Utilities

CCleaner is one of the most popular programs for cleaning up the extra files and leftover data on your PC. Although I haven’t had much use for it on my more modern PCs (Windows 7 apparently does its own maintenance regularly) I know I’ve used it in the past to restore friends’ older and somewhat…

The How-to Geek just uncovered an app that brings Windows 7’s AeroSnap feature to older operating systems including Windows XP and Vista. This feature, a popular new option in the Windows 7 OS, automatically resizes your windows when you move them from one side of the screen to the other. For…

Thanks to Paul Thurrott, I’ve just come across another application that automates putting the Windows 7 installation DVD onto a USB drive. This is especially helpful for folks who plan on installing Windows 7 on their netbook computers since these tiny PCs rarely include an optical drive. A couple…

I’ve just come across a new backup utility for Windows Live Mail thanks to Steven Hodson of WinExtra. The program is called MailBrowserBackup, and, as it turns out, you can actually use it to backup a lot more than just your Live Mail. The recently updated .NET 2.0 application also lets you make…

Just when I thought we had all the Windows 7 tweaking utilities covered, yet another application appears on the scene. From the creators of the popular Vista tweaker, TweakVI, comes a new application called simply “Tweak-7.” Although still in beta, the application is available for everyone to try…

As we’ve mentioned before, there’s a hidden feature in Windows 7 that lets you customize your logon screen background to an image of your choosing. Power users probably had no difficulties following those instructions, but a free utility from Tweaks.com made the process even easier. Now there’s…

One of the coolest additions to the new Windows 7 OS is definitely the taskbar. Now a super-sized toolbar of program icons with corresponding menus and thumbnail previews, the new taskbar has dramatically changed the way I interact with my applications. I’ve been perfectly happy with the way the…

The DownloadSquad blog recently posted a list of 7 different utilities that let you tweak and change the various settings in Windows 7. It’s surprising that there are so many software programs already available, considering that the OS hasn’t even publicly launched yet. I have to admit, I haven’t…

If you've ever seen Expose on the Mac and wanted something similar for your PC, check out Switcher. This application for Vista + Aero allows you to instantly see all your current windows as a dock, grid, or tile by pressing "Win+`" and jump to any one of them with a keypress. (I've…

Autoruns, the Sysinternals utility that displays which programs are configured to run during startup, has recently been updated to version 9.39. The update adds in a new Windows 7 location in addition to fixing a couple of minor bugs. If you’re looking for the most comprehensive program to show you…