Artwinauto

Computer desktops were conceived to work as a real desktop when they were created, and it has changed very little since the first versions of windows. The odd thing of looking like a real desktop is that it ends up as messy as a real desktop and having to clean it is quite a pain and time consuming.

 

Most of us have a lot of documents, folders and shortcuts placed on the desktop and in the end it is quite difficult to find what we are looking for and tidying it up is consuming time too so, it was a nice idea to create something that would help us to keep our desktop tidy and organized and this is where BumpTop comes into the picture.

 

 

There are tools to use to edit and create technical text, but sometimes extra help is needed and there are some tools out there which are not as known as the most famous ones, but are very useful and can be perfect complement to our text editor or any other authoring software we may use. Some examples are:

 

Snagit: This is a software for taking screenshots, which is really useful if we are to take them in order to add to our text writings. Taking screenshot is common, besides that, it has very good features and editing functions for the screenshots. Check it out and you will see.

 

BlitzType is a new autocompletion utility for Windows with a focus on learning and prediction capabilities for learners and professionals. Currently it is an on-going project currently under beta, the software will have features unique in its own way, compared to other commercial offerings in the market.

 

The software is now open to public for testing and feedback. Since it is still at beta version and has not reached a stable stage, we encourage only interested individuals to try it. It is advisable to backup your data before testing or only test it in a non-priority machine. For production use, you may want to try TypingAid which takes phrases from a word list instead of learning, and see how auto-completion tool could help to improve typing speed and productivity, as well as to reduce the risk of RSI (Repetitive strain injury).

 

Program is under development!

Features of BlitzType:

Auto-complete words and phrases in any window. Automatically learn from typing. Hide or always show suggestion. Different ways to auto-complete, including 'text expand'. Add words and phrases to database with shortcut key. Portable.

Coming features:

Support European languages with accents. Read user-defined phrases from an external word list multiple suggestions in the tooltip. improve usability

DOWNLOAD BlitzType

 

If the program does not start,

you might need MS VC++ runtime.

 

Defragmentation is an old and well-known PC maintenance method that helps to prolong harddisk lifespan. It achieves so by moving data bits that spread across the disk closer together and making the used space more compact. As a result the harddisk spindle moves less above the disk when seeking the data you want, therefore head scratch is less frequent - HDD lifespan increases. In some cases, it also helps to consolidate some free space, because if the disk is fragmented and getting full, it is difficult to save a large file on it.

 

Recently we came across reports saying that defrag could improve system performance as well. For example, MyDefrag claims to be a disk defragmenter as well as optimizer (a maintenance utility to make your harddisk faster). If it is true, it is amazing because we have a new way to speed up our computers. We are skeptical because work applications rarely use file I/O compared to other operations like memory and page file access. It is easy to understand this because you save your work or load another file only once in a while. Memory read is incredibly fast, and page file access is not improved by defragmentation because page file is usually fixed in size or does not get fragmented so easily.

 

It's good to have one lightweight text editor that runs faster and consumes less memory than a word processor or an IDE because very often we just want to jot down something or make some changes real quick. What we need is something that can do more than the default windows notepad.There are a few choices of notepad replacement out there, we fancy Notepad2 for a number of reasons. Not surprisingly, Notepad2 as with other notepad replacements has its features desgined to ease programming tasks because it was created by a programmer. But many functions are useful for general text editing as well.

 

This 5-part series of reviews is a reply to a statement in

Debunking Common Windows Performance Tweaking Myths

which says "I’d go a step further: Don’t run registry cleaner programs, period. I won’t go so far as to call them snake oil, but what possible performance benefits can you get from “cleaning up” unneeded registry entries and eliminating a few stray DLL files?"

 

We choose to take the scientific approach, to prove or disprove something, what is better and more objective than testing the assumption in an experiment. Find out whether registry cleaner is useful or not in our 5-part reviews which are the results of our experiment.

TypingAid is a simple, compact and handy auto-completion utility for Windows. It is a free and open-source software licensed under GPL.

New release: TypingAid 2.0+

Important: please read "News and Update" to see the differences between 1.x and 2.x.

 

I'd like to share with you a program TypingAid, to demonstrate how auto-completion tool could help to improve typing speed and productivity, as well as to reduce the risk of RSI (Repetitive strain injury). With proper set up, TypingAid could also be used as a typing aid for language learners and computer users affected by conditions such as Dyslexia, learning / writing difficulty, hand disability, Repetitive strain injury, etc.

Features of TypingAid:

Auto-complete words and phrases in any window. Auto-learn words as you type. Support European languages with accents and Unicode characters. Show suggestion tooltips, no toolbar used. Add words and phrases to word list with shortcut key. Fast and memory-efficient. Portable, no installation needed.

TypingAid is made with AutoHotKey but does not require AutoHotKey to run.

