Free Applications...

7-Zip
7-Zip is a free file archive manager that supports many different formats, including ZIP and RAR.

AbiWord
AbiWord is a free word processing program similar to Microsoft Word.

Ad-Aware Free Anti-Malware
With behavior-based threat detection and integrated real-time monitoring, Ad-Aware focuses on core consumer security needs.

Adobe Reader
Adobe Reader lets you read and print from any system any document created as an Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) file, with its original appearance preserved.

AIMP
AIMP is a full-featured music player designed with sound quality and wide, customizable functionality in mind.

AnyDVD
AnyDVD works in the background to automatically remove the copy protection of a DVD movie as soon as it's inserted into the drive, allowing you then to backup the movie using a DVD backup tool such as CloneDVD and CloneDVD mobile.

AoA DVD Ripper SE
AoA DVD RIPPER provides a fast and easy way to convert your DVD movies or just the parts of the movie that you want.

Apple iTunes
Apple iTunes is a free application for Mac and PC.

Audacity
Audacity is a free sound editing and recording application.

Auslogics
Join your hard drive fragments together into a tight bunch with this freeware.

Avast Antivirus Home
Avast Free Antivirus is based on multiple protective layers that work together to provide security.

AVG Anti-Virus
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is an anti-virus application that rivals commercial version such as Norton.

Avira AntiVir Personal
Avira AntiVir Personal Free Antivirus is a comprehensive, easy to use antivirus program, designed to offer reliable free of charge virus protection to home-users only.

Belarc
Belarc Advisor builds a detailed profile of your installed software and hardware, including Microsoft Hotfixes and software serial numbers, and shows the results in your Web browser.

BitComet
BitComet is a fast and easy-to-use BitTorrent/HTTP/FTP download client.

Blender
Blender is a 3D modeling and animation program.

Camfrog Video Chat
Camfrog Video Chat allows you to join real streaming video chat rooms where you can hear, see, and chat with many people at a time.

CamStudio
Screen recording software that can save videos to AVI or flash SWF.

CCleaner
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool.

CDBurnerXP
CDBurnerXP is an application to burn optical disks including cd, DVD, H-DVD, Blu-Ray Disaks.

CPU-Z
CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system.

CutePDF Writer
Portable Document Format (PDF) is the de facto standard for the secure and reliable distribution and exchange of electronic documents and forms around the world.

DAEMON Tools Lite
Most popular product that offers easy tools for making simple disc image files and emulating virtual CD/DVD drives.

Defraggler
Defraggler is a file defragmentation tool.

Deluge
A lightweight cross-platform BitTorrent application that has plugin support.

Dia
Dia is a diagram and graph drawing application, originally based on Microsoft Visio, that makes it easy to draw flow charts, graphs and other diagrams.

Digsby
A three-in-one application that includes an Instant Messenger client, email notifications, and social network integration with sites like twitter and facebook.

Dropbox
Dropbox works just like any other folder on your computer, but with a few differences.

Easy MPEG
Fast and easy-to-use MPEG/VCD/SVCD/DVD video editor.

eMule
eMule is one of the biggest and most reliable peer-to-peer file sharing clients around the world.

Evernote
Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.

FeedReader
Feedreader is a free lightweight aggregator that supports RSS and ATOM formats, podcast support included.

FileZilla
FileZilla is a cross-platform FTP client that supports secure file transfer.

Firefox
Firefox is an excellent free browser that provides a much more secure and friendly browsing experience that Microsoft Internet Explorer.

FLV player
FLV Player is a tool to play Flash FLV and H.

Foxit Reader
Foxit Reader is a lightweight alternative to Adobe's Acrobat PDF reader.

Free Rip MP3
FreeRIP is an easy-to-use Windows application that can convert audio from CD to MP3, OGG, FLAC, WAV and WMA.

FrostWire
FrostWire is a fork of the very popular LimeWire PRO Gnutella/Bittorrent client.

GIMP
GIMP (The GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free image editor similar to Photoshop. It can be used for things like photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.

Glary Utilities
One Click A Day For PC Maintenance, Keeps Any PC Problems Away.

GOM Player
GOM Player is a free multimedia player with popular video and audio codecs built-in.

Google Chrome
Chrome is a brand new browser from Google that makes the web faster, safer and easier.

Google Earth
Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps, terrain and buildings onto a 3D globe that you can move around.

