Motherboard Port Guide: Solving Your Connector Mystery

Numerous connectors and pins live on your motherboard. We take you on a tour of the most commonly used slots, connectors, and pinouts.

If you've ever opened a PC case and stared inside, or looked at a bare motherboard, you may be taken aback by the number and variety of connectors, pins, and slots that exist on a modern PC motherboard. In this guide I'll identify some of the most common (and a few uncommon) connectors on motherboards used in most home PCs. I won't cover server- or workstation-class boards here, just what you might find in a typical midrange or high-end home PC.

For a similar discussion of the ports that you're likely to encounter on the exterior of a PC case, see "Multiple Ports on Your PC: What Do They Do for You?"

Since no single motherboard contains every type of connectors, I've used photos of four different boards to illustrate key examples. In one or two instances, there is some overlap; but for the most part, connectors are mentioned only once. Many of them may exist across different motherboard designs, however.

Asus P5WDH Deluxe

Let's start with an older motherboard, an Asus P5WDH Deluxe. This motherboard has a few connectors that aren't included on current-generation boards, as wll as some that do are still included, but are more readily visible here.



Connections on an older Asus P5WDH Deluxe motherboard.

Audio front panel: This ten-pin connector links to the front-panel headphone and microphone inputs. The particular connector shown is an AC97 connector, which existed prior to multichannel HD audio. It's still in common use today.

Azalia digital audio header: You rarely find this connector, used to tie the motherboard to multichannel digital outputs on the case, on current motherboards.

Serial-port header: This connector isn't physically present on the board shown--you can just see the solder points for it. But this header does appear on a few modern boards. It supports a nine-pin, RS-232 serial port, usually as a bracket that occupies a slot space on the back of the case. A number of RS-232 connections remain in use today, mostly in point-of-sale devices or specialized test instruments. Consumer boards typically don't have them.

FireWire (IEEE 1994a): Once common as a digital camcorder interface, FireWire has largely been supplanted by USB, and the motherboard makers are gradually phasing it out. Some professional audio hardware still uses FireWire, though; you may also occasionally find higher-speed IEEE 1394b headers, but they are even rarer.

USB 2.0 front panel: These connectors are used to link to the front-panel USB ports on PC cases.

SATA connectors: These components connect via cables to various storage devices, including hard-disk drives, solid-state drives, and optical drives.

IDE connector: Rarely found today, IDE connectors were used to link to older hard drives. In addition, until a couple of years ago, many optical drives supported IDE. Today, all new storage devices ship with SATA.

Floppy disk connector: The venerable 3.5-inch floppy disk drive survived for nearly two decades--an eternity in the tech universe. But unless you have a pile of old floppies, you won't need a floppy drive. And if you do find yourself needing a floppy drive, you can always pick up an external, USB-connected drive.

Intel DP67BG

Now let's examine a more recent motherboard: an Intel D67BG, based on Intel's P67 chipset and supporting LGA 1155 CPUs (like the Sandy Bridge-based Core i7-2600K).

Intel D67BG motherboard: a modern Intel design.

DDR3 memory sockets: Current-generation PC systems use DDR3 memory, but in many instances they support different operating speeds. The P67 chipset used in this board maxes out at DDR3-1600, but to achieve that level of speed you'd have to overclock the chipset--officially the P67 supports only DDR3-1333. Here, we see four memory sockets. The system supports dual-channel memory, meaning that the system is populated with paired memory modules, which are mounted in sockets of the same color.

CPU fan header: This connector is specifically designed to link to the CPU cooling fan. The system BIOS monitors CPU cooling fan speeds; and if the fan isn't connected to this header, you may get an error at bootup.

Eight-pin ATX12V (CPU power) connector: Back when the Pentium 4 processor first shipped, Intel realized that high-performance CPUs needed their own source of clean, dedicated power beyond what the standard 24-pin power connector could deliver. Thus was born ATX12V. You'll see four-pin connectors on lower-end boards supporting CPUs with lower thermal design power (TDP), but the eight-pin version of the connector is used with higher-end processors and on boards that users may overclock.

Power for secondary fans: Many motherboards with secondary-fan power headers; these connectors are mainly used to power and monitor various case fans.

PCI Express x1 connector: PCI Express is a serial interface, though multiple lanes may be ganged together. The "x1" refers to a slot supporting a single PCI Express lane; it is used for I/O devices that don't require bidirectional bandwidth greater than 500 megabytes per second (gen 1 PCIe). Sound cards, for example, are typically PCIe x1 devices.

PCI Express x16 (graphics): PCI Express x16 slots are used mostly for graphics cards, though they can be used with any PCI Express card. Confusion may arise, however, because not all PCIe x16 slots are true PCIe x16. Occasionaly, you'll see PCIe x16 connectors that are physical slots for accommodating graphics cards, but are actually eight-lane (x8) or even four-lane (x4) electrically.

On some boards, even slots that support true 16-lane PCI Express for graphics may revert to eight lanes if you install a second graphics card into a second PCIe x16 slot on the motherboard. The P67 chipset, for instance, has only 16 total PCIe lanes for graphics. So if you drop in two graphics cards to run in dual GPU mode, each card will have just eight lanes available to it. This situation isn't as bad as it sounds, though, since even eight lanes in a PCIe 2.0- or 3.0-based system delivers plenty of bandwidth for most games.

