative ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook

This is creatives newest external sound card that packs even more features in a small package. Apart from being a sound card, it has 1GB built in storage that can be used as a thumb drive for easy retrieval of gaming data, like save games or gaming profile etc.

Another feature is the Voice FX that has 18 effects to disguise your voice when you are gaming.

Needless to say about its ability to improve sound quality when it plays compressed Mp3, as it uses X-Fi sound card technology.

One more new feature about this device is that it can stream audio through WiFi. You can walk around without restrictions in your home and listen to audio that is streamed from your computer.

Sony USM8GH 8GB Micro Vault Tiny

Good things come in small packages. This tweeny thing measures 3cm from top to bottom. You can easily carry this anywhere like a spy agent. It is not a SD card that requires a card reader, but a usb device. Just plug and a drive shows up, and you can copy anything over. Good for students who like to sneak large programs into a computer lab class to exchange with friends. It's a whooping 8Gig.

RAZER Salmosa Black Gaming Mouse

Can't afford to buy a razer gaming mouse? Razer has come up with a scaled down mouse that has great sensitivity with 1800dpi 3G Infrared Sensor.

The Razer 3G Infrared sensor is rated as the fastest tracking optical mouse sensor in the world, enabling movement speeds of up to 2.25 times faster than other regular gaming mice

Those who are on a budget, and are eyeing Razer mouse for a long time can get this for around $40

ZyXEL Powerline Homeplug AV

Setting up wireless connection is a chore. With so many settings and installation CD or setting passcode to encrypt bandwidth. This device turns any wired connection into a wireless one by transmitting the wired signal across to its receiver. Simply plug the ethernet cable to the device on both sides , and no settings required , turn on and surf.

Livescribe 2GB Pulse Smartpen

It has a 2GB flash memory, mini camera, mic and completed with software in a pen. You can book mark your written notes with recordings. As you are writing, you can talk and record down at the same time. Tapping on a word that you have written on the writing pad will jump to the part of the recording when that word was written.
Connecting this device to your PC and it will send a digital replica of your written notes like a scanned document embedded with audio recordings.
It has calculator mode that calculates as you to write and will display the answer on the LCD display on the pen.
It even has a music mode, instructing you to draw lines and making 9 cells. Then tapping on the cells create music like playing the piano.

This device is a head turner

Western Digital My Book Office 1TB 3.5" External Hard Drive

Looking a a budget storage solution and don't want it to be out dated too soon. This device goes for around $200.

Interface: 1 x Hi-Speed Mini-USB Type

BRotational speed: 7,200 RPM Buffer size: 16 MBTransfer rates (serial bus): 480 Mbps maximum

Vigsys HSPDA Modem

What's this device used for? Insert in any 3G sim card and you will have a portable broadband on the go.

For road warriors who need a strong connection on the go will love this baby, it has dowload

rates of 7.2Mbps and upload speeds of up to 384kbps.

This device was reported to achieve downloads speeds of 412.2kbps at a ping of 300 milliseconds traveling at 90km/hr in a vehicle using M1's 1 Mbps connection service.

Even though the speed achieved is considered kinda lame, compared to a wired connection, But with a good position and signal strength, decent speeds are possible, after all... What's there to bargain for when the M1 broadband is only $22.42 a month for unlimited plan.

Looks like after much complaining to M1, they finally woken up from their senses. Even at night the speed is awesome. I'm sure M1 mobile broadband users will be happy.

Creative USB Sound Blaster Play! EAX ADVANCED HD X-FI

Experience better music and movies everywhere you go!

This device will turn into a sound blaster live sound card onto any computer when plugged in. Device drivers are flashed on in the hardware itself. Plug and play. Very handy for people who use VoIP calls. Now you can have an enjoyable chat with your friends via Instant Messaging services over the Internet with our quality headphone output and mic input.

File compressors

2008-07-24T04:52:00.000-07:00

Archiving your files to carry them around.

A lot of us are very familiar with the Winzip program. In the past, compressor programs are a must have. With limited storage space in a diskette, users will need to compress the files to fully utilize the space they have. Unless you enjoy carrying large amounts of diskettes around.

These days, with the advancement in technology, a Thumb Drive can easily have space of 8 Gigs. Else you can carry a small External HardDisk that would easily give you 200 Gigs of space at a affordable price.