Google Pack
A one-stop software package that helps you discover, install, and maintain a wide range of essential PC programs.

Google Talk
Google Talk offers you a choice to get in touch over email, IM, or a call; a quality talk through your computer but hear your friends as if they were in the same room; and convenience of your Gmail contacts which are pre-loaded into Google Talk so inviting or talking to your friends is just a click away.

Handbrake
Handbrake is a DVD ripping application, allowing you to convert a DVD to a video file.

Hulu Desktop
Hulu Desktop is a lean-back viewing experience for your personal computer.

ImgBurn
ImgBurn is a lightweight CD/DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray burning application.

Inkscape
Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator or Corel Draw.

IrfanView
IrfanView is a fast and compact image viewer/converter.

K-Lite_Codec
Full supports even more audio and video formats.

KeePass Password Safe
KeePass is a free, open source, light-weight and easy-to-use password manager for Windows and mobile devices.

Launchy
Launchy is designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager.

LimeWire
LimeWire is a P2P file-sharing application for all types of computer files, including music, video, pictures, games, and text documents.

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware is a high performance anti-malware application that thoroughly removes even the most advanced malware and spyware.

MediaMonkey
MediaMonkey is the music manager for serious music collectors and iPod users.

Mendeley
Mendeley helps you to manage a collection of research papers, and supports automatic extraction of metadata from PDFs.

Microsoft Security Essentials
With Microsoft Security Essentials Beta, you get high-quality protection against viruses and spyware, including Trojans, worms and other malicious software.

Miranda IM
Miranda IM is an open-source multi protocol instant messenger client for Microsoft Windows.

Miro
A video player with access to over 1000 Internet TV channels.

Notepad++
A powerful and fully features text editor that has built in syntax highlighting support for around 50 different programming languages.

NoteZilla
NoteZilla makes a strong case for itself as the virtual sticky notes program most worthy of your attention.

NVu
A complete Web Authoring System that rivals programs such as FrontPage and Dreamweaver.

ObjectDock
ObjectDock acts both as a task manager and a program launcher.

OpenOffice
OpenOffice is a free and full featured alternative to Microsoft's office suite.

OpenProj
OpenProj is a free, open-source project management solution.

Opera
An award winning free Web browser that is a very fast and feature packed.

Paint.NET
A fully featured but easy to use image editing application.

PDFCreator
PDFCreator has a very basic interface that won't win it any beauty contests.

PeaZip
PeaZip is a free, open source file and archive manager for 32 and 64 bit Windows and Linux.

Picasa
Picasa is a free application from Google that lets you organise and share your digital photos.

Pidgin
Pidgin, formerly known as Gaim, is a multi-protocol instant messenger client, working with Yahoo IM, AIM, Google talk, MSN and others.

PrimoPDF
Create PDF using PrimoPDF - a free tool for high-quality conversion to PDF, comprising a user-friendly interface that enables printing to PDF from virtually any Windows application.

Real Player
RealPlayer for personal use includes audio CD burning capabilities, DVR-style playback buffering, multimedia search, Internet radio, a jukebox-style file library, an embedded web browser (using Microsoft Internet Explorer), and the ability to transfer media to a number of portable devices, including Apple's iPod, MP3 players, and Windows Media devices.

RealVNC
VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing.

Recuva
Recuva (pronounced recover) is a freeware Windows utility to restore files that have been accidentally deleted from your computer.

Revo Uninstaller
Revo Uninstaller is a freeware innovative uninstall utility much faster than Windows Add/Remove applet.

Safari
With a simple, elegant interface, the Safari browser gets out of your way and lets you enjoy the Web.

Sandra Lite
SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility.

SciTE
A feature packed text editor with many advances features for programmers.

Scribus
Scribus is a Desktop Publishing (DTP) application which can be used to create professional quality documents.

Skype
Skype allows you to make phone calls from your computer - to other skype users for free, and very cheaply to phones and mobiles.

Smart Defrag
Smart Defrag helps defragment your hard drive most efficiently.

Songbird
Songbird (XP/Vista Only) is a media browser and Web player built from Firefox, VLC Player, and SQLite.

Speccy
Speccy will give you detailed statistics on every piece of hardware in your computer.

Spotify
An online media player that offers you legal and free access to a huge library of music.

