Bootable USB drives... How? With Rufus!

Rufus for me is the best tool to create bootable USB drives.
Easy and full of options.
I had experienced some problems with Win7 USB tool so... I tried this.
And it's fast, superfast.

Download: http://rufus.akeo.ie/

Aero Glass in your Windows 8!

Are you nostalgic about the glass effect in Windows 8?
You can bring back  Aero Glass with this simple utility!

Developers say:

• Apply glass look to windows borders
• Blur the content behind the borders to improve UI experience
• Change amount of transparency in Control panels directly
• Change inactive windows borders color
• Skin windows borders (add glow, shadows etc.) without changing Windows theme
• Fully native including MSStyle themes and DWM API compatibility
• Low resources usage

Donwload: http://glass8.berlios.de/

Read the guide first: http://glass8.berlios.de/guide.html

How to obtain MD5 hash

Do you need to obtain the MD5 of a file?
Use HashCheck!

It adds a "Create checksum file" voice in the contextual menu when your right-click a file.

Download:
http://code.kliu.org/hashcheck/downloads/HashCheckInstall-2.1.11.exe

More info:
http://code.kliu.org/hashcheck/

How to explore your HDD with WinDirStat

WinDirStat is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool and it's very usefull to search big files that fill your HDD.

There is a OSX version too!

Download:
http://windirstat.info/

GarageBand for Windows?

GarageBand for Windows??

Nope, but you can try these programs:

http://www.image-line.com/documents/flstudio.html

http://www.acidplanet.com/downloads/xpress/
http://magix-music-maker-basic-edition.download-109-45488.programsbase.com/
http://www.acoustica.com/mixcraft/
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/acidpro
http://www.magix.com/us/music-maker/?partnerid=9015

I tried Mixcraft, it's very good imho!

Skype-chan be gentle pls

Do you want to obtain the IP address of a Skype contact?
It's easy, google for a Skype resolver like http://skypegrab.info/, write down the account name of the Skype contact you want, resolve and obtain his IP.

More info?

CAD with LEGO: MLcad + LDraw

I'm building a Lego pc case and I need some help with the parts/building project and I found this:

MLCad only and Website:
http://mlcad.lm-software.com/

MLCad + LDraw libraries (if you don't have LD... use this):
http://media.peeron.com/ldraw/LDraw_AIOI_2012-01_setup_32bit_v2.zip

Doubts:
- The melting point of Lego bricks (I read 100°C somewhere)
- The hot plastic will make the air healthier?
- Where to order kilos and kilos of bricks?
- Grounding? (Pc cases are metal)
- Electric/magnetic radiations?
- I'm crazy?

Finally Twitter for Windows 8

What a waste of space.

Download:
http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-US/app/twitter/8289549f-9bae-4d44-9a5c-63d9c3a79f35

But IMHO only TweetDeck is a good Twitter client with its multi-column approach (general timeline, interactions, tweets of your preferred users, etc...)

Google Reader to shutdown July 1st, alternatives:

Goodbye Google Reader RSS aggregator... (it's in good company: http://googleblog.blogspot.it/2013/03/a-second-spring-of-cleaning.html)

Alternatives? Try these:

http://blog.feedly.com/2013/03/14/google-reader/

http://theoldreader.com/

http://theoldreader.com/

http://www.privateoss.com/


Evil Google...

ImmersiveTaille v2, France says "We want a floating Start Screen"

With ImmersiveTaille (version 2) the new Start Screen of Windows 8 obtains new features:

•  you can put the Metro Start Screen (Modern Start Screen or what you call it) on your desktop
•  you can decide dimensions and position
•  you can have the taskbar in the fullscreen Start Screen

Free and useful:

ImmersiveTaille v2 | Free software downloads at SourceForge.net

Windowed ModernUI apps on Windows 8

Do you want "metro" apps in resizable and movable windows?

Try this new StarDock software: http://www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/index.asp

Download the beta or try it free (trial). Or wait a free version by another developer...

Save and Restore desktop icon layout!

Playing old games with different resolutions sometimes messes up my desktop layout.
In my desktop I have MY icons disposition, such as games shortcuts on right, "temp" files in the bottom etc... and sometimes after a game session, when I return to the desktop, the icons are all mixed up or grouped to the left.

If you have this problem, download and install for your Windows version the tool Desktop Restore:

http://www.midiox.com/desktoprestore.htm

Save your layout with Save desktop command and restore it when something goes wrong!

This tool saves my arse!

GDIPP: change your font rendering in Windows

With this software you can change how Windows renders the fonts.

There are three ways to install this utility: service, registry and loader.

 I choose loader because it's the easy way for testing the difference drag'n'dropping the executable into the GDIPP shortcut.

Pay attention to installing this software, read what service, registry and loader will do in the installing process.

Download: gdipp - Customizable Windows text renderers - Google Project Hosting

Capturing screenshots was a problem...

I experienced some problem with Fraps in games like Grim Fandango: it's impossible to capture a screenshot.

So I downloaded this software, ShareX, the successor of Zscreen and put CTRL+PrintScreen to take screenshots.
With the only PrintScreen or Fn(eg: F11) nothing happened playing Grim Fandango, I suppose some "hotkey" problem, but now works like a charm.

ShareX saves and uploads images by default, so set your config.

http://code.google.com/p/sharex/

Windows 8 updates notifier

If  you have Windows 8 you know that the pop-up notification about Updates are disabled by design in the desktop... so you can add this feature with this tool:

http://wun.codeplex.com/

Windows: how to select different windows

If you have the same application with some instances, like Windows/File Explorer, and if you want to select one window there are many ways:

• put the mouse cursor on the taskbar icon and wait the thumbnail, then click the thumbnail
• CTRL + left click on the program icon (on the taskbar) to switch between windows

But there is another way 

• clicking the program icon to switch between windows

Like the CTRL + left click, but without pressing CTRL.

To do this (you must be admin or from the admin group, elevate Regedit with admin rights):

• open the Registry (WIN+R, write "regedit" without quotes and press Enter) 
• go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
• you have to create a new item inside Advanced
• Right click > new or Edit > New
• select DWORD (32-bit)
• write "LastActiveClick" as a value name
• write 1 as a value data
• OK
• the new value is inside Advanced, double-click to view (like the following picture)
• quit Regedit

Some tools to customize Windows 8

Customize your Lock Screen:

http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-...8-3fb630bfba08


Desktop apps to customize your Start Screen:

http://vhanla.deviantart.com/

Switcher

Ok, it's old but I discovered it yesterday... so...

It's a better ALT+TAB feature and it's customizable and useful!

I choose the "mouse in the corner" option to activate the switch.

Download it:
http://insentient.net/

Useful software for Windows 8: Start Screen Pinner

Now with this software you can pin what you want on your Start Screen!

So, in the Start Screen:

Try it:

http://winaero.com/download.php?view.36

Customize your Windows 8 (borders and colors)

In Windows 8 you can't set a size for the windows borders.
Microsoft are you mad?
But... Ahh, finally!
You can set the windows borders in Windows 8 via registry key, but with this tool is so easy!

AeroTuner (for tuning your UI colors):
http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.95

Tiny Windows Borders (see picture above):
http://winaero.com/comment.php?comment.news.96

PS: I'm using the RC version, but I think that these tools work fine in the RTM too. Try them.