Anvi Startup Booster Helps Optimize Boot Time By Disabling Login Items

Is your PC taking more time to boot up than it really should? You even added more RAM or swapped your CPU, but neither seemed to help? Then you’re probably looking at the wrong places, because it might be the truckload of startup programs causing the issue, and it’s time to step up and get it resolved once and for all. Anvi Startup Booster is a Windows application that can monitor and disable programs that automatically launch during Windows logon. It allows you to quickly toggle startup applications, services and network settings on the fly. Boasting an attractive design, the application calculates your system boot time and presents an intuitive UI to disable non-required startup items to cut down on the system boot time. Read More

Fix iOS 6 evasi0n Jailbreak Weather App Crashing & Long Boot Issue In A Few Taps

Evasi0n has to be the easiest jailbreaking tool to use since comex’s JailbreakMe. All you need to do to get Cydia on your iOS device is to connect said device to your PC, click on “Jailbreak” in evasi0n, and tap on the “Jailbreak” icon from your iOS device. No need providing IPSW files or going into DFU Mode. However, some users are facing multiple bugs post-jailbreak like the lockdown error that can be fixed through the method we talked about yesterday, and of course, the issue of the stock Weather app crashing incessantly, and that long reboot error that causes iOS devices to be stuck at the Apple boot logo. Well, there’s good news: fixes for both issues have arrived! Read More

Customize Windows 8 Boot Menu & Permanently Enable Advanced Startup

Windows 8 has received many cosmetic changes from top to bottom, and that includes the boot menu. Now called the Advanced Startup Options menu, it uses GUI elements instead of the legacy mode found in prior versions of Windows. How you enter the Startup menu has also been changed in Windows 8, as you can no longer hit F8 immediately after the initial BIOS screen to access it. Microsoft has shrunk the time between the process of invoking the bootstrap loader and POST, and the only way to enter the menu now is from within PC Settings. This can, however, create various issues. For instance, if your Windows installation gets corrupted and you can't log in, you’d be left in the dust without access to the Startup menu. If you want to get rid of this annoyance, Boot UI Tuner is what you're looking for. This small highly useful tool allows you to permanently enable the advanced boot menu, making it appear every time you power up your machine. Read More

Reboot From One Windows Installation Directly Into A Secondary One

Even after the final release of Windows 8, a lot of people, including myself, are still reluctant to upgrade to the latest operating system and leave Windows 7 behind. However, one should not form an opinion about anything without actually experiencing it first hand. In order to get a feel of Windows 8 (and because this line of work requires it), I installed Windows 8 as a secondary operating system on my computer. So, whenever it is required, I can now use Windows 8 without having to completely ditch my primary operating system. Since my work requires me to constantly switch between the two operating systems, I have to restart the computer a lot during the day. The biggest annoyance in this regard is that in order to boot into the required operating system, I am forced to sit and wait in front of the computer screen until the boot menu appears. Today, I came across a simple tool called Reboot-To that allows users to reboot directly into a specified operating system without having to wait for the Windows boot menu. You can select the operating system you want to reboot into while you're logged into one, and use the time the computer takes to restart to stretch your legs or get a cup of coffee. Read More

Create, Download, Randomize & Backup Custom Boot Animations On Android

When talking of tweaking your smartphone’s UI and firmware settings to the very core, hardly any OS comes close to Android. From boot animation to system and sound profiles, Android users have the liberty to tinker with virtually any aspect of their devices as they like. Speaking of boot animation customization, previously-reviewed AniBoot by SoCal Devs is a fine example of how easy it is to download and install custom boot animations on Android. If, however, you felt somewhat unsatisfied with the various animations that the app had on offer, or wished to have some more control over modifying the settings of your favorite boot animations, then you must give Boot Animations by JRummy Apps a try. This particular solution from the developers of ROM Toolbox, BusyBox Installer, Root Explorer and numerous other nifty apps, offers arguably the most comprehensive collection of custom Android boot animations that can be configured in a number of ways. There are more than 300 different high quality stock and custom boot animations that can be downloaded from the online servers. Whether you’re looking for the stock Honeycomb, ICS or Jelly Bean boot animation, some custom Android ROM goodies, a random animation upon rebooting your device, or itching to create custom animations out of your own select GIF images, this app has you covered. Read More

Download & Install Custom Boot Animations To Your Rooted Android Device With AniBoot

