Hot Operating Systems How-Tos

How To: Setup your Macbook Pro background

In this how-to video, you will learn how to quickly set up the background image on your Apple Macbook Pro. First, right click the desktop and select Change Desktop Background. A new window will pop up where you can change it. Also, you can go to system preferences and selecting desktop and screen saver. To change the image, select any of the options available. This includes solid colors to large images. You can also go to your iPhoto albums and choose any picture in there. You can also go onl...

How To: Change your desktop settings and speed up a computer

In this video, we learn how to speed up a computer and change desktop settings. First, right click anywhere on your desktop. Then, select "properties". Once you are in "properties" there are several tabs you can click on, click on "desktop" on the top. Once you click on this you can change your background, icons, home page, internet options, colors and more. By selecting "screen saver" you can choose "Windows XP" to make your computer perform quickest, also make sure your monitor has proper p...

How To: Unzip a file with Microsoft Windows XP

This video from scrapwow shows how to unzip a file in Microsoft Windows XP.Firstly, open Windows Explorer application and navigate the file you want to unzip. Once you've located the file, double click on it. A new window will open. Here you will have Extract all files option which you can choose from menu to the left.Clicking the button allows you to extract a single file or a zipped folder, containing a number of files. In this case Extraction Wizard will open, leading you through the extra...

How To: Install Ubuntu 8.10 to dual-boot on Windows

In this how-to video, you will learn how to create a dual-booting system with Ubuntu and Windows. First, go to the Ubuntu website and download the latest Desktop Edition of Ubuntu. Once it is finished, burn the download to a CD. Once this is completed, place the CD in the drive and restart. Boot using the CD and select English. Now, click forward and select your time zone. Click forward, select your keyboard type and click forward again. Now, you can adjust the partition sizes for your hard d...

How To: Change a drive letter in Windows 7

This video demonstrates how to change a drive letter to a certain drive in your Windows 7 computer. On you Windows 7 computer, go to Start > Control Panel. In the Control Panel, select System and Security then open the Administrative Tools. Look for and open the Computer Management tool. On the left side pane of the Computer Management window, select Disk Management. Look for and right click on the drive you want the drive letter changed. Select 'Drive Letter and Paths...'. Click change and s...

How To: Assign a letter to your USB flash drive

This video shows you how to assign a letter to your USB flash drive (or memory stick) or how to change it in Windows.First of all, connect the flash drive in the computer's USB port. Click on the start button, then right click on My Computer and choose manage. Once the window opens, go to Disk Management. There, you should be able to see the USB drive as "USB DISK". Right click on it and choose "Change drive letter and paths...". Now click on change and select the desired letter for the drive...

How To: Change drive letters or directories in DOS command

This video shows us how to change driving letters or directories in DOS command. Firstly go to start menu and then click on run. Then type cmd and press OK with which a DOS command cmd window will pop up. Now you need to change the directory and these is done by typing ‘cd..’ and after that press enter. Now you have changed the directory and now you need to see what’s in there and for that type ‘dir’ and press enter and this shows what’s in that directory. Now change to other directory by typ...

How To: Delete Your Mac OS X Cache

In this tutorial, Brian from TruTricks shows us how to delete a cache in a Mac or any Apple computer. This should be performed at least once every week. First, go down to the menu bar and click on "finder". Click on "Macintosh HD", "Library" ant then "Cache". Now, right click on "cache" and then select "delete" from the drop-down menu. Next, click on "users" and then click on your name, then click on "library", "Cache" and right click and select "Delete". Now, go to your trash can and empty y...

How To: Clean up your computer and make it run faster

This video is about how to clean up your computer. The first thing that you will have to do is to go to "Start" menu found on the lower left of the screen. Once you have clicked "Start", click "Run". Once a new window will appear, type in "TEMP" and press "OK". Then the "Temp" folder will appear. Go to "Edit" and click "Select All". Once everything is selected, right click a file and press "delete". A window will appear for confirmation and click "Yes". Then go to "Start" menu again and click...