DOWNLOAD

TypingAid 2.09

 

from Softpedia

If you have AutoHotKey installed, you may also try the newest development version (bleeding edge) at AHK Forum TypingAid v2.09 - Word AutoCompletion Utility.

 

 

 

If you are a professional you probably have a lot of different IMs to get in touch with your workers, providers, buyers etc… it is quite a pain to open all of them when you start the system and although you can set them all to open at startup they will slow down your computer and you will get a lot of icons in the system tray. It is also quite a mess to manage them all at the same time, you never know which person is talking to you on which one etc…

 

This is why there are programs like Pidgin which can use all of your IMs at the same time in a single program. Pidgin is open source for free and you won’t pay at all or see any ads to use it.

 

We made a tiny but nifty program originally intended for productive use, but then we discovered the other side of it. It can be used to simplify tasks as well as to escape from stagnant office policy :)

 

Requirements:

1. Windows XP, Vista, 7

2. No need installation.

3. Unzip to a folder and run.

 

For:

1. Productive use

2. "Unproductive use" :)

 

Use:

Instructions

DOWNLOAD Boss Key program

 

 

 

The above monitors are really impressive and nice looking, but fear not, you won’t need to spend a fortune or to buy that kind of devices to make a proper multi-screen system. If you got a GPU with two or more connectors you can use more than one screen at the same time and it will boost your speed when writing.

One day we open our computer and see a warning message from Windows saying that our hard disk space is running out. We do some cleanup by emptying the recycle bin, but the free space remaining in C drive is still low and we cannot defragment it as a result. Problem like this is likely to happen and recur. If you have no idea what is eating up the hard disk space and you haven't been keeping too much personal files or installed many programs, it will be a puzzling and annoying problem. This guide shows how to trouble-shoot such problem and is applicable to Windows XP and Vista.

As shown in a previous article Computer is getting slow at opening programs and startup, we reduced the boot time of a computer by disabling unnecessary programs that load during startup. The computer performance improved as a result of less virtual memory being used. This method is very useful for computer performance tuning.

 

The command that enables us to do so is 'msconfig'.

Start -> Run or type in the searchbox -> 'msconfig' -> Enter -> Go to 'Startup' tab

 

 

The "browser war" is getting more and more intense with no end in sight. Back in my time, browsers were just Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. Now newer and stronger players come into the existence, to name some of the big names: Opera, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Chrome and the most recent one: Lunascape, all of which are freewares. On one hand, this is a good news to consumers, as we get to choose our favourite browser from many varieties and flavours. On the other hand, which one should we choose?

 

As Windows 7 hits the retail shelves, we read more and more reviews that encourage us to spend our money and upgrade to the latest and greatest Windows from Microsoft. Surely, Windows 7 offers the finest functionality improvement, from user interface to management and control, over all previous Windows versions especially the misconceived Vista. We tested the RC and saw that the praises are true, among them, Windows 7 indeed boots faster, performs better and has a more convenient UAC.

 

Some comments in the reviews even go so far as to suggest that Windows 7 scales better than XP, and that multitasking in XP is slow and painful, whereas Windows 7 seems to multitask so much better with the new taskbar. So there is no point supporting a 10 years old OS and it's time to let go, is there? Although we may say Windows 7 is good partly because Vista is bad, we wouldn't think XP is bad just because Windows 7 is good.

We work in an online publishing and software engineering business and often find ourselves facing heavy workload, tight budget and deadlines. We learnt from experience that to survive any understaffed situations, multi-tasking is the only way to go. Now we are like others, considering upgrade or not to upgrade. We decided to publish our guide about how to multi-task with Window XP (The guide also applies to Windows Vista as well) and look for feedback that shows us we could be more productive and efficient on Windows 7.

 

Folder context menu, the menu that appears when you right-click on a folder can be customized to include some of the actions we regularly perform on a folder. This tweak can be done on Windows XP, Vista and 7. To perform this tweak, we need to modify Windows registry.

 

You can get a full list of keyboard shortcuts in

Microsoft Help and Support site AutoHotkey Community's Comprehensive list of Windows hotkeys KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS @ AXCEL216 / MDGx Tricks of Past Weeks WINKEY SHORTCUTS @ AXCEL216 / MDGx Tricks of Past Weeks KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS @ AXCEL216 / MDGx Tricks of Past Weeks WINKEY SHORTCUTS @ AXCEL216 / MDGx Tricks of Past Weeks

You may ask, "which hotkeys should I memorize and learn first?" "which are more commonly used?"

 

We have divided the shortcut keys into three categories:

Basic - Must know. Failure to use them would result in loss of plenty of precious time. You probably have learnt all in this category. Intermediate - Learn to make yourself more productive, to get things done fast. Advanced - Optional. Awkward key combinations or rarely used keys.

Practise them at work, see how they can help you.