32-bit legacy PCI slot: The now-classic 32-bit PCI slot has been around since 1993. A host of expansion cards support 32-bit PCI; and to accommodate them, most motherboards are likely to have at least one 32-bit PCI slot going forward. You may see some system boards configured so that a particular back-panel case bracket can support either a PCI slot or a PCIe slot, with some overlap between the two because they're very close together.

Front-panel switch header: This header connects various wires to the front panel of the case, where they link to power and reset buttons, and status LEDs for power and storage-drive activity.

Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7

Next we'll turn our attention to a motherboard that supports AMD CPUs. Note that AMD-chipset boards support many of the same features as Intel-based boards--that's the great thing about industry standards.

An AMD-compatible motherboard: the Gigabyte 990FXA-UD7.

24-pin ATX power: This connector exists on all current ATX-based motherboards, and is the standard means of connecting power from power supplies. This connector delivers power to all interfaces, including 3V, 5V, and 12V. The typical ATX12V version 2.3 PSU delivers up to 75W for PCI Express graphics cards; but numerous modern graphics cards need more than that, which is why you'll often find secondary six- or eight-pin power connectors on the graphics cards themselves.

ATX4P: This unusual item is actually a SATA power connector for delivering power to SSDs, hard drives, or optical drives from the motherboard itself.

TPM connector: Some off-the-shelf PCs and laptops use the Trusted Platform Module connector to link to a cryptographic processor module for storing encryption keys and handling dedicated encryption chores such as hard-drive encryption and certain types of digital rights management (DRM) decryption.

USB 3.0 front panel: This connector is used to drive front-panel USB 3.0 connectors. It requires more pins than USB 2.0 connectors do, but it drives two USB 3.0 ports instead of one. If your PC case lacks a USB 3.0 internal cable, you won't be able to use it. Like back-panel connectors, front-panel USB 3.0 ports are often color-coded blue.

AMD CPU socket: I'm calling out this component because its style differs from that of a modern Intel CPU socket. AMD CPUs still have pins, whereas Intel has moved the pins to the motherboard socket.

Intel DZ77GA-70K

I'm using a photo of just one section of this board, to call out some specific connectors and to get a little closer in. The Intel DZ77GA-70K motherboard is designed to accommodate the latest Intel Z77 chipset.

Part of the Intel DZ77GA-70K--a motherboard that hosts the latest Intel Z77 chipset.

Case fan header: As noted earlier, most higher-end motherboards have several of these fan headers scattered around the board. If enough of them are available, you should connect your fans to them, so that the BIOS can monitor and manage the fan speeds--unless you're a serious overclocker who uses separate fan-control modules.

PCI Express x4 slot: This relatively rare physical and electrical PCIe x4 slot is used for higher-performance networking cards and for some storage controller cards.

S/PDIF digital audio: This older type of connector was originally used to connect to CD-ROM drives. Today it's still used to connect to some optical drives and other audio devices that support S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) digital audio.

USB 3.0 front panel: The DZ77GA motherboard ships with two front-panel USB 3.0 connectors, driving up to four USB 3.0 ports on the front of the PC case.

High-current USB 2.0 front panel: This is a slightly different type of USB 2.0 connector. Though it acts as a normal USB 2.0 port when sending or receiving data, it can deliver extra current to permit fast charging of mobile devices, and it can even charge devices (like Apple's iPad) that requires more current than standard USB 2.0 normally delivers.

Consumer IR: This connector is used to attach front-panel infrared receivers, which enable users to control the PC via a standard programmable remote.

Diagnostic LEDs: Most motherboards have simple LEDs that light up or change color if the board experiences problems. A few higher-end boards, however, have these status LEDs, which flash an alphanumeric code that helps the user narrow down the source of a boot problem.

That wraps up our tour of various motherboard connectors, pins, and ports. Though I haven't covered all of the possibilities by any means, the ones listed here account for the vast majority of connectors you'll encounter on today's motherboards.

Rarely will you use every single connector on a board, but understanding these connectors should help you choose a PC case that suits your needs, or that accommodates new devices that you plan to add in an upgrade. Also, if you have a specific need, you'll be better able to shop for a motherboard capable of handling your application.

Move Your Data to a Safer, Separate Partition, Part 2: Vista

Restoring Windows to its brand-new condition (an occasionally necessary job) generally involves losing everything on the hard drive system partition. That includes your documents, photos, and everything else we collectively call data. Moving your data to a separate partition therefore adds an extra layer of security and convenience.

Before you begin, make an image backup of your drive, just to be safe.

Now let's shrink the existing partition and create a new one. Select Start, type diskmgmt.msc, and press ENTER. In the resulting Disk Management program, right-click the box for your hard drive partition and select Shrink Volume. Fill in the resulting dialog box. When the volume has shrunk, right-click the Unallocated box and select New Simple Volume and follow the wizard. The default settings will probably be fine.

Once you've got the two partitions set up, make sure that your PC shows hidden files and folders: In Windows Explorer, select Organize, then Folder and Search Options. Click the View tab, select Show hidden files and folders, and click OK. You can change this back when you're done, if you wish.