Previously reviewed BootFlash by XDA member, SoCal Devs, allowed Android users to set a custom image of choice as their device’s splash screen – the static screen that shows up immediately after the device (re)boots. What follows the splash screen is the boot animation that normally sports the OEM logo (in case of the stock firmware) or the animated logo/mascot of the custom ROM developer. What if you were to get rid of your device’s monotonous boot animation, and personalize it according to an animation of your own liking? Well, there are a couple of workarounds in this regard: you may either follow all the extensively discussed steps in our detailed guide on changing and creating custom Android boot animations, or you can simply install SoCal Devs’ new app, AniBoot, which features dozens of downloadable boot animations which can be applied to any rooted Android device in no more than a couple of taps. The app supports boot animation in three different screen resolutions – 800x480, 1024x768 & 1280x720 – each comprising at least a dozen various boot animations. Each boot animation can be previewed individually, and if it catches your eye, you can download and apply it to your device in a matter of just a few seconds. Read More

FireTower Monitors & Validates Auto-Run Entries Against Web Database

With hundreds of new viruses being created each day, it is possible for your PC to get infected even if you have an antivirus installed on your system. The way most viruses work is that they create an auto run entry on your computer to ensure that they are executed whenever your system boots up. So, the virus will keep on doing what it is supposed to do, no matter how many times you restart your PC. Today, we have a tool called FireTower that can be a lot of help to you in tackling this issue. It is an application for Windows that performs an analysis of all existing auto-run settings and automatically validates the legitimacy of the auto-run entries through a web validation check. When the analysis is complete, all entries are displayed in different threat level categories. More on FireTower after the break. Read More

How To Dual Boot Ubuntu 11.04 With Windows 7

Many Windows users who use Linux based operating systems for practice rely on VMware or VirtualBox for creating virtual machines. However, the problem with virtual machines is that many applications do not run due to compatibility issues. A better alternative can be to dual boot Linux operating system like Ubuntu with Windows. In this post we will tell you how to dual boot Ubuntu 11.04 with Windows 7. Read More

Manage Ubuntu Services With Boot Up Manager

Previously, we told you how to fix Ubuntu boot issues with the help of Super Boot Manager. Although Super Boot manager has a lot of good options, but unfortunately it does not allow managing boot services. Boot Up Manager, is a Perl-Gtk2 app which can be used to easily start, stop or deactivate Ubuntu services without the need to configure complex backend options. Read More

Boot Repair Fixes Frequent Ubuntu Boot Problems

To customize Ubuntu boot options by managing GRUB Manager, Plymouth and Burg, you can use the previously reviewed Super Boot Manager for Ubuntu. However, tweaking too much with boot options can lead to several issues, including, the inability of the operating system to boot after another OS is installed, loss of access to GRUB  boot loader and issues with boot sector MBR. Boot Repair is an Ubuntu tool which can easily resolve such issues. As this is a GUI based application, therefore, you will require being logged into your operating system for it to work. Therefore, despite the boot issues, you should be able to get access to your desktop for this app to resolve the boot issues. Having said that, the issues which it resolves mainly do not cause the inability of a system to loose boot functionality. For example, the GRUB boot problems may be causing inconsistency in allowing you to boot from your OS. Similarly, if you have installed another operating system, you might not be able to login from Ubuntu by default. Read More

Android Partitions Explained: boot, system, recovery, data, cache & misc

Unless you have been using your Android phone just for calls, SMS, browsing and basic apps, you should know that Android uses several partitions to organize files and folders on the device. Each of these partitions has a distinct role in the functionality of the device, but not many Android users know the significance of each partition and its contents. In this guide, we will take you on a tour of Android partitions, what they contain and what can be the possible consequences of modifying their content. Read More

Change Windows 7 Boot And Resume Screens With Windows 7 Boot Updater

Although we have seen a dozen of Windows 7 boot animation changers in the past to customize Windows 7 boot screen, almost all them require heavy tweaking with a bunch of system DLL files in order to replace Windows 7 default boot screen with customized one. But this time around we have an easy-to-use tool called, Windows 7 Boot Updater, which not only replaces default Windows 7 animation logo with customized image/logo, but allows changing other boot screen elements, such as, screen background, text with its size and color, text position with option to change font and margins and so on. Additionally, it enables you to change Windows 7 resume screen with customized font and backgrounds. You can easily revert back to default Windows 7 boot and resume screens by saving them prior to start customizing their different elements. Read More

