What’s the Difference between Sleep and Hibernate in Windows?

Windows 7 provides several options for conserving power when you are not using your PC. These options include Sleep, Hibernate, and Hybrid Sleep and are very useful if you are using a laptop. Here’s the difference between them. Note: this article is meant primarily for beginners. Obviously ubergeeky readers will already know the difference between [...]

How to Share CD & DVD Drives over the Network on Windows

From ultra-books to netbooks, computers are shedding their optical drives. If you still use an occasional CD or DVD, you don’t have to buy an external optical drive – you can share another computer’s optical drive over the network. The two computers must be on the same local network to share an optical drive. This [...]

How to Add Any Application Shortcut to Windows Explorer’s Context Menu

With a quick registry tweak, you can add any application to any Windows Explorer context menu. You can even add application shortcuts to your desktop’s context menu and launch your favorite applications just by right-clicking on your desktop. Getting Started First, launch regedit.exe from the Start menu. Expand the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT key. Specific File Types As [...]

How to Create a Password Protected Folder without any Extra Software

There are a lot of methods that you can use to create a password protected folder, most of which require the use of some third party software. Using this neat method you can hide your folders with a quick batch script. It’s important to note that this will not actually conceal your data from somebody [...]

How to Reinstall Windows without Having to Reactivate

Every time you format and reinstall your PC, you have to activate Windows again, which can sometimes be a pain once you’ve done it too many times. Here’s how to backup and then restore the activation status. Note: we aren’t going to cover how to reinstall Windows, since you should know how to do that [...]

Cleanup Your Windows 7 Login Screen and Remove Unwanted Logon Items

  Windows 7 adds functionality to your login screen to give you additional logon options. If you want to lose the clutter, here is how to disable some or all of your credential providers. Whether it was installed from the factory or add-on software you installed, these registry settings will disable the unwanted credential providers [...]

How to Automatically Log on a User Account at Windows 7 Start-up

NOTE: With Automatic Log On, you will not see this anymore. Windows 7 will boot into the desktop of the selected user account instead. Here’s How: 1. Open the Start Menu. 2. In the search line, type netplwiz and press Enter. (See screenshots below)   3 . To Turn On Automatic Log On for a [...]

How to Use Virtual PC to Install Windows 7 into a Virtual Machine

Continuing in our series covering how to use Virtual PC, this week we’ll be showing you how to install Windows 7 into a virtual machine. It’s a very simple process, but here’s the step-by-step guide for beginners. If you haven’t already read it, you should check out our guide on how to create a new [...]

How to Create a Virtual Machine in Windows 7 Using Virtual PC

Microsoft Virtual PC is a free application that helps you create your own virtual machines inside your current operating system, so you can test software, or learn a new environment easily. Here’s how to get started. Using Windows Virtual PC First, you need to download Virtual PC from Microsoft’s web site. You’ll want to make [...]

How to Lower the Critical Battery Level to 1% in Windows 7

With specific hardware configurations, Windows refuses to let you change the Critical Battery Level below a specific point. If you’ve got a big battery, this prevents you from using every last bit of juice. Thankfully, there are two easy workarounds. I have already shown you How To Tweak the Low Battery Action on Your Windows [...]