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If your familiar with MSConfig and HijackThis, you already know how important Process Explorer Utilities are to optimizing Vista performance. Autoruns is is in this category. There are two versions, autorunsc (systems console, aka command line) and autoruns (image below) the graphical interface. You can easily sort processes by type (startup, login, etc), with options to drill down to explore the performance of each process on your system (requires additional Process Explorer Utility), then make a decision to disable or delete entirely. This article focuses on installing AutoRuns and the Process Explorer Utilities, with beginner steps.

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There are many different options out there for a Local Email GUI, and most of them have one thing in common. You can’t determine which mail came from which account with a causal glance. Inbox, Sent Items, Drafts, and Trash folders are combined, leaving you to figure out which account they came from. If you have multiple pop mail accounts, Windows Live Mail Desktop may be a good choice. Each mail account added will have a separate Inbox, Drafts, Sent, and Trash Folder, with the unread contents of each folder marked with a (#). There are combined “Unread e-mail”, “Unread from contacts”, and “Unread feeds” views, if you only want to see unread email or feeds from all accounts in one view. Once email is marked as “read”, the email is now listed in the separate account inbox. That’s really good for automatic sorting by account. Replies automatically change to that account. If you get a @live.com email account, you can share contacts between the local GUI and web email at work.

Windows Live Mail Desktop can be installed using the Windows Live Installer. Be sure to uncheck the options you don’t want prior to downloading the executable, or you’ll get other apps you don’t want or need. Updates are bundled into standard Microsoft Update.

If you use shareware, freeware or beta software, you know updates occur quite often, and its a pain to go through each app and click on the update button, just to find you have the latest version. Filehippo.com has a application called the “Update Checker” (udc.exe) that you can download and install locally. It scans your system for applications and compares with the latest version loaded on Filehippo.com.

Filehippo does not have all applications, nobody does. They do have most of the popular software. To be sure the update checker will find all your applications, you may want to search for them at the site. Follow the Vista blogroll link on the right sidebar of this site. Once you get to Filehippo, information on UDC is top right.

If your a user of the Vista Side Bar, App Launcher is a great way to clean up your desktop. App Launcher does what it says - launches files with one click to the icon. The download can be found Here. Once installed, here are some modifications to the options you can start with: (more…)