Spybot - Search & Destroy
Spybot - Search & Destroy can detect and remove a multitude of adware files and modules from your computer.

Steam
Steam is a gaming platform with everything a gamer would want.

Stellarium
Stellarium is a free open-source planetarium for your computer.

SumatraPDF
Sumatra PDF is a slim, free, open-source PDF viewer for Windows.

SuperAntiSpyware
SuperAntiSpyware, a next generation product, with its Multi-Dimensional Scanning and Process Interrogation Technology will detect spyware and remove over 1,000,000 pests such as Vundo, ZLob, SmitFraud, WinFixer, VirusRay, and VirusHeat.

Synergy
Synergy lets you easily share a single mouse and keyboard between multiple computers with different operating systems.

TeraCopy
TeraCopy is a free utility designed to copy/move files faster and more secure.

Thunderbird
Simple and lightweight email and news application.

TimeLeft
TimeLeft is a clock (also Windows tray clock replacement), countdown, Web countdown, work days and work hours countdown, reminder (including Moon phase reminder), alarm clock, stopwatch, timer, desktop sticker, eBay auction watch, and time synchronization utility.

UltraVNC
UltraVNC is a powerful, easy to use and free software that can display the screen of another computer (via internet or network) on your own screen.

VLC media player
VLC is a media player that supports many different audio and video file formats.

Vuze
Formerly the feature-rich Azureus, Vuze takes Azureus' BitTorrent foundation and builds on top of it a network for video discovery and user-created video publishing tied together by social networking.

Winamp
Winamp is more than just a player.

WinDirStat
WinDirStat is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for Microsoft Windows (all current variants).

Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger includes support for the im Initiative! Every time you start a conversation using im, Microsoft shares a portion of the program's advertising revenue with some of the world's most effective organizations dedicated to social causes.

WinRAR
WinRAR is a 32-bit / 64-bit Windows version of RAR Archiver, the powerful archiver and archive manager.

WinSCP
A simple FTP and SFTP client for Windows.

Wireshark
Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer with many advanced features.

XnView
XnView is a fast multi-format graphics browser, viewer, and converter.

Yahoo! Messenger
Yahoo Messenger is a free service that allows you to see when friends come online and to send them instant messages.

ZoneAlarm
ZoneAlarm is designed to protect your DSL- or cable-connected PC from hackers.

µTorrent
µTorrent is the most popular BitTorrent P2P application for windows.

GettingsSoftware KEYS with Belarc Advisor current Profile

"Windows XP Professional" "Belarc Advisor Current Profile" Key:

Windows 7 GOD MODE

How to Use God Mode in Windows 7
Windows 7 is now becoming popular among windows operating system  users.Windows 7 has cool hidden feature ,people calls it godmode in windows 7.GodMode is a folder that brings together a long list of customization settings allowing you to change all your settings from one place.This is very good as you can now change all your windows settings from one single place.

God Mode in Windows 7

Foll the following steps to create god mode folder:
1. Create a new folder
2. Rename the folder to GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
You can change word GodMode to any other word you like your name or your friends name

3.The folder icon will change ,then  double click it to show the GodMode windows options.

Finding Serial Keys in Internet through 94FBR

This is very useful in searching product or serial key of any software
goto google type like this–>
94fbr kaspersky
94fbr nero
94fbr winrar
94fbr avast
94fbr adobe photoshop
etc
94fbr followed by software name or software name followed by 94fbr,then click search you will get the serial and cracks.

94FBR was part of a Microsoft Office 2000 product key that was released on the internet that bypassed Microsofts activation system.Because it is a relatively uncommon term, when you add it to your search queries, it will generally return results of pages listing illegal serial numbers.
enjoy it….

