Windows tips

Customise the Windows mouse hover behaviour

Reduce the mouse sensitivity and allow it to trigger the tooltip or thumbnail even if it moves a little, and reduce the time for tooltips and thumbnails to appear, you can reduce the delay. Go there...

Create new Windows partitions with Diskpart

Diskpart might not be the first utility that springs to mind, but some command prompt tools are worth getting to know.

Virus meets its Nemesis

One security tool is never 100% effective against all virus threats, so add a clean-up tool like Panda Nemesis.

Better Windows Search

Advanced search options, clear your search history, weird things you can type into the search box., Use Search instead of the Run box, can't find a menu? Search for it!

Remove viruses and malware with Rising PC Doctor

There is a lot of malware for Windows, but there are lots of security tools too. One you might not be familiar with is Rising PC Doctor. It's free and removes malware like spyware and Trojans, fixes security flaws and prevents malware infections. Continue reading...

Clean up with Autoruns after uninstalling software

Uninstallers leave things behind and they never clean up 100% of everthing there is. Autoruns can clean up after an uninstaller has finished.

Remove shortcut arrows

Some icons on the desktop or in Explorer windows have an arrow in the bottom left corner. It's is big and ugly. Wouldn't it be better if it was smaller or invisible? It is easy with a simple registry tweak.

10 quick tips for Windows 7

These tips are short and simple. You might know some of them, but do you know them all? Check them out and see.

Fix Windows 7 search by rebuilding the index

If you want to find a file on a Windows 7 PC you just click Start and type in the name. If it isn't found, maybe Windows search isn't working. Rebuild the index to solve search problems.

Speed up Windows desktop

Do you need desktop composition? Why not try it without. Windows will run faster.

Recover lost files using Previous Versions

Every Mac user has heard of Time Machine, the backup facility in OS X that helps you to recover lost and deleted files, but how many Windows users are aware of Previous Versions? Here's how to use it

Use Explorer's advanced search features

We have all lost files at some time and we can't find something we saved last week or month. There are basic and advanced search facilities to find lost files.

How to back up from the command line or shortcut

A lot of people don't have backups and either they don't have the right hardware or it is too much of a hassle. You can simplify things by using Windows Backup. Add a shortcut to the desktop.

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Apple tips

Repair, manage disks with Diskutil on the Mac

Disk Utility is a useful tool and it can format disks, partition them, erase them and repair them. However, it is not the only utility that is able to do this and there is a command prompt tool called diskutil that can perform all this and more. Here's an introduction to diskutil to get you started.

Protect your Mac with Avast! Antivirus Free

Apple users have been putting off getting security software your years, but now Macs are no longer safe on the internet. Thankfully, there are some good anti virus tools available, like Avast! Free Antivirus for Mac.

Recover lost photos with EaseUS Mac Photo Recovery

If you have searched for an image and can't find it, it must have been been deleted. Recover it with Mac Photo Recovery

Recover OS X Lion Recovery partition when it's lost

It is possible to lose the recovery partition on your Mac. Have you recently checked it is still there? Let's see how to recover the recovery partition.

Access secret features in Disk Utility on the Mac

Disk Utility in OS X on the Mac has many functions and one of these is to display the disks drives and partitions available. But in OS X Lion it doesn't show the Recovery partition. What else is it hiding? Find out by enabling the secret Debug menu.

Top tips for Preview on the Mac

Preview has lots of useful features, but it is easy to miss some of them because they aren't obvious. Here is a collection of not-so-well-known features.

Remove the Flashback Trojan

There are said to be around 600,000 infected Macs and that is actually quite a large proportion of the total Macs in use. Now Kaspersky has produced a free Flashback cleaner.

Monitor your Mac with Activity Monitor

You don't need to have Activity Monitor on the screen and there are some very useful functions for monitoring activity from the icon in the Dock or in floating windows.

Secure your Mac

Securely delete private files to prevent others from seeing them. Put your files in a secure disk vault. Here's how to erase them.

Start your Mac in safe mode to solve problems

You need to know what steps you can take if disaster strikes and the Mac won't work properly. Use safe mode!

Boost disk space, cut the clutter

CleanGenius 3 from EaseUS is a cleanup tool to remove the clutter from the disk. Clear caches, find space-hogging files, uninstall unwanted apps and more. Read the review...

Mac Photo Booth tips

Using Photo Booth is very easy and all you need to do is to click a simple button to take a snapshot. However, there are hidden features that you may not be aware of.

More Apple Mac tips...

Go to the Apple Mac home page or the Mac and OS X tips page

Linux tips

What's using the disk space?
If you are running short of space on the disk drive JDiskReport is a great utility for finding out which files and folders are using the most. Here's how to use it.

Bodhi Linux - a lightweight distro
Bodhi Linux is Ubuntu stripped back to the core to create a lightweight distro with minimal hardware requirements. It has several unusual features.

Use the Windows key in Ubuntu
Every PC keyboard has a key with the Windows logo on it, but even though you use Linux, it still has its uses. Ubunbtu calls it the Meta key.

Encrypt files for privacy and security
If someone stole your PC or gained access to it either physically or through the internet, would they be able to access your files? How can you prevent this from happening? Consider encrypting them.

Partition the disk for Linux
What partitions are required, what size should they be, and how do you actually do it?

Dreamlinux 5
Dreamlinux uses Xfce instead of KDE or Gnome, Softmaker Office instead of LibreOffice, it's ready to play video and audio, and it's based on Debian. Is it any good?

Kororaa Linux - an easy to use distro
Kororaa is an easy to use Linux distro for new users while still being useful for experts. It aims to be a complete general computing solution. KDE and Gnome distros in 32 and 64-bit versions are available.

Send the disk to sleep with hdparm
Hdparm is a multi-function tool that does a lot of different things, but here we are just going to look at a few simple ones. It's a brief introduction to hdparm.

ZevenOS - Ubuntu meets BeOS
ZevenOS is a Linux distro that has the look and feel of BeOS. Will it quietly disappear like BeOS? No, this OS is all Linux and underneath and it has some great features.

Mageia - a new Linux distro
Mageia was born as a fork of Mandriva and version 1 is here with a 2 alpha ready for testing.Here's what you need to know.

Anonymous web browsing
If you really want to be anonymous on the internet and prevent anyone from tracking you or identifying you, one solution is to use Tor.

Fuduntu - Fedora/Ubuntu hybrid
With hundreds of distros you might wonder whether enthusiasts are running out of ideas, but it appears not. Fuduntu 14 blends Fedora and Ubuntu.

Shut down Linux from the command line
The shutdown command in a Terminal window accesses extra features that are not available when shutting down via the menus. Get to grips with shutdown.

3 Linux download managers
Store download links for later, adjust the bandwidth used, and speed up downloads by opening multiple connections, all with a free download manager.

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