Most Windows aren’t willing to tie up their computers for a couple hours at a time, and it’s easy to forget to set off a defragmentation before you go to bed. Furthermore, depending on your version of Windows, the built-in disk defragmenter may lack helpful features and even ignore some fragmented files. That’s why a program like Defraggler (by Piriform, the same company that developed CCleaner) can come in handy; not only is it feature-rich and easy to use, but it does its job well and won’t slow down your computer when it’s running.

That’s right—you can defragment your computer’s hard drive even when you’re using it; actually, I’m defragmenting mine right now, as I write this very post and listen to some of my favorite tunes. If I needed to run a few more resource-intensive programs, however, I could always set Defraggler’s priority to “Background” under the “Settings” menu in order to avoid a decline in performance. So, Defraggler won’t significantly slow your computer down, and yet it actually does a better job of finding fragmentation than the default Windows defragmenter. But don’t worry—Defraggler is a very simple program to use, so you won’t be bombarded with cluttered menus and confusing toolbars.

In fact, using the program is a breeze; just click the conspicuous “Analyze” button to have the program look at your drive, and click “Defrag” to start the defragmentation process (you may select a “Quick Defrag” or the default, full defrag). And it’s just as easy to pause or stop the defragmentation altogether; Defraggler’s easy-to-use interface displays everything you need quite clearly, and yet it remains a powerful tool for optimizing your hard disk drive.

It’s understandable that people wouldn’t want to go through the trouble of downloading a program that more or less does the same thing as a program that already comes built into Windows, but Defraggler really does go above and beyond what the Windows Defragmenter can do; it’s well-worth the 2 minutes it takes to download and install, and best of all, Defraggler is free.

So what are you waiting for? You could be defragmenting right now! Head on over to the download page and give Defraggler a try!

PDF stands for Portable Document Format, meaning that files saved as PDF documents are “portable” in that they can be safely transferred from one computer to another (and across different operating systems) and keep a consistent look. In other words, if you’re on a PC, you can send a file to a friend who uses a Mac without the need to worry about how the document will be displayed.

This is what makes PDF different from other file formats; Microsoft Word (.doc) and Excel (.xls) files may be opened on other machines and operating systems, but their look depends largely on what fonts that system has, what software it’s using to open the files, and more. PDFs, on the other hand, look just about the same anywhere.

Therefore, PDF files can be quite useful for business documents, reports, or e-books, as they help ensure that the file is secure and that everyone who opens the file is seeing the same thing.

But how can Windows users make PDF files?

Well, you could pay anywhere between $100 and $500 for a program (i.e. the $99 NitroPDF, which happens to be quite inexpensive when compared to Adobe Acrobat) that creates them for you, but that’s not necessary for most of us.

A great alternative, however, is to use a free program called PrimoPDF to essentially print to a PDF document from almost any file type. It’s quick and easy, giving you the benefit of being able to utilize PDF technology, but without the learning curve and—perhaps most importantly—without the price tag.

Using PrimoPDF

1. First, download PrimoPDF and install the software.
2. Open the file (or create a file) that you would like to convert to a PDF document in whatever program you used to create it (i.e. Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.).
3. Go to the File menu and click Print (or simply press Ctrl + P).
4. Select “PrimoPDF” instead of a printer in the print dialog. Click print.
5. A window will pop up allowing you to tinker with some options, if you’d like. You can change these or just keep the default settings.
6. When you are ready, click “Create PDF.” Your PDF file will then be saved.

Drag and Drop PDF Creation:

An even easier way to convert many files to PDF documents is to simply drag their icon over your PrimoPDF shortcut (placed on the desktop by default) and drop them there. They will automatically be converted to PDF files.

It’s nice that Adobe Reader is free software that can be downloaded from the internet. However, before you rush off to download from Adobe’s website, there’s an alternative to consider.

Introducing Foxit Reader

Foxit Reader is another free PDF reader that can be downloaded online. While it doesn’t really boast any extra features, it does have one major advantage over Adobe Reader: speed. When launched, it’s likely that Foxit Reader will load 2-3 times faster than Adobe reader, which can provide a nice little boost to your productivity, and it doesn’t hog your system memory. Furthermore, Foxit Reader takes less time to install, uses much less hard disk space than Adobe Reader and, because it is so lightweight, it’s also portable—you can carry it with you on a thumb drive in case you may need it on a computer without a PDF reader installed. Overall, Foxit Reader is secure, reliable and above all, quick.

One caveat: There is one thing I don’t like about Foxit Reader, and that’s the developer’s sneaky ways of trying to make money. To be fair, they have to make profit somehow, but it can nonetheless be frustrating to see such a wonderful piece of software push commercial products. For example, you will notice that the installer tries to get you to add the Ask.com toolbar to your browser, as well as some eBay desktop icons, and that some advanced/premium features of the program can only be accessed if you jump through some hoops. It’s not spyware, so you don’t need to worry, but I wouldn’t recommend checking any unnecessary boxes (especially when it comes to things like toolbars, which can slow down your computer).

