Link Shell Extension Creates Windows Symlinks With Ease [Downloads] via Lifehacker by The How-To Geek on 5/4/10 Windows only: Explorer plug-in Link Shell Extension creates symbolic links easily through the context menu—very useful for those without command-line geek skills. Once you've installed the extension, you can simply highlight the folder you want to link to, [...]

For us stuck in Windows XP on our work systems – this can bring some of what we miss in Windows 7 AquaSnap Brings Enhanced Aero Effects to Windows XP Through Windows 7 [Downloads] via Lifehacker by Jason Fitzpatrick on 3/31/10 Windows: AquaSnap is a free multifunctional tweaking application that brings Aero-style effects to Windows [...]

This ain’t no ninite (with silent install!), but the catalog’s nice. ZeuApp Downloads 82 Awesome Open Source Apps [Downloads] via Lifehacker by Jason Fitzpatrick on 3/26/10 Windows: If you’re setting up a new system or helping a friend to see how much great free and open source software exists, ZeuAPP is a portable installation tool [...]

NetBalancer Prioritizes Network Traffic by Application [Downloads] via Lifehacker by Adam Pash on 3/19/10 Windows: Ever wish you could guarantee your BitTorrent download didn't choke your streaming YouTube video—or vice versa—but don't feel like setting up Quality of Service rules on your super-router ? NetBalancer shapes bandwidth allocations for different apps on your PC. With [...]

Office Web Apps to be updated like, well, a web app via istartedsomething by Long Zheng on 3/11/10 As the release date for the Office 2010 suite trickled out last week without much fanfare, news about its younger sibling, Office Web Apps, was nowhere to be seen. This was rather odd in context of Microsoft’s [...]

Master Microsoft Office with Ribbon Hero via Download Squad by Sebastian Anthony on 3/9/10 Filed under: Fun, Games, Office, Microsoft Yes, you too can now be that kind of hero; the type usually associated with guitars. Perhaps you lack the manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination, or maybe you just don’t like playing the same damn [...]

Photo Friday's Monitor Calibration Tool Makes Easy-on-the-Eyes Monitor Tweaks [Monitors] via Lifehacker by Jason Fitzpatrick on 3/8/10 If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to adjust your monitors without a lot of fussing with multi-step processes, the calibration tool at Photo Friday can help you tweak your monitor. Nothing is a true substitute [...]

How To Configure & Use Windows 7’s XP Mode via MakeUseOf.com by Karl L. Gechlik on 3/4/10 You are running Windows 7 and you have already looked at some of our previous posts on Windows 7 such as here and here.  Now you want to know how to install and run Windows XP Mode on your Windows [...]

WARNING! NVIDIA 196.75 drivers can kill your graphics card via Hardware 2.0 by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes on 3/5/10 I’m getting a steady stream of reports in from NVIDIA users that the latest 196.75 drivers can cause severe cooling problems, even possibly resulting in the death of the hardware. Posted via email from chestertam

  This will render all our team voicemails – transcribing  – if only we adapted the technology already present in our software. Can’t embed the video – you can to to the source @ http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2010/en/us/unified-messaging.aspx Saves Time “What was the number that the customer said?” No More of those annoying and time consuming “Press 1 [...]

Microsoft confirms the 'F1' key as potentially deadly via Download Squad by Sebastian Anthony on 3/4/10 Filed under: Security, Browsers Look at it up there, in the top left corner, just above your middle finger, all innocuous-looking… just gagging to be depressed… you could just give F1 a little tickle, no one would know… STOP! [...]

NatGeo Downloader 2.0 Grabs Over 5,000 Wallpaper-Worthy Photos [Updates] via Lifehacker by Kevin Purdy on 3/3/10 Windows: National Geographic’s web site has some stunning photography, and a lot of it makes for good rotating desktop backgrounds. The NatGeo Wallpaper Downloader we’ve previously enjoyed has updated with interface improvments, bug fixes, and access to thousands more [...]

Great read if you own an iphone / ipod touch – there’s always a free version that can do most of what you need. When It's Okay to Pay For an App via Veronica's Hybrid Page by Brian Barrett on 2/25/10 There are over 130,000 apps in the App Store. About 100,000 of those expect [...]

Hiren’s Boot CD – The All-In-One Boot CD For Every Need via MakeUseOf.com by Varun Kashyap on 2/25/10 Hiren’s Boot CD is an all-in-one bootable CD solution that contains a load of useful tools you can make use of in a variety of situations. I am talking about hard drive failure, virus infections, partitioning, password [...]

Control Your Email Inbox with Three Folders via Smarterware by Gina Trapani on 2/2/10 I’m thrilled to announce a new series of weekly videos and blog posts that I’ll be publishing at FastCompany.com called “Work Smart,” which will cover personal productivity in a digital world. Long-time Lifehacker readers will recognize much of the material, but [...]