Windows Product Activation (WPA) for Windows XP

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1151566,00.asp

WPA.DBL--The Keeper of the Keys

The WPA.DBL file resides in the Windows\system32 directory and holds the hardware configuration information and activation state of the current Windows XP installation. The WPA.DBL file is actually an RC4-encrypted database of the expiration info of your installation, the confirmation of activation, the hardware configuration at activation time, and the current hardware configuration. When you first install Windows XP, this file is approximately 2K in size--not much more than a stub file. When you activate Windows, this file grows to approximately 12K-13K, recording the hardware status of your machine. At each boot, Windows analyzes your current hardware and compares it to the stored configuration information to see if it has changed. When you make hardware changes, Windows makes a note of the changes in the WPA file, but keeps the original configuration for reference. If you make too many changes, Windows XP will reset the WPA.DBL file back to its original non-activated (2K file size) state, and you have to reactivate.
As mentioned above, the WPA.DBL file can be backed up to permit activation if you reload Windows XP. You can also experiment with different hardware configurations, as we did in preparation for this article. You would back up WPA.DBL for each configuration change, so you can roll back whenever desired, similar to what developers may do frequently, as mentioned above. If you save a copy of the WPA.DBL file at each change of hardware, you can roll back to almost any state.
One caveat, from our testing--we found that the WPA.DBL was not protected similar to other system files. If you delete the file, you need to reactivate. The WPA.DBL is also not included in Windows XP's system restore mechanism.

XP : Reinstall XP Without Microsoft's Product Activation

After reinstalling XP, often you will be asked to reactivate your software. The tip keeps the user from having to reactivate.

After you have activated your XP software for the first time, you never need to do so again. Each time you reinstall XP, keep a copy of your wpa.dbl file. This file can be found in your \windows\system32 folder.
After reinstallation replace the wpa.dbl back into the windows\system32 directory and forget about reactivation.

Install Recovery Console from the Windows XP cd

Using the Recovery Console requires the Windows XP CD. After installation the Recovery Console runs from a local drive and the CD is not needed.

Note: The Recovery console is installed into Boot.ini. When the PC is booted the choice to start recovery console is displayed.

1. Insert the Windows XP CD.
2. Click Start.
3. Click Run.
4. Type CMD.
5. Type D:(Replace D with the drive letter containing the Windows XP CD).
6. cd\i386
7. winnt32 /cmdcons
8. Follow the on screen instructions.

 

XP : See the state of ACTIVATION

Quick method to see if a system has been activated or not.

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type the following in the textbox and then hit OK:

%SYSTEMROOT%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /A

 

NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM Not Found

If you get an error that NTLDR is not found during bootup,
If you have FAT32 partitions, it is much simpler than with NTFS.
Just boot with a Win98 floppy and copy the NTLDR or NTDETECT.COM files
from the i386 directory to the root of the C:\ drive.
For NTFS:

1. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
2. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
3. Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
   Typically this will be #1
4. Enter in the administrator password when requested
5. Enter in the following commands (X: is replaced by the actual drive letter that is assigned to the CD ROM drive.
   COPY X:\i386\NTLDR C\:
   COPY X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C:\
6. Take out the CD ROM and type exit

Corrupted or Missing \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG

If you get the error:
Windows could not start because the following files is missing or corrupt
\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM or \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SOFTWARE

1. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
2. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
3. Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
   Typically this will be #1
4. Enter in the administrator password when requested
5. cd \windows\system32\config
6. Depending on which section was corrupted:
   ren software software.bad or ren system system.bad
7. Depending on which section was corrupted
   copy \windows\repair\system
   copy \windows\repair\software
8. Take out the CD ROM and type exit.

HAL.DLL Missing or Corrupt

HAL.DLL Missing or Corrupt

Added 2/9/03
If you get an error regarding a missing or corrupt hal.dll file, it might simply be the BOOT.INI file on the root of the C: drive that is misconfigured

1. Insert and boot from your WindowsXP CD.
2. At the first R=Repair option, press the R key
3. Press the number that corresponds to the correct location for the installation of Windows you want to repair.
   Typically this will be #1
4. Type bootcfg /list to show the current entries in the BOOT.INI file
5. Type bootcfg /rebuild to repair it
6. Take out the CD ROM and type exit.

NTLDR is Missing.

Issue

NTLDR is Missing.

Related errors

Below are the full error messages that may be seen when the computer is booting.

NTLDR is Missing
Press any key to restart

Boot: Couldn't find NTLDR
Please insert another disk

NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl Alt Del to Restart

Causes

1. Computer is booting from a non-bootable source.
2. Computer hard disk drive is not properly setup in BIOS.
3. Corrupt NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM file.
4. Misconfiguration with the boot.ini file.
5. Attempting to upgrade from a Windows 95, 98, or ME computer that is using FAT32.
6. New hard disk drive being added.
7. Corrupt boot sector / master boot record.
8. Seriously corrupted version of Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
9. Loose or Faulty IDE/EIDE hard disk drive cable.
10. Failing to enable USB keyboard support in the BIOS.

