Best Windows Apps 2010

Antivirus	Avira Antivir
Antispyware	Spyware Blaster
Audio Player Audio Editor	Foobar2000 Audacity Beta
Video Player	VLC
Web Browser	Firefox 3.6
Email Client	Thunderbird 3 with Gmail
Webmail	Gmail
Office Suite	Open Office > MS Office 2010
Blog Editor	Windows Live Writer
Torrent Client	uTorrent
Virtualization App	Sun VirtualBox
Defragger	Auslogics Disk Defrag
System Optimizer and Cleaner	CCleaner
System Utility	Tune Up Utilities 2010
FTP Client	Filezilla
FTP Server	Filezilla Server
Gnutella [Limewire Alternative]	Cabos
Compression Utility [Zip Rar 7z]	7Zip

 

There is plenty more that I haven’t listed here but I’ll be sure to update this list as time goes on.

Avira Antivir Nag Screen Disable

My by far favorite free antivirus is Avira Antivir. There is only two things about it that I hate.

1. It nags you every time it updates the database to buy the full version. Bad Antivirus, Bad
2. The splash screen at the beginning. This one is just a visual nuisance.

Now here is how you accomplish this.

Update Nag Disable  
   1. Start-> Control Panel
   2. Administrative tools-> Local security policy
   3. Click on Software Restriction Policy-> Action (at the top)-> create new restriction policies
   4. Right-click additional rules (on the right side)-> new path rule
   5. Click Browse and navigate to C:\Program Files\(Avira)\AntiVir Personal Edition Classic\ and double-click avnotify.exe
   6. Set the security level to Disallowed-> apply-> ok

Splash Screen Disable
   1. Open regedit and navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
   2. In the right pane double-click avgnt and add /nosplash at the end of the path (ex. /min /nosplash)

And that's about it! If there is any confusion be sure to ask about your confusion, per se’

Firefox 3.6 Windows 7 Integration

If you happen to be using the latest Firefox [If not then download it now!!] and your using Windows 7 [If not start using it now… and Here's How ] then you’ll be please to find out that taskbar previews are now enabled. Well at least manually that is. Taskbar previews will enable a thumbnail preview at the taskbar for each tab open in Firefox. To enable them fire up Firefox and in the address bar type about:config. Then type browser.taskbar.previews.enable into the filter. Then double click it to make it True. That’s all folks!

Windows 7 Customization Tutorial

Windows 7 is gorgeous. But my fiancé is also. And yet for some odd reason I like looking at her more when she has been in the bathroom for 45 minutes and has 7 layers of makeup on. So how bout let’s add a few layers to Win7 also?

Files Needed

• Tune Up Utilities 2010, Is a system utility but it’s main purpose here is to allow third party themes. Download 
• Gnome-Colors-Patcher-Se7en by heebijeebi. Patches system icons to look like Gnome Colors. Download
• Win7 Blend VS by zainadeel. So simple yet so perfect. Pretty much removes all the bad stuff from the default theme and adds some elegance. You can find more at Deviantart.com Download

Now after you’ve gone and collected all the files install the Tune Up Utilities Trial [It’s fully useable for 30 days then after that it will just be used for allowing patched styles, unless you buy it of course ;)] After it is installed go to the start menu and type styler and hit enter. When it opens up click on Visual Style on the left hand side. Click ADD at the top and browse to the Blend VS file you downloaded earlier. Now select it from the list and click apply at the bottom right. Notice the difference?

Now to icon patching. This one will actually hack system files so be sure to make restore point [I’ve never had an issue personally though] Right click on the Extracted setup file and click Run As Administrator. If you get a UAC prompt then allow it. Choose the color scheme you would like and just keep clicking next until the app asks to reboot your computer. Allow it to. Upon reboot you will notice everything looks way better. Almost every system icon has been changed to look gnomeified. There is a lot more that you can do to customize the computer that I will post later and don’t forget to test the other useful apps that are included with Tune Up Utilities 2010

As usual you can leave comment, questions or suggestions.

Roll FB2K in Win7

So you have Windows 7. Now to play all your music you could either use Windows Media Player, iTunes or maybe you were already planning on using Foobar2000. Well even if you were this is something you don’t want to miss out on. I’m going to link a few components and show you how to customize this program like it was meant to be!

Here’s my pack that is packed with 7Zip and is completely portable.

<< Download >>  Foobar2000 1.0 with Components

Just extract that to a folder that won’t get moved and create a shortcut by right clicking foobar2000.exe and clicking create shortcut. Then drag the shortcut to the desktop or the superbar or that start menu and use that to run the program.

Now to configure the music library. Click File/Preferences in Foobar. Click Media Library on the left and then remove the two folders that I had monitored [Unless by some freaky coincidence those happen to be where your music is stored] and add the folders that hold your music. Then that’s it. Now Foobar will have taskbar progress, a nice layout, tango buttons, and hover over the superbar icon of Foobar and see the album art, previous, play/pause, stop and next buttons.

Got a customization tip? Let me hear then!

Windows 7 Upgrades for the masses.

Want Windows 7? Got XP or Vista? Want to try it free first? I’ve got you covered. This right here is a dual boot trick. Meaning you’ll have both OS’s. This is all done from inside windows so you won’t need to burn the ISO and then boot to it. This is so simple a caveman could do it. Literally. Here’s some step by step instructions on how to get the job done and keep your old system for security and compatibility.

First off you will need these apps and files on your current system.

VirtualCloneDrive Install This

EASEUS Partition Master Home Edition Install This

Windows 7 ISO X86 Torrent Download This with uTorrent. If you don’t have uTorrent then Google it and install it. You can also download an X64 version if you want to. X86 is what I run though so that’s why I chose this. And don’t worry about legality. This guide is setup as a trial. No hacking is done here.

Once you have everything then open EASEUS Partition Manager Home Edition. Choose the Disk with the most free space and click Resize/Move at the top. Move the slider at the right as far left as you can while leaving a little gray in the purple box. Click ok. Now you will see gray at the top with the words unallocated in it. Right Click it and choose Create. Then Label the partition Windows 7. Give it a drive letter of anything other than A or B. Then click OK and then Click APPLY at the top. When prompted to reboot save all your work and then click YES. Windows will reboot and then EASEUS Boot mode will resize the partition.

Once your logged back in double click on the Windows 7 ISO you downloaded with uTorrent. It should auto run but if not go to my computer and right click the disc and select open. Then start Setup.exe. Click Install now. When asked to get updates select the top option so that you won’t have to do as many updates after the install. Accept the License Agreement and then Select Custom. Choose the partition you labeled Windows 7 and then click next. The install will start and reboot the computer a few times. Upon reboot it will ask you a series of questions about setting up your computer. They are pretty self explanatory. Windows will log you in.

Congrats! Welcome to Windows 7! If you’d like to boot back into the old operating system hit the arrow key on your keyboard when you see the windows boot options screen [before the loading screen] and select your old OS. Suggestions to simplify the process? Got an issue? Leave it in the comments!