Category: Windows 7

Windows 7 has a very smart search feature embedded right inside the Windows Explorer. As soon as you type in the search box, it would start searching show the results inside the Windows Explorer window. But if you share your computer with others, then it may be a privacy problem because Windows retains your most recent search terms. You can disable Windows to save and display your most recent searches using a group policy setting.

Windows 7 Start Menu is an improved edition of the Start Menu that earlier versions of Windows had. The most remarkable feature in it is its search feature using which you can search for any program on your computer. It contains links to your most used folders like Documents, Pictures, Music and your Home folder. But it does not contain any link to your Videos folder. If you are missing the Videos link, then here is how you can add a link to your Videos folder in the start menu.

Earlier this week, my Windows 7 computer lost the ability to run games. As soon as I started a game (Max Payne 2), the screen turned green and then computer hanged up. I was scratching my head over this problem, when my friend told me to check if my GPU was getting too hot. Windows 7 does not provide any way to check the temperatures of GPU, CPU and other hardware parts, but you can use free CPUID HWMonitor tool to check various sensors and monitor voltages, temperatures and fan speeds.

Hard disks are now coming with huge storage spaces in the order of multi-terabytes. But these hard disks often get so much heated up even when you are not using them. The heat is not good for the hard disks as it decreases their life. It is a good idea to turn off the hard disks if they are not being used for some time to prolong their life as well as save electricity. In Windows 7, you can set options to automatically turn off your hard disks after they have been idle for a pre-specified time.

Acronis Drive Monitor is created by a well trusted name in the industry. It helps you monitor the health of your hard disks on servers, workstations and PCs. It continuously monitors the critical S.M.A.R.T parameters for your hard disks as well as their temperature and flags a warning if they exceed a pre-specified value. It also checks if you have a backup software installed and warns you if you have not.

Unlike some Linux distributions, Windows does not provide any native way to mount disk image files. But you can download and install third party applications that may help you mount such disk images. The OSFMount program is such a software that allows you to mount various formats of disk images like ISO, BIN, NRG and more. This free utility supports all versions of Windows including Windows XP, Vista and 7. Both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows are supported.

Most of the free webmail services like Yahoo! etc. do not provide you with such client access – effectively stopping you from accessing them through a client. But Affixa, a freeware Windows software, solves this problem by allowing you to integrate a number of such webmail services in Windows. Affixa enables you to attach files and send messages using your free webmail accounts from within Windows.

Google Picasa is a popular photo editor, manager and viewer available for Windows. You can use it to create photo collages, create posters, edit images to add text and various other advanced effects easily. It can use your pictures from your local disks or web albums. It allows you to instantly publish your pictures to your Google+ account or online Picasa library. Google Picasa can also be used to create a screensaver for Windows using your pictures.

Ubuntu Linux users are well acquainted with Ubuntu One cloud storage service from Canonical. Ubuntu One used to be available only for Ubuntu Linux users, but now they have released a Windows desktop client making it accessible to all the Microsoft Windows users. Ubuntu One offers 5 gigabytes of free storage space. You can pay for an upgrade to 20 gigabytes if you think 5 gigabytes does not meet your requirements. Ubuntu One offers clients for Microsoft Windows, Ubuntu Linux, Android and iPhone.