Solutions

Computer is booting from a non-bootable source

Many times this error is caused when the computer is attempting to boot from a non-bootable floppy disk or CD-ROM. First verify that no floppy diskette or CD is in the computer, unless you are attempting to boot from a diskette.

Note: This error has also been known to occur when a memory stick is in a card reader and the computer is attempting to boot from it. If you have any card reader or flash reader make sure that no memory stick is inside the computer. Additionally disconnect all USB drives, cameras, ipods, iphones, etc. from the computer.

If you are attempting to boot from a floppy diskette and are receiving this error message it is likely that the diskette does not have all the necessary files or is corrupt.

If you are attempting to install Windows XP or Windows 2000 and are receiving this error message as the computer is booting verify that your computer BIOS has the proper boot settings. For example, if you are attempting to run the install from the CD-ROM make sure the CD-ROM is the first boot device, and not the hard disk drive.

Second, when the computer is booting you should receive the below prompt.

Press any key to boot from the CD

Important: When you see this message press any key such as the Enter key immediately, otherwise it will try booting from the hard drive and likely get the NTLDR error again.

Note: If you are not receiving the above message and your BIOS boot options are set properly it's also possible that your CD-ROM drive may not be booting from the CD-ROM properly. Verify the jumpers are set properly on the CD-ROM drive.

Windows XP users

1. Insert the Windows XP bootable CD into the computer.
2. When prompted to press any key to boot from the CD, press any key.
3. Once in the Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
4. Log into your Windows installation by pressing the "1" key and pressing enter.
5. You will then be prompted for your administrator password, enter that password.
6. Copy the below two files to the root directory of the primary hard disk. In the below example we are copying these files from the CD-ROM drive letter, which in this case is "e." This letter may be different on your computer.
   
   copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
   copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\
7. Once both of these files have been successfully copied, remove the CD from the computer and reboot.

Replace Remap Non Working Keys Function on Laptop Keyboard on Windows

There are times then our default keyboard keys do not work. If this happens with desktop pc then it is easy to change the keyboard. At the same time here is no cheap way by which a laptop user can change the default keyboard except buying one external.
There are many keys in windows that have specific functions. These keys are also called the Function keys which occurs from F1 to F12.

With the fact that these malfunctions never happen with prior information, if you find a non functional key at time of need MapKeyboard will be of great help.

MapKeyboard is a free and portable application for windows. Remaping keyboard keys may sound too difficult a task but this utility makes it extremely simple. It provides a virtual keyboard on your desktop. You can select any key that you want to remap. Then you have to select a key with which you want to remap the existing key.

Once the key is remapped, you have to logoff once for the changes to appear. You can view all mappings done on the virtual keyboard. It also provides options to rollback to default settings.

http://www.inchwest.com/mapkeyboard.htm

9 reasons why Internet Explorer 9 is much slower than Chrome 10

In my personal browser benchmark test Internet Explorer 9 turned out to be much slower than Chrome 10.
Microsoft listens to their customers. Or perhaps I should say they listen to what the media tell their customers. Every week or so, another computer magazine or blog posted a new browser benchmark where Internet Explorer always came off as the slowest browser. The times of browser benchmarks are now history. Since Internet Explorer is now by far the fastest HTML viewer and JavaScript executer, no one needs those benchmarks any more. It is boring if Microsoft wins. They always do. Well, almost always.

As far as my browsing experience is concerned, Chrome is still a lot faster than Internet Explorer 9. When it comes to browsing speed, the performance of the rendering or JavaScript engine is negligible. I have said that many times before, and I won’t get tired of repeating it. For a knowledge worker like me, other features are by far more important to speed up my daily work on the web.

1 Bookmarking

One of the things I do most often with a browser is to bookmark pages. I need to do this as quickly as possible so I won’t lose my focus. With Internet Explorer, I need three clicks; with Chrome, just one. That makes Chrome 10 three times faster than Internet Explorer 9.

2 Bookmark star

Often, before I finish work, I check all open tabs to see if there are any pages that I might need the next day. Sometimes I don’t remember if I already bookmarked a page or not. This also happens if I again stumble across a useful page. In Chrome, the star icon beside the address bar tells me immediately if I already bookmarked the page; a click on the star shows me which folder the bookmark is in. In Internet Explorer, I have to browse through my hundreds of bookmarks first for this purpose. This makes Internet Explorer a hundred times slower than Chrome.

