Increase Your Disk Space of Window 7 PC

Disk Clean up

The most important and easiest way to free disk space is to use a built-in tool of Windows 7 called the Disk Cleanup. It cleans up your disk by deleting temporary files that are piled up over a period of time. These files include:

• Temporary Internet files
• Recycle Bin
• Downloaded Program files
• Windows temporary files

You can start Disk Cleanup, by doing the following:

1. Click Start
2. Type “Disk Cleanup” (without quotes)
3. Select the drive you want to clean. Then click “OK”
4. Select your Desired Files
5. Click OK
6. System will ask to delete files. Click Delete files

Remove Unwanted Programs

Over the period of time one has to install different programs for different needs. If there are some programs installed on your machine that are not required any more, it is recommended that you un-install those programs to save disk space. Below is the method to un-install unused programs:

1. Click Start
2. Type “Uninstall a Program“
3. Hit Enter
4. Now select the program you want to un-install and hit Uninstall

Remove Unwanted Windows Features

Your Windows 7 OS is a complete package containing more solutions than you have problems. It has a bundle of built-in programs that you might not want to use. It is better to un-install those programs to save disk space. To do so, do the following:

1. Click Start
2. Type “Uninstall a Program“
3. Hit Enter
4. Click “Turn Windows features on or off“
5. Now un-check the feature you want to disable and hit OK

Disable Page File

Although this method is not recommended but if you are low on disk space you should go for it. Windows utilizes hard disk space when it gets low on memory. If you are in dire need of hard disk space then you can disable this feature. In order to disable the page file

1. Click Start
2. Type “Advance System Setting” (without quotes)
3. Hit Enter
4. Advance System Settings Dialogue Box will appear,Click Settings under Performance 
5. In the Performance Options Dialogue box, click the Advanced tab and then click the Change button under the Virtual Memory option.
6. Now in the Virtual Memory dialogue box, un-check the  Automatically manage paging file size for all drives option, and choose No Page option.

Again, I should remind you that this is not a recommended step. Only do it if you are in dire need of disk space.

Disable System Restore

Its better to disable system restore on drives other than C: drive. It will not have an effect on the size of C drive but you can find space in Drives other than C:. If you are in dire need of space in C drive too, then disable System Restore on All Drives. To do so:

1. Right Click Computer Icon on Desktop or Start Menu
2. Click Properties
3. Click System Protection
4. Select the drive on which you want to disable System Restore and Click Configure
5. Select Turn off system protection from appearing dialogue box and Click OK.

Disable Hibernate

This is my favorite way of freeing disk space. Hibernate is a windows feature that allows you to save your pc state before you shut down your computer. Hibernate is a good feature and is very helpful but unfortunately it takes 2-8 GB of precious disk space. There are cases when you don’t need this feature so it is recommended that you disable hibernate. To disable hibernate do the following:

1. Click Start
2. Type “cmd” (without quotes)
3. A list of files will appear, Right Click cmd and select Run as administrator
4. In the command prompt type “powercfg -h off” (without quotes)and hit enter.

You can get your wasted space back.

Remove All But The Most Recent Restore Point

Windows 7 keeps a record of Restore Points in the disk in case of emergency to retrieve your settings and data back. These restore points are created at particular time intervals as well as when you install some software such as device drivers.

1. Click Start
2. Type “Disk Cleanup” (without quotes)
3. Select the drive you want to clean. Then click “OK”
4. Click on “Cleanup System Files” button.
5. Select the drive in which you have installed Windows. Then click “OK”



Add caption

6. Click on “More Options” tab.
7. In the “System Restore and Shadow Copies” section, click on “Clean up..” button.
8. Click on “Delete” button.
9. Click “OK”.
10. Windows will now ask for confirmation to delete files. Click “Delete Files”.

You are done. Now only the latest restore point will be saved in your PC. All the old System Restore points will be deleted.

