Tweaks and Recommendations

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How about a thread for people to share information about programs they use and like, and tweaks to make PCs run better.

Here's one to get it going...

Sysinternals Process Explorer

Download is at the bottom of the page. It's a bit fiddly to install. It comes as a zipped file, which you need to get into your 'Program Files' folder, or into C: either by unzipping it straight there, or cutting and pasting it once you have unzipped it. Then you need to open the folder and R Click on procexp.exe and send a shortcut to your desktop.

Now the clever bit. Once you have it on your desktop, you can open it and check all the processes running on your computer in much more detail than the Taskmanager provides. If you click 'Options' along the top, and check 'replace TaskManager', this program will run instead of the Taskmanager every time.
 
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More ... Sysinternals Live is a service that enables you to execute Sysinternals tools directly from the Web without hunting for and manually downloading them.
Autoruns is another real goody from Windows Sysinternals...
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx

An unusal little? Prog IObit Advanced SystemCare PRO, I have found this better than the once popular Norton Systemworks tools
There was / is a 180 trial - Click See just below the comparison chart the 180 day trial license...Don't know if that remains valid but there is a freeby with a few less bells and whistles.... Take care with it !!

Excellent free partition manager EASEUS Partition Master
http://www.partition-tool.com/download.htm
I have used this to resize and add partitions on the fly - no problems, thus far - Desktop - Laptops - External drives.

Smart Defrag Works very well, is also included with the advanced care prog above.
http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html?Str=download

Macrium Reflect v4.2 Free Edition An interesting disk / partition imaging program - Works ok for me. It helps one build a 'Bart PE' emergency boot cd the process (click) worked well.
Images can be mounted and 'browsed' using Windows Explorer, files can be copied etc
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

-p-
edit 20-05-09
VLC media player 0.9.9 free and open source software.
A very decent media player - drag and drop .flv files (eg. YouTube)- been using for movies etc...
http://www.videolan.org/
-p-
 
Over a dozen handy little programs from Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP

The ones that I use are:
Image Resizer, very handy for resizing pictures but leaving the original as it is.
Power Calculator
Tweak UI
ClearType Tuner, Makes your text smooth and not pixelated.
SyncToy, Multi ways of synchronizing backup files.

Fresh UI (up to WinXP) from:
http://www.freshdevices.com/freshui.html
Customizing Windows User Interface (UI)
Optimizing system settings
Optimizing hardware settings
Customizing Windows application settings
Controlling user environment with policies
 
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TIE KNOTS THE FUN AND EASY WAY
http://www.animatedknots.com
Er, pip do they er, do a site that shows you how to untie the knots again? :oops:
FFS ! Here is some sharp pieces of metal - handle with care !
sw56.jpg


Please fall on sharp end, following use ! (or before - if you prefer)
:D
 
TIE KNOTS THE FUN AND EASY WAY
http://www.animatedknots.com
Er, pip do they er, do a site that shows you how to untie the knots again? :oops:
FFS ! Here is some sharp pieces of metal - handle with care !
sw56.jpg


Please fall on sharp end, following use ! (or before - if you prefer)
:D

Nah! that sword is wallhanger mate (naff diy sword). It would break if you tried falling on it!.
Get a Cold Steel or Paul Chen blade to do the job proper! ;)
 
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