3 Search in bookmarks

Again, the bookmarks. Well, they are important for a knowledge worker. Now, tell me, am I just blind or did the IE developers really forget the search function in the Favorites sidebar? I don’t have to tell you how much time it can take to browse through all favorites until finally finding the important one I bookmarked last month, deep down in a folder where it doesn’t really belong. How many times slower is Internet Explorer here? I don’t know. Maybe indefinitely, if I don’t find the bookmark at all.

4 Title bar

Okay, this is a minor issue. But it still bothers me. To place the tabs bar at the top of the browser was a very smart idea of the Google developers. Why was Microsoft too anxious to steal this feature and did just waste this valuable space in the title bar? Yes, it means only little additional space for the web page. However, if you work on laptop or netbook this little extra page can be very valuable, especially if you use web apps often. Scrolling a web page up and down to interact with the web app can get on your nerves and can slow down a browser considerably.

5 Tabs space

The size of the available space for tabs in Internet Explorer is much too small. It usually takes about 20 minutes on a normal work day before I have so many tabs open that I can no longer distinguish them in Internet Explorer simply because the visible part of the HTML title is too small. You can show the tabs on a separate row (right click a tab). However, this takes away even more valuable screen space. Since the default tab bar configuration is no option for a knowledge worker and taking into account the wasted space in the title bar, I have considerably less space available for the web page than with Chrome. These simple layout differences boost Chrome’s performance with many web apps on devices with small screens and this without the need of fancy hardware acceleration.

6 Extensions

Browsers have become platforms. No, I am not talking about web apps. I don’t really like those and you know that by now. I am talking about add-ons or extensions. I think, the number of available extensions is essential for the success of a browser. Microsoft is usually quite good when it comes to creating an ecosystem around a software product. Somehow they have problems with Internet Explorer here. The availability of just one add-on can be a killer feature if you can’t find something comparable for an alternative browser (Internet Explorer). I don’t really know how far ahead Chrome is here. But if I search for SEO add-ons for Chrome, I get about 100 hits. If I do the same for Internet Explorer, I get about 0 hits. There is no doubt that many of these little browsers helpers save me a lot of time which increases browser speed considerably.

7 Superbar

I don’t really find the Windows 7 Superbar so super and in combination with Internet Explorer, it really gets on my nerves. Every time I switch back to the browser window, the Superbar shows me my myriad of open tabs and expects me to find the page by just looking at those super-tiny thumbnails. In most cases, I just want to access the last page viewed anyway. If I can’t find the page in the thumbnails immediately, I just click any tab and then try to find the right tab in IE’s tab bar. So this extra click-click-click game with the Superbar costs me significantly more time than in Chrome and often is the reason that I lose the focus on my work.

8 InPrivate browsing vs. Incognito

InPrivate browsing in Internet Explorer and the equivalent Incognito feature in Chrome are useful features. I don’t just use this feature if I want to browse a site without being recognized. Usually, when I log on to security-sensitive sites, I open the web site incognito so none of the many plugins I use gets a chance to snoop my password. What I miss here in Internet Explorer is being able to start InPrivate browsing by right-clicking a bookmark or a link in a web page. Yes, I can copy the URL, open an InPrivate window, and then paste the URL. In Chrome, this procedure can be accomplished with just a click. This is what I call browser performance.

9 Zoom

I read a lot and try not to strain my eyes too much. This is why I zoom almost every web page I open. Chrome definitely has the better and faster zoom function. It takes two "clicks" with the mouse wheel until the web page reaches the ideal size—that is, when it uses all available space of the browser window. With Internet Explorer 9, it usually takes much longer to get the font size I prefer. Again, Internet Explorer 9 came off last in an important browser benchmark discipline.
I am still a Microsoft fan boy. But it is not my fault that the Google guys just understand the web better. So I’ll just wait for Internet Explorer 10 and see if it will be as fast as Chrome 25.

Google Chromium OS

http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/

Restoring Windows 7 from a Backup System Image

In my Working with System Image Backups in Windows 7 article I described the steps needed to be taken in order to successfully create a System Image backup of your Windows 7 computer.


