PCTechNotes :: PC Tips, Tricks and Tweaks » PC Tools

How to Easily Change Your Windows 7 Start Menu Orb

slavezero — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:40:03 +0000

Here is a cool app that will let you change and personalized your Windows Start Menu Orb. This is a great way if you want to get a away from the usual Windows 7 Orb.

Before you do any customization, it is very important that you first create a system restore point. You can do this by typing “System Restore” in your Start menu search, and select “Create a restore point”.

First, download the Windows 7 Start Button Changer and extract it’s contents.

Run the Windows 7 Start Button Changer as administrator. You will see a warning if you don’t run it as administrator.

After running the app it will look like this.

This program will backup your original explorer.exe, change the start button and restart explorer.exe. To go back or restore your original Start Orb just click Restore Original Explorer Backup.

Download Windows 7 Start Button Changer

How to Protect Your Computer from Kids Hands

slavezero — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 05:13:48 +0000

Are you looking for a way to finally make your computer safe from the hands of your little kids that loves to play around with your keyboard that often makes your desktop scrambled or worst some of your files being deleted, well here is a free app called KidSafe that can do the job. KidSafe was designed to be a computer-locking program that will keep young children from messing anything up.

When you run KidSafe it will launch a full-screen window that hides the entire desktop. The windows will be blank so your kid that enjoys clicking everywhere will do any damage to your computer.

There are options on KidSafe that you can configure. You can change any settings that you feel necessary for your system.

Download KidSafe

A Tool to Easily Manage Your Desktop Items

slavezero — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:47:32 +0000

In my opinion and I think the majority of computer users will agree that the Windows desktop is one of the most visited and used place when you are using a windows based computer. Most applications that I frequently opens are located on my desktop even downloaded files are fighting for space on my desktop. If you place lots of items and if like me also use desktop as a drop zone for downloaded files, it can become crowded and for sure it will be annoying to search some stuff. I have found a Free, small but very effective tool to easily manage your desktop items. BBox is a highly flexible desktop management software for Windows, it is a freeware app to organize your desktop files. You can also use this tool to manage weblinks.

BBox also comes with different skins. With BBox, You can create groups and catalogs to group your files and icons. You can also drag and drop desktop shortcuts to the management area, and can also choose to keep the icon on the desktop, the software provides a useful grouping function for quick access either automatically or manually.

Visit Their site | Download BBoX | Download Skins

A Simple Tool to Easily Manage and Fix Common System Errors

slavezero — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:45:40 +0000

Here is a simple tool that can help you easily manage and fix system errors on your Windows 7 machine. Sysfix is simple but powerful that comes with lots of features. It has tools to fix fix network issues by login to router, flush DNS, purge files, rearrange directory etc. I like it’s interface, it’s neat and very easy to use.

Download Sysfix

Transform Ordinary Image Into Amazing Art

slavezero — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:35:33 +0000

Want to make a simple image into an astonishing work of art even without the knowledge and talent? Sounds impossible? Well, think again. I have stumbled a great piece of software that will you a art master in just a matter of few clicks. I’m talking about FotoSketcher. FotoSketcher is a Free application that will help you transform any image into a stunning work of art.

Transforming an image is very easy that even a 5 year old can do it. All you need to do is find and open the image you want to transform then select from their available styles, click draw it, save it and your done.

Download FotoSketcher

FotoSketcher Homepage

View FotoSketcher Gallery

A Great Application To Easily Fix Your Registry

slavezero — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:51:53 +0000

When was the last time you experience using your computer perform at an optimal speed? I guess you miss those times when your computer are still running at light speed. Well, the main reason why your computer is now turtle slow is because you have problems with your registry. The registry is your computer’s Windows system’s heart and soul. It holds all the information that controls how your system appears and performs.

Almost all Windows users gradually experiences the downfall in their PC’s performance. Registry Problems can make your Windows system slower, less reliable and in worst cases it can only be fixed by reformating and reinstalling the operating system. But what if you don’t have the knowledge to do that or don’t have enough budget to pay for a technician to fix your almost dying PC? But what if I tell you that you can bring back the life of your crawling computer back to it’s optimal days without the calling and paying for super geek to fix your computer.