Delete %TEMP% Files

Although Disk Clean up is suppose to clean up TEMP folder, sometimes it just doesn’t work. To overcome this, you can delete these files yourself. The method is easy, just do the following

1. Click Start
2. Type %TEMP%
3. Hit Enter
4. A folder will appear, select all files by pressing CTRL + A
5. Now Hit the delete button. All the temp files will be deleted.
6. To ignore Recycle Bin press SHIFT + DEL

You might get a warning that a file cannot be deleted. It is because some programs are using those file. You should simply ignore those file and continue with the deletion.

NTFS Compression

The NTFS file compression option can compress files on your hard disk. This allows you to get more space on the disk. This is an effective option and can save a lot of disk space. To do so, just do the following:

1. Just right click a folder, hit Properties
2. Click the Advanced Button
3. Select Compress <pic>
4. Click OK

Cookies and Caches

Normally, the websites you visit keep some data on your  hard disk in form of Cookies. Cookies increase the website performance but in most cases these are useless and should be deleted to avoid becoming a victim of some hacker. Similarly, Caches are also maintained by web browsers to increase website performance. You can get rid of both of these to get some disk space back. To do so:

1. Click Start
2. Type “inetcpl.cpl” (without quotes) in the Start Search box
3. Press ENTER
4. On the General tab, click Delete under Browsing History in the Internet Properties dialog box.
5. In the Delete Browsing History dialog box, un-check all check boxes and check only Cookies
6. Click Delete

That’s it for today, hope you like it. If you want more, keep coming. Do let us know about these tips and how did they work out for you. Your comments are most appreciated.

Source: TecRux

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Change LOG ON screen of Your Window 7 PC

Since Windows XP, windows login screen has been a beautiful entry point to your desktop. The background picture of Windows Login Screen is not only soothing to one’s eyes but also a status symbol among the geeks and alike. Using cool Background Pictures in Windows Login Screen was never easy, until we got Windows 7.

Windows 7 comes with pre-built  functionality to change the login screen. You do not need any third-party tool filled with extremely difficult User Interface, hidden Trojans and Viruses, and cumbersome controls to change the login screen. All you need is to change an entry and Registry, create a couple of folders and most importantly, find that perfect picture that was always your dream background. Below is the method to change the Login Screen on Windows 7:

1. Press Win+R key and Type “REGEDIT” at run prompt (without quotes). Alternately, Press Start, click on Run and type.
2. Locate following registry key:
   
   HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background.
3. Now in right-side pane, change value of OEMBackground to 1 (originally it should be 0).
4. Now go to %windir%\system32\oobe.
5. Create a new folder info and another folder background backgrounds within newly created info folder.
6. Folder path should look like this %windir%\System32\oobe\info\backgrounds.
7. Now place your desired logon wallpaper within this background folder with file name as backgroundDefault.jpg. Here is an interesting thing, you can place multiple versions of pictures for different resolutions. Windows with place that picture according to the resolution of screen. You just have to mention the resolution in names.
   
   Images Name with resolutions
   backgroundDefault.jpg
   background768×1280.jpg (0.6)
   background900×1440.jpg (0.625)
   background960×1280.jpg (0.75)
   background1024×1280.jpg (0.8)
   background1280×1024.jpg (1.25)
   background1024×768.jpg (1.33-)
   background1280×960.jpg (1.33-)
   background1600×1200.jpg (1.33-)
   background1440×900.jpg (1.6)
   background1920×1200.jpg (1.6)
   background1280×768.jpg (1.66-)
   background1360×768.jpg (1.770833-)
   
   Please NOTE: Images must be less than 256kb in size
   
   The backgroundDefault.jpg image is loaded and stretched-to-fit when a resolution/ratio specific background cannot be found.
8. You are all done. Restart your system to see the effect.

You can also Use LOG-ON Changer from Tweaks.

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Do I Really Need to Eject USB Drives Before Removing Them?

Dear Admin (Tech Impulsion),
Some of my computers (like my Mac, and My windows PC) are always warning me about disconnecting flash drives without ejecting, while Windows doesn't seem to have a problem—in fact, my external USB drive doesn't even have an eject option. Does this mean it's safe? How do I know when I actually need to eject a drive?

