Winaero

How to reduce the size of the WinSxS directory in Windows 7

The WinSxS folder is the Component store located in your C:\Windows directory where core Windows files reside including the bits needed to turn on and off any Windows features you enable from the Control Panel. Not only are these files critical to the operation of Windows but when updates to Windows are installed, these files get updated.

However, there is an issue which was introduced in Windows Vista - that every time you receive updates for the OS, the WinSxS folder dramatically grows in size. A commonly asked question by many people using modern versions of Windows is "Why is the WinSxS folder so big?" There was no real solution to reduce the size of this folder on Windows 7 and Vista and delete older superseded update files until now. Windows 8 and above shipped with built-in options to clean up the updates cache and WinSxS, but Windows 7 and Vista users were out of luck. That changes today.

Daily Bing #19 theme for Windows 8

Download Winaero ColorSync

Winaero ColorSync.

Allows you to apply the color of the Start Screen to window borders automatically.
Leave a comment or view the full description

Winaero ColorSync

Winaero ColorSync is very tiny application (441 kb) which is native and portable.

It will allow you:
- to use the Start screen background color as a color for the window border
- to use the window border as a color for the Start screen background.
This can be done automatically or manually
Get the solid and stylish UI in your Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.

Latest version is 2.0, it got lots of improvements, see the change log below!

FIX: Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 does not see the DVD drive after a reboot

Sometimes in Windows, you may face the following issue: after a reboot, your DVD or Blu-ray drive disappears from the This PC folder! Its drive letter disappears completely, and despite what you may have tried, it does not work. The Device Manager shows an exclamation mark for your optical drive and says the drivers for it cannot be installed. Here is how to fix this issue and get your DVD drive working again.

Nature HD#14 theme for Windows 8

How to delete your personal settings from SkyDrive in Windows 8.1

When you sign in to Windows 8.1 with a Microsoft account, various PC settings and app data you choose to sync are also saved on SkyDrive. SkyDrive is a free cloud storage service which is integrated into Windows 8.1. By signing in with your Microsoft account, you can sync a wide variety of settings, including (but not limited to) Metro and desktop personalization settings, passwords, app settings, browser settings, and more. However, if you consider synchronizing all this data a privacy risk, then you can remove it from SkyDrive. Here's how to do that.

StartIsGone for Windows 10 and Windows 8.1

After release of Windows 8.1 I found its Start button useless. Seriously, there are no issues for me if that button is not shown on the taskbar. Sure, I miss the old good Start menu. Menu! Just one button can't restore the classic UX. So I decide to restore the behavior of Windows 8, with blackjack and hookers.

StartIsGone

StartIsGone is my latest application which allows you to remove the Start Button in Windows 8.1 and get the extra space on the taskbar.
Latest version is 2.1.0.0, see the change log.
It is freeware, portable application which does not require .NET Framework or installation.
It is just icon in your tray with few options in the context menu.

Do you know all these ways to open an elevated command prompt in Windows?

In my articles, you often see instructions to open the cmd prompt as admin. Usually I mention only one way to open an elevated command prompt, but you can use several ways to perform this action. Today I would like to share with you all the possible cool ways to open an elevated command prompt, including new undiscovered and hidden methods you may not be aware of. Let's explore all of these interesting methods.

How to disable search on the ‘New tab’ page in Google Chrome

Certain versions of Google Chrome for Windows as well as Android have recently rolled out an updated "New tab" page which has a prominent Google Search box on the page. Google claims they made this change because users were not discovering that they could search from the address bar and still used to go to Google.com to search.

However, if you are not happy with the "Search" text box above the thumbnails of the most visited sites, you might want to disable it. The good old "New tab" feature had some really useful features like recently closed tabs including tabs from other devices. If you are interested in getting those features back, here are simple instructions on how to disable Search on the 'New tab' page in Google Chrome.