Auslogics Blog

There are a lot of things you can do with an ordinary USB drive – from carrying a range of portable apps or even an operating system, to encrypting your files and a lot more. In this article I’m going to share with you top 5 USB tricks.

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Many think that Windows 7 will be an upgraded version of Vista. After all, it does look a lot like Vista. But clearly Microsoft wants it to be a trusted XP upgrade as well. That’s why Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate will include a feature called “Windows XP Mode”.

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It’s not a secret that hard disks are the slowest part of a computer. That’s  because they have moving parts, unlike RAM and CPU.  Fragmentation can significantly slow down a hard drive, since it forces the reading head to move more. As a result your computer becomes slower and you even might start experiencing freeze-ups and system crashes. That’s why it’s very important to keep the disks defragmented.

Auslogics Disk Defrag is a free tool to fight disk fragmentation. It doesn’t need to analyze the disk first, which makes it one of the fastest disk defragmenting tools available today. The program has a clear interface and is very easy to use.

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User Account Control is one of the most hated features in Windows Vista because of its constant annoying messages.  In Windows 7 UAC is a lot better and you can still tweak it to your liking. Here are a couple of tips.

Modify UAC Settings

You can make Windows 7 UAC less intrusive, or more vigilant, or turn it off completely. To change the default settings:

1. Go to the Control Panel – User Accounts and Family Settings
2. Click User Accounts and then Change User Account Control settings
3. A new window will open
4. 
5. Now use the slider to set the protection level that suits you
6. Click OK.
7. You may need to restart. Depends on what you selected.

Use Gadgets Without UAC

If you turn UAC off, you won’t be able to run gadgets that run on your desktop. Windows regards them as a security threat, you see. However, that threat is only potential and most likely nothing bad will happen. If you are comfortable with that, here’s how to use gadgets with UAC turned off:

1. Create a Restore point or backup the Registry, because you’ll need to edit the Registry
2. Type regedit in the Search bar and press Enter to launch Registry Editor
3. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Sidebar\Settings
4. Create a new DWORD value called AllowElevatedProcess. To do that select Edit - New DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it AllowElevatedProcess
5. Set its value to 1
6. Close Registry Editor. Right-click the desktop and select Gadgets. Now you will be able to add and use gadgets as you would normally.

Have you ever wondered which program runs which processes? I know that I have. Go on, press Ctrl+Alt+Del to open Windows Task Manager and go to the Processes tab. Do you know exactly what each process does? If your answer is “Yes”, then you are a computer genius. If “No”, I have good news for you – now there is a place where you can inspect Windows processes and learn the truth about them -  Fileinspect.com.

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Recording Skype calls can be very useful, especially if you create podcasts, interview people over Skype, or just want to keep your own calls for later reference.

There are a lot of tools to record your Skype calls, like Pamela MP3 Call Recorder (open Skype and go to Tools - Extras - Record Skype Calls), Skylook, CallBurner, and many more. They all work. But they are NOT FREE.

Fortunately, there are a couple of FREE tools that are very easy to use:

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Photo by Oskay

If you ask me what is the worst thing that can happen to you and your computer, my answer is losing all your data. Just imagine all your banking, taxes, personal files, music, photos – everything being lost in just one disastrous moment. Sounds scary! The answer is pretty simple – backup your files regularly.

In this post I’m going to share with you 5 ways to backup your data. Choose the ones that you like best.

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Here are four different ways to relax. Which one do you prefer? Personally, I hate doing nothing

Image by Nitrozac & Snaggy from The Joy of Tech