PCTips Box

Microsoft is gearing up for the next stage in the delivery of its first service pack for Windows Vista. The Redmond company has confirmed officially that the automatic distribution of Vista SP1 is just around the corner. Still, at this point in time, the deadline for the debut of Vista SP1’s serving through Automatic Updates has not been made public. Microsoft has stated all along that it plans to start the distribution of Vista SP1 through AU by mid-April, but offered no additional information to pinpoint the release.

Service Pack 1 was released to manufacturing on February 4, 2008, concomitantly with the gold version of Windows Server 2008. Only on March 18 did Microsoft manage to make the service pack available to end users via Windows Update and the Download Center. At that time, the Redmond company only released the English, French, German, Spanish and Japanese language versions of Vista SP1. (more…)

If you have used vista, you may have seen option to eject the cd drives on the right click menu on the cd drive.

This feature of automatically eject the cd drives is a part of windows vista but not provided with windows XP, but this option can be enabled in windows XP using a simple freeware software called Eject CD, Download it from here.

What is Eject CD?

Eject CD is a useful, free and easy to use software. It helps you easily eject and insert the cd/dvd-rom drivers just by using the keyboard shortcuts or your mouse. (more…)

Over the years we’ve looked at various manual methods of backing up and archiving your email messages but here’s a clever little program that makes the whole thing much easier. It’s called MailStore Home and it works with all of the popular email client programs, including Outlook Express, Outlook, Windows Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird and so on. It allows you to take all of your emails and store them in one convenient place with a single click, on your hard drive or a CD or DVD, and it is smart enough to only save one instance of each attachment (in case you have been sent the same one several times). (more…)

I’ve recently had a bout of paranoia so I decided to back things up. And since one of the essential backup tools is having a dependable set of installers, I decided to assembly my backup DVD case - a DVD bag full the essential installers. That’s when it struck me that the copy of Windows Vista I had was in CD format, meaning I have 5 discs for the installer.

I hate having multiple disc installers. For one, it demands that you stay during the process to be able to swap discs. Tedious and time consuming. And, if one of the discs go bad, you’re screwed. So I decided to make me a DVD installer instead, consolidating all of the stuff in those 5 CDs. And with some Googling and experimentation, here’s how I made mine. (more…)

What is “DVD” Media, and How Is It Different From CDs?

DVD, which was originally named for Digital Video Disc, now means Digital Versatile Disc. It is a special recording format for computers, audio, and TV/movies.

Superficially, a DVD disc looks just like a CD. It is 120mm in diameter, and 1.2mm in thickness(comprised of two polycarbonate substrates, 0.6mm each). Unlike CDs, however, DVD discs can be single or double sided. Furthermore, each DVD side may contain a second invisible “layer” to increase the disc’s storage capacity. (more…)

I wanted to add a recordable DVD drive to my computer. What is the difference between DVD-R and DVD+R?

As DVD recording comes of age and the prices come down, more of us will likely be adding DVD writers to our computers. But what gives with these dueling formats?

Anyone who was around twenty years ago might remember the battle between the two video tape formats: VHS (Victor Home System) and Betamax (Sony). Fast forward to the twenty-first century and we have a similar battle of the formats with DVD. (more…)