Then, just to be safe, back up your registry.

For convenience sake, I'm going to refer to the new partition, which is probably D: or E:, as X:. I'll also refer to your logon name as logon, as in C:\Users\logon\Documents.

Navigate in Windows Explorer to the data partition you just created (the one I'm calling X:) and create a new folder named with your logon name (which I'm calling logon). Then select Start and lick your logon name at the top of the Start menu to launch another Windows Explorer window, this one show your old C:\Users\logon folder.

Let's start by moving the Documents folder: Right-click Documents and select Properties. Click the Location tab. Enter X: \ logon \Documents as the new path. (By now you know what I mean by X: and logon, right?) Answer affirmatively to all of Windows' questions.

You may notice when Windows is finished that Documents is still visible in the C:\Users folder. Have no fear. That's just a pointer. The files are actually now on X:\. If you don't believe me, open up the Documents folder and click in the address bar, like this:



And you'll see something like this:

This same trick works in every folder in your login except AppData. You can decide which of these you want to move.

By the way, you might notice a couple of files in the login folder, named ntuser.*. Do not move these. They're part of the Registry. Even if they were moveable, they really belong on the Windows partition.

The AppData folder has stuff you want to move and stuff you don't. and Windows doesn't want you to move any of them. Here's how to move the parts that you should move:

In x:\logon, create an AppData folder. Then, in :\Users\logon, open the old AppData folder and drag the Roaming folder to D:\logon\appdata. This will copy, not move, that folder.

Now you have to edit the Registry. Select Start, type regedit, and press ENTER. In the left pane, navigate to and select HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders. Double-click the AppData value, change the 'Value data' field to X :\ logon \AppData\Roaming, and press ENTER. Reboot, go to C:\Users\logon\AppData\Roaming (make sure it's the one on C:) and delete every folder except Microsoft. That one, unfortunately, has to stay put.

If you're not using Outlook or Windows Mail, you're done. If you are, follow this extra instructions:

Outlook: In Windows Explorer, navigate to and select C:\Users\logon\AppData\Local\Microsoft. Inside this folder you'll find a subfolder named 'Outlook'. Move it to X:\logon\Application Data.

Then Select Start, Control Panel. Double-click the Mail icon (if you don't see this icon, click Switch to Classic View). Click the Data Files button. On the Data Files tab, click the Personal Folders listing (probably the only one). Click OK at the error message. Browse the resulting dialog box to X:\logon\Application Data\Outlook, double-click the displayed file, and close the various dialog boxes.

Windows Mail: Open Windows Mail and select Tools, Options, and click the Advanced tab, the Maintenance button, and then the Store Folder button. Click Change, and pick a new location. When you close Windows Mail, the program will copy the files to their new home.

Author: Lincoln Spector, PCWorld.

Move Your Data to a Safer, Separate Partition, Part 1: XP

Backing up, recovering from a disaster, and moving to a new PC are all easier if you keep your data--including documents, photos, and music--on a separate partition. But setting that up isn't easy. Windows and your applications expect to find data in particular locations, and you need to tell them that you've moved it. And I can't guarantee that some program or other won't object.

Because the specifics of this move vary greatly with different versions of Windows, I'll concentrate here on XP. Before you begin, make an image backup of your drive, then use a non-destructive imaging program to turn drive C: into two "drives." I recommend Acronis Disk Director Suite. Make the new partition a Logical, rather than Primary, one.

Once you've got the new partition set up, make sure that your PC shows hidden files and folders: In Windows Explorer, select Tools, Folder Options click the View tab, select Show hidden files and folders, and click OK. You can change this back when you're done, if you wish.

Then, just to be safe, back up your registry.

For convenience sake, I'm going to refer to the new partition, which is probably D: or E:, as X:. I'll also refer to your logon name as logon, as in C:\Documents and Settings\logon\My Documents.

So let's start:

Navigate Windows Explorer to X:, and create a folder there named with your logon (in other words, named Leo if that's the name you log on with). Open another Windows Explorer window to C:\Documents and Settings\logon folder. Everything you need to move is here. Unfortunately, Windows doesn't want you to move some of them, and others--well, you really don't want to move those.

Let's start with the easiest one: My Documents. Click Start, right-click My Documents, and select Properties. On the Target tab, in the Target field, enter X: \ logon \My Documents (you know what X: and logon mean by now, right?) and click OK. Click Yes to any question Windows asks you while it moves the files to the new location. You should also move the Application Data folder, but that's trickier. With both your new and old logon folders visible, drag the Application Data folder from the old to the new. Because they're on separate drives, this will copy, not move, the folder.

Now select Start, Run, type regedit, and press ENTER. In the left pane, navigate to and select HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders. Double-click the AppData value, change the 'Value data' field to X:\log-on\Application Data, and press ENTER. Reboot your computer, then delete the Application Data folder at C:\Documents and Settings\logon.

That may be enough, but some applications play by unique rules and need special treatment. Here are three popular examples--all by Microsoft. So, if you're using:

Internet Explorer: Use the same "drag the folder, then edit the Registry" technique I described for Application Data. Only this time, drag the Favorites folder, and change the Registry's Favorites key to point to the new location. Don't forget to reboot and delete the old folder.

