Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

There is an entire library of Windows product keys available online, only a Google search away. And we all can agree that that’s by no means very far. While Microsoft is implementing measures such as the activation process and the Windows Genuine advantage mechanism, Windows users are only too keen to post confidential information on websites and make it free for all.

Some of you will go: “So what? Where’s the news?” And you would be right.

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Tags: vista, windows, xp

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

I love fonts. I have a fantastic collection of them, ranging from delicate script fonts to ones that look as if they’ve been stenciled. The most wonderful of all, however, are the fonts I made myself. The process is simpler than you might imagine; all you need is a bit of free time, some software (such as High-Logic’s FontCreator, Home edition, $79 direct; www.high-logic.com), and a scanner.

You’ll have to do some fairly tedious writing: all the uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation marks and other symbols you typically use. (Alternatively, depending on what kind of font you want, you could draw the characters in your graphics software.) Then you’ll scan the page into your PC, tweak the characters, and in less time than it would take to chisel the alphabet into granite, you’ll have your very own font. — next: Step By Step

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Tags: computer, internet, software

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

RadarSync is a free application that will search your PC and in under 2 minutes will tell you about any new drivers and software updates that are available. I haven’t used this service yet, but I have bookmarked it for future reference as it could be quite useful.

Radarsync is extremely tiny at only 300kb which is good. There are two service levels available. The free service provides a report of what updates are available,

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Tags: drivers, windows

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Updating your drivers and software sometimes can significantly improve the speed of your PC and software, as well as fixing old bugs or adding new functionality. Unfortunately, many manufacturers don’t build into their applications an auto-update process, so the only way to do this is manually.

I get around this by keeping a bookmarks folder on my PC where I store links to the sites for all my software and hardware. Then every month or so, I spend 30 mins upgrading all my software and drivers. This is a good habit to get into to keep your machine running smoothly and to stop problems happening further on down the line.

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Tags: computer, drivers, hardware, windows