Do-It-Yourself PC Kits

Easy As My PC Kits is a company I wish I knew about before getting a new computer recently. Easy As My PC allows you to build your own computer, or even just upgrade the RAM or CPU with a kit.

Build a complete computer with a DIY PC Kit for a very affordable price. Because you are building it yourself, this saves you money, but doesn’t save you time. That’s where the step-by-step instructions come in, which are written in English with plenty of illustrations. It says it can take a few hours to put a kit together, which to me sounds like a good amount of time.

If you run into any problems, you can always contact them for some help. Of course, if you don’t feel comfortable putting together a computer, purchasing a DIY PC Kit might not be the answer to saving money on a computer.

I like that you are purchasing known brands, such as Intel, AMD, Western Digital, etc. Even though you are paying less, you know you are getting hardware that you trust along with manufacturer warranties.

It’s very simple to select the type of kit you want, first deciding if you want a basic, business or gaming system. Then, select the level you want and customize it to fit your needs from there. If you are looking to only upgrade, you’ll have to look at the bottom of the site for the link. For upgrading, they ask you to contact them so they can help you get what you’re looking for.

Besides saving a lot of money on a DIY computer, Easy As My PC also offers free shipping. Free shipping to me is very important when buying online. I always want to save money!

Sponsored by Easy As My PC

Make Windows Vista Appear Faster

There are some things you can do to make Windows Vista seem a little faster without upgrading the RAM. Usually there are visual effects that are enabled by default that don’t need to be for Vista to function. I disabled them in XP and now finally decided to do the same in Vista, just to see a small improvement.

Some of you may already know about this and some may not. I just wanted to share with you the ones I chose to disable and how it helped.

Right click on Computer in Vista and click on Advanced system settings on the left side of the window. You can also access the System Properties window from the Control Panel. Click on the Settings… button under Performance in the Advanced tab. You will notice in the Visual Effects tab that there are a few options to choose, including a Custom one. Because I still want some of the visual effects to be enabled, I use Custom by disabling the ones I don’t want:

• Uncheck Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
• Uncheck Fade or slide ToolTips into view
• Uncheck Fade or slide menus into view
• Uncheck Fade out menu items after clicking
• Uncheck Slide open combo boxes
• Uncheck Slide taskbar buttons

Optionally, you can disable any of the other visual effects or all of them if you choose. I find that disabling the ones above really helped Vista to appear faster. I’m not saying Vista is slow (at least not for me), but I also disable the visual effects in XP because it helped in XP, too. Do you really need things to fade or slide? I don’t.

Could I just disable other unnecessary effects, like Aero? Yes, but I do like the transparent appearance over the ugly plain one.

Now windows and menus open much faster, instead of slowly appearing on the screen.

Minimize iTunes to the Taskbar Instead of the System Tray

Since I’ve had to get used to using iTunes sometimes, because I own an iPod, I thought I would at least try to get along with iTunes. iTunes is just one of those programs that can be annoying at times.

I found this out when I realized there was a toolbar for the iTunes, but it just didn’t seem to work like Windows Media Player’s did. Was this a bug? Unfinished feature? I had no idea and eventualy just gave up.

If you don’t know about this feature and you have iTunes, right click on the taskbar and move your cursor to Toolbars and you’ll see in the list that appears, that iTunes is there. Click on it and try to use it. I’m going to assume that it won’t work for you either if you try to minimize iTunes.

It turns out that the feature does work, but because of a setting in iTunes, it won’t work, yet. You know how when you minimize iTunes and it automatically goes to the system tray? Well, that is the setting that is preventing the toolbar from appearing. You need to disable minimizing to the system tray in order for the toolbar to appear.

To disable this setting:

1. Go to Edit>Preferences
2. Select the Advanced tab
3. Uncheck Minimize iTunes window to system tray
4. Click OK
5. Optional: If you don’t want the iTunes icon in the system tray when open, be sure to uncheck Show iTunes icon in system tray

Now minimize the iTunes window and the toolbar should appear in the taskbar.

Between Windows Media Player and iTunes, Windows Media Player definitely looks better in the taskbar, especially in Vista. But, for those times you need or want to use iTunes, this toolbar can be handy.

The Game O Love

I love contests. Some of you may know about Overstock.com and some of you may never have heard of it. Overstock can be a great place to find some nice deals on clothes, electronics, furniture, books and more. I even found some boots on there I wouldn’t mind having that I couldn’t find anywhere else.

With Valentine’s Day coming up, now is the time to start thinking about what you will be getting for that special someone. If I was to pick something, it would probably be a large screen TV. Not really sure which one, that’s a hard choice. Of course that may require a better TV stand than the one we have.

Overstock.com’s “Game O Love” contest could win you a gift for your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife. This Game O Love contest begins tomorrow on January 25 and lasts until February 11, 2008. Tell your sweetheart to register, too!

Go check out this contest and try to win gifts for that special someone! I’m going to try win! And, even if you don’t win, it doesn’t hurt to keep your eye out for some deals on Overstock to save money on these holidays that force us to go out and buy something for loved ones!

Picturesque

This is one little application that makes me wish I owned a Mac. Or there just needs to be one exactly like it made for Windows.

Picturesque can help you make images pretty. Add reflections, glows, curves, shadows and strokes. It looks like it makes it easy. It has more features, but the ones I listed are the reasons why I would love to see a similar application for Windows or someone needs to buy me a Mac.

This is not to be compared to Photoshop and others. It’s just for adding nice touches to images. Not for full image editing.

If anyone has used Picturesque, I’d like to know if it is as good as it looks. Leave a comment.