How To: Encrypt files in Mac OS X with the Disk Utility app

The Mac OS's Disc Utility allows for the encryption of files. To open Disc Utility click on the magnifying glass (spot light) up in the top right hand corner, and search for Disc Utility. Click on the first result in the list. Once Disc Utility is open, click on "create a new image" in the top tool bar. A new window will drop down, where you choose what you want to save the new image as. Give it a name, and choose the size you want it to be. Moving down, choose the encryption you want to use ...

How To: Calibrate a Mac display

In this video from MacOSG we learn how to calibrate a Mac display by using ColorSync. Go to apple menu and select system preferences. Then go to Display. In there, click on color tab to access the profiles for your monitor. Click the calibrate button. It will bring up the Calibration Assistant. Make sure expert is checked. The goal here is to make the apple logo match the outside grid as much as possible. Click Continue and repeat the process. Next is gamma selection. In most cases the native...

How To: Uninstall and remove Linux

Watching this video will allow you to learn the complete step-by-step process of uninstalling a dual-boot partition of Linux on a Windows Vista machine. The author will first walk you through uninstalling GRUB, the boot manager used while the partition with Linux was still being used. After showing how to uninstall GRUB, you will be walked through both with audio instructions and corresponding on-screen actions in windows to remove the Linux OS files from the two partitions used by the machin...

How To: Install Microsoft Office 2008 on your Macbook Pro

This video from TechFusionVids presents how to install Microsoft Office 2008 on Macbook Pro.All installation process takes about 5 minutes. Insert Microsoft Office 2008 installation disk, double click on the installer icon when Office installation window opens.Click Continue two times, agree to software license agreement, type your name and name of your computer, click Continue again.Window opens saying you should close all running applications before starting further installation.Once it's d...

How To: Dual boot Windows Mobile & Android

This will illustrate us how to dual boot Windows Mobile and Android. Here are the following steps:Step 1: First of all switch on your mobile and close all the running taskStep 2: Go on the start menu and press the center scroll key, the menu will open up.Step 3: Now go on setting and select itStep 4: various icons will appear, Now out of this choose the REboot function , the reboot will start.Strep 5 : enter reboot Windows And AndroidStep ^: after await of few minutes the reboot will be compl...

How To: Verify a drive on your Mac

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to verify a drive on a Mac computer. Begin by opening Finder and select Applications. Open Utilities and then select Disk Utility.app. Now select a disk drive that you would like to verify. Make sure that you are in the First Aid tab and check the Show Details. Then click on Verify Disk. Now wait for the drive to be verified. Once finished, it will display all the items that were checked. This video will benefit those viewers who use a Mac computer an...

How To: Delete temporary files in Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Debian

This video tutorial in Computers & Programming category will show you how to delete temporary files in Ubuntu, Linux Mint or Debian. For this you will need the program called bleachbit. You could get it from Bleachbit Sourceforge/ or from Synaptic package manager. For synaptic manager, click on ‘package manager’ in the ‘start’ menu and log into the program by typing your password. Then search for ‘bleachbit’, download and install it. Go to ‘terminal’, type in ‘su’ and enter, then type in your...

How To: Unzip a file with WinRAR file management software

You should use the file Winrar to unzip your file, it's the easiest. You're going to open up an internet browser and go to: Zybomen. Click on download, then click on Winrar. Click on the one that says 32bit, unless you've got a 64bit system which is the second one. Click run, then wait for it to download. Close your internet browser. Click install, go through the process. Right click on the file you would like to unzip, and then click on extract to and then the file name. Double click on the ...

How To: Delete temp files & free up hard drive space in Vista

In this how-to video, you will learn how to free up space in your hard drive. This example uses Windows Vista. Go to your recycle bin, right click, and select properties. Change the maximum size of the recycle bin to 200 or 300 megabytes. Next, go to the Start Menu, All Programs, and Accessories. Select System Tools and go to both Disk Cleanup and Defragmenter. Setup a schedule for defragmenting, and then click defragment. For Disk Cleanup, select My Files Only, select a drive, and click okay...

