How to resize photos in Windows 7

If you are looking for a way to quickly resize an image or group images than keep reading.
This post will cover how to resize photos in Windows 7 or any other operating system with or without using any additional software. First I must show you how it is done using  Windows "Paint" that comes preinstalled on your computer , and than we will use software called " Image Resizer " which comes handy if you are looking to resize group of photos.

• Here is how its done with Paint
  Click start button, type paint and run the program or click right button on photo that you are about to resize and click Edit.
  Either way will work just make sure you open your photo with Paint and than select Resize button that is shown in Paint menu or hit " CTRL + W "  Make sure that you Maintain aspect ratio, otherwise your picture will loose it original look. Type in percentage or pixels of your choice and check out how your picture will turn out. Once you have found correct size for your photo go ahead and save it.
  
  This method is lacking group photo resizing and it is time consuming, but it is good to know and it really can help if you would resize few photos.

• This is faster method but requires to download "Image Resizer" 
  To resize group of photos with just one click go to Image Resizer website, download the software, install it and restart your computer before proceeding with next step.
  
  Once your installation is completed you will find " Resize pictures " option in right click menu.
  All you need to do is to select your photos and right click Resize pictures, choose offered sizes or edit your own resolution and click Resize button. There are couple of options besides resolution , make sure you double check what you are planing to do. Its recommended to keep  Replace the originals unchecked so that you will still have your originals in case something goes wrong.

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How to change language on windows 7

Changing display language in Windows 7 is so simple that anyone can do it. Most users prefer using English version but there are users who would like their operating system translated to their language of origin.

Follow steps below on how to change language on Windows 7 computers :
Internet connection is required during this process.

• Go to "Start" - "Control Panel" - "System and Security"
• Than go to "windows updates" and click "check for updates"
• Wait for your Win7 to collect information about available updates than switch to "Optional updates"
• Mark as checked language that you would like to install and hit "OK"

Wait for download to complete and  restart your computer to finish your translation process.

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Remap keyboard keys Windows 7

This time we will learn how to Remap keyboard keys in Windows 7 or any other Windows operating system without any professional computer knowledge.We will use third party program that can be found and downloaded from Internet for free.

Key Tweak is very useful tool if you are having issues with your keyboard, this tool can easily redefine input signals of your broken keys.Lets say that your "Backspace" key doesn't work for some reason and you are not willing to buy new keyboard yet. To solve this problem you can do remapping with "Key Tweak" just remap to any other key that you are not using that often, apply changes and that's it.

You will note that keys in Key Tweak are shown as numbers. First you will have to click  key number that you want to change than choose key under "Choose New Remapping" box, and click "Remap".
At the bottom-right side of that window you will see "Pending Changes" box, click "Apply" to finish remapping. Make sure that you are applying changes to correct keys.

With key tweak you can do more than remapping, you can enable or disable keys, save and restore your favorite configurations, reset mappings with one click. Enjoy! and don't forget to like us on Facebook.

Click to search online for Key Tweak

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How to find out your WiFi password

This post will cover How to find out your WiFi password. Lets say that you are still connected to the network and you have no idea what's your network key. Don't worry, many computer users face the same problem. Password is saved automatically first time you access the network and usually you wont need to type it again but you will run to problems once you re-installed or restored your operating system.

In Windows 7 there is signal strength icon located at the right side in your taskbar. Click on that icon and than right mouse click on your network and choose "properties". New window will appear, under "Security" tab you will be able to see stored password once you click on "Show characters"
This works for windows 7 only , this will not work for Windows XP but keep reading to find out more.

You can use windows shortcuts as well.  Press your keyboard Windows button and letter R at the same time. "Win+R" and than type "ncpa.cpl" - network connections window will appear. Double click on your WiFi "Wireless Network Connections" and hit "Wireless Properties" button.
Under "Security" tab click "Show characters" to see your network key.
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Another way is to use netsh in command prompt. You don't necessarily need to be connected to the network. This step can be used to recover password for notworks that are not in range. Only requirement is that you have been connected successfully at least once in past.
Go to "Start - Run" than type "cmd" and hit "Enter" to open command prompt window.
You can do same with shortcut "Win+R" type "cmd" and press "Enter". Use following commands:

netsh wlan show profiles
This command will show all profiles - Wireless networks that you connected in past.

netsh wlan show profile "your network" key=clear
This will show more detailed profile information. Under security settings you will find key content - that is your network key. Type your network name without quotes.

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Who is using my WiFi

This is very helpful if you have your own network setup using WiFi Router. Find out  Who is using your WiFi Internet connection, easy way to check how many computers are connected and identify intruders.

There are several ways to check who is using your WiFi signal :

• Log-in to your Router and check how many assigned IP addresses are there via DHCP server.
  This step is more complicated and it is for more advanced users. You need to know your Router IP address, User name and password to gain that information from your router. Find out more about this in our previous post  How to setup a Router.

