PCTips Box

If you want to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your hard disk to free up disk space and help your computer run faster, use Disk Cleanup. It removes temporary files, empties the Recycle Bin, and removes a variety of system files and other items that you no longer need.

1. Open Disk Cleanup by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking All Programs, clicking Accessories, clicking System Tools, and then clicking Disk Cleanup.

2. In the Disk Cleanup Options dialog box, choose whether you want to clean up your own files only or all of the files on the computer. Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. (more…)

Using the hidden Private Character Editor (PCE) tool, you can create up to 6,400 unique characters (such as special letters and logos) for use in your font library. PCE contains basic tools for creating and editing characters, along with more advanced options.

Its Documentation is available at Windows XP Product Documentation. (more…)

In Vista, SystemRestore is set to delete restore points after roughly 136 years … yeah, let that sink…

Normally Windows uses up to 15 percent of a drive’s available space to save restore points. In XP, the option to change this figure was configurable from the System Restore tab of the System Properties dialog box. But sadly this option is no longer offered in Vista. But u can do so as follows : Open regedit and go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\ SystemRestore\Cfg Double-click the DiskPercent. The default is f (in hexadecimal) which is 15 in decimal. (more…)

As long as security isn’t a big concern, configuring Windows Vista to log on to your user account automatically can save you some serious time and effort when your computer is starting up.

Just follow the easy steps outlined below to make Windows Vista automatically log on to your user account. After completing these steps, Windows Vista will stop prompting you for a user name and password on startup! (more…)

Many of the in-home service calls I go on end up being training sessions rather than repair jobs. That’s because beginners often have problems because of their inexperience and immediately jump to the conclusion that the computer is “broken.” Here are a few of the most common ones, which I generally handle over the phone during the initial consultation rather than making a trip out to the site: (more…)

The Default Programs item on the new Start menu makes uncovering important settings far easier than it was in XP. (more…)

Have you ever tried to copy something simple from a web page into Outlook or MS Word only to see it mess up your formatting? The Windows clipboard helps you by copying the formatting information from the website. Sometimes thats exactly what you want, but more often its incompatible with the formatting of the document or e-mail you are pasting it into. So how do you stop that helpfulness? You cant turn off the rich format feature, but there are ways around it. Here are two simple workarounds:

The First Way
Copy your text as you normally would. Then in your document select Edit | Paste Special You will get the following dialog box: (more…)

In the Windows Explorer, deleted files and folders are normally sent to the recycle bin. This requires extra resources (i.e. time), particularly if the recycle bin is full and part of it needs to be emptied first to make room. When deleting files and folders that are certain to never be recycled, the time delay can be avoided by holding down the shift key when deleting the item. Both methods present a confirmation dialog box, but with different icons and text to make it easy to verify that the recycle bin is, or is not, being used. (more…)

Did you know that the Open Dialog Box, and the Save Dialog Box that are common to most Windows programs contain much of the functionality of the Windows Explorer? The window pane that shows the list of files available to open (or to overwrite) is essentially a miniature Explorer, and as with Windows Explorer, there are a myriad of viewing and sorting features available. You can even do things like delete files, rename files, copy files to the clipboard, and more.

The default display is list view, but it can be changed icon views, the detail view, and even the thumbnail view. In the details view, the columns can be sorted. Most of the functions that are available in the context menu of the Windows Explorer are also available here. (more…)

(more…)