However there are good compressor programs out there that still have their stand in the world today. One such example. WINRAR

Winrar is initially only meant for zip files with the RAR extension. Till today, it has improved its extension support to at least 10 different zip extensions. It also has a user interface that is pleasing to the eye.

If you have any file that is confidential, you can use the Winrar to protect the file with a password. Even if you should lose the storage medium, there is no worry that it should get into the wrong hands.

Another feature about Winrar that I like about is its ability to compress at different compression rates. You can choose to compress to max or just create a simple normal rated archive. After which you can choose to split the file to different file size. There's even preset common file size like a 700meg CD. It is so convenient to select a large number of files and burn into discs without bothering about how to fit into 3 CDs.

7 Zip software

I thank Kurt for his valuable comment on this software. Indeed it is able to work with a lot of different compressed extensions. 7 Zip is even able to extract RAR archives. Best of all, It is a freeware. Yoo Hoo.. I did not pay much attention to this program as it's user interface is kind of plain Jane. I only use it to extract 7z archives.

However, there are a few hurdles that the 7zip software is lacking in.

1) Files that are created using winrar splitting feature will not work in 7zip even though 7zip supports rar files.

2) 7Zip does not have the create password feature to secure your archives if you want to. I guess users will need to get the winzip to lock the 7zip archive.

There will probably be more problems in terms of compatibility with the wide range of compressed formats. But I would give it a thumbs up for it ULTRA squeeze ratio of it's 7z archiving system.

Fun And Games

2008-07-21T21:15:00.001-07:00

Chill out here for some entertainment

Urban Sniper 2

Free Flash Games by Arcadeway.com

Click on game

Press Enter to start

Press spacebar to play

Software Shelve

2008-07-21T05:57:00.000-07:00

If you know what you need, Self service

Windows

Tweak XP

Power defragmenter

Protection software

Norton antivirus

AVG

Spybot search and Destroy

Peer guardian

Registry and history cleaners

CCleaner

Wise Registry cleaner 3

Internet utilities, booster software

TCP Optimizer

Zilla connection accelerator

Firetune

Moyea FLV Downloader

Media players or converters etc

codec pack

Download SUPER © setup file

Any video convertor

Camstudio

Audacity

Wavepad sound convertor

Good Browsers

Safari

Firefox
Flock

CD Burning software

SLYSOFT Clone CD

Nero burning rom software

Archiving software

Recovery and repair

Windows Mobile 6

Windows mobile browser

You tube player

Screen shot capture

Recovering files

2008-07-21T04:49:00.000-07:00

How to recover files in a event of a system crash?

We all know the importance of backing up our precious data, however more then often we are too complacent and until disaster strikes.

One way to recover back the files is to get another hardisk to create another windows operating system. The one that has crashed will be set to slave and the files in there will be copied back to the new drive.

What happens if the drive is unreadable? The partition is destroyed. For Windows users out there. I am very sure that some of us encounter this incident when the hard disk is failing. There is no way to even read the data in it.

If you feel that the data is worth saving, you can get the Recover my files software.

Recover my files

This program has got great features, it can recover data from

Deleted files

Formatted harddisks

Raw mode disk. -- means a disk with partition destroyed.

Protecting your PC

2008-07-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

Virus, Spyware and all the bad stuff that harms your PC.

There are 3 main areas that we need to cover in order to safe guard your computer.

1) Antivirus software

2) Spyware detector

3) IP protection

For users who do not wish to go through all the 10 mile hike, grandmother story, but still want to protect your PC. Get the trusty Norton antivirus pack and sleep well at night.

For those who wish to learn more. Read on.

Getting a Antivirus software.

The good news is there are free antivirus out there, like AVG. The free version offers protection for virus only. You have a choice to upgrade to a version that offers more protection. However if you intend to use Norton, do not use other brands of antivirus. Don't be greedy. Conflicts may arise in future.

Getting Spyware protection

The best spyware protection software, Spybot search and Destroy. Just remember to update regularly. There are 2 areas. The updates section and the Immunize section. The immunize feature will create dummy files to trick the spyware that you are already infected.

Peer Guardian

Peer guardian is a IP blocker that has automated updates. It blocks out unwanted activity on the net so that you can have privacy when you surf online. If any of your favorite websites get blocked, there is always an option that you can allow the site.