Sincerely,
Concerned About Corruption

Dear Concerned,

This is one of those questions that has a short answer and a long answer. The short answer is this: you should probably always eject a drive before removing it, even if the context menu doesn't have an eject option. Mac and Linux will always provide you a way to eject a drive, but like you said, Sometimes Windows doesn't have an obvious "Eject" button for certain drives. On Windows, click the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the system tray, choose your drive from the list, and then remove it once it notifies you of its safe removal.

Now, the long answer: In Windows, you can sometimes remove a flash drive without ejecting. Here's a bit more information on how computers deal with USB drives.

Why Computers Want You to Eject Drives

Obviously, yanking out a drive while it's being written to could corrupt the data. However, even if the drive isn't actively being written to, you could still corrupt the data. By default, most operating systems use what's called write caching to get better performance out of your computer. When you write a file to another drive—like a flash drive—the OS waits to actually perform those actions until it has a number of requests to fulfill, and then it fulfills them all at once (this is more common when writing small files). When you hit that eject button, it tells your OS to flush the cache—that is, make sure all pending actions have been performed—so you can safely unplug the drive without any data corruption. 

Why Windows Doesn't Bug You to Do It

Mac and Linux use write caching on pretty much all drives, and will let you eject any drive through your file manager. Windows, however, is a bit more mysterious on this front. It actually disables this write cache feature for drives it sees as "removable", because it knows people are likely to yank them out without ejecting (though you can still eject them by right-clicking on them and pressing "Eject"). As such, disabling this feature on removable drives decreases the chance of data corruption. It keeps the cache enabled on non-removable drives, though—and sometimes it recognizes external USB drives as not removable, which is why your USB drive doesn't have an eject button. Paradoxically, it's also why you need to eject that drive: since Windows doesn't see it as removable, it's enabled the write cache for it, increasing the chance of data corruption. 

You can edit the write cache settings for any drive from the Device Manager. Just expand the Disk Drives section, right click on the drive you want to edit, and hit Properties. Go to the Policies tab, and click the "Quick Removal" radio button to disable the cache (or click "Better Performance" to enable the write cache).

Why You Should Probably Manually Eject All Your USB Drives Anyway

So, unlike OS X and Linux, Windows has a few precautions in place for preventing data loss. However, the write cache isn't the only thing that can cause data loss. Have you ever tried to eject a drive and gotten a "file is in use" error? Sometimes there's something going on in the background you don't know about, or sometimes a program is just being silly and has still locked a file on the drive even if it isn't using it. If you were to yank it out during one of these situations, you could still cause data loss. Ejecting it will warn you of the situation, and let you close the program in question (or use something like Unlocker to unlock the in-use file). 

In the end, there's no reason not to eject your drives, and doing so will ensure your data is uber-safe. Windows users may be less likely to experience issues due to the way Windows handles removable drives, but they aren't 100% immune. Ejecting the drive is a great habit to get into, since without it, you wouldn't always know if it were safe to remove or not.

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5 Trends of 2011

 1. Independent Group messaging Apps

Though there are rumors coming around about the acquisitions and re launches of group messaging Apps by many App making giants has subsided. Google launched its Disco which was Slide’s App but it had many flaws in it. later facebook came out with a acquirement news of Beluga followed by Skype’s Groupme.

 

2. Everything for Everyone says Birchbox

Birchbox is a smart streamlined way to buy high end cosmetics, now it has also included featured products from InStyle, New York Post and Mari Claire and staples. It has jus followed the footsteps of Groupon to promote its products through Daily deals. Now consumers can avail their monthly requirements even for their babies and pets from their subscriptions. 

3. Local and Real time for peer to peer Marketplaces 

As ebay and Amazon does a great job in peer to peer market, some small enterprises like craiglist, Zaarly, Taskrabbit has planned to implement real time location based services using mobile phones and GPS services. This improvement will help the individual to outsource their chores in the market which they don’t want to deal with.  