• Another way is to use third party programs such as Wireless Net Watcher. This is very small and very easy to use application that can check who is using your WiFi network in real time. For every computer or any other device connected to your network this utility will display useful information such as IP address, Device Name, MAC Address, Network Adapter Company, Device Information as well as user text that you can change as desired for each device.

• If you are connected to your home network and network discovery and file sharing is turned on you will be able to see all attached computers just by going to Start- Control Panel- Network and Internet than you click "View network computers and devices" and you will be able to see all connected computers and access their shared folders.

• Using command prompt you can see connected devices as well. There are few commands to use:
  First you need to open command prompt - Start - Run - type "cmd" and hit enter.
    - using command "arp -a" you will be able to see IP and MAC addresses of your connected devices
      your own IP is "Interface" IP as on picture below
    - if you type "net view" you will see all devices by their host names.
  
  Type all commands above without "quotation marks".

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How to speed up internet connection

If you are looking How to speed up your Internet connection to be fast as possible , best place to start is your computer maintenance. Having decent computer speed cam improve your browsing experience.
To do this properly please read our previous post: How to make your computer faster.

Once you have everything done next step is to check with your Internet Service Provider (ISP)
You need decent upload/download speed , once you confirm your speed with them please run some tests to make sure that you get what you are paying for.You can use any bandwidth tester, just make sure they provide accurate results. Your test results should match speed your ISP is giving to you. I use speedtest.net

If your test results are lower you should check you cable connections and signal strength before contacting your ISP. Note that test results may vary so it is important to do couple of tests.

When you confirm that everything is good, than finally we will talk about Domain Name System (DNS) Resolution service. That is important because every time you visit a website your computer performs a DNS lookup or multiple lookups in some cases. DNS protocols are used to translate Internet domain and host names to IP addresses of web servers hosting those websites. Faster DNS servers automatically means better internet browsing experience.

You are assigned DNS Server IP addresses automatically by your ISP via Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), but these can be slow sometimes depending on DNS your ISP use. It is important to write down your DNS IP addresses assigned by your service provider in case you need to revert later on.

To get fastest IP`s for your area you can try out "namebench" that is compeaetely free Google project which will hunt down fastest DNS servers for your computer to use. Search online for namebench, download and start the project. However, I use Google Public DNS as follows:

• IPv4
  8.8.8.8  ( set this as preferred IP )
  8.8.4.4  ( set this as alternate  IP )
• IPv6
  2001:4860:4860::8888  ( prefered )
  2001:4860:4860::8844  ( alternate )

To change your settings go to Start - Control Panel then Network and Internet then Network and sharing center. Click Change adapter settings that is located at the Top-Left side and go to Properties of the adapter that you are using for the Internet connection. Lets say that is Wireless Network Connection than you should right mouse click on it and choose Properties from the list. Window like this should appear with IPv4 and IPv6.

To change it you should have it selected and click "Properties button".

If you have access to the Router that that you are using for Internet than you could just go to your router settings and change it over there. That way Google Public DNS will be used for your entire network.

Your Internet upload/download speed will be the same just you will notice difference while browsing pages.

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How to make your computer faster

Maintaining your computer is very important step to make compute run faster.
Learn How to make your computer faster for free following these simple steps at least once a week:

• Clean your Internet Browser history files, temporary files and fix your computers registry errors.
  I recommend using Ccleaner that can be downloaded from piriform.com website.
  Cleaning can be done manually form your computer and Internet Browser but it takes much longer.
  Also do not forget to uninstall programs you don't need. Read more under Windows7-Cleanup from navigation menu.
• Next step is to Defragment your Hard Drive.
  Defragmenting is simply rearranging data on your Hard Drive so it can be located faster.
  This doesn't need to be used all the time but running it once in a while will certain help out.
  For this process you can use Windows integrated application or you can download one from the Internet. Choice is yours but I am using Defraggler that can be found on piriform.com
  To use Windows for this process go to My Computer- Right mouse click on Local Hard Drive and chose properties. Click Defragment disk under Tools Tab.
• Check your Hard Drive for errors.
  This process is very important since Windows is stored to your local Hard Drive. If for some reasons you have damage, errors or bad sectors on you disk, this can be very useful to fix those issues.
  Error checking should be used more often to prevent any errors on your Hard Drive.
  Disk Error checking is located under Tools Tab same as defragmnentation. You should check both options, to automatically fix errors and bad sectors. If you are doing error checking for hard disk where Windows is installed than you will have to "Schedule Disk Check" and restart your computer.
  Important: Restart your computer and don't press any key, once error checking process is complete Windows will start automatically.
• This step is about Windows appearance and just by adjusting some visual effects you can drastically change your computers performance. Since I already covered this in older post you can read this under Windows7  - Optimization - Speed Up Windows7
  Effects like Windows aero and Windows desktop slideshow can make your computer slower, depending on your hardware specifications.

If  this was helpful to you please" like" on Facebook and share with your friends.

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