Additional protection.

It will be an added advantage if the cookies and personnel information are cleared. By doing so, Even if your system is hijacked, nothing important gets stolen.

Get the CCleaner

Boost internet speed

2008-07-17T05:55:00.000-07:00

Broadband is fast. But is your computer set to the best of it can utilize the bandwidth?

Windows XP is created way long before broadband attained speeds of 10 meg or even 100 meg,

Therefore, even though casual users like us do not detect any obvious slow downs in our bandwidth, we may be surfing at only half the speed we applied for.

A test of your actual speed can be done here speed test net.

TCP Optimizer is a free, easy Windows program that provides an intuitive interface for tuning and optimizing your Internet connection. There is no installation required, just download and run. This program sets the values for a better connection.

There is also some free internet boosters software on the net to give an extra edge. For example, Zilla connection accelerator

By default Windows XP computers set aside 20 % of your bandwidth for the OS itself

Here's how to remove the reserved bandwidth

1) Go click on run and type
gpedit.msc

This will show the group policy holder editor
click on computer configuration, follow by administrative templates and then network on the left navigation bar.

Select QOS packet scheduler
Right click on limit reservable bandwidth and select properties
message will pop up "not configured"

But it does not mean that no bandwidth is reserved
the defult setting is hidden.

Mannually set it to 0
then click okay to exit.

2) Use the above freeware called TCP optimizer program and drag the slider to your connection speed. Then select optimal settings and apply changes

A window will pop up and make sure the backup box is ticked and click ok.
reboot and the settings will take effect

Firefox boost

This setting is only intended to be used on firefox.

1.Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true"

Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0". This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it recieves.

Do this if you're using a broadband connection.

Pocket PC section Windows mobile 6

2008-07-17T04:26:00.000-07:00

Securing your Phone

Mobile phones are evolving to more then just a chit chat device. The future is windows mobile.

For those people who are using PDA phones running on windows mobile 6.

This place is for you. Similar concept, great software for your phone.

Lets begin by securing your phone..

Phone bak2u software.

This software works with phones that run on symbian 6 and above

When someone steals your phone and changes the sim card. This program enables users to pre-set a SMS message that will auto execute on it's own when it detects a different sim card. The message will be sent to the phone numbers of your choice, so that your friends will receive a message containing the thief's contact number. From there, You can call the police to trace the number.

Clearing out the mess

Clear Temp

As with a common desktop, a PDA phone will soon clutter up with all the shortcuts and temp files. Using this will tidy up your PDA desktop and also free up space. Portable Computers are limited in disk space and having Clear Temp is a must.

Windows explorer for Mobile phone.

Unlike Windows Xp, Windows mobile has only given users a simple file explorer. This explorer is slow especially when the directory has a lot of files. Renaming files is a tedious process. If you need to change the file extension. Perform copying, deleting actions quickly without the need to move within the limited constraints of the explorer. This total commander program is for you. It is a PDA version of XP's windows explorer

Total Commander CE

Macromedia Flash

Flash content is everywhere. Therefore if there is a flash player

for windows XP, It is also applicable for Windows mobile. With this installed. Anything that contains flash will be loaded instead of showing boxes.

Chinese Characters

Windows mobile does not have Chinese support. Here's the chinese font patch.

Sunglobe.cab

Windows mobile browser

The standard windows explorer lacks in a lot of features ranging from flash and java plug-in. There are a lot of mobile browser around like thunderhawk, minimo or netfront. The best out there is opera. You can choose either the opera mini, or the opera mobile. It has got a very stable java run time plugin and multiple tab browsing support. The best part about opera is that it has got a double tab zoom in feature that behaves like a apple iphone.

You tube player

This is a standalone youtube player that allows users to search and view videos in full screen mode. This video player resemble the apple's Iphone video streaming player. The streaming video player that is included with the windows mobile device is not clear in resolution and does not really stretch full screen.

Screen shot capture

This program allows users to take a screen shot of their current screen , a print screen key that is equivalent to windows desktop.

Video, audio - players and convertors

2008-07-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

The long list of file formats

Multimedia formats are now no longer just a few types that you can count with 10 fingers. Examples of formats frequently used are divx, 3gp, flv, rmvb, mpg, mp4, mp3 and the list is not going to end.