Outlook: In Windows Explorer, navigate to and select C:\Documents and Settings\logon\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft. Inside this folder you'll find a subfolder named 'Outlook'. Move it to X:\logon\Application Data.

Then select Start, Control Panel. Double-click the Mail icon (if you don't see this icon, click Switch to Classic View). Choose Data Files, Settings. At the error message, click OK. Browse the resulting dialog box to X:\logon\Application Data\Outlook, double-click the displayed file, and close the various dialog boxes.

Outlook Express: Open Outlook Express, select Tools, Options, and click first the Maintenance tab and then the Store Folder button. Copy the contents of the resulting field to the clipboard, then select Start, Run, paste that address into the Run field, and ENTER to bring of that folder in Windows Explorer.

Return to Outlook Express and change the data folder's location here to a new folder on X: (my recommendation: X:\logon\Outlook Express). Then close Outlook Express and drag the files to the new location.

Author: Lincoln Spector, PCWorld

7 Backup Strategies for Your Data, Multimedia, and System Files

Nobody likes backing up, but one day, it’ll save your bacon. Here are the most efficient methods of protecting your stuff, no matter what your situation.

Your hard drive might crash. Thieves might steal your laptop at a café. You might realize on Friday that you desperately need the now-departed Wednesday version of an important document that you significantly altered on Thursday.

At times like these, having a secure, up-to-date backup of your hard drive can be a lifesaver. Here are seven practical strategies, including using USB storage, backing up via the Internet or through your local network, backing up Windows itself, and preserving huge media files like songs and videos.

What to Back Up

Your hard drive may contain hundreds of thousands of files. Many of them should be backed up every day, others only oc­­casionally, and still others--including temp files, the hibernation file (hiberfil.sys), and your browser cache--not at all. Let's look at the different kinds of files individually.

Your documents: You should back up your word processing files, spreadsheets, and similar documents every day. Any basic backup program can perform incremental backups, in which the program copies only the files that have changed since the most recent previous backup. (Good backup programs also perform versioning; that is, they keep several iterations of the same file on hand and enable you to choose which version to restore.)

Your recent documents: If your backup program can handle incremental backups, you don't have to worry about recent documents as separate entities. But if you often work on these files on other people's computers, you may want to carry a copy of them on a flash drive or store a copy of them online.

Application data: Apps create and maintain data files such as e-mail messages, browser favorites, calendar entries, and contacts that require daily backing up. Most programs store them in a hidden folder inside your user folder (in XP, C:\Documents and Settings\your name\Application Data; in Vista, C:\Users\your name\AppData). Also, in XP, Microsoft stores Outlook and Outlook Express data in C:\Documents and Settings\your name\Local Settings\Application Data). Fortunately, any well-designed backup program intended for everyday, nonexpert users (as opposed to IT departments) knows where to look for Outlook data.

Media: If your backup medium is sufficiently roomy and fast, you can back up your photo, music, and video files every day. But these large files may require a separate backup strategy.

Heirlooms: Files that you want to keep forever--family photos, the special anniversary card you made for your parents, and so on--need backing up and extra protection.

Your system: You can always reinstall Windows and your apps, if you have the original discs or can download the programs. But if Windows becomes unusable or your hard drive crashes, switching to a system backup (also called a disaster recovery backup) that you create a couple of times a year can get your machine up and running smoothly without much effort.

You can separate and store various types of data on different hard drives (or partitions--see "Move Your Data to a Safer, Separate Partition, Part 1: XP" and "Move Your Data to a Safer, Separate Partition, Part 2: Vista"). But Windows doesn't make the procedure easy, and the strategies I discuss don't require this separation.

Author: Lincoln Spector, PCWorld.

PC Maintenance: What Tasks When?

Daily: Backup your data. You don't want to lose yesterday's work anymore than you want to lose last week's, so your documents, pictures, and application data should be backed up daily.

Weekly: Scan for malware. Your real-time antivirus program isn't perfect; something evil could slip by it. So to be on the safe side, get a second opinion every week by scanning with another security program.

For that second opinion, you need something reliable, you want something free, and you don't need anything with real-time protection. So I recommend either SUPERAntiSpyware or Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. I use both, running one the first week and the other the second.

Monthly: Defrag your hard drive. Over time, your files become fragmented--with any single file split over multiple physical parts of the drive. Fragmentation can slow your PC and render lost files less retrievable.

Windows comes with a perfectly fine defragger. In Windows Explorer, right-click the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Tools tab, then the Defragment Now button.

XP users will get a button to start the defrag. Vista and Windows 7 give you that plus an option to configure scheduled defragging.

Monthly: Scan your hard drive for errors.You're not looking for viruses or worms here, but physical and logical problems with the disk that could render parts of it unreadable.

It's handy to do this chore at the same time you defrag, because both chores start on the C: drive Properties' Tools tab.