Note: Remember, Windows 7 is still under development. The version used for these screenshots is beta build 7000, and things might (and probably will) change with RTM.
So first thing first – you must make be 100% sure that this is the only means to repair your system. Why? Well that’s because when you restore your computer from a system image, it's always a complete restoration. You cannot choose individual items to restore, and all of your programs, system settings, and files are replaced with those on the system image.

Also see » Windows 7 Enhances Intellimirror, Microsoft’s End User Backup Solution

If you’re perfectly sure that a restore is the only way to get your computer back to business, you now have 3 options to start the restore operation:

Option 1: Restore using Recovery

This only works if your computer is still working and you can access Control Panel > Backup and Restore, or if you want to restore your system image backup onto a different computer.

Option 2: Restore Using a Windows Installation or System Repair Disk

If you cannot access Control Panel > Backup and Restore, you can restore your computer using a Windows installation DVD or a system repair disk (if you have previously created one).
To use this option, insert the installation disk or system repair disk into your computer’s CD/DVD drive.
Next, restart your computer using the computer's power button.
If prompted, press any key to start Windows from the installation disk or system repair disk. If your computer is not configured to start from a CD or DVD, check the information that came with your computer. You may need to change your computer's BIOS settings.



Choose your language settings, and then click Next.

Click Repair your computer.

Momentarily, a Windows installation is located.

Note: This seems a bit strange, but the drive letter attached to the found installation is not C: but E: instead.

If you need to add disk drivers, press the “Add Drivers” button.

Looking at the disk drive list you can clearly see that for the recovery, Windows has assigned a different drive letter for the original C: drive.

Going back to the recovery, select the Windows installation you want to repair, and then click Next. You will be prompted to choose a recovery tool. Select “System Image Recovery”.

Option 3: Restore Using the Advanced Boot Option

Use this option if you do not have the installation disk or system repair disk.
To use this option, restart your computer using the computer's power button.
Next, repeatedly press F8 to gain access to the Advanced Boot options of Windows 7. If you see the Windows logo you will need to reboot and retry.


Select a keyboard language and press Next.

Enter an administrator’s username and password to begin the recovery process.

When inside the Advanced Boot options, click the arrow keys to select “Repair Your Computer” and press Enter.

Continuing the restore operation
No matter how you started the System Recovery, when inside, click on System Image Recovery.
Windows will search for the backup media.

You will be prompted to select your backup media. The default is to select the last backup. You can change this setting and manually select a different backup media.

Next, you can choose additional options such as to format and repartition the computer’s hard disk, or to automatically scan and repair disk errors.


Press Finish and Yes when ready to commence with the restore.


The recovery begins, and a progress bar will indicate how long you need to wait.

When finished, the computer will automatically reboot, and you will be able to use it.

Done!

Restoreing Windows 7 Image

Working with System Image Backups in Windows 7

Open Backup and Restore by going to the Control Panel and typing “backup” in the search box. One of the results will lead you to it.
You can also type “backup” on the Start Menu search box, and again, one of the results will lead you to it.

You can also run the following command from the Run or search box option:
sdclt.exe
Naturally, you’d want to perform a manual or scheduled backup of files and folders on your computer. So when you set up a backup by using the Backup and Restore tool, you can let Windows choose what is backed up or you can select the individual folders and drives that you want to back up.

Read more about this in my Backup and Restore in Windows 7 - What it should have been in Vista! article.
Note: If the destination drive is formatted using the NTFS file system and has enough disk space, a system image of your programs, Windows, and all drivers and registry settings will automatically be included in the backup.

However, this article is about working with System Image backups, so we’ll click on the “Create an Image Backup” link on the left hand side of the Backup and Restore tool.


Backup and Restore will look for a backup destination. Read more about this in my Disk Considerations when using Windows 7 Backup and Restore article.
Choose your backup destination and press Next.

Read and confirm your settings by clicking on the “Start Backup” button.

Creation of the system image will begin, and you’ll notice the progress bar.


Note: Unlike regular file and folder backups with Backup and Restore, a System Image uses a VHD file type for the backup media.

When finished, you’ll get a confirmation window.

Next, make sure you safely keep this backup, you’ll need it in case your computer stops working and you decide to restore it. Read my upcomoing "Restoring Windows 7  Systems with System Images and Backup and Restore" article for more information.
Note: You can also create a System Recovery Disk for use when the system is so badly messed that it cannot boot even in safe mode. More on that in a separate article.