The windows media player is not going to play all media formats. In any event of a system crash, a new reinstallation of windows will take great effort to install tons of players to play most of the formats.

The good news is there is something called the "codec pack". Installing the codec pack will fill your computer with most of the required codecs in order to play various video and audio files.

There is a software the comes along with the installer called the "Media player classic". This is a no frills player that loads fast and plays any format that is supported so long your codec database is updated.

Videos for Fun

With mobile phones able to display more then just pictures or polyphonic ringtones, users are able to stuff their phones with videos and mp3 to entertain themselves while they are on a bus or train. But there is a problem, getting the video and sound to a correct format to suit 101 phone models and screen specifications.

Of course, it is not a difficult task to find a video convertor that can convert between video formats.

But there's a software that can convert any format, so long you can play the video. I uses the codec that you have installed in your computer and is not limited to what it is programmed for.

Best of all, It is free.

Download SUPER © setup file

Don't get irritated by where is the download? Strange that clicking on the download links bring you here and there. It is jumping around to find a slot. Until you see a small message that says

" Download SUPER © from official site 3 "

The official site number may differ

Any video convertor

This is another free video convertor that is good. It has a few extra features that I liked particularly the youtube downloader and the trim feature. You can extract a video off youtube and trim it on the spot the parts that you want. Then export it out as video formats

Sound converter editor

If you are looking for a program that is able to convert audio formats and allows editing and cutting of the sound file. This is the program to look for.

Wavepad software for Windows and Mac. Free trial available. Download today for 10-50% discount off the normal price.

Audacity

This is a free audio convertor. It has got cut and trim capabilities and export out as mp3. But it has got very limited audio format types. The only issue is that if you intent to be able to export the recorded sound as a mp3, you will need to manually get the lame mp3 encoder in. This is not too hard however, just follow the on screen instructions to download the file. You only need to do it once.

Avidemux

Avidemux is a free video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports many file types, including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, It allows use of different codecs so that the video will not be restricted to just a WMV format when you use the windows movie maker

Camstudio

This is one of the programs that is very versatile and easy to use. It records anything that is seen on your screen, best of all, including audio if you want. This makes it very easy for normal users like you and me to create video tutorials or show something on your computer to your friends. It supports use of different codecs so it is not limited to 1 or 2 video output formats.

One particular feature that is fantastic is the "region" option. You can drag a boxed area that you want to record and leave the rest of the screen out of the shot.

Burning Software

2008-07-14T06:22:00.001-07:00

How to create a backup copy of your original Disc

Many of us burned CDs before, and one of the problems that we encounter are data error few years later when you want to access the data that you backup.

There are basically 3 key points to note when creating a self made CD.

1) Burn slowly at 1X speed

[ 1X compatible CDs are hard to find these days]

Currently, it is difficult to find a program that allows a user to burn at 1x setting. Iwould recommend SLYSOFT Clone CD

2) Burn with the same brand that is similar to your CD recorder Drive ,
Use Sony disk for sony drive
Use HP disk for HP drive

This is just the preferred situation, other brands will work as well. However burning at high speed with discs of another brand have a higher chance of write error.

I would recommend Verbatim , Maxell and Sony as 3 of my top choice if I intend to do a backup that would last a life time.

For casual burning. any brand or speed will suffice.

Finding a CD-R that supports a 1x write speed and from a reliable brand is getting more difficult to find in your local neighborhood IT store. However with minimum effort, anyone can find them in online web stores.

3) Use of proper burning software.

All of us properly use Nero burning rom software. This is usually bundled with the purchase of a CD writer. This is a user friendly, reliable and easy to use burning tool. I have no negative comments about this program.

Now for the main focus..

How many times we purchased a game disc or music CD and we accidentally scratch the surface or damage the nice Artist CD case. Wish you could copy into a blank CD-R and leave the original safe away from harm..

For those who have tried using Nero to burn and failed. The good news is that there is a way to create an exact duplicate of your original..

** Note... Users are only allowed to burn a backup provided that you own the original. Do not end up committing piracy.

SLYSOFT Clone CD

This program is able to burn at RAW mode. It means it photocopies an exact replica of the original. It has a simple user interface and does not require an expert to use it.