To Scan the drive, click Check Now. Check both options, then click Start. An error message will tell you that Windows can't check the disk while it's in use. Click Schedule disk check (Vista or Win7) or Yes (XP). Then, the next time you plan to leave your computer for a few hours (for instance, to sleep), reboot. Windows will take a considerable amount of time (ballpark guestimate: one hour for each 100GB of drive space) before it's ready for regular use.

Twice a Year: Backup your hard drive as an image. While not as important as a recent backup of your data (see Daily), an image backup of your entire drive can be a life-saver should your hard drive crash or Windows become hopelessly corrupt. A good image backup means never having to reinstall Windows from scratch.

Author: Lincoln Spector, PCWorld.

Boot From Your CD/DVD Drive

A PC can't boot from the optical (DVD/CD) drive unless the BIOS settings tell it to do so. I can't tell you exactly how to check and change this setting on your PC, because it depends on your BIOS. But I can give you some general advice.

When you first turn on your PC, one of the first things to appear onscreen may be a message like "Press F10 for boot device." Those may not be the exact words, of course, and the key may not be F10, but you get the general idea.

If you press the button you're instructed to press, and you get the timing right (it may take a few tries to do this), you'll get a list of bootable devices from which you can select the optical drive.

What if you don't see that message? Reboot again.

Another message, which will almost certainly be there, will say something like "Press F2 for Setup." Once again, the exact words and the key to press may vary.

If you press that key and get the timing right, it will lead you to your PC's Setup screen--a program built into the BIOS and that doesn't need an operating system. Look for a submenu called Boot or Boot Options. Once there, look for an option called Boot Order (or something similar). Alter that setting to put the optical drive ahead of the hard drive.

You may also have to turn on another option that allows your PC to boot from the optical drive at all.

Once everything is set up properly, when you boot your PC, it will first check the optical drive. If it finds a disc there and the disc is bootable, it will boot from that. If the disc isn't bootable or there is no disc, it will boot from the hard drive.

One more thing: Watch the screen when you boot from an optical disc. You'll likely see a message like "Press any key to boot into...". If you don't press a key within the next few seconds, the disc will pass control to the hard drive and Windows will boot normally.

Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts eBook Released

Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts


The eBook is pretty exhaustive and the topics covered include:

- What is Keyboard & how to use it?
- How keys are organized on a standard Keyboard
- Typing & editing the text using Keyboard
- Using Keyboard Shortcuts
- Find program shortcuts
- Choose menus, commands, and options
- Some useful shortcuts
- Using the keyboard extras
- Using navigation keys
- Using the numeric keypad
- Three odd keys
- Use your keyboard safely
- Create keyboard shortcuts to open programs
- Make the keyboard easier to use
- Type without using the keyboard (On-Screen Keyboard)
- Set On-Screen Keyboard to use for various handy tasks

- The Shortcuts Collection
- General Windows functions keyboard shortcuts
- Dialog box keyboard shortcuts
- Windows logo key keyboard shortcuts
- Windows Explorer keyboard shortcuts
- Ease of Access keyboard shortcuts
- Magnifier keyboard shortcuts
- Remote Desktop Connection keyboard shortcuts
- Keyboard shortcuts for MS Paint
- Keyboard shortcuts for WordPad
- Keyboard shortcuts for Calculator
- Windows Journal keyboard shortcuts
- Windows Help viewer keyboard shortcuts
- Windows Media Player keyboard shortcuts
- Internet Explorer keyboard shortcuts
- Windows Media Center keyboard shortcuts.

The eBook is bookmarks-ready, both in PDF and XPS format, with a fully linked content index.

Keyboard junkies and enthusiasts, you definitely want to have a look at this one!

Download: The Complete Windows 7 Shortcuts eBook.

Author: AnandK, TWC.

How to Change Windows 7 Logon Screen Using Registry?

No Third party software utility is needed to change Windows 7 Logon Screen as we do in Windows Xp. I have already explained in detail on How to change Windows Xp Logon screen in, Top 10 ways to Tweak your Windows Xp. Customizing Windows 7 is much easier when compared to earlier versions by doing some Registry hacks. ;) In this article I will show you how to change Windows 7 Logon Screen using registry hacks in simple steps.

Steps to Change Windows 7 Logon Screen

1. Press Windows Key + R to launch Run. Type REGEDIT and hit enter.
2. Now navigate to,

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Authentication\LogonUI\Background
Change value of OEMBackground to 1.


or

Alternatively you can download the Registry file from here. Extract the file and double-click on the file to enable this feature (Alternative method: right-click, select Merge).
4. Now navigate to C:\Windows\System32\oobe, create folder “info”, double click it and create another new folder “backgrounds”.

5. Now place your desired picture inside logon file into C:\Windows\System32\oobe\info\backgrounds. In my Windows 7 I use Alienware themes so changed Windows 7 Logon Screen with Alienware picture.



6. Rename the file to backgrounddefault.jpg. (Please NOTE: Images must be less than 256kb in size).
7. Press Windows Key + L to view your customized Logon Screen. Else Reboot your Windows 7 to apply changes.

That’s it :)

How Do I Speed Up Windows on My Laptop?

Does your laptop need to be restored to its former speedy self? Here's how.