How To: Do a system restore in Windows Vista

In this video, we learn how to perform a system restore on an HP Touchsmart PC. A system restore will return your computer to a previous point in time. This will not change anything you've currently downloaded or any files you have. First, go to the main desktop then click on "start", then "all programs" then "pc help and tools" then click on "recovery manager". A page will pop up and click on "advanced options". You will now be presented will several options, choose the one that says "restor...

How To: Turn off sticky keys on a PC

In this how-to video, you will learn how to turn off sticky keys in Windows XP. You will need a computer running Windows XP in order to perform this. First, go to the start menu and click control panel. Go to the accessibility icon and click it. A new window will open. From here, uncheck the option for sticky keys. You can make any further changes in this window. Once you are done, click okay on all the windows to save the new setting. Now you will not have sticky keys when using your compute...

How To: Extract and unzip files on a Mac using UnRarX

This is a tutorial that will learn you how to extract or unzip files on a Mac using UnRarX. First go on the site mentioned in the video scroll down and click on download. Go where you selected to download the file and open the program. Drag all the files you need to extract or unzip there then select the folder or destination where you want to get the files and the program will do all the work. The file you have selected to be unzipped or extracted will be in the place you selected and ready ...

How To: Uninstall a program in Windows 7

This video by Butterscotch shows viewers how to uninstall a program in Windows 7. To begin, click on the start button at the bottom-left of the screen. Click 'Control Panel' in the boxes that pop up. Click 'System and Security'. On the left side of the window, there will be a link marked 'Programs'. Click on it. Click 'Uninstall a program' beneath the 'Programs and Features' heading. Highlight the program you want to uninstall, then click the 'Uninstall/Change' button near the top of the wind...

How To: Shrink a Windows Vista partition and install iATKOS

This video presents how to defragment and shrink a Windows Vista partition using Perfect Disk 2008 Professional program.First you need to download and install software application named Perfect Disk 2008.Type Perfect Disk 2008 into Google search engine, choose first link from the list.On the Raxco software home page choose Free Evaluation option from the list to the right.Download and install Perfect Disk 2008 Professional.Once it is installed, run the application. From Menu choose Analyze op...

How To: Reduce memory usage in Windows XP to speed it up

This video tutorial in Computers & Programming category will show you how to reduce memory usage in Windows XP to speed it up. The 1st method is to press Windows logo key and pause break together. The 2nd method is to go to start > control panel > system. Now the system properties box will come up. Here you click on ‘advanced’ tab. Now click the ‘settings’ tab under ‘performance’. Click on ‘visual effects’, select ‘adjust for best performance’ and click ‘apply’. Then under the ‘custom’ drop d...

How To: Clean up your Windows registry & get rid of cookies

Some times malicious programs can infect your registry and fill it with lots of unwanted information. You may need to clean it to prevent the virus from causing any further damage to your computer or to even disable the virus. It is a very lengthy and complex process to do this manually. So you will need to use one of the powerful free tools available online. Hijack This is one of the most powerful program that can be used for this purpose. So go the website and download this free tool. Insta...

How To: Remove a Windows partition from your Mac hard drive

techstuff1227 narrates an HD-quality educational video about how to remove a Windows partition from a Macintosh computer using the Bootcamp software. To accomplish this easy task: open the Finder application, view your installed Applications, browse to the Utilities list and expand it to view the Disk Utility. Open the Disk Utility application. Once the hard drive information is displayed, click on the Windows partition, click on the minus (-) button, and a confirmation dialog will appear. Cl...

How To: Secure your Macbook Pro

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to secure a Mac Book Pro. Begin by opening the System Preferences and select Security under Personal. In the General tab, users are able to put on a password when the computer goes to sleep or screen-saver, disable automatic log in and log out after a certain amount of minutes. To set a password, go back to System Preferences and select Accounts under System. Then click on Change Password and input your password. This video will benefit those viewers ...