So, maybe Foxit isn’t perfect, but the performance you’ll get out of it will likely be a nice improvement over your experience with Adobe Reader. To download the free viewer or to read more, visit its page on Foxit Software’s website.

In my next post, I’ll be showing off another PDF-related piece of software, but this one allows Windows users to quickly and easily convert their Word, Excel, and other documents to the PDF format, thus enabling them to share and publish their documents without worrying about how it will look on different computers.

photo credit: mdornseif

Step 1: Download Smart Toolbar Remover and install it.

Step 2: Close your web browser.

Step 3: Run Smart Toolbar Remover and select the toolbars you want to remove.

Step 4: Click the “Uninstall” button to remove the toolbars.

Step 5: Follow any on-screen instructions for removing the toolbars.

Smart Toolbar Remover will not always remove all of your toolbars so I recommend also following the specific instructions for your Operating System below.

Windows XP

Step 6: Click on the “Start” menu and select “Control Panel.” Note: If you are using the classic Start Menu, it will be located under “Settings.”

Step 7: Open “Add or Remove Programs.”

Step 8: Look through the list of programs and hunt down any toolbars you might have installed. For example, the Yahoo Toolbar will simply be titled “Yahoo Toolbar.” Click on it and select “Remove.” Follow the uninstall wizard to remove it. Once it has been removed, continue looking through the list and remove any others.

Windows Vista and Windows 7

Step 6: Click on the “Start” menu and select “Control Panel.” Note: If you are using the classic Start Menu, it will be located under “Settings.”

Step 7: Click “Programs” and then click “Programs and Features.”

Step 8: Look through the list of programs and hunt down any toolbars you might have installed. For example, the Yahoo Toolbar will simply be titled “Yahoo Toolbar.” Click on it and then click “Uninstall” located on the menu bar. Follow the uninstall wizard to remove it. Once it has been removed, continue looking through the list and remove any others.

Step 1: Download CCleaner and install it. The setup is very straightforward and the only option I would recommend unchecking is “Add CCleaner Yahoo! Toolbar and use CCleaner from your browser.”

Step 2: After the setup has completed, run CCleaner. There should be a shortcut to it on your Desktop.

Step 3: Click the “Run Cleaner” button. You will be prompted about permanently deleting files from your system. Click “OK.”

Step 4: After it finishes, you will see a list of the files CCleaner has removed. Now click the “Registry” tab and click the “Scan for Issues” button.

Step 5: After it has finished scanning, click the “Fix selected issues” button.

Step 6: You will be prompted to make a backup of the registry. Click “Yes” and choose a location to save your backup to.

Step 7: You will now be prompted for each issue that CCleaner wants to fix. You can click “Fix All Selected Issues” if you don’t want to be prompted for each one.

That’s it! You have now successfully optimized your computer using CCleaner. I would recommend running it at least once a month, however, you can run it more if you would like.

Step 1: Uninstall any previous versions of antivirus software you might have installed. You can do this by going into your “Control Panel” and opening “Add or Remove Programs.”

Step 2:  Download Microsoft Security Essentials and run it.

Step 3:  You will be prompted with a welcome screen.  Click “Next.”

Step 4:  Click “I accept” to accept the license agreement.

Step 5:  You will now be prompted to validate your copy of Windows.  Click “Validate.”  If your version of Windows is not legal then you will not be able to install MSE.

Step 6:  You are now ready to install MSE.  Click “Install.”

Step 7:  After the installation wizard has completed, leave the check box checked to scan your computer for viruses and click “Finish.”  MSE will now update.  Once it has finished, MSE will scan your computer.

MSE automatically protects your computer while running in the background but you can also scan your computer manually if desired.  To do this just click either the “Quick,” “Full,” or “Custom” radio button and click “Scan Now” on the “Home” tab.

MSE will also automatically update itself with the latest virus signatures but if you want to force an update just click the “Update” button on the “Update” tab.

You can also look back through your virus history by clicking on the “History” tab.

And finally, you can change settings such as scheduled scans by clicking on the “Settings” tab.

If you need help installing or using Microsoft Security Essentials, please feel free to comment.

Step 1:  Download Restoration.  If possible, save it to a drive that doesn’t contain the files you are trying to recover because you could overwrite them.

Step 2:  Once Restoration has finished downloading, double-click it to run it.

Step 3:  Select the drive that contains your deleted file from the drop-down list in the top-right corner.  If you know the name of the file you are trying to restore (or part of the name), enter it into the box that says “all or part of the file.”  Otherwise, just leave the field blank to scan all deleted files.  Click the “Search Deleted Files” button to begin scanning.

Step 4:  After the scan has completed, you will see a list of deleted files that Restoration has found.  Click the filename that you want to restore and click the “Restore by Copying” button to restore it.

Step 5:  You will now be presented with a “Save As” box asking you where you wan to save the file.  Choose a location and click “Save.”

You should now be able to open your newly restored file.  Please feel free to reply below if you have comments or need help.  Enjoy!