If you’re one of the many who took the leap to try Windows 7 for free when it was in the RC stage, then you have found many things different between this OS and Vista. Many changes mean many new tweaking opportunities. Windows 7 Manager has come out on top for me, allowing me to tweak and customize Win7 in every way I could want.

If you’re an Asus laptop user like me, then you will find the customization of the OEM info necessary to install your Asus-specific software like DirectConsole and SmartLogon. There’s a screenshot where you enter that information below.

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Here’s the official description from YamicSoft’s site:

Why Should I use Windows 7 Manager?

Windows 7 is the newest Operating System for home users and professionals alike. Windows 7 brings clarity to your world, so you can more safely and easily accomplish everyday tasks and instantly find what you want on your PC.

Windows 7 Manager is the powerful software tool to tweak and optimize your Windows 7, it bundles more than 30 different utilities in one and help your system faster and more stable, secure and personal!
Features and Benefits of Windows 7 Manager

• Information
  Get detailed system and all hardware information on your system; show all detailed information of running processes and threads on your machine; Windows 7 Manager offers 1-clicking cleans your system automatically.




• Optimizer
  Tweak your system to improve windows startup and shutdown speed; tweak your hardware to increase system speed and performance; Optimize Task Schedule to turn off unnecessary system tasks.




• Cleaner
  Find out which files or folders engross your disk space and shown with chart; Find and clean junk files to increase Hard Disk space; Duplicate Files Finder can scan your computer for files with the same size, name and modification time; Registry Cleaner can easily checks your registry and repair incorrectly linked registry entries, automatically remove invalid entries; Registry Defrag rebuilds and re-indexs your registry to reduce application response time and registry access time.




• Customization
  Control what is started on Windows startup; tune up Windows 7 boot menu; edit context menus of mouse Right-Clicking; customize system desktop, menus, toolbar and notifications settings; automatically change your desktop wallpaper on background.




• Security
  You can improve desktop, menus, Windows logon securities, and enable numerous hidden performance options of system, disable system updates and error reports; hide and restrict to access drives, specify which applications are not allowed to be executed on your computer; encrypt/decrypt and shred files, change the location of system folders; Privacy Protector can maintain your personal privacy by eliminating the tracks that you leave behind; create lots of randomization password once.




• Network
  Optimize your Internet connection speed, manage all shares items; tweak your Internet Explorer easily.




• Misc. Utilities
  Show the collection of Windows utilities; help you find out the installation key of Windows, Office products; shutdown your PC or remind you automatically.

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Screenshots

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Downloads

*Since Windows 7 is officially still in the pre-release stage, Windows 7 Manager is also in it’s Beta stage. This means you can download it for free until Win7 becomes officially released to the public. After Win7 is released, expect to pay for this program.

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Tags: asus g50v and windows 7, Windows 7

I was recently reinstalling Windows to my laptop, which happens a lot with the amount of software I test. I probably reinstall every 4 to 6 months, depending on how mucked up my system gets from using cracks and key generators. Since I do this so often, I imagined a better way of updating Windows after a fresh install than to lock up my internet for many hours while Windows Update does it’s thing. Not to mention, I also have to endure the multiple reboots between major releases.

Then yesterday I took to Google and found a piece of software that will download all of the recent updates to a folder, which can then be installed offline without any waiting for the download process, especially if the connection is slow. For PC techs like me, this is great. In so many instances, I wish I had a way to update Windows by simply running a program that will install everything all at once.

Then I found c’t Offline Update. It’s a simple command prompt-driven batch process that allows you to choose the operating systems (2000, XP 32- & 64-bit, 2003, Vista 32- & 64-bit), the languages (24 of them with 32-bit), and then will also compile an ISO file from all of the updates so you can burn them to a CD/DVD. Not only does it allow you to grab updates for Windows OSes, but also for Office 2000, XP, 2003, and 2007 and the 24 languages for those as well.

I would offer the download here on PCLove, but being that this software is important to keep up to date, you’ll just have to grab it from the source this time.

Again, here’s the link.

Here’s a couple of screenshots.

This is the program window where you choose which OS or Office suite and the language.



This is the command prompt window where the updates are downloading.

Tags: reinstall windows, update windows offline

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I wanted to feature this piece of software on this site, because it’s one of the best, most useful set of tools that I’ve ever seen as a PC Tech. When they called it PowerSuite, they really meant it. Aside from the many tasks it performs, the fact that you can install it AND boot from it when burned to a disc makes it stand out from the rest of the so-called “power utilities”.

The thing that attracted my attention to test the software was the ability to reset your Windows password if you boot from the CD. This is extremely handy as well as risky. All you have to do is boot the CD, then change the password or blank it out so there is none. I definitely wouldn’t want everyone to know about this since I use Windows, but for you snoopy people and hackers, Spotmau makes it simple. Of course I don’t condone the infiltration of someone else’s Windows account, but who am I to tell you what to do? Exactly.

