Windows downloads

Some larger software downloads, such as the Windows slipstreaming tool Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK), are distributed as as an .iso file, which you need to burn to a CD or DVD in order to use. Or do you? To save you the bother of burning a disc, or to test it first, you can 'mount' the .iso file (turn it into a virtual CD or DVD),which makes it appear to Windows as an optical disc drive. All you need is an ISO mounting program such as Virtual CloneDrive from www.slysoft.com/en/.

In Windows 7, Microsoft wisely dialled back the prompts that drove Vista users to distraction. There’s no denying that UAC, which necessitates your explicit approval before any major system change, is a good thing, but Vista’s implementation was enough to make you want to switch it off altogether. No doubt that’s just what many people did. The Windows 7 implementation of UAC strikes a much more comfortable balance between safety and usability. Still, there are times when you may need to circumvent a particular UAC prompt. Here we show you how.

Dropbox has become extremely popular as an automatic way of backing up data to the Internet and making it accessible from multiple computers. While it works very well and on a wide variety of operating systems and devices, it has two potential annoyances. The first is that by default, it only duplicates files in the set Dropbox folder, which the software itself sets up. The other is that it only gives you 2GB of online storage for free. Here we'll show how sync files from outside your Dropbox folder, and how to gain some more storage for free.

Windows Search has gradually improved with each successive version of the operating system. However, while searching in Windows 7 is pretty good, it’s geared towards finding documents and although it's a good thing that it searches file contents as well as filenames, that does slow down searching. So what do you do if you want to find a particular file, no matter what its type, really quickly? Try Everything.

If you frequently sing the praises of Windows Explorer for managing files, you’ll change your tune after trying Q-Dir. This freeware program from SoftwareOK allows a display of up to four windows. You can vary the layout of the windows and their number by clicking one of the grey icons in the toolbar to the right of the menu bar. 

KeePass has a number of positive attributes for budget-conscious password management users. For starters, it’s free, it’s open source and it’s available across multiple platforms. It also supports a number of extensions that allow you to hook it into your browser, import data files into KeePass and so on. Our only concern here is the teams that develop the extensions are separate to the team that develops KeePass, meaning you could inadvertently introduce a backdoor of sorts into your precious password data. KeePass is small and easy to use, with only a few predetermined fields.

One of several free tools we tested, CCleaner is a very powerful registry and system cleaner, exceeding the likes of Lavasoft and RegCure in terms of its capabilities, if not in ease of use. As the name implies, CCleaner’s primary task is removing private information, along with any trace of what you’ve done and where you’ve been. It does that extremely well, even getting rid of crash memory dumps and thumbnail information. The built-in registry cleaner also does an excellent job.

Like CCleaner, Eusing’s cleaner is completely free, although it nags you a little for donations, and actually does an excellent job of cleaning the registry despite that. It scanned our system very quickly and picked up all 31 major problems in our registry, along with some others. Its scan was as comprehensive as any commercial product. It keeps a record of changes made, so you can revert any changes that might cause problems. You can also do a complete registry backup. There’s not much more to the program than the registry scanner, however.

Are you using an unfamiliar keyboard and keep hitting the wrong key? Or are you typing on the same 104-keyboard you always have, but hit the Caps Lock key when aiming for Tab or Shift? Perhaps your notebook or netbook has some misplaced or missing keys? You can eliminate these keyboard annoyances by changing the scan code Windows sees when you press a key. The painless way to do this is with a keyboard remapper. Here we provide some tips on using two free remappers: SharpKeys and KeyTweak.

If you regularly work with a large number of open applications, but are frustrated trying to find a particular program among the clutter, you need a virtual desktop manager. This lets you organise a large number of open apps into groups, called virtual desktops, which you can quickly switch between. Each virtual desktop contains either the number of apps you feel will comfortably display simultaneously on your monitor or apps you’re using together for a particular project.