Move, Rename, And Delete System Locked Files / Folders With MoveOnBoot

Dealing with files and folders which are being used by Windows OS is arguably difficult, as many system generated processes and services which use these files / folders lock them up to ensure system stability. There are also instances where one needs to delete some uninstalled application left over data which is, for some inexplicable reasons, being used by Windows, and therefore can’t be removed. In all such situations, MoveOnBoot can help you out. It’s an application developed specifically to perform different file management operations over system (Windows) locked files and folders. So, how does it work? It allows you to list down required locked files and folders over which operations can’t be performed as long as Windows OS is running because the locked files (or folders) are being used by different system initiated services / processes. Once listed, you can specify the action, such as, move, rename, delete, for any locked file / folder. It will put the action in perform on boot queue. On booting the system, it automatically performs the specified operations over locked files / folders. Read More

Install CyanogenMod 7 3D Boot Animation On HTC Droid Incredible

No Android phone is complete without a boot animation that sets it apart from other Androids out there and while CM7 3D boot animation may be another to follow in the huge list of boot animations for Android devices, it certainly takes the front row with its looks. For more on this boot animation and how to install it on your phone, read on! Read More

Analyze Up To 100 System Boot Times With MaaS360 Boot Analyzer

Want to know how much time it takes to boot your system after installing some security patch or a hefty anti-virus suite?  You need an efficient system boot analyzer which can silently measure the boot time and can maintain boot time record to help you identify applications which make your system take forever to boot. MaaS 360 Boot Analyzer is a newly developed system boot analyzing utility which not only measures the boot time but also lets you monitor, analyze, and maintain record up to 100 system boot times with date stamps. It plots boot time on line graph, so you can visually analyze the lowest and highest boot time, pinpoint date when your system boot time was relatively longer or smaller then other boots, and check out maximum, minimum and average boot time of your system since first run of MasS 360 Boot Analyzer. Read More

Redo Backup & Recovery – Live CD That Recovers Your Hard Drive

With the importance of digital data and information exponentially increasing in our daily lives, the need to keep data safe has increased manifold. Cloud services like DropBox and Microsoft’s SkyDrive are part of this family, while commercial system imaging solutions like Norton Ghost and Clonezilla make localized snapshots of your entire system, again preserving data. So why should one need a new backup and recovery software? Why Redo? Because sometimes, the most popular solutions don't cater to a specific scenario, and Redo is one tool which fills in just that gap, pretty neatly, too. Let's find out just after the break. Read More

Speed Up Your Windows System With Soluto

Do you get frustrated as to what really takes that long to complete the boot process and are eager to know which applications prolong the boot time so that you can speed up the system? Besides many tips that are available nowadays pledging to give you complete dissection of your system and to find out the application that bogs down the system, many registry hacks have also been contrived solely to address this problem. Soluto however is a new service in town that provides a one-stop solution to view the complete anatomy of the boot process & allows you to change the application behavior which delays the boot process. Read More

Measure Your Ubuntu System’s Boot Performance With Boot Chart

Ubuntu has the fastest boot time as compared to the other Linux based systems. Frankly speaking, the boot speed of Linux based systems depends upon different factors particularly the applications which we have configured to start on the system start up. Bootchart is a tool for  the analysis of the performance of the GNU/Linux boot process and boot performance. Read More

Install Windows 7 From USB Drive [In 2 Simple Steps]

I have found a much easier way to install Windows 7 from a USB Flash drive. Unlike other methods where you have to write complicated commands, this method can be completed even by those who have very little computer background. The whole process takes only two steps, run UNetbootin, load the Windows 7 ISO file, and finally restart your computer. See how we installed Ubuntu from USB using UNetbootin here. Before you begin, you will require the following:
  • USB Flash Drive (4GB minimum)
  • Windows 7 ISO Image file
  • UNetbootin
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How To Create A Bootable Live Ubuntu 9.04 USB Drive

Ubuntu 9.04 is the latest in line of Ubuntu Linux operating system, which is faster and has a more improved user experience. I have only 3 partitions on my hard disk, one for Windows Vista, one for Windows 7 beta, and one for my local files. I am used to 3 partitions maximum, since it looks less cluttered this way. Instead of creating a fourth partition, why not try installing it on a USB drive? Obviously, doing a proper install is better than doing a installation on USB, but since I don’t use Ubuntu much creating a fourth partition doesn’t make sense either.

For those having problems with bootable live CD, they can try creating a bootable live USB.

UNetbootin is a free portable tool for both Windows and Linux that lets you create bootable live USB drives for a variety of Linux distributions. It also lets you do a quick ‘frugal install’, but we will only cover the procedures for creating a bootable live Ubuntu USB in this post.

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