My Computer Back in Service

I come across quite a few programs, applications and features almost every day in the course of normal work-a-day research trying to find the right tools to use in the Computer Consulting Business.

As a result, I often find some little known Free Downloadable or Online Features that could be of use to almost anyone to make their computing experience a little bit better and more productive.

This is just such a find…

Windows Vista has had it’s Service Pack 2 released for quite a while and is stable at this point (at least from my POV). So, it is time to make it permanent to free up about a half a gig of disk space. This can be accomplished in only 3 pain-free steps.

First: Open the Run Window, either by going to the Start-Accessories-Run or by using the Shortcut keys Window +R at the same time. You get this window.

Second: Type in compcln.exe and click OK. That will bring you to the Command Prompt with the Operation ready to go.

Third: Type Y and hit Enter and you are done. You just recovered somewhere around 500,000MB of space on your Hard Drive.

Be aware: This is a permanent deletion of the backup of your SP2 file and makes your current SP2 configuration permanent and can’t be undone. Make sure you really want to do this before you hit Yes!

I hope you find this tool to be something useful in your daily computing experience.

If you find something you think should be included, please use the comments below or use my Contact Form to let me know and I will be sure to check it out for inclusion in a future article.

Sometimes you need extra RAM (Random Access Memory) for running certain programs while online, expecially if you are streaming Music or Videos that utilize a Buffer to store information as it is being downloaded to your Media Player of choice.

While the RAM installed on your computer is fixed, you can increase the Virtual Memory to allow your system to use some of your Hard Disk space as if it were RAM.

These 5 steps will increase your VM for just such a situation.

1. Go to the Control Panel and Click on the System settings.

2. Then Navigate to Advanced System Settings (on the left hand side)

3. When there, Open the Advanced Tab and click the Settings Button in Performance

4. There you will again open the Advanced Tab and you will see your current Virtual Memory settings. Click Change.

5. Pick Custom size and add Low and High end of your Virtual Memory as needed. Once you add the additional VM, Click Set, Ok and continue to back out that way Clicking Apply and or Ok as necessary.

Now you are ready to Stream your Audio or Video files whenever you want without waiting for the Buffer to Fill every few minutes.

Although this is for Windows Vista, the same basic steps apply for other Window Operating Systems as well.

I have spoken with a lot of business people with at least some web presence recently. They all have a fair grasp of the importance of using RSS Feeds and e-mail subscriptions to further their reach on the internet.

However, more than a few of these business people DON’T even have their Company Logo on their Feeds.

I did a short, step by step ScreenCast to show just how easy it is to add a Logo to Feeds.

See, I told you it was easy. Now, go put your Logo on Your Feeds too.

BTW, if you’re reading this in RSS or e-mail, click here to see the ScreenCast.