1. Open Windows Explorer and right-click the "Homegroup" icon in the Navigation pane. Select "Change HomeGroup Settings."

2. Click "Leave the homegroup" link.

Windows will ask for confirmation.

3. Click "Leave the homegroup."

4. Close Explorer.

5. Open the Run dialog box, type services.msc, and press Enter.

Windows will open the Services window.



6. Look for the following two services:...

Get ready for USB 3.0. Long in development, the successor to the popular USB 2.0 standard boasts greatly improved data transfer speeds and bi-directionality - meaning that data can be both sent and received simultaneously. The first USB 3.0 devices were unveiled at the recent Intel Developer Conference (IDF) in San Francisco. USB 3.0 will be backward compatible with USB 2.0.

The Adobe CS4 Master Suite installation--perhaps other CS4 installations--will not function properly if Copernic desktop search is running (note its presence in system tray). Close Copernic, and CS4 will install properly.

Even if you uninstall Adobe Drive CS4, a stupid menu entry remains in the Explorer context-sensitive menu. I have to say, Adobe products are frustrating as hell both to install or to remove. The company is going to kill itself with this nonsense.

Anyway, I finally found a way to remove this context sensitive entry, thanks to neowin:

Any of you who have installed Adobe CS4 will know you will get a context menu entry for Adobe CS4 Drive, even if you chose not to install...

Default setting:
%windir%\explorer.exe

My Computer
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /E,::{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}

My Documents
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /N,::{450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103}

Recycle Bin
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /N,::{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

Network Neighborhood
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /N,::{208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D}

Default Web Browser or...

HKEY_CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Option s

3. Right-click on Options, choose New | String Value, type DefaultPath, and press [Enter].
4. Double-click the DefaultPath icon to open the Edit String dialog box.
5. In the Value Data text box, enter the path to the folder you want to use as your default for saving e-mails and attachments.
6. Click OK and then close the Registry Editor.

I love this tip, and it works:

http://www.trilithium.com/johan/2004/12/places-bar/
Taking the Places bar to new places

In Windows 2000, a new feature was added to the Open and Save As common dialogs: the Places bar. It's a vertical button bar at the left-hand side of the dialogs, giving quick access to five standard locations: History, Desktop, My Documents, My Computer, and My Network Places.

If you have renamed My Documents, My Computer, or My Network...

Scammers are out in full force these days online. They'll try to dupe you by e-mail or through Web sites, and they typically want one of two things: your money or your personal information. To make sure you don't give them either, you need to keep abreast of some of the tricks they're using. Read on to learn about a few.

Q: I received an e-mail from what appears to be my credit card company. The e-mail says that my credit card was used in a number of fraudulent transactions,...

Suffering from e-mail overload in Outlook? Run the Rules Wizard to identify a type of message that, in the future, you'd rather see in a different folder. Right-click the message in your inbox for which you'd like to create a rule, and click Create Rule from the resulting pop-up menu. Specify how you'd like that type of message treated in the future.

Computers use a lot of electricity. But you can offset some of the energy used by adopting green computing practices. These include reducing the amount that you print, turning off your computer and monitor when not in use, as well as using sleep and hibernate modes when your computer is on. When it's time to buy a computer, consider a notebook or small-size desktop. These use less electricity than traditional desktops.