windows

Infopackets Reader Jack J. writes: " Dear Dennis, I have a question that has been bothering me for some time. I appreciate the professional advice you give in your newsletters to other Readers, and would be very thankful if you could please set me ... straight on my problem. My dilemma has to do with Secure web sites. Occasionally, I will buy a product online -- meaning that my web browser often redirected to a secure web page, where I can complete my transaction online with my credit card. I have been told by friends that providing my credit card information is 100% secure, and that I ... (view more)

Portable Windows Ce Portable Windows CE is a 'launcher' for the Windows CE device emulator that can run an emulator-based image from a USB keychain. Download the Windows CE 5.0 Device Emulator. Extract the emulator to a folder on your hard drive by ... running "setup /a". The installer will prompt you to specify a directory to extract to . For example: D:\PortableCE Copy the following launcher script to the directory you extracted the setup to. You'll need to rename the file from launchce.cmd.txt to launchce.cmd. Once you have that set up, just copy the entire D:\PortableCE folder over to your ... (view more)

Continuing on with our in-depth discussions on backup solutions , this article will review Acronis True Image version 8.0. This will be the final article in our 7-part series, stretching back almost 1 month to date: Choosing a Backup Solution: An In ... Depth Look 6 Key Elements for any Backup Strategy Backup Made Easy: A Six Point Guide to Buying Backup Software Genie Backup Manager Review System Restore and similar Registry Reverting utilities -- pointless? The results are in: which Disk Imaging Backup software is best? Acronis True Image Review (version 8): In Depth RE: Disk Imaging software ... (view more)

Recall -- Following with our recent theme on " backup software ", I announced last week that I be compiling an in-depth review on a disk imaging software. In a subsequent newsletter, I asked Infopackets Readers to send me their opinions (good or ... bad) on their favorite imaging program. Responses have been strong, with about 60 opinions to date. Based on those opinions, the consensus is that Acronis True Image is ranked as the favorite recommendation, providing best overall feature set and the least amount of bugs and incompatibilities. One other strong point brought to my attention ... (view more)

The last three articles in our newsletter have provided an in-depth look into The Importance of Backing up Data , highlighted a number of Backup Strategies , and even presented a Six Point Guide to Buying Backup Software . At the same time the ... articles were being compiled, however, I quietly enlisted myself on a top secret mission to research, review, and rigorously test a never-ending list of backup software. The purpose: to find the best, easiest to use, feature-packed backup utility according to the stringent set of criteria previously established in our 6 Point Purchasing Guide (namely: ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Bill S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just finished reading your article on how important it is to maintain a clean System Registry in order to achieve optimal PC performance. I have a question for you: I have two computers (one with ... Windows XP and the other with Windows 98); the Windows XP computer has a feature called "system restore" which automatically reverts my System Registry to a previously working state [in case I get attacked with Spyware, for example] ... however, my Windows 98 PC doesn't have the system restore feature. My question is: how can I backup ... (view more)

Great news! PCTools, the authors of the incredibly popular flagship utility 'Registry Mechanic', have just recently released version 4.0. If you've been keeping up with our newsletter, you've undoubtedly heard me mention this extremely beneficial ... utility a number of times in the past. Reminder: What is Registry Mechanic? Registry Mechanic is by far the most widely regarded Windows Registry Cleaner on the Internet -- not only because it's received countless rave reviews from credible online sources, but also because it is one of the few Registry cleaners on the market that actually delivers ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader John T. 'oldbiker' writes: " Dear Dennis, First of all I think your newsletter -- it's great. I recently partitioned [split] my hard drive into two drive letters (C and D drives), so that I could move my installed programs over to ... D drive and leave C for Windows only. This way, if Windows crashes on me, I can format C drive and not worry about losing any my improtant data (on D drive). [Side note: This is also a great strategy for keeping disk image backups small, and to reduce the time it takes to create an image file]. My question: is there a program that will ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Merlin A. writes: " Dear Dennis, With all the great holiday (and post-holiday) offers, I decided to upgrade my old 10.5GB hard drive to a much larger 160GB unit. From what I understand, I need to transfer ALL data to large drive ... and make it my primary ("c") drive but don't know to go about doing this. Can you please advise me on what I need to do? " My response: If you want to transfer the *entire* contents of your old hard drive and "clone" it to the newer drive, you will need a disk imaging program. After the "clone" has been ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jim W. writes: " Dear Dennis, As a computer professional, I enjoy your newsletter a lot because I learn so much from it, and the information is usually relevant to me and a lot of my clients. Now, I'd like to ask you this. I find ... myself frequently formatting / reinstalling Windows for many of my clients (because their copy of Windows is too messed up to attempt any type of quick-fix). When I do a reinstall, there is often a ton of Windows updates I need to download, regardless of which Windows Operating System I'm working with. Is there any way I can consolidate steps ... (view more)