How To: Change a "file association" on PC

This video tutorial from butterscotch presents how to change file associations on your computer.File association is a link between a certain type of file (.doc, .gif, .txt) with a particular program.For example text files are by default associated with Notepad application.So if you double-click text file it will be automatically opened in this program.In case you want to open this file in a different type of program, you need to change the file association.To do that, right click the file, th...

How To: Activate your new copy of Windows

This video describes how to activate your new copy of windows. When you get a new computer or install a new copy of windows you have to activate it within 30 days. When you activate windows the activation process gathers information about your hardware and activates your copy of windows. You will click on the button that says activate windows online. It may take a few minutes and then it will be activated once it gathers all of the information from your computer. This is simply a method of pr...

How To: Create a System Restore point in Windows XP

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to create a System Restore point on a Windows XP computer. Begin by clicking on the Start menu and go to All Programs. Open the Accessories menu and select System Tools. Go down the menu and select System Restore. Check Create a Restoring Point and click Next. Now type in a description for the restoring point and click Create. You will then create a restoring point for you to access whenever you want to restore back to that point. This video will bene...

How To: Disable stickeykeys on a PC

This video is about removing sticky keys. The video begins with clicking on start in Windows XP, clicking on settings, control panel, accessibility options. In accessibility options you will see three key options which are unchecked. Click on settings of the first option which is the Use StickyKeys option and you will see five options of which the first three should be checked. In the second option which is the Use FilterKeys option ,there are five options which should be checked except for t...

How To: Get the copy and move to folder function in Windows

Steps taken to get the Copy to and Move to folder function in Windows 7 are:1. Go into the description and click the download link, to download the files2. After downloading the registry file you will see a zip file, which you need to extract using the software called Win Zip.3. After extracting the zip file, you will see two registry file (copy to and move to) execute both the registry file and give Yes, so that the file gets installed successfully.4. After successful installation, it is rec...

How To: Create a password-protected sparse disk image in OS X

When you are sending any files over a network it is advised to encrypt it so that no can read it even if they get hold of it. You can encrypt files in Mac OS for this purpose. So first take any file or program that you want to encrypt. Open your hard disk and go to the applications. In the applications, under utilities open the Disk Utility program. Using this disk utility program you can create an encrypted disk image. Now this image will act as a disk image or other flash drive, but we can ...

How To: Setup your printer on a Macbook Pro

This video demonstrates how to setup a printer on a Macbook Pro.Open the document you wish to open. Go the File menu on the top bar menu and select Print. On the Print dialogue box, you will notice that no printer is selected. Click on the drop down menu to select Add A Printer. Click on the IP found on top of the window. Change the protocol to IPP or Internet Printing Protocol. On the address bar, type in the address of your printer then click on Add. Once done, you can now print your docume...

How To: Fix time sync issue when dual booting Ubuntu & Windows

Ubuntu and Windows may have trouble syncing time because when they are dual booted, they both assume that your hardware clock is set to a different time setting. Ubuntu assumes that your clock is set to UTC and Windows assumes that your clock is set to local time. Answers Launchpad has solutions to fix the syncing issues. To correct the issue, configure Ubuntu to be set to local time. Launch your terminal window and click on the description box. In the code string change the UTC default value...

How To: Find your basic computer information

The speaker in this video will show you how to find basic computer information of your computer. In this video, he is using a computer with Windows XP. You begin by clicking on the "start" button located at the bottom left corner of the screen, then highlight "settings", and then click on "control panel". A window will then pop up. Double click on the icon labeled "system". Under the general tab, the basic computer information for your computer will show up. You will see various information s...

How To: Format your PC external hard drive to work with a Mac

Thinking of switching to a Mac using an external hard disk, you'll need to format it so that the Mac can recognize it. In your Mac, go to finder, then applications. Scroll down to where it says disk utility and then select it. Here select your hard disk and press the partition button in the screen that comes up. Make two partitions and rename them to whatever you want. After that change the format of the partition to Mac OS extended. Now just press the apply button to apply the changes, be su...