Bootable USB installation drive

A bootable USB installation drive enables you to load an OS just like a bootable CD.

• Advantages:
• Faster than a CD
• Not limited to one OS
• Creating a Bootable drive: 

• Multiboot USB creator
  • Allows you to create a USB installation drive for versions after Windows XP.
  • Customized ISO files can't be added from the GUI. They can be added by editing the file "menu.lst" though.
  • Doesn't preserve the names of ISO files.
    
• WinSetup (WinSetup-1-0-beta7)
• Allows you to create a USB installation drive for any OS available out there. This means that you just need to carry one USB flash drive instead of a number of CDs.
• Windows XP Home and Professional versions can be copied to the same drive.
• Very flexible - Lets you add any ISO installation file.
• Preserves the names of ISO files.

• Customizing the list: The main menu can be customized by editing the file "menu.lst". You can specify a different ISO file name or path in this file.
  
• Problems: ISO image files may be fragmented. Fragmented ISO files won't boot from the USB drive. Use "WinContig" to solve this problem.

Open files faster - Add an entry to the File explorer's context menu

 I find the need to open files in an editor (PSPad) many times. When I right click on a file the context menu always displays "PSPad" for me and this is how I did it:

1. Open "regedit".
2. Navigate to "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell".
3. Create a new key (Eg: PSPad). This will be the name that you see in the context menu.
4. Create a new key under it and name it "command" (Now I have "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\PSPad\command").
5. Double click on the "Default" string under "command" (On the right hand page) and modify it's value as follows:
                "<path_to_exe>" %1
   For me it looks like this:

Note: "%1" indicates the first parameter to be passed to the exe file. In most cases it is the name of the file that you want to open.

WinContig - Defragment a file

• Fragmented file: A file that is not stored contiguously on a drive is a fragmented file. 
• Defragment a file:

• Download and run the free File Defrag tool - WinContig.
• Add the file(s) that you you want to defrag.
• Press the "Defragment" button.
• Follow the instructions.