Auslogics Blog

Sometimes the Recycle Bin in Windows 7 gets corrupted and becomes pretty much unusable – it just won’t let you empty it. Fortunately, there is a quick and easy fix, which will let you reset the Recycle bin.

First of all you’ll need to make hidden and protected files and folders visible. Here’s how:

1. Click Start and go to Computer
2. Then press Alt on your keyboard to open the Menu
3. Go to Tools - Folder Options - the View tab
4. There you’ll need to find Hidden files and folders and select Show hidden files and folders
5. You will also need to uncheck Hide protected operating system files
6. Click OK to save your settings

Now you are ready to reset the Recycle Bin.

1. Go to Computer and then go to the drive where Windows is installed (usually it’s C:/)
2. Locate $Recycle.Bin and delete it
3. Confirm and click Continue if UAC prompts you so
4. Now you should get a dialog box. There you’ll need to check Do this for all current items checkbox and then click Yes
5. Reboot your PC for the changes to take effect.

The Recycle Bin should be working normally now.

Pretty much everyone knows how bad it feels if you mess up your computer. But it’s even worse if your PC gets damaged by someone else, like a family member or a friend. They can be careless enough to load it with infected software and mess around with system settings and it was next to impossible for you to prevent it.  Trust me, I know how that feels!

That’s why I was very happy to learn about a fantastic Windows 7 feature that will help you protect your PC -  Guest Mode (not to be confused with Guest Account).

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Here are some more  tips to optimize Windows 7. They will save you a lot of time and make using Windows 7 even more enjoyable.

Hidden Send To Menu

Personally I love right-clicking because it’s such a great way to get more options quickly. For example, the Send To option when you click on a folder in Windows Explorer can save you a lot of time.

By default the Windows 7 Send To menu contains only a few locations and doesn’t give you that much choice:

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Windows 7 looks and feels a lot better than any previous Windows versions (though I still like XP a lot). Nevertheless, it still can be tweaked and made a lot faster. Like in any previous Windows versions, you can disable visual effects for maximum performance.

1. Go to System Properties (press Windows + Pause/Break keys)
2. Select Advanced
3. Then press the Settings button in the Performance section
4. A new window will open
5. Select the Adjust for best performance radio button

If you don’t like the minimalistic look, choose the Custom radio button, disable the effects you don’t need, and leave the effects you like.

Another thing you can do is customize folder and search options:

1. Open Windows Explorer
2. Go to Organize - Folder and Search Options
3. Disable the following:

• Hide extensions for known file types
• Show pop-up description for folder and desktop items
• Display file size information in folder tips
• Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in colour

Another good thing to do would be running Auslogics Service Manager, which is part of BoostSpeed, and check out which services can be safely disabled. Running some services can take up a lot of hard drive space and it’s a shame, especially if you never use those services.

For more Windows 7 tips and tricks read my other post here.

Windows 7 Beta was made available for download a while ago and I’m sure a lot of you installed it. I guess some of you started looking for ways to tweak and optimize it.

First of all run Auslogics BoostSped 4.3 to get the most out of your new OS, as BoostSpeed now offers full Windows 7 Beta support. And after that you can fine-tune it manually.

Back Up Your MP3 Files

Windows Media Player 12 has a feature that auto fills-in missing metadata on your music files, large albums included. It’s all good in theory, but the thing is that there is a nasty bug that can damage your music  – it can permanently cut off a few seconds at the beginning of the track. To fix it, read this Microsoft article and install the fix. But I would advise you to back up your music files in any case, just to keep them away from harm.

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Sydney, Australia – January 31, 2009 – Auslogics Software announces that its computer optimization product Auslogics BoostSpeed now fully supports and optimizes the new operating system Microsoft Windows 7 (Beta).

While Windows 7 is faster than Vista, it still requires an ongoing maintenance, such as disk and registry clean-ups and defragmentation, to keep running fast and stable. Without frequent disk and registry clean-ups junk files start taking up disk space and registry errors compromise system stability. Auslogics BoostSpeed removes junk files and fixes registry errors, as well as defragments both hard disk drives and the system registry, placing the file fragments together for faster disk access.

Apart from fully supporting Windows 7, BoostSpeed 4.3 now supports the new Google Chrome browser, Internet Explorer 8 (Beta), FireFox 3, Opera, and Safari for Windows. Unlike other similar software, BoostSpeed checks hardware and Internet Connection specifications first and then applies changes tailored to the particular computer configuration.

The new version also introduces Service Manager. It’s a new tool from Auslogics that makes managing Windows services safe and easy even for novice users. This new utility contains services descriptions and rating, and most importantly, detailed recommendations written in plain English. Now there will be no need to spend hours researching what each service does.

Another welcome change is that Auslogics’ Disk Defrag, believed to be the fastest defragmenter on the market, can now be run from console with command line parameters, can defragment single file or folder, and can be scheduled to run unattended.