There are many tips with computers, they are in different areas and different categories. I am going to list those tips which do not fall into a certain category, like general knowledge, something that is useful to know about, which will ease your use with computers, or just improve your computer experience and make it easier.

AXCRYPT – A free program to encrypt files: This program runs on a windows operating system (compatible versions: 95,98,ME,NT,2K,XP) environment. It is a very simple program, you just download it from their website, (very small program) install it (just follow the next stages) and your all set. The operation of the program is pretty simple, you just right click over a file, and choose from the window that pops up the “encrypt” and you will be asked to type in your chosen password, and the file is
encrypted. When you will double click the file to open it a popup asking for the password will come up, and after typing the password the file will open. The file without the AxCrypt program installed will not be accessible. You can also DeCrypt the file, and get it back to its unsecured form, as it was before.

Another thing to know about the program is that it uses a AES encryption with 128-bit keys and it supports both 32bit & 64bit operating systems.

Windows 7 – Virtual XP Mode: For anyone who is a bit worried about moving to windows 7, here is a small tip to ease your mind. Windows 7 contains a built-in support for running windows XP virtually. What this means is on your windows 7 you can install a virtual server (do not worry, you don’t really need to install it in the way your accustomed to, the application is already built-in as I mentioned earlier) that will enable you to run windows XP while running windows 7 (it will be more accurate to say that we will be running windows XP within windows 7). This means that if you have an application that for some reason will not run correctly on Windows 7, you will be able to install it on the Windows XP which runs within windows 7, as if you where running a Windows XP operating system, so you will be able to use your old applications. Just to ease your mind further, Windows 7 is a very flexible operating system, and will probably be running your Windows XP application easily.  There are instruction on how to use the virtual XP mode and you can easily find it on the internet.

Google Translate – Free: This software is a very cool one, that enables you to translate either a word or a whole paragraph, with simple clicks of a keyboard key on your keyboard. Those of you who were used to use the “Babylon” language translator (which isn’t free) will be glad to hear that Google Transl
ate is a worthy replacement, and it is of course free. You set a key (usually the CTRL key) and you just tag a word (mark the word you want to translate) double click the CTRL key and a popup window is coming up with a part in the language you wanted to translate and the other with the language you wanted to translate to.

To make changes and customizations to the Google Translate you just right click on its icon from the active tasks bar (which will be there symbolized with the letter “G” after you install the application) and a menu will rise to enable you to customize it, either by pressing the “language” (to choose the languages which to translate from and which to translate to), or pressing the “settings” to reach other options and configurations, like configuring which key to use, if you will double click it, or not etc… Check it out, it is really good.