Microsoft said that Vista SP1 would offer application compatibility and driver improvements, but what i've experienced is that Vista SP1 delivers more problems than it fixes. And I thought Vista was supposed to be such a good OS (back when I first bought it on January 31, 2007) Overall, Vista works well for me, but after I installed the RC1 version of SP1, DesktopX wouldn't load and windows said something like "dxwidget.exe has stopped working" after startup.

My windows Complete PC Backup &...

I know that I shouldn't probably even talk about this, but no Windows computer is safe, no matter what OS you're using. Even with the most advanced computer security software, you're not safe. And no, i'm not talking about malware. The ultimate safeguard, delete Notepad and other basic text editors. These programs are tools that even the most inexperienced hackers can use. Notepad can corrupt all non-text files on your PC.

I've tested Notepad on a few copies of certain files, one being a p...

Is it just me, or does Office 2007 not like images? When working with Word on my website, calendars, icons, whatever, I observe WINWORD.EXE every now and then in Task Manager, and upon saving, WINWORD tops up around 250 MB of system memory, when it normally takes up around 20-30 MB for a blank document. Upon building my calendars, I have about 40 some images loaded on the same page! The whole page is made up of images. But what I don't understand is that intermittently, I see WINWORD spike u...

Got birthdays, anniverseries, business meetings, appointments, and the like? We all like to write down events on our calendars, but the problem is that my new 2009 calendar's dates don't have any room to write any events down. That's why i'm adding a new "Events Bar" on the bottom of the calendar. Up to three custom events can be edited via Word Document.

I'm also adding new orange tiles for days 1-31, so it'll be easy to spot what day an important event is on. I pre-made WordArt messag...

If you own image editors such as Paint.NET or Photoshop which support layers, then it's easy to create a custom wallpaper based off of two existing images. First, the main "background" wallpaper needs to be opened. This can be a file of your choice. Afterwards, create a new layer and then open a second wallpaper file. Make the layered image semi-transparent (to your liking).Don't worry if the image loses it's contrast, this is normal.

Resize the layered image so it's resolution matches th...

All of us have a calendar installed on our PCs, whether it be Windows, Rainlendar, or others. But what about calendars you can hang on your wall? I admit rainlendar has some pretty cool skins, but using Microsoft Word, and Paint.NET, I'm starting to create a new 2009 calendar set. It's silver & blue, and uses the power of Paint.NET to create custom effects, such as Drop Shadows, Glows, Reflections, and high-quality 32-bit PNG images instead of boring solid, gradient, or patterned backgrounds....

If there is one key on the keyboard that I can't live without, it's the PrintScreen key. It's my personal favorite, and probably the most powerful key for web and graphic designers. It allows images created from other programs which don't have image saving capabilities (such as Microsoft Office programs) to be outputted onto the Clipboard. Importing images is a snap. Just open your favorite image editor and click "Paste". (I personally use MS Paint or Paint.NET)

More than likely, you don'...

When you encrypt a file, the filename & extension remain the same usually. If you want to really secure your sensitive information such as pictures, financial information, etc. to yourself, all you have to do is rename the file extension and file name.

You could legitimately rename an image such from "Image.jpg" to "Readme.txt". At first it appears to be corrupted. It isn't. If you rename it from "Readme.txt" to "Image.jpg", it will remain untouched. This isn't perfect, so use with enc...

Explaining this in one article would be WAY TOO LONG........so I've decided to split this into multiple articles.

Part 1: Downloading Images from the Web There are many downloadable icons on the web, IconPackager themes, and the like. But what if you wanted to customize your PC with images from the web?

Whoever said that a folder icon had to have a picture of a folder anyway? What if you wanted to apply images to a folder that are from specific vendors, down to the make and model numbe...

Are you tired of the plain white background in Windows Explorer? Are file dialogs and pop-ups boring to look at? Well, thats about to change.After I submitted my first article, "Skinning your Windows Explorer Background", something hit me; What if users could apply a suite of images to explorer to match your favorite Windowblinds Skin? (Or at least get rid of that ugly White Background) Soon enough, I will create image packages specially designed for customizing Windows Explorer called "Explo...

I've been using SkinStudio 6 for a few months now, but what i've recently noticed is that you can't skin windows message boxes. I want to customize message boxes by applying my own icons and background. Why doesn't Skinstudio 6 support this? When it does, when will it be available?In the meanwhile, are there any MessageBox editors which can customize the message icon as well as the background?

With a typical installation of Windows (regardless of what version is installed), the Windows Explorer background is white. HOW BORING!!! With a little experimentation with Skinstudio 6, I found out that you could use any Bitmap or PNG file to fill your Windows Explorer background. Don't believe me? Click on the link at the bottom of the article, then you will believe me. I also skinned the left & top navigation bars and filled it with seperate images.To effectively fill the entire explorer bac...