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News, tutorials, articles about apps and programs that people use on their computers, smartphones, tablets, and other gadgets.

Working with Speech Recognition: Setup and Configuration

Working with Speech Recognition: Setup and Configuration

Computer speech recognition has been around for a long time, and many people have heard of programs like Dragon Naturally Speaking. What many people may not know is that Windows 7 includes its own, very capable, speech recognition program. We plan to cover it in detail in a couple of articles. But first, let's see how to set it up, in order for it to
Windows 8 Apps Don’t Connect to Your Google/Gmail Account?

Windows 8 Apps Don’t Connect to Your Google/Gmail Account?

Do you have troubles with any of these Windows 8 apps: People, Messaging, Calendar or Mail? You can't get them to connect to your Google account and access your contacts, email or calendar? This tutorial will help you solve this problem. IMPORTANT NOTE: As of January 30, 2013, Google decided to drop Google Sync support for their free Gmail accounts. This means that you
Roundup of Software Uninstallers - Reviewing IObit vs Ashampoo vs Revo

Roundup of Software Uninstallers - Reviewing IObit vs Ashampoo vs Revo

Today you can find lots of software which helps remove programs and clean up leftover files, folders and registry settings. In theory this is a good thing, as it helps eliminate some of the bloat on your Windows computer. But are these solutions really effective at removing all traces? To find out, I tested some of the most popular applications in this niche, both free
The Best Remaining Desktop Gadgets for Windows 7

The Best Remaining Desktop Gadgets for Windows 7

Microsoft used to maintain a Desktop Gadget Gallery that showcased quite a few gadgets for users interested in using them. However, in preparation for the upcoming Windows 8 launch, Microsoft decided to (as some put it) "stop pretending to support gadgets". For the company, supporting them is no longer a good idea. Windows 8 and the Metro interface is supposed to bring to the Windows
12 Reasons why Windows Explorer in Windows 8 Rocks

12 Reasons why Windows Explorer in Windows 8 Rocks

Windows Explorer has been a weak-spot of both Windows Vista and Windows 7. Many users complained about it being inferior to the version used in Windows XP and a lot more frustrating to work with. Luckily, with Windows 8 things are improving a lot. After using Windows Explorer for a few days in Windows 8 Developer Preview, i can say that it rocks. It is
Fix Windows Explorer Annoyances in Windows 7 with Classic Shell

Fix Windows Explorer Annoyances in Windows 7 with Classic Shell

Many of you complained about bugs being still active in Windows Explorer, even after a lot of time since the Windows 7 launch. We read your complaints and we tried to find fixes for them. Today, we are happy to present a free tool called Classic Shell, which can help you fix some of the most annoying bugs in Windows Explorer: the jumping folders in
Configure the Windows Explorer Viewing Templates for Libraries

Configure the Windows Explorer Viewing Templates for Libraries

In previous articles, we've shown how to edit a viewing template and how to apply it to any folder and its sub-folders. To complete the picture, we will show how to edit and change the viewing template used for any library in Windows 7. Step 1: Configure the Viewing Template on a Folder Windows Explorer has five types of viewing templates it applies to
How to Uninstall a Windows 7 Display Language with Vistalizator

How to Uninstall a Windows 7 Display Language with Vistalizator

It is time to continue our series on working with display languages by showing how to remove a display language installed using the Vistalizator tool. As you will see in this tutorial, the procedure is not very complicated. To learn all the required steps, click to read more. Step 1: Switch to a Display Language You Want to Keep Using Before removing a display
Install & Change to a New Display Language in Windows 7 with Vistalizator

Install & Change to a New Display Language in Windows 7 with Vistalizator

In a previous article, we covered how to install and change to a new display Language in Windows 7 Home and Professional using the only method provided by Microsoft. Even if that solution works without problems, it is limited because it supports a small number of display languages and it is also a bit complicated to get things done. Fortunately there is an alternative which
How To Use the Windows 7 Disk Defragmenter

How To Use the Windows 7 Disk Defragmenter

In Windows 7, Microsoft modified the inner-workings of the defragmentation process and redesigned the graphical interface of the Disk Defragmenter tool. This version provides great control over the process and, like previous versions, allows the scheduling of run times. To learn more about what defragmentation is and how to use the Disk Defragmenter click on Read more. How Disk Defragmenter Works and Where To
How to Fix Windows 7 using Startup Repair

How to Fix Windows 7 using Startup Repair

Windows 7 offers by default some interesting tools designed to help you fix certain system problems. I will continue the mini-series on the subject of recovery tools and show how to use the Startup Repair tool to scan and fix Windows 7 boot problems. What does Startup Repair do? Startup Repair is one of the recovery tools in the System Recovery Options menu. It
How to Play Videos and DVDs in Windows Media Player 12

How to Play Videos and DVDs in Windows Media Player 12

Windows Media Player 12 plays video clips and DVDs as well as it does audio files. Video clips in your library will automatically be organized for you and can be played easily with a click of a button. In this tutorial, I'll show how to play imported and downloaded video clips and DVDs. Playing Videos from Your Library Playing videos from your Windows Media
How to Customize File Types, AutoPlay & Default Programs Settings

How to Customize File Types, AutoPlay & Default Programs Settings

One of the things that became obvious after publishing our series on how to set default programs, associate file types and set up AutoPlay settings, is that Windows 7 has limited capabilities for setting all these things. Fortunately for us, there are third party programs, such as the Default Programs Editor that allow you to do all this plus customize context menus. In this tutorial
Importing Pictures from a Camera or Mobile Device into Windows 7

Importing Pictures from a Camera or Mobile Device into Windows 7

Windows 7 makes keeping track of your pictures incredibly easy, thanks to the Libraries feature. But if you want to add pictures from a digital camera or mobile device to your Windows 7 Pictures Library, you'll have to import them. Luckily, this is incredibly easy to do and we're going to show you how. Connecting Your Device and Setting up AutoPlay Options Begin by
How to Burn CDs and DVDs in Windows Media Player 12

How to Burn CDs and DVDs in Windows Media Player 12

Windows Media Player 12 allows computers with built-in CD and/or DVD burners to quickly and easily create audio CDs, data CDs and Data DVDs. This functionality makes creating mix CDs and copying audio CDs for playback in car stereos and other CD players incredibly simple. Alternately, Windows Media Player 12 can burn data CDs for playback in devices that support.mp3 and.wma playback. Windows Media Player
How to Work with Desktop Gadgets in Windows 7

How to Work with Desktop Gadgets in Windows 7

Desktop Gadgets are not something new to the Windows world. They were first introduced in Windows Vista, where they were fitted on the Windows Sidebar. Even if the idea itself was good, it didn't have the success it might have deserved. With Windows 7, Microsoft slightly redesigned this feature and now it is a bit more customizable than before. In this article I will explain