This is very unlike conventional burning programs which tend to rearrange the files on the disc based on filename, date and time or file size.

Although copies of backup burned in such a manner are usually still readable on a your PC, usually it won't work on stand alone players, or in some cases, it is unreadable in another computer.

Deamon Tools

This program is a Disc Drive emulator. It means it makes your computer believe that it has got extra CD Drives. So what is so good about that?

If you ask me, I frequently use this feature when ever i have to use a particular CD often.

Example, I am playing Command and Conquer. Everyday I need to insert the CD, hence my precious original Disc is spinning inside the drive everyday.

I do not want to end up having to cry if take out the disc one day to find that the surface is scratched.

All you need to do, is to use any burning software and copy the CD into a image. Provided the software has image writing capability. Don't start scratching your head, image writing?

Nero is a burning software every one should be familiar.

Here's a screen shot of how to burn to image.

Notice that instead of choosing a drive, there is the image option. After choosing that, you will be prompt to save as a NRG file. This means to say that the entire CD is copied to your drive.

However, copying a CD using Nero is not possible as it will indicate that the disc is copyrighted and will not proceed to copy.

That is why the use of slysoft clone cd software comes in handy.

Mounting of a burned image using Deamon Tools.

The term mounting a image is just run the disc that you just copied in simple terms.

It can be done in just 2 easy steps, set how many drives you need, and choosing the file.

Right click on a deamon tools icon at the lower right corner of the task bar,

The File to be chosen will be your CD file. Once done, your original disc can be kept safe from harm.

Internet Browsers

2008-07-14T05:07:00.000-07:00

A different choice

I do not know if you enjoy surfing using microsoft's Internet Explorer.
There are choices out there, I am sure that every one knows about that
Firefox, Opera, Safari, Konqueror, Flock

I will suggest 3 browsers that I personally prefer. Firefox ,Safari, Flock
If you frequent hack sites , I would suggest Firefox.
If you want a pleasent surfing experience, use Safari
If you use facebook , Fickr or frequent youtube, You will love Flock

I am unable to access the downloads of certain websites using Safari. However Firefox is able to download.

Both have features like dictionary, and tabbed browsing etc. They both have some similar aspects that users can make use

Press "CTRl + click" to open up a link new tab

Press CTRL+T to open a new tab
Press "CTRL + Tab" to go to the next tab
Press "CTRL + SHIFT+Tab "to go to the previous tab

Press 'CTRL + a number". It opens up your favorite bookmark [Safari only]

Double click on a word to select it, Click and hold and drag to select more words

Press the spacebar to scroll down a page

Type the name of a website and press

"CTRL + Enter"

The browser will type the www and .com for you.
"SHIFT + Enter"

The browser will type the www and .net for you.
"CTRL + Shift + Enter"

The browser will type the www and .org for you.

Press "CTRL+ scroll" the mouse to increase/decrease font size

Press "CTRL+0 "to reset the fonts
Press "Shift + R" over a image. Reload the image, Use if the image is pixelated

1 Firefox.

This flexible browser has got advantage over microsoft in terms of Plug-in's. It has a lot of different add ons that increase the functions of the browser. I am not referring to google bar or yahoo search bar..

One of the good plug in' s personally like is the Magic's video Downloader
This Plug in allow's users to download Videos from websites like Youtube
However, it is not 100 percent fool proof, there were times the video could not be downloaded.

For serious hardcore users who really want to download, they can use a separate program.

Moyea FLV Downloader
The amazing thing about this program is that, you can close the video yet the program finishes the entire download for you.
The program keeps on capturing till the video is done

Firetune

Firefox browser can be tweaked to surf faster with the help of a software. Just install this baby and it will fire up your firefox for a even faster surfing experience.

2 Safari

This browser has got great layout with minimum clutter of toolbars and icons. It also has it's own font settings that make the words turn out pleasing to the eye.
Before you even finish typing the address in the address bar, choices would show up for you to choose, predictive intelligence. This browser has got all its own plug-ins built in, flash, java. It never crashes unlike windows explorer. I would recommend this browser for users who do not have a lot of computer knowledge and do not want to go through the hassle of updating updates.