Remember the very first time you turned on your laptop? It ran at the top of its game. The boot time could be counted in seconds, not minutes, and Windows was up and running moments after you entered your password. Now it's months (or possibly years) later, and things aren't so peachy anymore. Applications take minutes to load, and you cringe every time you have to open a file. How do you restore your laptop to its former athletic self?

1. Uninstall the stuff you don't need. It seems like common sense, yet so many users allow unwanted or unneeded programs to fester on their system, and the result is a laptop that gets progressively slower and more clunky. To uninstall an unneeded application, click on the Start menu, then Control Panel, and select Uninstall a Program. Scroll down the list of installed apps, select the program you want to remove, then click Uninstall.

2. Defrag your hard drive. A fragmented hard drive has files scattered all over the place. Think of those files as items you use regularly in your daily life. Now imagine that those items are scattered over a large area so that it becomes a scavenger hunt every time you need something. That's a waste of time, right? So is a fragmented hard drive, and it will make Windows run slowly. To defrag your hard drive, click Start and type Disk Defragmenter into the search bar, then press Enter. Click on the (C:) drive, then click the Defragment Disk button.

3. Clean up your unneeded files. Hundreds of files exist on your computer that you may not know exist, and they hide in many places. Windows has a utility called Disk Cleanup that will remove these files, both freeing up space and reducing system lag. To run Disk Cleanup, click on Start and type Disk Cleanup into the search field, then press Enter on your keyboard. Select the (C:) drive from the Disk Cleanup menu that appears, then click OK. Select the checkbox next to each group of files you want to ‘clean up,' which is a polite way of saying ‘delete.' When ready, click OK, then click Delete in the warning box to confirm the action.

4. Remove any system infections. You may run anti-virus software and a firewall, but that doesn't mean your laptop is infection-free. Fire up your security software, or download an anti-virus application (check out our Top 10 Internet Security Suites [http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/collection/3247/2010_suites.html] list for options). Update the software so that it has the latest infection definitions (updates can usually be downloaded by clicking Help, then Update), then perform a full system scan. Delete any infections the application finds, then reboot your laptop.

5. Repair bad hard drive sectors. A hard drive is composed of many sectors, which are small units of storage space on the drive. Some of these sectors will go bad during the lifespan of the hard drive. When that happens, Windows will still attempt to write data to those sectors, which it ultimately cannot do. This will cause a delay while Windows figures out where to save your data, making your system run slower.

To find out if your laptop is running slow due to bad hard drive sectors, click on Start, then on Computer. Right-click on your hard drive (the (C:) drive, for example) and choose Properties. Select the Tools tab, then click Check Now. A dialog box will appear with two scan options: ‘automatically fix file system errors' and ‘Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors'. Click the checkbox next to the second option, then press the Scan button.

Consider replacing your hard drive if bad sectors are found but cannot be repaired; oftentimes, numerous bad sectors are an indication of imminent disk failure, which could result in a total loss of data.

Author: Blair Mathis, PCWorld.

32 vs. 64: What Bit Windows?

Which is better: the 32- or 64-bit version of Windows 7.

You can run today's versions of Windows on 32-bit processors--a standard that's been around for about 25 years--and on newer, backward-compatible 64-bit processors. Of course, everything has to have an acronym in this industry, so the Windows-compatible 64-bit standard is also known as x64. That's fine, but the 32-bit standard is abbreviated as x86. If you don't understand the history, that's just plain confusing.

Because x64 processors are backwards-compatible, you can install and run 32-bit as well as 64bit versions of Windows onto them. Of course, if you bought an x64 computer from a major manufacturer, it almost certainly came with 64-bit Windows pre-installed.

You cannot install or run 64-bit Windows on a 32-bit PC.

The 64-bit version of Windows has certain advantages. While the 32-bit version is limited to 4GB of RAM--and can't really make use of all that--the 64-bit version can address up to 8TB. While you won't be able to actually install that much RAM (or afford it) for a long time to come, you can buy a 64-bit computer today with 12GB installed.

Speaking of things that aren't quite there yet, 64-bit applications should run faster than their 32-bit equivalents. But as I write this, very few native 64-bit applications exist, and they're not necessarily improvements (most 32-bit applications run just fine in Windows x64). In fact, although Microsoft Office 2010 comes with 32- and 64-bit versions on the same DVD, Microsoft recommends you install only the 32-bit version.

And, of course, 64-bit Windows has its disadvantages:

While most 32-bit applications have no problem in a 64-bit environment, utilities--which tend to work close to the OS's core--are seldom as versatile. For instance, a program that inserts itself into Windows Explorer's context menu has to be rewritten to work with the x64 version of Explorer. More and more utilities today are getting rewritten to work properly in Windows x64.

Another problem: Early, 16-bit Windows (and DOS) programs, written to be compatible with pre-Windows 95 Microsoft operating systems, will not work at all in the 64-bit environment. (They will work in a 32-bit version of Windows running on 64-bit hardware.) That's significant from a historical point of view--for the first time, we have Windows operating systems that won't run the original, IBM-PC version of VisiCalc.

But for most people, that shouldn't be an issue.

Author: Lincoln Spector, PCWorld

6 Registry Hacks to Make Your PC Faster

Speed up boot times and make Windows a bit more responsive with these Registry tweaks.

