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Bored of the usual Windows that you see and use everyday? Want to spice it up to make your desktop more fun to work with?

PowerToys is the perfect recipe for you. Microsoft has a range of tools that will change your experience once and for all. The tools are all goodies that you would eventually end up using in your day to day computing.

Some of my favorite tools are ‘Open Command Window Here’, ‘Alt-Tab Replacement’, ‘Tweak UI’ among many others.

I’ve found use for the ‘Open Command Window Here‘ tool, when we face the usual problem of being unable to delete files in Windows. It gives an error saying a particular file cannot be accessed which is exactly the one you want to get rid of this. Using this tool, you can directly open your command prompt at that location and use your long lost DOS commands to say bye-bye to those unwanted files.

‘Tweak UI‘ is a great tool which has tons of modifications that allows you to configure various trivial but cool settings which you never knew were possible.

‘Alt-Tab Replacement‘ is so cool that you would open more windows deliberately, just so that you can swap between windows.

I could go on about the many other tools that are available, but I’m going to leave it for you to check out and explore the features that the other PowerToys have to offer. Believe me, no matter what your interests are I’m sure you will find something that really interests you.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Ophcrack Live CD, a free, open source software based on rainbow tables, is a Windows account password cracking tool designed to help you recover lost Windows passwords.

Once you download the 452mb .iso and burn it on a CD, just restart your computer and boot up the Live CD. Once the CD boots, Ophcrack automatically loads and is on its way to crack your password.

Ophcrack Live CD requires physical access to the machine, but if you have physical access you can literally crack every password on a machine in a very short time.

Features:

• Runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X (intel).
• Cracks LM and NTLM hashes.
• Free tables available for alphanumeric LM hashes.
• Free tables available for Windows XP and Vista.
• Brute-force module for simple passwords.
• LiveCD available to simplify the cracking.
• Free and open source software (GPL).
• Loads hashes from local SAM, remote SAM.
• Loads hashes from encrypted SAM recovered from a Windows partition, Vista included.

The latest version of Ophcrack Live CD is Version 2.0 and there are separate versions for Windows XP and Vista. Get Ophcrack Live CD. You can also get L0phtCrack (aka LC5 which was bought by Symantec) from mirrors like sectools.org.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Having run out of hard drive space on my laptop, I was on the lookout for a tool which would help me manage the space on my hard drive better and I must say that I’m pleased with my latest find - WinDirStat.

WinDirStat is a free tool that comes packed with features to help you manage your hard drive space. It lists the size & percentage of disk space used for all folders & sub-folders on your computer and also gives you a graphical representation of your files, sorted by the type of file extension. One can scan specific folders, multiple local drives and even network drives without any restrictions.

The current stable version 1.1.2 and the key features are

• The directory list, which resembles the tree view of the Windows Explorer but is sorted by file/subtree size,
• The treemap, which shows the whole contents of the directory tree straight away,
• The extension list, which serves as a legend and shows statistics about the file types.
• Coupling. Select an item in the directory list: The treemap highlights it; and vice versa.
• Zooming.
• Built-in cleanup actions including Open, Show Properties, Delete.
• User-defined cleanups (command line based).
• Works with network drives and UNC paths.
• ‘Create disk usage report’ option.
• ‘Submit bug report/Feedback’ option.
• Online help.
• Language can be set to Czech, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, German, English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Polish and Russian.

WinDirStat is compatible with Windows 95, Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, Windows NT4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista. Do note that the program comes in two variants: Ansi and Unicode. Windows 9x and ME users must use the Ansi variant. All others should use the Unicode variant.

Download WinDirStat 1.1.2 (Contains both Ansi & Unicode releases)

Popularity: 3% [?]

That’s what the signboard says outside A&D Computer Store in Milford, N.H. This goes on to show that there are not many takers for Vista and that the general public still holds on to Windows XP, which has been proven stable.

A red alert situation for Microsoft, its time Bill Gates takes corrective and remedial measures!

How many of you have tried Vista and gone back to XP? What’s your feedback on it? Comment and let me know.

Via: Seattlepi

Popularity: 1% [?]

One of my cousins was playing around with my laptop last night and somehow removed the filenames/foldernames in Thumbnail view (I use Windows XP Home). I have been breaking my head since then to find out how this is possible. Google surprisingly hasn’t given me an answer yet. The filenames/foldernames aren’t appearing in that particular folder but appear in all other folders. When I switch over to the list view or detail view, I can see the filenames or foldernames. Can someone help me out please? You can notice in the screenshot that the space between two folders has also reduced. I have tried realigning etc but made no progress. Microsoft Support did not help me either.

Help me please!!

Update: The problem was solved, thanks to Vasisht. Quoting his comment here.

Choose another view, say detailed view. Now, when choosing thumbnail view again, press shift and then press thumbnail view. You will get your names back!

Popularity: 1% [?]