3 Flock

This browser is basically firefox with enhance features like a new thing that is called "my world". Clicking on to this tab will open up some of the most frequent sites or updates that you look at everyday, For example, if you login to facebook, it will load all the status updates of your friends and you don't have to navigate painfully in facebook to find them. It loads photos from your Fickr account, and all these can be hidden or looked at instantly like a bookmark toolbar.

Add ons and for browsers.

There are 2 important add ons that is a must for all browsers,

Flash player

This update/add on will enable the browser to watch flash content like youtube videos and play online games. A lot of fancy animation and banners on various websites require this to work.

Java

This add on is required for web sites that require java runtime, or banking services.
Java technology allows you to work and play in a secure computing environment.

Speed up start up and shut down process

2008-07-13T04:51:00.000-07:00

MSCONFIG

We all know, that after using our computer for some time, it slows down to a drag.. There are ways to fine tune a bit without the use of expensive software. If you see more then 15 icons on the lower right portion of your task bar, It means to say that you have too many programs running.. And that does not include the spyware that has affected your computer. Plus a messy Registry record.

So here's how to do it.

1) click on the start menu. Choose run.

2) type msconfig, click on the startup tab.

3) There's a lot of unwanted startups in here, remove those that are not important. Example , Nero Check, audio deck, adobe gamma. and so on.

A clue to what is important and not, is to extend the centre column named 'command'

This will show you what the program is --

some with c:\windows [this are mostly important]

Those starting with c:\program files [ are mostly not important]

unchecking those and exiting the system configuration utility will save changes.

There is also the startup programs that you can clear out from the start menu

Look for a folder called "start up"

You can clear off those short cuts there.

Removal of spyware, malware

When we surf the web we will get infected in one way or another. Spyware is often installed without the user's consent, as a drive-by download, or as the result of clicking some option in a deceptive pop-up window. It is highly recommended to download and install the Spybot search and destroy program. This program not only detects and kills spyware, it also immunize your computer against cookies and popups. Just remember to update regularly.

* note for people who use P2P software like Bitcomet ,

Spybot will identify an entry known as "Comet Cursor ' , This is part of the P2P software, and should not be removed. A list of identified problems will show comet cursor as one of the errors, but you can uncheck the box to prevent spybot from removing it.

Clearing the registry

There's free and useful ones availble for download such as the
Wise Registry cleaner 3
Run a scan and clear all error entries. Do a scan once a while , there will always be errors.

CCleaner

This program is cleans more then just the registry, It evens has a uninstall option to look at your installed applications to run a proper uninstall from there. Clears temp files, cookies and more.

Defrag

All of us have been told that in order for windows to work faster, running defrag once a months will improve performance by bringing the files that are fragmented as one. But the windows defrag application is awfully slow, not to mention it will slow down the computer rendering the user not able to do anything at all, Not even browsing the net. Best of it all, if any one touches the system, this defrag application restarts all over.

The good news is there's this stand alone program called the power defragmenter. It allows defraging of single files , individual folders instead of doing the entire drive at one go. It starts in a dos interface, and even though the system has a slight slow down, I can carry on surfing and use my computer, I can break the process when ever I want by pressing "CTRL" + "Break" at any time., Whatever defraging is done will be done, and there is no need to repeat the entire process the next time on..

Performance or beauty

If you are the type who wants speed and don't mind a plain jane interface, you can change the overall user interface to display less effects such as animating the siding effect when minimizing the windows

Right click on "My computer"

Click "properties"

Click on "advance" tab

Click on "settings" on the performance category

Choose between appearance or performance.

If you want a interface that works faster but does not look too awful. Choose Custom

Check on the last entry" Use visual styles on windows and buttons"

Additional boost in startup

For a quicker startup, users can disable the rest of the boot device from the CMOS settings. Allow boot record from HDD only, some motherboards have the option to search boot record from other device. Set that to 'NO' Your computer will not waste time scanning the network or External HDD for a boot record

Tweak XP

For users who want to squeeze every ounce of juice out of their OS can use Tweak XP

This program has got custom made graphics user interface, even casual users can choose to activate hardcore tweaks. Good for those who don't have a fast processor or tons of ram.

Stuck at the shut down screen

Some of us may experience this problem, despite after all this tweaks, the system halts at the Windows is shutting down screen for a long long time.

After a long wait of at least 2 mins, it finally shuts down.

Users can try to load the 'Optimized defaults' at the CMOS screen

That step solved my problem