Tag: SYSTEM

Tech favorite WinPatrol -- a great tool for keeping an eye on system processes and files -- has been updated to 20.0.2011. Support for 64-bit Windows installations has been improved, and WinPatrol is generally more responsive now than in previous versions. WinPatrol's "move to delayed start" option provides a nice way to improve your system's startup time, and it has also been tweaked for better ...

Setting up a brand-new computer is a mixed blessing: On one hand it's a bit of a hassle, but on the other hand it often feels great to start off with a blank slate. It's a great opportunity to fix all those things that bugged you about the old system, or try out that new file organization scheme you were thinking about. While apps like Ninite make it easier than ever to download and install a ...

Using the word "ninja" in the name of an application is a good way to grab a geek's attention. Enter System Ninja, a CCleaner-like cleaning and tune-up utility for Windows. After reading about System Ninja this morning on Freeware Genius, I decided to give it a go. In addition to performing file clean-ups, System Ninja includes a handful of other utilities. However, I don't need to use a ...

DeviantArt has a fairly active community of people tweaking and customizing Windows 7. One of their favorite tricks is to replace a whole bunch of system and software icons with desaturated or monochrome variants. This "unifies" the system visually, and the whole thing feels like one "package" instead of a bunch of disparate applications. Usually, this is a manual process, and it's fairly ...

I was actually unsure whether to call System Silencer freeware or shareware. While the application itself is free, there are "extras" that are only sent to "donors." It's not crippled in any way, it doesn't nag you, and none of the extras are vital per se. I still decided to go with shareware, as it is obviously an application that's expected to generate some revenue. But the way the developer ...

"I need a new computer!" is a cry often heard by parents and system administrators alike. But often, the problem isn't in the hardware – if the user isn't an avid gamer or using a really ancient system, more often than not the problem is a crudded-up Windows installation (yes, I know, "this doesn't happen on Linux"). Proving to your user/kid that the hardware isn't the problem is often ...

Shutdown Timer is a utility which shuts down your computer, logs you off, runs a file or does any number of other things once the CPU goes above or beyond a certain threshold, or the network downstream or upstream passes a threshold, et cetera. In simple terms, it's a tool which lets you shut down your computer once your downloads complete for the night. I've covered it before, but a new version ...

When I first glanced at System Nucleus, I thought it might wind up being just another system reporting tool, spilling details about my system to a text file for posterity. In fact, that's barely the tip of the iceberg -- System Nucleus features a number of useful tools for Windows troubleshooting, tweaking, and maintenance. One of my favorite components is the backup & recovery tool, which ...

QwikMark has got it all: it's tiny (84KB), completely portable, free, and simple. But what does it do? It tells you how fast (or slow) your computer is, with just a single click. Just get it, fire it up, and click "Run All Tests." QwikMark will then crunch some numbers and in a couple of minutes, it will show you how many gigaflops your CPU can process, your memory bandwidth, and your disk ...

At Computex 2010, Google's VP of Product Management Sundar Pichai has been talking Chrome OS. That's a good thing, as we're keen to hear anything official Google has to say about the upcoming release of the cloud-powered operating system. Reuters is reporting that Pichai says Chrome OS will arrive earlier than expected. Although it was originally slated for a December 2010 release, Pichai has ...

Process Explorer is one of the staples of the hard-core Windows geek. It's a Task Manager replacement which does so much more; some would say it does too much. It's produced by Microsoft-acquired Sysinternals, which have been making some of the best in-depth system utilities for Windows even before Microsoft bought them out (years ago). My favorite feature in the new update is that I can now ...

It's probably a safe assumption that if a project to design a new operating system involved an experienced security researcher that the goal would be an OS which is darn near bulletproof. That's exactly what Joanna Rutkowska is gunning for with Qubes, which she's pegged for release later this year. Qubes is a bit different from the desktop OSes most of us are familiar with, though it looks ...

We've covered a few Windows 7 friendly status indicators before -- like these two for monitoring your CPU and memory utilization. Another developer decided to have a go at his own version, and the results are pretty slick. Five meters are available: power, volume, disk, CPU, and memory. The meters are very configurable, with options for custom colors, overlays, and whether or not to launch ...

Glary Utilities is an extremely popular free program, offering a whole slew of useful system maintenance and cleanup apps in a single package. The recent update to version 2.2 introduces a small -- but very welcome -- addition to the suite. Glary's shortcuts fixer and empty folder finder now offer a restore function. That's good news if you've ever accidentally removed an empty folder ...

Like to keep tabs on where your system resources are going in Windows? If you're running Vista or Windows 7, take a look at Auslogics' FileInspect sidebar gadget. It's a handy way to see how much of your RAM or CPU is being used by the programs you have running. The gadget can display 1, 3, 5, or 10 items at a time and you can also tweak the update interval. You'll likely have more than 10 ...