Thursday, 11 September 2014

Clean Up Right Click Menu By Enabling Cascading Menu For WinRAR

WinRAR is one of the popular file archive and compression software out there for Windows operating system. While plenty of free utilities have comp up over the last couple of years, WinRAR is still the best of the lot when it comes to compression ratio and overall performance.
As with the case of many other file compression utilities, WinRAR utility also adds number of options to the file context menu that appears when you right-click on a file or folder. The problem with WinRAR is that all features and options appear in the context menu, which easily clutters up the neat file context menu.
Clean up context menu by enabling cascading menu for Winrar picture1
Depending on the number of options you have chosen during the setup and the type of file on which you have performed the right-click, you will see three to five WinRAR options in the context menu. For instance, when you right-click on an image file, Add to archive, Add to File Name.rar, Compress and email, and Compress to File Name.rar and email options appear in the context menu.
Even though these features and options are really useful, those of you who use WinRAR features rarely can clean up the context menu by enabling cascading menu for WinRAR. When enabled, only WinRAR entry appears when you right click on a file and all other options can be seen by clicking on the WinRAR entry.
Clean up context menu by enabling cascading menu for Winrar
This cascading menu option gets enabled by default in 7-Zip and many other file compression utilities but for some reason WinRAR doesn’t use this feature with default settings.

Enable cascading menu for WinRAR

You can enable cascading menu in WinRAR by following given below instructions.
Step 1: Launch WinRAR software by typing its name in the Start menu or Start screen and then hitting enter key.
Step 2: Once WinRAR is launched, click on Options menu and then click Settings to open WinRAR Settings dialog.
Clean up context menu by enabling cascading menu for Winrar picture2
Step 3: Switch to the Integration tab, check the option labelled Cascaded context menus to enable cascaded menu. Finally, click OK button. That’s it!
Clean up context menu by enabling cascading menu for Winrar picture3
From now onwards, whenever you right-click on a file or folder, only WinRAR entry appears in the main context menu and all other options appear when you select or click the WinRAR entry. Good luck!
How to remove unwanted WinRAR entries from context menu guide might also interest you.
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How To Easily Convert Install.esd To Install.wim

Windows 8 was the first version of Windows to let users upgrade their Windows versions to the latest one in a few mouse clicks with the help of Upgrade Assistant. The official Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant even let users create an ISO and bootable DVD/USB out of the downloaded installation files.
Those of you used Upgrade Assistant to download and create your Windows 8/8.1 installation media probably have noticed that it includes a file named install.esd instead of the familiar install.wim file that we use to customize Windows setup by including new drives, themes and applications.
While most PC users will never need to touch this install.esd file and both install.wim and install.esd are essentially the same, those of you want to customize Windows setup have to convert the install.esd to install.wim first as most of the setup customization tools out there don’t support install.esd for now.
Even though it was possible to convert install.esd to install.wim, it was not an easier task to do. One had to download and install Windows ADK or take the help of virtualization software in order convert an install.esd to install.wim.

Convert install.wim to install.esd and vice versa

Convert Install.esd to install.wim using Wim Converter
Luckily, the developer behind WinReducer software has released another handy tool called Wim Converter. As the name suggests, it lets you easily convert install.esd files to install.wim or vice versa with a few mouse clicks.
The GUI of WinReducer Wim Converter isn’t as hard as WinReducer. Upon launching the utility, it will download 7-Zip and Setacl.exe files that are critical for its operation.
After that, you just need to browse to your install.esd or install.wim, select the edition of Windows and click the Convert button to begin the conversion process. Once it’s done with its business, “Your command has been executed successfully” message appears on the screen.
Convert Install.esd to install.wim using Wim Converter picture2
Before you download this software, make sure that .Net Framework 4.5.1 in order to run this software.
Note that WinReducer Wim Converter can’t be used to convert install.wim or install.esd located in a mounted ISO file. That is, if you want to convert install.wim to install.esd or vice versa located in an ISO file, please extract the ISO file to a safe location first before attempting to convert install.esd or install.wim as you might end up with an error.
Download WinReducer Wim Converter (Via)
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3 Free Live CDs To Backup Files From Hard Drive That Won’t Boot

The best way to avoid data loss is to backup files to a safe location on a regular basis. Even though there are plenty of applications out there to help you recover files, there are very few good solutions out there to recover or backup data from an unbootable hard drive. Besides that, most of the popular free live CDs don’t come with an easy-to-use graphical interface, making it difficult for novice users.
Recovering data from a dead hard drive isn’t relatively easy but if the hard drive is in good condition, you can easily backup your data from the hard drive, for free. That is, if your PC fails to boot for some unknown reason and you want to backup or recover files before proceeding to fix the issue, there are a bunch of good, easy-to-use solutions available.
In this guide, we will share the best free live CDs out there to backup or recover data from a hard drive that won’t boot.

Redo Backup & Recovery

Redo Backup and Recovery is probably the most easy-to-use free software out there to backup or recover data from a PC that won’t boot. Its easy-to-use graphical user interface not only lets you backup files but also lets you recover deleted data from your hard drive. On top of that, it even includes a web browser just in case you want to access the web!
3 live cds to backup from unbootable hard drive
In order to use Redo Backup, you just need to download the live CD image (~250 MB), burn it to a CD/DVD and then boot from the same. We recommend you follow our how to use Redo Backup and Recovery guide for step-by-step instructions.

Windows installation media

While Windows installation media can’t be considered as a live CD/DVD, it take be used to backup your files. If you own a PC, chances are that you have the installation DVD as well. And if you have the DVD, you don’t need any third-party utilities to backup or recover your data. All you need to do is follow the very simple instructions mentioned in our how to backup files without booting into Windows guide.
live cds to backup files
In Windows 8/8.1, the procedure is slightly different than the procedure mentioned in the above guide.

Paragon Backup & Recovery

The free version of Paragon Backup & Recovery 2014 offers a couple of good ways to backup or recover data from a PC that won’t boot. The live backup CD that can be prepared by installing Backup & Recovery 2014 offers options to backup files to virtual disk, restore data from virtual disk, and incremental backup. An option is also available to backup files to a secured place called capsules. The tool includes an option to create live USB containing backup options.
live cd to backup files
While Paragon Backup & Recovery isn’t as versatile as Redo Backup and Recovery, it certainly offers an easy-to-use interface.
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