4. New age online 

The days of “love at first sight” has been changed to “love at website” a study from Match.com says 17% of the couple got married through online dating in past three years .They seem to be comfortable in moving their real life with the aid of internet. They rely on it completely before they make a move trusting that it will create a positive impact.

5. Rise of New York tech city

While Twitter has already opened its first official NYC office on Madison Avenue.It is expected that the city will become as a Hub for technology based industries. The city appointed its first chief digital officer Rachel Sterne. Her Moto is to draw potential investors to build their organization in the upcoming 2.1 million square foot tech campus on Roosevelt Island where facebook will have its engineering office soon. 

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Facebook Chat is going better with this new face feature

Be honest: has Facebook chat ever been your favorite form of instant messaging? For many of us, Gtalk chat, Skype or even AIM are our preferred defaults. Now, a new gimmick is making us like Facebook’s built-in chat function a whole lot more. As demonstrated in the photo above, you can make the profile pictures of Facebook users and pages show up inside your chat windows.

Here’s how:

1. Start chatting with someone (pretty simple).

2. When you’d like to refer to a mutual friend or, say, Coca Cola, you dump their profile id (either their name or a string of numbers for those users who haven’t claimed their choice URL) into double brackets. So, that would be [[cocacola]] for a picture of Coke, [[zuck]] for Mark Zuckerberg and [[techimpulsion]] for the logo of where your learned about this new feature, and so on.

3. Amaze everyone on Facebook chat with this cool new gimmick.

What do you think, will inserting your friend’s faces bring the end of the emoticon era, or will the Internet forever be dominated by the :-) face?

Posted By Ajit Singh

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IBM's Five Innovations That Will Change Our Lives within Five Years

Its amazing how technology changes our lives – The life we lived 10 years back and the life we live today is completely different, thanks the advent in Technology. Just think how Mobiles have changed our lives, think how internet has made such a great impact on us…

Have you thought about how your life will be 5 or 10 years down the line? IBM gives you a glimpse of what lies ahead of us probably 5 years from now in their recent release of “IBM 5 in 5” study.

5 Innovations that will change your life in 5 years

Power Production in everything

Very Soon, anything that is in motion or produces heat will be able to produce energy that can be captured and utilized. For example: When you are cycling, Jogging or walking, the kinetic energy produced will be be captured and utilized probably to light your house. Even the heat that is generated while using your computer has potential to be captured and used.

Advances in renewable energy technology will allow individuals to collect this kinetic energy, which now goes to waste, and use it to help power our homes, offices and cities!

Passwords will be thing of Past

yes, that’s right – you will never required a password to do anything, because you yourself will be password for anything and everything you want to access either online or offline.

This will be possible using Biometric Technologies – Each person has a unique biological identity and behind all that is data. Biometric data – facial definitions, retinal scans and voice files – will be composited through software to build your DNA unique online password.

Imagine you going to an ATM and just asking for money in your voice and Machine readily dispenses (using your voice signature). We see these things even today, but 5 years down the line, it will be used for anything and everything!

Mind Reading will not be a Science Fiction anymore

You must have already seen videos online where you can give some basic commands just by thinking.  Many Scientists across the world have been successful in connecting devices to brains and read the thoughts of Human beings.

IBM scientists for example are researching how to link your brain to your devices, such as a computer or a smartphone. If you just need to think about calling someone, it happens!

It will be very much like what you probably have seen in Avatar – Where the guy rides a horse or flies merely by thinking. Its just not movies, if IBM is to be believed it will be reality in 5 years time!

No Digital Divide

This is sure to happen – With proliferation of Mobile devices in every nook and corner of the world, it is expected that 80% of the current global population would each have a mobile device. Even extremely poor people will be connected with their cheap mobile devices.

This is especially true for country like India, where even Villagers are taking advantage of Mobile phone and using it for checking weather reports for help them decide when to fertilize crops, know when doctors were coming into town, and find the best prices for their crops or merchandise.

The Digital Divide will cease to exist in 5 years time!

