Pc configuration Tips

There is over 3,000 bytes of “slack” or wasted space for this shortcut alone. The laptop came preformatted and at the time I got it I knew of no way to reformat a system drive. I did delete the partition and perform a quick format when I installed Windows Vista Ultimate rather than the operating system it came with, Windows Vista Home. The default for a quick format is 4096 bytes. Knowing what I know now, I would take the hard drive out and connect it to a USB to IDE/SATA device. I would then connect it to another computer and format the system partition to 512 bytes, leaving the Recovery Partition intact.

SOFTWARE

.ISO IMAGES

Why would you want to do this? The two most common methods are:

1. 
   Backups,
   
2. 
   Games.
   

I have an external hard drive with an .ISO image of most software CD’s or DVD’s I have purchased. Software such as Roxio Creator will write the contents of the .ISO image to a CD or DVD. Thus a replacement can be made in about 30 minutes for a DVD. A CD takes much less time. Please note, that some Digital Rights Management (DRM) software will prevent you from creating .ISO images of the software.

Thus, if I ever need to install software years later and cannot find the CD or DVD, it is ruined, etc. I can recreate the CD or DVD and install the software. There is plenty of ISO software available for creating and managing .ISO images. I use ISO Recorder to create images and Daemon Tools Lite to mount and use them. Should I need a hard copy (CD or DVD) I use Roxio Creator to create a new one (burn one). Roxio Creator is a great product for recreating CD’s or DVD’s from .ISO images but will have to pay for it.

Daemon Tools Lite will be discussed in a Freeware Guide, Utilities Usage and posted on my website at a later date. What is does is create a virtual CD\DVD drive that will mount an .ISO image/file as if it was in a physical CD\DVD tray. It assigns a drive letter to the virtual device (I use Z) and it will appear in Windows Explorer as the drive letter Z. By mounting the .ISO image you can install (or use) the software without having to burn (recreate) the CD\DVD.

As I mentioned before, it also is used for games. This is more pertinent to older games but, if you play games on your PC and it has several CD’s\DVD’s that require switching them out at various levels of the game, Daemon Tools allows you to create 4 virtual CD\DVD drives. You can create an .ISO image of each CD\DVD and mount them each in their own virtual drive and never have to switch CD’s\DVD’s again while playing your games. If the game has more than 4 CD’s/DVD’s you may have to buy a Professional version. I do not know of any Freeware .ISO software that supports more than 4 virtual drives. I have used Daemon Tools Lite for over 10 years and it is free so I have never looked at anything else.

FREEWARE

Do not confuse Freeware with Free Downloads. Free downloads just allow you to download the software at no cost. Not until you have installed the software are you asked to pay for it. Often times there is a "free" period of use and then partial or complete functionality ceases until you have paid for the software.

Freeware as defined by Wikipedia.

Software classified as Freeware is normally fully functional for an unlimited time with no cost or stipulations. Freeware can be proprietary software available at zero cost. The author usually restricts one or more rights to copy, distribute, and make copies of the software. The software license may impose restrictions on the type of use including personal use, individual use, non-profit use, non-commercial use, academic use, commercial use or any combination of these. For instance, the license may be "free for personal, non-commercial use".

Freeware may or may not be free and open source software. In order to distinguish between the various types of licenses, the Free Software Foundation asks users to avoid calling free software "Freeware". The principal difference being that free software can be used, studied, and modified without restriction; free software embodies the concept of freedom to use, while Freeware is only available at no cost, but comes with restrictions. Freeware is also different from shareware; the latter obliges the user to pay after some trial period or to gain additional functionality.

Please note that I only use Freeware that is void of Adware.

Shareware as defined by Wikipedia.

I avoid Shareware for many reasons. The principal reason being the Adware built into a lot of it. Secondly, the cost of Shareware is not worth the functionality when compared to Freeware or other commercially available software. Donate to support Freeware. If you paid for every Shareware program useful you could not afford a PC.

By contributing to support Freeware you are helping yourself and others.