geeky tutorials, tips, guides and reviews
Want a more productive menu bar in Windows?
For the past few months now, I’ve gone with the extra thick menu bar at the bottom of my computer. Since my screen size is so big now (1920×1200), I figured I could spare the extra space. Here is how I created mine, just in case you might want to try the same.
Since I have to stare at my desktop for several hours of the day, I like to make sure everything is nice, neat and organized. Taskix is the free and lightweight program I use to sort my Windows taskbar tabs, so that they are exactly in the order I want them in.
Once installed, all you have to do is start the program up, click the check mark box for “Always Start with Windows” and “Drag Tabs” then click the button labeled active. Now you can drag and drop to arrange your Windows taskbar the way you see fit. This program is a blessing for anybody who has multiple windows open throughout the day.
It also comes with several other options such as:
The program is free to use, although the creator would like it if you could register and possibly give a little cash in appreciation. Taskix is simply the best lightweight Windows taskbar tab reordering tool.
Since switching to Windows Vista, there haven’t been too many other visual styles I have fallen in love with – especially in comparison with the number of them that are out there for Windows XP. I have found one port though that is well worth your time if you want a simpler (yet, not ugly) Vista theme.
The eno Vista Port visual style for Windows Vista keeps things simple, but doesn’t look awful when doing so. The only thing I miss in comparison with Vista’s default theme is the search box is missing in the start menu.
As a word of warning, switching your Vista visual styles is a ‘bit more tedious of a task than it was in XP. If you are looking for a good guide to hold your hand durring the process, check out: How to Patch Windows Vista to Enable Custom Themes (Visual Styles)
I’ve been out searching for a program that will allow me to quickly color code the folders on my Vista machine. The only problem is, I can find a lot of good programs that work with Windows XP but this must be a harder task to accomplish on Vista.
Here are a few of the Windows XP programs I have tried (all good solutions by the way) that just haven’t gotten the job done thus far.
So I am asking you, do you know of a good Vista folder customizer out there? I need something that would allow me to quickly change the colors to kind of help organize things a ‘bit in my PC. Better yet, how do you organize your “My Document” folders?
Browsing around Deviant Art I found some of the best looking Super Mario icons I have seen in a long long time. With all the Super Smash Bros Brawl I’ve been playing in the past few weeks – looks like Nintendo is invading my desktop too.
Another awesome detail about these icons are they were all designed by hand by a fantastic Deviant Art artist, ph03nyX. Download them for yourself and make your own desktop look like the Mushroom Kingdom!
For those of you watching my recent twittering, you probably noticed that I ordered myself a new PC. The one thing that made me really reluctant about moving from my old 3 or 4 year old previous Windows XP machine was Windows Vista. I have heard so many horror stories on the Web how could somebody not be scared?
After spending some time with it last night though I have to say it is not that bad. Sure, there is room for improvement – but think about any previous Windows version. It is never “right” when you pull it out of the box. It takes a lot of tweaking, love, tossing midgets at it and affection before you get it the way you want it to be. Continue Reading →
Working support, I have to look at a multitude of programs and windows on my desktop every single day. Now sure, I would like to pin certain things on top and let other things fall to the bottom of the window stack. The question is – is there an easy way to get that done?
The best program I have found to do just that is DeskPins. This freeware application allows you to put simple pins in the corner of your windows to keep some things on top. Here is some more information on it from the developers of the program:
DeskPins can be used to make any application topmost, that is, to keep it above all other windows. Just grab a pin from the DeskPins icon in the system notification area (a.k.a. taskbar tray) and click on any window.
This adds the “always on top” functionality to every program you use. If you have Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and you want to organize your desktop clutter this is one good way of getting it done.
I always love finding new Windows XP visual styles that are not only good – but great. Some of them are ugly, others are Mac-clones. Very rarely do you get one as cool as MurrinaFancyClearlooks.
Need help figuring out how to change your XP visual style? Don’t worry this past post should have you covered. Finding this one was kinda like hitting the Windows XP visual style lottery. Just look at all the pretty colors.
At least once a year I get so frustrated with Windows I look over at Linux and see what is happening on that side of the fence. Now before I might do the whole Live CD thing – my main problem with that though is that my CD drive in this PC sounds like helicopter taking off when I put any disks into it.
So what is a guy wanting to play with Linux, but doesn’t want to do the whole partition dance need to do? Go give Wubi a whirl.
From start to finish, Wubi just makes it almost dead brain simple to get Ubuntu up and running. As a matter of fact, over the past two days I’ve played with Kubuntu and Ubuntu trying to decide which one I like more. When your done with it – you can just uninstall it like you would any other application and it is gone from your system. No messy clean up and no sticky mess.
No, that’s not an offer to dance but one of the best desktop OS (operating systems) out there today that runs on Linux instead of Windows. Interested?
Good because this article is about the process of installing Ubuntu Linux right along-side Windows XP Pro, my expectations and what actually happened. Egads, you say! Are you nuts? No, in spite of the rumors I’m quite sane and if you read on you’ll see why.
Been keeping up with the latest news on the Vista home front? All the bugs that are beginning to come out in the light? Again? Hear the horror stories about the costs of the upgrades? The extra hardware that’s needed to make sure that Vista will run like it’s advertised? It can be intimidating to say the least. Well read on gentle readers as I have a sound solution for you and your computer. The sweet part of it? All it’ll cost you is a little time. That’s right, it’s free!
What Are You Talking About Ubun-who?
Now, before you start the nay-saying, let me explain. Linux (of which Ubuntu is a distribution or distro) is based on what’s called Open Source Software. It’s not proprietary like Windows which allows it to be free for everyone to use as they wish. An entire global community works together on many variations of Linux. Each one has it’s followers like Ubuntu which this article will follow.
Some might say that “you’ll get what you pay for and if it’s free, it isn’t going to be much good!” Wrong again! I’m here to tell you that what you get with Ubuntu is a full-featured, rich operating system that will blow your mind away.
Follow along as I work my way through the process of installing Ubuntu’s Ver. 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) along-side Windows XP Pro on my desktop PC, what I expected from it and what I end up with. I’ll include what you’ll need to accomplish this task so easily that you’ll wonder what you were nervous about in the first place.To be honest with you, I was terrified that I’d screw up my PC if I tried to monkey around with it. But to my absolute amazement, it all went smoothly.
Getting Yourself Ready and Started
I downloaded the ISO file from Ubuntu’s website, burned it to a CD and checked it to make sure the image was a good burn. Keep in mind that an ISO file should be burned as slowly as possible for it to work properly. I also downloaded an ISO image of an app called GParted (free for download) for future use. More on this later.
Now, this is where your details might differ slightly from mine but no worries, mate! It’s all gonna work out.
I have 2 hard drives mounted in my PC. One was for storage and the other for apps and all that other junk that we accumulate over time. I also have 2 external hard drives connected by USB. Yes, I have a lot of junk!
I chose to install Ubuntu on one of my internal drives because I had moved all my files to the external ones. So, I had one to play with. You can install Ubuntu on the same drive as Windows if you wish. It will happily co-exist there with Windows and you can boot to either at anytime.
Next, you’ll read about how easy the installation went, any issues realized and what I wind up with.
Article by Scott Wilson – Scott has been involved with PC’s, operating systems and web development for around 6 years. Once he figured out how to turn a computer on he’s never been quite able to turn it back off again. He’s been continually adding to a weblog to help pass on information relating to the world wide web. You can find out more about Scott and his work at MerlinsMinute.com.
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Mitch Keeler is nothing more than your average Joe trying to leave his mark on the world though both his professional work and his online projects, articles, podcasts and more.