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Official Description:

Spotmau PowerSuite 2009 is a powerful toolkit providing all essential utilities for home PC owners. It can solve most PC problems for a home user. Spotmau PowerSuite 2009 includes many useful tools for your PC:

• Windows Recovery provides a complete solution to recover your corrupt Windows such as partition table recovery, lost/missing files recovery and so on.
• Windows Doctor (Windows Speedup, Smart Uninstall, IE Manager, Startup Manager) provides Step by Step Guide to speedup your PC. Remove your unwanted applications; restore default settings of your Internet Explorer; enable you to choose which programs to run automatically at Windows startup; change your desktop icon and right click menu.
• Password & Key Finder finds your lost passwords for Email, MSN, IE and asterisks; finds your Windows, Office and IE product or CD keys.
• Windows Admin/User Password Recovery can easily reset Windows Vista/2003/XP/2000/NT administrator/user password to blank or change the password.
• BIOS/CMOS Password Recovery helps you instantly find or clear your computer’s BIOS/CMOS Password.
• Clean up History clears up all your activity records on your computer to protect your privacy.
• Data Transfer can be used to backup your personal data before Windows reinstallation. It can transfer files to the removable media/devices, or to a second, undamaged internal hard disk when your Windows has crashed or the hard disk has been damaged.
• File Shredder deletes files and folders permanently from your hard disk.
• Disk Clone & Backup package provides all kinds of clone options under Windows: Disk to Disk, Disk to Image, Disk from Image, Partition to Partition, Partition to Image, Partition from Image. You can easily backup disks/partitions or transfer all data from one disk to another, or even burn to CD/DVD, with several mouse clicks. This utility is for cloning Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003 and Vista. It supports IDE, SATA, SCSI, and USB interfaces.
• Desktop Secretary easily manages your daily duties and business schedules.

Emergency Rescue: Lifesaver when Windows Crashes or Hard Drive Fails!

• Boot up ANY computer
• Rescue crashed Windows and data
• Recover deleted, formatted, or crashed data
• Repair Windows errors and missing file problems

Hard Disk Maintenance: Technician’s Dream Toolset & Easy for a PC beginner!

• Clone and backup system and data
• Partition and format hard drive
• Recover deleted, formatted, or crashed data

PC Tune-up: Return you a smooth computer as “fresh” as the first time!

• Optimize and boost Windows performance
• Repair registry problems and Windows errors
• Eliminate Windows freeze and hang
• Remove stubborn and ghost programs
• Clean up obsolete debris and trace files
• Speedup Windows startup time
• Optimize internet speed

Privacy Protection: 360° privacy protection gives you peace of mind!

• Unbreakable “Personal Safe” to store confidential data
• Clean up activity tracks on computer
• Hide and encrypt sensitive data over transmission
• Shred secret data permanently
• Find lost passwords and product keys

Installation Directions:

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*Important!
The provided serial number may have been blacklisted due to bootlegging. This gives you 2 options:
A: If you install to Windows, use a software firewall and deny Spotmau access to the internet and once installed, turn off the updates.
B: Only use the CD to boot from. It won’t even ask for the serial.

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1. Extract the contents from the ZIP file. This will leave you with the ISO image and the Readme file.
2. Peruse the Readme text file you just extracted. It contains basic info as well as the serial number if you choose to install the program.
3. Burn the ISO file with a decent burning program like Nero, Easy CD Creator, etc. or an ISO file manager like UltraISO or PowerISO.
4. Now you can either install it into Windows or boot from the CD or both. Some of the utilities can only be used when booted from the CD (like resetting the Windows password).
5. If installing to Windows, use the serial located in the Readme file when prompted.

Tags: recover windows password, repair windows, spotmau

AeroSnap Brings the Windows 7 Snap Feature to Vista and XP.

This free application, AeroSnap, brings the new Windows 7 drag-and-snap-to-size feature to your pre-Windows 7 machine. With AeroSnap installed and running, pulling a window to the right edge of your screen resizes it to half of the screen on the right side. Pulling it to the left resizes the window to your left half. Finally, pulling a window to the top of your monitor will maximize it.

Simply drag a window to a side of your desktop to snap it or drag it to the top to maximize.

When you drag it back to the last position, the last window size will be restored. Really easy, isn’t it? It also works with multiple monitors!

This feature is very useful for those who find themselves dragging windows around constantly to copy or move files between folders.

Requirements:
To run AeroSnap on your computer, you need Windows XP or Windows Vista. You need also .Net Framework 2.0 or higher. This cool little app works with Vista x64 too!

Get it here: AeroSnap 0.5.2.1 – 546k

Tags: aerosnap, vista tweaks, windows 7 snap feature