In previous versions of Windows it can be a tedious task managing music, photos, documents and other files that are scattered in different directories on your hard drive.  Today we take a look at the new Libraries feature in Windows 7 that allows you to organize folders from multiple locations in one spot.

Using Libraries

To access your Libraries click on Start then your user name to open up your personal folder.

Does your download folder constantly get cluttered with old files that you don’t even remember downloading? Sure, you can always just delete the contents of the folder and start over, but a better way is to teach your computer how to clean it for you.

The single most visible change in Windows 7 is the new “dock style” taskbar, which shows icons instead of buttons, with all application windows combined within a single button. I’m quite certain that the very first question many people will have is “How do I turn it off?”, and this article will show you how.

Note that I’m not advocating going backwards, I’m a fan of the new style and think you should give it a chance… but we’re all about giving you options, so here we go…

Tired of the System Restore feature in Windows 7 using up way too much of your drive space? You can easily tweak it with a simple slider bar, you just need to know where to look.

Tweak System Restore Disk Usage

Start by right-clicking on the Computer icon, and going to Properties, which will take you into the System panel.

Toggle File Extensions

Once you’ve downloaded and run the application, all you need to do is hit the Win+Y shortcut key while you have any folder open:

So you’re starting out fresh with the new Windows 7 operating system but notice there are some of your favorite Windows applications missing.  Today we take a look at the Windows Live Essentials installer for getting your favorite Microsoft applications set up.

VirtualBox from Sun is a great free virtual machine that lets you run multiple operating systems on your PC.  Today we take a look at installing the Guest Additions feature which provides enhanced performance of the guest operating system.

Note:  For this article we are using version 3.0.2 on a Windows 7 (32-bit) guest OS.

Install Guest Additions for Windows

Every so often, we hear about a new and horrible virus spreading across the internet, infecting millions of Windows computers. Today we’ll show you the steps to remove those threats and (hopefully) prevent them from happening in the future.

Note: The latest horrible virus is set to hit on April 1st, 2009. It’s called Conficker, and we’ll explain how to make sure you are safe.

Within a few hours of Windows 7 being released my inbox started filling up with readers asking what Anti-Virus software they should install in Windows 7. Since this seems like such an important topic, I decided to make a list of packages that work.

Our Recommendation

BitLocker is an encryption feature available in Ultimate and Enterprise versions of Windows 7 and Vista, but requires a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) on the system. Not all systems include TPM and today we take a look at how to bypass it so you can use BitLocker.

Enable BitLocker