The Windows Registry is a database that holds your operating system's configurations and settings. This includes everything from how long your mouse must hover over a taskbar icon before the preview pops up (in Windows Vista and Windows 7) to performance settings.

Windows 7 (and Vista) have more eye-candy features built into the operating system, but a number of Registry hacks and tweaks can speed up--or, at least, appear to speed up--the performance of your computer. Before we start mucking around with your PC's guts, however, we're going to make sure that you have a reliable backup of your Registry in case something goes sour.

Though editing the Windows Registry is not nearly as scary as it sounds, making an incorrect change can cripple your system. To ensure that this doesn't happen, it's important to take the precaution of backing up part, or all, of the Registry before you proceed.

Back Up the Entire Registry

To back up your Registry, you can use the free Registry-specific backup tool ERUNT (Emergency Recovery Utility NT). ERUNT is simple to use, more reliable than System Restore, and works with Windows XP, Vista, and 7 (even 64-bit versions). ERUNT also saves each restore point independently of the other points, unlike System Restore (in System Restore, all restore points are dependent on other points).

Download ERUNT here.

Back Up Part of the Registry

If you're changing just one part of the Windows Registry, and you know which part that is, you don't have to back up the entire Registry. Instead, you can back up the part you plan on changing using the Registry's export feature.

First, go to Start, Run, type regedit, and press Yes. This will open the Registry Editor.

Next, find the part of the Registry you're going to change. Right-click on the Registry key you plan on changing, and click "Export." The Registry Editor will prompt you to save a .reg file to your hard drive.

To undo Registry changes, just find your .reg file and double-click it. The .reg file will reset your Registry values to their existing values (but will not remove values that you've added).

Hack Your Registry.

Now that you've backed up your Registry--perhaps more than once--it's time to start hacking away. To get to the Windows Registry, go to Start > Run (in Windows Vista/7 you will have to type run into the Start menu search bar and press Enter). Type regedit, click Yes, and the Registry Editor will open.

Hack 1: Speed Up Aero Peek

Windows 7's Aero Peek lets you see the desktop when you move your mouse cursor over to the "show desktop" button at the end of the taskbar. The standard delay time for the Aero Peek preview is 500 milliseconds, or half a second. Here's how to speed it up:
1. Open the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer > Advanced.
2. Right-click on the right pane and click New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new DWORD "DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime."
3. Double-click on DesktopLivePreviewHoverTime to open it. Under "Base," click Decimal and then enter the delay time (in milliseconds) in the "Value data" field. Click OK, and your Aero Peek time will be set. You can set the value to higher (a longer delay time) if you're activating it too often by accident, or to lower (a shorter delay time) if half a second is just too long.
4. Log off and log back on for the change to take effect.

Hack 2: Speed Up Taskbar Previews

When you roll over taskbar icons in Windows Vista and in Windows 7, little previews appear. The standard delay time for these previews is 400 milliseconds, or just under half a second. If this is too slow (or too fast) for you, you can adjust the delay time with an easy Registry hack.
1. Open the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer > Advanced.
2. Right-click on the right pane and click New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name the new DWORD "ExtendedUIHoverTime."
3. Double-click on ExtendedUIHoverTime to open it. Under "Base," click Decimal and then enter in the delay time (in milliseconds) in the "Value data" field. Click OK to set the time (default is 400 milliseconds).
4. Log off and then log back in for the change to take effect.

Hack 3: Speed Up Menus

If you'd like to speed up the menus in Windows Vista or Windows 7, try this easy Registry tweak:
1. Open the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Control Panel > Desktop.
2. Find MenuShowDelay and double-click to open. Adjust the value in milliseconds (the default is 400 milliseconds, or just under half a second).
3. Log off and then log back on for the change to take effect.

Hack 4: Prevent Reboots

If you have a habit of leaving your computer on all the time (as do I), you'll occasionally run into the problem of automatic system reboots. These usually happen after Windows downloads some sort of important update, and will usually be preceded by a notification (that gives you about 10 to 15 minutes warning, unless you click it away). If you're not around to see said notification, and you have a lot of windows or important documents open on your computer, these reboots can be a hassle.

So here's how to keep your computer from automatically rebooting with an easy Registry hack. This hack works for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.
1. Open the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Policies > Microsoft > Windows.
2. Right-click in the right pane and select New > Key. This will create a new folder. Name the new folder "WindowsUpdate."
3. Open WindowsUpdate and right-click in the right pane (there will be a value already in the pane called "Default"). Select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name this DWORD "NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers."
4. Open NoAutoRebootWithLoggedOnUsers and change the Value data to 1. Do not change the Base button to "Decimal"; instead, keep it at "Hexadecimal." Click OK.
5. Exit the Registry Editor and log off and log back in for the settings to take effect. Your system will now never force a reboot without your explicit permission.

Hack 5: Disable Notification Balloons

If you hate pop-up notification balloons on your Windows Vista or Windows 7 taskbar, you can disable them using a simple Registry hack:
1. Open the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer > Advanced.
2. Right-click on the right pane and select New > DWORD (32-bit) Value. Name your new DWORD "EnableBalloonTips."
3. Double-click on EnableBalloonTips and set the Value data to 0. It doesn't matter if you have Decimal or Hexadecimal clicked under "Base," because 0 is 0 in both decimal and hexadecimal.
4. Log off and log back on for the change to take effect. You'll no longer see any annoying notification balloons from the taskbar.

