Windows Tips

Infopackets Reader 'pthamilton' writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a Dell XPS M1330 laptop computer. I get frequently recurring messages that my D drive (recovery drive) is full. Can I delete files on my recovery drive? Also, if I upgrade to Windows 7 or ... Windows 8, will it stop the 'disk is full' error messages? Thank You. " My Response: In general, it is not recommended that you delete any files from the recovery drive, as it contains disk image files used to restore your system to default configuration when you first purchased the computer. If you downloaded or copied files onto the D drive, you ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Helen M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I need your advice once again. I am 80 years old and have gone back to work as a volunteer; one of my jobs is to make up posters. I only have Microsoft Word, which is not [exactly] ideal for making ... posters, and I don't want to invest in an expensive software such as Adobe Photoshop. The price to learn it at The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City is $275! Can you recommend [an Adobe Photoshop freeware alternative] that is inexpensive and easy to use? I am computer literate. I thank you for all you do. " My Response: Off the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Gord S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have Windows 8.1 64 bit installed on my PC. When downloading programs I see there are options for 32 bit or 64 bit. My question is: should I download both 32 bit and 64 bit programs? [Also, what is ... the difference between 32 bit and 64 bit Windows?] Thank you for your comments. " My response: That's a great question; thanks for asking. If you are running 64 bit Windows, you should download and install 64 bit versions of programs -- but only if they are available. If there is no 64 bit version available, then running the 32 bit version will ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Brenda T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a lot of duplicate word documents and pictures in my computer. I would like to know what is the best way to find the duplicate files and delete them? Do I need to buy a special program? And ... if so do you recommend one? " My response: That's a great question -- thanks for asking. You don't need to buy a special program to search for and delete duplicate files, as there are plenty of excellent freeware programs that will do just that. One program in particular that comes to mind is NirSoft's SearchMyFiles . This ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Frank P. writes: " Dear Dennis, A friend of mine has a malware (or a virus) on his computer and can't get rid of it. He has tried to download various malware removal utilities online (such as malwarebytes antimalware, etc), but ... his web browser appears to have been hijacked and subsequently, malwarebytes won't download. What can he do to remove the malware? " My Response: Some malware will purposely block websites (such as malwarebytes) to prevent you from downloading and removing the infection. The easiest way to get rid of pervasive malware is to boot ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'miannone' writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently purchased a new [Windows 8.1] desktop computer (or so I thought) from a big box electronic store. It should be noted that I did not utilize the 'pay-for-setup' process that the sales ... people attempted to convince me was the only way to go. I took the machine home ... [and booted it up] first time. It went through all the necessary updates; ... [once complete, I started] the customization. It was then I noticed that [my hard drive already had a user named 'Sam' defined on it. For example, even though I am the only user on this ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'gfaas' writes: " Dear Dennis, What is your opinion of having two antivirus programs installed instead of one? I have Microsoft Security Essentials and Grisoft AVG antivirus. " My response: In my opinion, using two antivirus / ... antimalware programs is better than one for the same reason you would seek the advice of two independent doctors for a life threatening illness. That said, I suggest that you ensure both antivirus / antimalware programs do not conflict with each other, or you will run into resource issues that will cause your computer to slow to a ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'r clee' writes: " Dear Dennis, Every web browser I've used has the option to 'disable third party cookies'. Most articles I've read on privacy say not to allow third party cookies; however, recently, I visited tripadvisor.com to ... read a post, but found my comment wouldn't be accepted unless I enabled third-party cookies. Now, Google is telling me that my Firefox is 'outdated'. When I click the link to find out more detail, it says if I don't enable third party cookies, my email interface will switch to the plain vanilla HTML format ... [Is this] a stab at deeper data mining ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'mg_barrett' writes: " Dear Dennis, Is there a way to show a list of running processes (programs) in Windows? Also, how do I determine if a process is active or not? " My response: A process is said to be active if there is CPU or ... memory activity associated with the process. The opposite is also true; if there is no CPU or memory activity reported by a process, then it is considered to be an idle process. Process activity can be determined using various utilities mentioned below. How to View Active and Idle Processes in Windows You can use Windows Task Manager to view all ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'rseal54' writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a 6 year old Gateway computer with Windows Vista operating system and Service Pack 2 installed. I have a question regarding reinstalling Windows; I want to save all my data and installed ... programs to an external hard drive, then do a clean reinstall of the operating system. Is it possible to reinstall Vista with all the latest updates [automatically applied during the reinstall without using Windows Update]? Also, how do I get back all the items that were saved on the external hard drive? " My Response: That's an ... (view more)