40Tech

Yesterday, we asked you how much disk space you’ve used up on your system. On a Windows 7 PC, some of that space can be taken up by Service Pack 1 backup files that you might never need. When you install Service Pack 1 for Windows 7, it creates backup files in case you have problems and ever need to uninstall the service pack. You can remove them, though, if you want to. Here’s how.

Windows 7 is likely the best operating system Microsoft has ever put out. Oh, I’m sure some of you die-hards out there will still swear up and down that it’s Windows 98, 2000, or even 3.1 — and you Mac folk can just go ahead and tamp down on those comments bubbling to the surface of your elitist brains right about now — but when you consider the mix of power, beauty, and function, Billy Gates and crew have finally hit the sweet-spot with their latest OS.

One of the greatest things about Windows 7 is the customizability; there are a lot of different things that you can do with it to improve your overall user experience. Some of those things are fairly obvious, and some are a bit of a surprise, but many can be done quickly and easily, even by the non-techie, sometimes with the help of a handy tool or two. This series focuses on some tweaks for personalizing your own Windows 7 setup with as little fuss as possible. Let’s start off with the hidden themes that are just hanging about in your Windows folder.

The beautiful thing about Android OS, over iOS,  is the open platform. The annoying (and potentially dangerous) thing about Android OS, over iOS, is… wait for it… the open platform. It’s a double-edged sword. Say what you want about Apple’s proprietary madness, but the likelihood of a scam or malware app making it through to the iOS App Store is pretty slim — at least in comparison to Google’s Android Market. Does this mean you should never buy Android and jump headfirst into Apple products? By no means! According to the learned fellows over at Tested.com, with a little common sense, some permissions checking, and a dose of healthy skepticism, you can avoid the sneaky apps. Main points after the jump.

For long-time Evernote for iPhone users, searching your notes by tag is probably not an issue. However, the email I received last night from one of our own Grown-up Geeks made me realize that new users to the iPhone version of Evernote might be in for a bit of frustration. In light of this, I decided to put together a quick how-to post based on the email response I sent our reader. Check it out after the jump.

If you’re like me and have a tendency to lose track of your warranty information, Niggle It is a service with a singular purpose: to help you keep track of the details of all of your agreements, including warranties, business contracts — even those conversations that you have with your mobile carrier’s customer service agents. Niggle It will track anything you feel important enough to be reminded about, be it personal or business related.

In the spirit of yesterday’s security-focused post, I wanted to share with you some tips on how to protect your email account from getting hacked. This list was originally put together by the folks at MakeTechEasier and was focused on Gmail, but many of the items are relevant to any web email client, and many other services besides. I’ve reworked the concepts for general use – if you want the just-for-Gmail step by step details, please visit the original post. Hit the jump for the goods.

If you have an Android device and want to use it to control your desktop’s (or laptop’s) mouse and keyboard, two of your best free options are RemoteDroid and Gmote.

Have you ever been curious to find out when a web page was updated? There’s a little trick that you can use to determine the date and time that a specific page was updated. Simply type the following bit of code into your address bar, and then hit “Enter” on your keyboard. If you want to automate this with a bookmark, you can place the code in the address line of a bookmark. Read on for the details.

One of the most annoying things about eReader apps on the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad (that have their own dedicated stores) is their proprietary nature — namely, they generally only read books you have purchased from their respective companies, regardless of the library you already own. This can be a pain, as it leads to both multiple eReader apps on your phone and several books inevitably left twisting in the proverbial wind. You can use Stanza for iPhone to solve this problem, but why not put all of your books on that pretty iBooks bookshelf? As of version 0.7, Calibre lets you do just that!

Being a tech geek brings its own challenges. One challenge that we face is how to balance our many geek interests with our real world commitments. And one of the most important parts of the real world that we need to manage is our marriage or relationship with our spouse or significant other.