Today I’m going to tell you about a really cool download that will help you organize and keep your desktop clean and tidy. The program is called Fences and you can get it here. These are the same people who make ObjectDock which is clearly an idea they got from Apple.

With Fences you can add files and folders to the application on your desktop by simply dragging and dropping the items into the “Fence”. You can make as many Fences as you wish, the default is two, and name them whatever you want. The “boxes” you create can be resized just like a window by dragging the edges and corners. Depending on the size of your Fences a scroll bar will appear and grow according, just like a window, dependent upon how you sized them on your desktop.

You can move every box to wherever you want to on your desktop. And, there is a feature where a double click on the desktop will cause your boxes to disappear. Another double click will make them reappear.

All in all, Fences is a wonderful program for the unorganized and a bonus to those who are already organized and wish to remain that way. Fences is totally customizable. You can change the color scheme or take snapshots of your layout at any time.

Popularity: 9% [?]

For all the years that I have been using computers I’ve used a registry cleaner maybe three times. And, on all of those occasions I never really saw a dramatic difference in system performance afterwards. In my opinion it is simply not worth using a registry cleaner.

There is no reliable way for a third party program to know whether any particular key is invalid, redundant or neither.

Badly designed registry cleaners may not know for sure whether a key is still being used by Windows or what harmful effects removing it may have. This has led to examples of registry cleaners causing departure of functionality and/or system imbalance.

Although the advantages look like they out balance the disadvantages it will only cause harm to the system.

My principal belief is that the best registry cleaner is no registry cleaner at all. Most people simply don’t need it and don’t need to have one.

Some people reach for a registry cleaner when an application is having problems, or when Windows is not functioning as it should. The problem is that these types of situations rarely respond to registry “cleaning” it often requires application or Windows-specific resolution.

Popularity: 10% [?]

If you have broken shortcuts and need a way to manage them ShortcutsMan may be the utility for you. Though not the worse thing that could ever happen to your computer. Why not be neat and tidy if you can be?

This standalone application, meaning you do not have to install anything, will list all broken shortcuts on your desktop and under your start menu. All shortcuts that do not point to a file will be highlighted in pink.

You can try to fix them, delete them, or save the shortcut’s details to a file.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Here is how you disable zip files from being shown as folders.

Click Start -> Run and enter this string regsvr32/u zipfldr.dll
Click OK

You should receive a prompt that says “DllUnregisterServer in zipfldr.dll succeeded.”

To restore to the default simply do the same with this regsvr32 zipfldr.dll

Popularity: 11% [?]

Here are some basic steps you can take to ensure that your PC runs as smoothly as possible. Some of these steps will actually cure what ails your system.

1. Empty your Internet cache.

Firefox: Tools -> Clear Recent History… -> Here you can choose a time range to clear choose “Everything” .

Internet Explorer 8: Tools -> Internet Options -> On the General tab under Browsing History chose Delete… -> Here you can pick and choose from options. when you are ready hit Delete then OK.

Opera 10: Tools -> Delete Private Data… -> Here you may click Detailed Options if you wish. Either way then hit Delete.

2. Free up disk space.

Empty Recycle Bin.

Remove installed programs that you no longer use. Start -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs.

Use Disk Cleanup: Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Cleanup.

Empty your Temp Folder. Reboot and immediately empty your Windows Temp folder. Please note to make sure that you can see your hidden folders before beginning.

Remove optional Windows components that you do not use.

3. Streamline programs you have running at startup.

Check this site for information http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php on which programs you have running at startup and which are necessary and which you can disable.

Use the application’s options to prevent it from running at startup. If this is not possible use MSCONFIG. Start -> Run… -> and in the box type MSCONFIG. Choose the startup tab and you will see the programs that are running on your computer at startup. Just remember that MSCONFIG is more of a diagnostics tool so it may not always prevent an application from running at startup. This is why you should use the application itself to enable or disable startup procedures.

4. Scandisk and defrag

Make sure you use scandisk and defrag on a regular basis. Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools.

5. Keep spyware and malware at bay

This can really hurt the performance of your computer. So, use google to search for free programs or invest in a good spyware and or malware combination program.    

Popularity: 13% [?]

I bet you didn’t know email messages aren’t really deleted when you hit the delete key. I’m sure you’ve heard all about the files, etc… on your computer that aren’t really deleted. But, this is probably quite a surprise to you. Yes or No?

In quite the same way as files all your email program does is to rewrite a few characters in the file in order to tell itself that a particular email has been “deleted.”

One particular marking in the file indicates that the email has been deleted, so the program shows it in the Trash folder. A different marking shows it has been deleted from the Trash folder. But, it really has not been deleted from the email storage files.

It is actually quite simple to delete your email messages while at the same time making your email files and folders smaller and optimized.

In Outlook Express click File > Folder > Compact All Folders.

For Eudora (to the best of my memory) click Special / Compact Mailboxes.

In Outlook, the process is much more complicated to compact one of its .pst files. The process, from the main Outlook Express window is to select File, Data File Management, select a file, click the Settings button, then click Compact Now button.

1. On the main Outlook window, Click on File, then Data File Management.
2. This will open a dialog box labelled “Outlook Data Files” — and Inbox, Deleted, Sent etc ARE NOT displayed or choices in this dialog box.
3. In my case, the only folder shown has the name “Personal Folders”. I click on it to select it, then click on the Settings button. This opens another dialog box labelled Personal Folders.
4. It has two buttons “Change Password…” and “Compact Now”
5. Click “Compact Now” — it will take a while.
6. Then click OK to close the dialog box.

Popularity: 15% [?]