One of the most ridiculous features of Vista are the continuous "confirmation" messages. Messages that pop up nearly every time you attempt to run any unknown application. Almost all of which are completely unnecessary, and waste time. Here is how you can disable these annoying uac notifications, quickly and eas

A lightweight software at 477KB, Sofonesia Folder Protector requires .Net Framework to function. Beyond that, hiding the folders is a cinch. Just add multiple files to the protected folder's list and click. The software also does not encrypt the contents, it only hides the folder. Folder Protector also works in the Safe Mode. Password protection also has a failsafe in a "˜Forget password' hint quest

SyncBack - We have already covered the SyncBack backup tool earlier, but basically, it's another backup software. Although the app has both free and paid versions, the free one has enough features for running local back

Hinx Backup Easy doesn't have that many features as the one above but if you're looking for a simple automated backup tool it's a worthy candidate. Similar to Comodo, Backup Easy also allows you to backup files to a local drive or FTP server. There is also a scheduler to run backups on a regular basis. Backup Easy can do both full and incremental backups. In the latter case, it runs full backup only once, every backup afterwards just changes the files that were modified since last bac

Most of us fire up Microsoft Word for our run of the mill document needs. Most of us don't peek under the hood to see and use Windowsmastery.com here the other ready at hand tools that are just a few clicks away. I too accuse myself of this common shortcoming. It is perhaps a dire need or a serendipitous event that lead me to exploit a feature until now igno

Nearly every single file on your computer contains some type of personal information - either information about the user, information on setting e.g. time, date, etc. In any case, it may be good to remove some of this information before making it available to the public, such as uploading a video or image onl

SuperStorm can also be easily run from a USB Drive as it is a self extracting application. The only limitation that the freeware version of SuperStorm has is that it can only handle file sizes of up to 1MB for encryption. Also, the freeware version lacks a password protection feature for the hidden file.The 623KB software is available for Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista from he

The program can run on all Java-supported systems. If you're on Windows, simply download the installer and run it. The installation is automatic. For OS's other than Windows, download the file, unzip it, and run the executable jar f

Or you can type the password randomly in a text file and then copy paste from there in random order. e.g to type MyPassword you could write rdPasswoMy and then copy paste in correct order(requires some work, I kn

The free version of Cryptainer though only allows for 25MB of "˜vault' space per disk volume. So if you are looking to hide larger files, this isn't the answer.The free version is available for Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista from he

This virtual TrueCrypt volume can be kept hidden thus making the files invisible. TrueCrypt can also encrypt an entire drive, partition or even an external storage device like a USB drive. As further evidence of its capabilities, TrueCrypt can also encrypt the Windows boot partition or the entire boot drive. Furthermore it has the ability to create and run a hidden encrypted operating system. With these advanced features, TrueCrypt has become a power user's favorite t

Comodo Backup [No Longer Available] is an excellent backup utility from the creators of Comodo Firewall. It's free, easy to use and have everything you might need. You can easily backup your local files and folders to anywhere on your computer, network, DVD / CD or even FTP server. Plus it can be set to run automatically on specified time interv

Windows Vista has a large amount of options when it comes to customization, as do nearly all Windows operating systems. Fortunately, Vista makes it even easier then you may believe to tweak your operating sys

WARNING : BEFORE making any changes to the Windows registry, it is highly recommended to make a backup in case anything goes wrong. To backup your Windows registry, tap your Windows key on the keyboard and "R". When the Run box comes up, type regedit . When the Registry box comes up, go to 'File' then 'Export'. Save the resulting file to your hard dr

Vista is riddled with an extremely large amount of "security" measures that may, or may not, be helpful. Running Vista as an Administrator may help, but did you know there is an even higher Administrator? Well, there is! All you need to do to unlock it is the follow

The above tools are handy for running hard drive backups to another partition, external drives or your own FTP server. However if you want to backup only a handful of files and store them on reliable third party servers then you can try a free online backup service called Mozy . It's quick to configure, fully automated and available both for Mac and Windows PCs. The only problem is that the free account gives you only 2 GB of storage space. See all Mozy features h