Hack 6: Boot XP Faster

Is Windows XP booting too slowly? Here's how to speed up your boot-time with a quick Registry tweak.
1. Open the Registry Editor and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > ContentIndex.
2. In the right pane will be a value called "StartupDelay." Double-click on StartupDelay to open it. Change the "Base" from Hexadecimal to Decimal, and enter 40,000 (the default setting is 480,000).
3. Exit the Registry Editor and restart your computer. Your computer should boot up considerably faster--while this worked for me on my Windows XP laptop, values lower than 40,000 didn't produce a noticeable difference.

Author: Sarah Jacobsson Purewal, PCWorld.

How To Fix Up Windows XP

Here are some Windows XP tips to keep things running smoothly.

1. Fix Everything: Download Tweak UI to access hidden settings, such as window scroll speed. It's part of the PowerToys pack, which has other apps like ClearType Tuner (improve your LCD's clarity) and Image Resizer (right-click a photo in Windows Explorer to change its resolution).

2. Disable System Tray Pop-Ups (Windows XP and Vista): Enter regedit in the Start menu Run box (XP) or search box (Vista). In the Registry Editor, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced. Create a new DWORD value with the name of EnableBalloonTips and a value of 0. Restart the PC.

3. Rearrange the Taskbar: Normally apps are listed in the order opened, but you can freely move apps around on the taskbar by using Taskbar Shuffle.

4. Turn Off Error Reporting: You have no reason to report errors, since Microsoft isn't fixing XP bugs now. Open the System control panel, click the Advanced tab, and click Error Reporting for disabling options.

5. Get Aero Snap in XP: Like the window-management features of Windows 7, such as Aero Snap? You can fake it in Windows XP with the help of AquaSnap, a free add-on.

Author: Christopher Null, PCWorld

How to Download and Install Windows 8 Into a Virtual Machine

Here's how to download and install the Windows 8 Developer Preview into a virtual machine on your PC.

We've shown you how to go about installing the new Windows 8 developer preview on a brand-new hard drive or a partition of your existing hard drive--that's easy.

However, most of you probably just want to check out Windows 8 without making a commitment to installing the OS on its own separate drive (or drive portion). No problem! You can still fiddle with the new OS in an environment that's much easier to remove once tinkering time ends, thanks to the power of virtual machines--applications that let you run a virtual PC inside your PC (cue Inception music).

Go grab VirtualBox and install the default package. Once you're finished, you'll open right into a fresh copy of the application. This is where you'll begin creating your system inside your system.

To start, click on the giant New button in the upper-left corner of the app. Give your virtual machine a clever name and select Windows 7 as the operating system. Make sure that your choice of OS (32-bit or 64-bit) matches whichever version of Windows 8 you downloaded.



Click Next, and you'll be taken to a screen that asks how much memory you'd like to devote to the virtual operating system. The 32-bit version of Windows 8 requires 1 gigabyte at minimum, and the 64-bit version requires 2GB, but the more RAM you can give the virtual OS, the better it will run. Click Next once you've made your choice.



Leave the "Virtual Hard Disk" options and subsequent "Create New Virtual Disk" options exactly as they are, unless you think you'll need to access your virtual hard drive in a separate virtual machine application. You can select either a "Dynamically allocated" or "Fixed size" virtual hard drive based on your personal preferences--we suggest you use the "Dynamically allocated" disk on our installation. On the next screen, make sure that your virtual disk has at least 16GB allocated to it for the 32-bit version of Windows 8. The 64-bit version needs a minimum of 20GB.



Once you're ready, click Next to create your virtual machine.

When your new virtual PC is ready, it will appear in VirtualBox's list of available machines (powered off at the moment, we note). Highlight it and click the big Settings button. If your system supports hardware virtualization, you can give your virtual machine access to additional CPU cores via the System submenu. If you don't know whether your CPU supports hardware virtualization, you can check for yourself on Intel and AMD's websites. For Intel processors, look up your own processor model and check for virtualization under "Advanced Features." For AMD processors, look up your processor model and look for a feature listing called "AMD Virtualization Technology."



Now click on the Storage submenu and then on the Empty line underneath "IDE Controller." Click on the little CD icon next to the CD/DVD drive listing, and select the option, Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file. Scroll for the Windows 8 .iso file you previously downloaded to your actual (not virtual) system and load that up. Now click on the big OK button at the bottom of the overall Settings window.



Cross your fingers and click on the big Start button to load your virtual machine for the first time. If all has gone well, the first thing you'll see is an annoying pop-up message that tells you about your keyboard and mouse capturing options. Ignore it. VirtualBox will boot and go right into the Windows 8 installation mechanism. Now take a breath: You've made it past the tricky part. And before you know it, you'll be fiddling around in Windows 8's funky new user interface faster than you can say, "Virtualwho?"

Now have fun in Windows 8!

Author: David Murphy, PCWorld.