I share to you this great application that I am personally using that can easily fix all your windows registry problems without breaking a sweat. I am talking about RegistryFix.

Registryfix can easily scan and fix invalid registry entries. It will tell you where are the errors and the possible damage it might cause. RegistryFix scans for errors related to ActiveX controls, DLL issues, Windows explorer errors, Windows installer issues, Internet Explorer errors, Iexpore and System32 errors, Runtime errors, Outlook and Outlook Express Errors, EXE errors, Svchost errors and a wide variety of other system issues.

Download this great registry tool to have a faster highly reliable system that runs perfectly all the time.

DOWNLOAD REGISTRYFIX

A Cool Application to Replace Windows Live Messenger

slavezero — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:40:02 +0000

Have you ever wish there is a alternative or a replacement for the bloat Windows Live Messenger? Something that has a more simpler cleaner look, very lightweight and will also let you use your live.com and hotmail.com accounts? Look no further, here is a small but cool and effective application where you can have all that messenger goodness! I share to you Emesene.

Emesene is a open source messenger software compatible with your Windows Live Messenger account. What I love about Emesene is it’s compatible to different distribution like Archlinux, Debian, Ubuntu and Fedora.

If you are looking for a very nice, uncomplicated, and “lite on system resources” alternative or should we say a replacement for Windows Live Messenger, then Emesene is definitely worth taking a close look at.

Download Emesene

Emesene Home Page

Know more about Emesene

How to Easily Translate Website Contents

slavezero — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:19:28 +0000

Ever encountered a site where contents are too much for you to understand or in a different language? I myself usually stumbled into foreign sites and one of my problems is understanding it’s content or understanding a single word. Fortunately for me I found a great piece of plugin available for Firefox and Internet Explorer that can easily help me understand every alien word for me. I share to you Babylon Translator.

Babylon Translator gives you good results from trusted dictionaries, encyclopedias and information sources in different languages. It will not only translate a word it will also provide you with meaning and examples.

To start translating click on the Translate button on your Babylon toolbar.

It will then give you this window on how to translate a word.

Right after you press the translate keys it will give you the results

Translation from different languages

DOWNLOAD BABYLON TRANSLATOR

Watch TV Shows on your PC for Free

slavezero — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 11:41:08 +0000

Wonder how you can watch Television shows directly on your PC for free? wonder no more here is a small, lightweight application that will allow to surf and watch for over 500 channels online without worrying for any fee. I give you FreeZ Online TV.

FreeZ Online TV is a small application that receives hundreds of channels worldwide. You don’t have to worry about buying a PC TV card because you don’t need one. The TV shows are streamed through internet connection so the faster your internet the better.

Overall this is a simple but cool online TV application but some channels don’t seem load but it is something interesting to do to take your mind off work. If you’re looking for a light application to watch TV on your computer you might want to check it out.

Download Freez Online TV

Visit Their Homepage

How to Easily Know What’s Inside Your Computer

slavezero — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:50:26 +0000

Do you wonder how you can easily extract all information about your computer components? Last april I shared to you a small utility that gives you every information you need to know about your computer including your CPU, motherboard, memory and system. Today I will share to you another small professional tool that will allow you to easily get detailed information about your computer hardware, software and running processes.

I present to you FreePCAudit. “FreePCAudit is a free tool designed to collect and present the maximum amount of information possible about computer’s hardware and software which makes them suitable for users searching for driver updates, computer manufacturers, system integrators and technical experts as well.”

This tool is very useful and is very easy to use even novice users can use this tool. What also make this tool easy to use is that this software doesn’t require installation you can run this tool directly from a USB drive, CD and even a floppy disk.

What separates this tool to CPU-Z is that this tool gives you information about the software installed on your system. But both tools will give you the information you need on your computer.

When you download the tool just simply run the program and you will get all the computer system information you need.

Download FreePCAudit

FreePCAudit Homepage