All Content Distribution will be Personalized

No more will you be flooded with unwanted and irrelevant mails and advertisements – Everything will be personalized. In 5 years time, even unsolicited ads may feel so personalized and relevant it may seem spam is dead. Everything from your ticketing, to your music, to news, to sports, to politics, you’ll trust the technology to know what you want, so you can decide what to do with it.

This is what will happen in 5 years – Think where the technology will take us in next 10 – 15 years time!

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Microsoft launched Research Social Network So.cl

Microsoft’s famous FUSE labs launched its most hyped product So.cl (pronounced as social) last week. Contradictory to the previous statements, So.cl won’t be a rival to the Facebook or Google+.

According to Microsoft, So.cl will be an experimental social search project, focused on social search for the purpose of learning. The primary target will be students since it will give them a chance to share and collaborate the ideas from various web pages and other resources.

The main features of So.cl include social search, which is usually public and can be made private on demand. The search interface is made with the help of Bing. Users can create communities with like minded people around them and post pictures or data. The video chat room facility helps the community members to watch a video together.  It also offers public file sharing, with the most searched topic having the high priority. The interesting feature is that users with a Facebook or twitter account can collaborate their account with So.cl and start Searching! But for the time being, new users trying to login to the So.cl are greeted back with the message that the site is overcrowded.

Even though Microsoft says that So.cl won’t be a rival to Facebook, we cannot forget the fact that Facebook also began its journey as a small community search for a college.

What is So.cl?

So.cl (pronounced "social") is an experimental research project, developed by Microsoft’s FUSE Labs, focused on exploring the possibilities of social search for the purpose of learning.

• So.cl combines social networking and search, to help people find and share interesting web pages in the way students do when they work together.
• So.cl helps you create rich posts, by assembling montages of visual web content.
• To encourage interaction and collaboration, So.cl provides rich media sharing, and real time sharing of videos via "video parties."

We expect students to continue using products such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other existing social networks, as well as Bing, Google and other search tools. We hope to encourage students to re-imagine how our everyday communication and learning tools can be improved, by researching, learning and sharing in their everyday lives.

Who can join?

We are formally partnering with selected schools (including University of Washington, Syracuse University, and New York University).

However, anyone can participate in the FUSE Labs research community as several of our experiments are available for use on the web. For those who wish to be more involved with FUSE, please e-mail Socl@microsoft.com.

More Projects of Fuse Lab

So.cl

So.cl combines social networking with web browsing and search, for the purpose of learning.

CompanyCrowd

CompanyCrowd collects stories, media and content to create a living newspaper about the companies that are most important to you.

Montage

Explore Montage, a flexible web-based service. http://getmontage.net

Kodu

Kodu lets kids create creating games on the PC and XBOX via a simple visual programming language.

Spindex

Your entire social world in one page - find what's new, search, see your friends' trending topics.

Docs for Facebook

Discover, create, and share Microsoft Office documents with your Facebook friends.

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IIT Kanpur Student Karan Narain Gets Highest Campus Placement of Rs. 73 Lakh

Karan Narain

Agra's Karan Narain, pursuing M.Tech (final year) in computer science from IIT Kanpur, has set a new record in campus placement. He has been picked up by U.S. company Pocket Gems for an annual package of $137,000 (over 73 lakh).

This is the highest package offered to a Kanpur IITian and one of the highest in India so far.

"Pocket Gems is into mobile application development for Android and iOS. The interviews held in Kanpur were completely technical," Narain told IANS.

"I had some background in Android which could have appealed to them. It's a startup, so has only around 100 employees. They've visited all the IITs and recruited a few students from each," he added.

Narain attributed his success to his schooling in Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Agra. "All schools are different and gave me a new experience and changed my world view for the better," he said. 
 
About Pocket Gems

Pocket Gems develops free-to-play mobile games that are ridiculously fun. We were founded in 2009 by Daniel Terry and Harlan Crystal, engineers and gaming industry outsiders, who wanted to bring the excitement of social gaming to the mobile platform. Our seven titles to-date have been smash hits, each landing at the top of the App Store charts and entertaining millions of customers across the globe. 

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Google Search Tricks

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