Recommended Downloads - Smart Defrag

Windows has a perectly capable Disk Defrag utility built in, but if like us you would like one that is a bit quicker and more attractive to look at you could always try Smart Defrag made by a company called iobit

Onr particularly useful feature we find is the option to shut the computer down when it has finished the Defrag, this means that you can leave your computer to do the task before you go to bed and it will shut down when complete meaning you don't have to keep checking to see if it has finished.

You can download Smart Defrag, which is free, from here.

"Defrag"

Over time your computer may become slow when trying to access files from the machine, this can sometimes happen when the Hard Dick Drive becomes fragmented.

When the computer saves a file, this is saved in the next available space and not in any particular order, when the computer has to look for the file it has to search over all un-used as well as used space.

One aid to this is to "Defrag" your computer if you are on Windows Vista just type defrag into the machine to find the program and in Windows XP click Start then All Programs, Accessories, System Tools and then click Disk Defragmenter.

When the defragmenter starts to work it moves all the data into one logical area so that when you are looking for a particular file the computer can quickly use this logical order to find the file.

Icon sizes

Ever thought that the icons are too small on your desktop well in Windows Vista you can now change the size of them.
Click on the desktop and hold down the CTRL key whilst moving the scroll wheel on your mouse up and down you should now see the icons increase and decrease in size as you move the wheel.

Handy QuickTip - Shutting Down

To quickly shut down your Windows XP computer press the Windows key then press U twice.

Questions

At PCQuickTips we are always happy to answer your questions and we would like to thank everybody who has sent us a message for there question to be answered.
Please keep your questions coming in to us either by emailing us on our contact link or by posting a question under the tips we provide.

Handy QuickTip - Web searching

When searching for a website, there is no longer any need to go to a search page to do so, just type in what you are looking for directly into the browsers address bar at the top of the page.

Installing Windows on more than one computer

You may have a Windows disc that came with your computer and we have been asked if this can be installed on another computer.

The simple answer to this is no, each copy of Windows come with its own unique "product-key" which is kind of a serial number for that copy you have.

The disc will let you go as far as installing the software but will ask you for the serial number and then you have to activate either via the Internet or by phone.

Recommended Web Sites - myhotspots.co.uk

Staying on the Wi-Fi theme this week we have a web site to recommend.

If you are visiting an area in the UK and want to find a place to connect to the Internet you can find out where to connect to by using www.myhotspots.co.uk

Just type in the name of the town you are visiting and the site will give you all of the hotspots in the area.

You can even click on a map of the hotspot to see exactly where it is.

Click here to visit the site.

Handy QuickTip - Increasing size of text in your Internet Browser

Having trouble reading text on a web page in Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Firefox?

Hold down CTRL and the "+" key and the text will enlarge, press a couple of times to make the text bigger still.

If you would like to decrease the size hold down the CTRL key and the "-" key.