Have you ever wanted to see what programs start up when your computer boots? Or maybe defrag your pagefile? Or how about finding out what files, registry keys, etc., are currently open? You can do all this and more for free with Sysinternals Suite by Mark Russinovicha and from Microsoft.

The Autoruns program from the Sysinternals Suite

Sysinternals Suite is a collection of handy utilities for Windows. I have been using them since Windows 95. From an everyday user to a computer repair technician, there is something here for you. There are currently over seventy utilities included in the Sysinternals Suite.

The Process Explorer program from the Sysinternals Suite

For the everyday user, there is Autoruns, Desktops, and PageDefrag. With Autoruns, you can see what programs are configured to start when your system boots automatically. Desktops allow you to create up to four virtual desktops and switch in between them. And with PageDefrag, you can defragment your pagefile and registry.

The TCPView program from the Sysinternals Suite

For the computer repair technician, there is Process Explorer, Process Monitor, and TCPView. With Process Explorer, you can see what files and folders a program has open. Process Monitor is a real-time monitoring tool that provides detailed information (PID's, path, etc.) for files, registry, and processes. And TCPView gives you a detailed listing of all network endpoints, local and remote, with addresses and port numbers.

For more information on Sysinternals Suite and all of the free utilities included, follow the links below.

Sysinternals Suite

Sysinternals Utilities Index

Note: In October 2020, Google shut down the Google Play Music service and recommended users transfer their accounts to YouTube Music. All of the links in this article have been changed to YouTube Music.

Google recently introduced a new music service into its catalog of products called Google Music. With Google Music, you can store all of your music to your account on Google's servers and stream it back to your favorite device. Google Music gives you space for 20,000 songs, which roughly comes out to around 100 gigabytes of storage for free!

My library on the Google Music website

You can access your music from any browser with an internet connection, or you can use the Google Music Android app. There are two ways of getting songs into Google Music. You can download free music or purchase music from the Android Market. Or you can use the Music Manager program from Google to download / upload music to / from your computer. A few of the cool features are Auto Playlists (any song you have Thumbs up'd), Instant Mixes (a quick mix of 25 songs), and Playlists. And with free / purchased music, you can share a listen with your circles on Google+.

The Google Music Manager interface

Music Manager is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. There is one restriction on types of music files; only MP3 format is allowed to be uploaded. And you will need to have the latest version of Flash for the Google Music website. Here's a quote from the website:

Google Music stores all of your music online so that you can save space on your computers and mobile devices and easily access your collection from anywhere you want to listen.

Use Google Music to browse and search your library, easily create playlists, rate your favorite songs, edit song information, and more. Since your music collection is online, you don’t need to worry about syncing these changes across your devices.

Storage

• Android Market purchases - Free and purchased music is automatically saved to your Google Music library and does not count towards your storage limit.
• Your personal collection - You can add up to 20,000 songs to Google Music from your PC, Mac, or Linux computer, free of charge. All you need to do is download a simple desktop application called Music Manager to the computer where you keep your music. Music Manager can upload your iTunes and Windows Media Player library, playlists, playcounts, ratings, and more.

For more information on Google Music, follow the links below:

YouTube Music

Have you ever wanted to try another operating system but did not want to have to erase your drive to do it? Maybe you have an app that will not work on the latest version of Windows? If so, then Oracle VirtualBox may be just what you are looking for.

Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11 running inside of VirtualBoxes

VirtualBox is a virtualization program that allows you to run an operating system (OS) in a Virtual Machine (VM) environment. VMs emulate the most common hardware found in modern computers, including Trusted Platform Module (TPM) ver. 1.2 and 2 (Windows 11 requires TPM v2).

One of my favorite things is to try out different operating systems, like other versions of Linux, including Android-x86 and WindowsFX. I have used VMs for many years now to do just that and have found VirtualBox to be the one I use the most often.

Another thing I use VMs for is running legacy software on older operating systems. I have several programs that will only run on Windows XP, so I have a dedicated Windows XP VM just for these programs.

And you can configure a VM so it appears as a separate computer on your network. You can even map shared network folders and print to network printers. You can even have multiple monitors too.

Windows 11 with dual monitors running inside of a VirtualBox

Creating a new VM is relatively simple, give it a name, select the operating system being installed, and the location of the installation media. You will need to know what amount of memory and disk space the operating system you are installing requires.

When it comes to creating a VM for another OS, it is the same as if you were installing the OS on physical hardware. If the OS you are installing requires a product key, like Windows, you will need it. Usually, when it comes to Windows, you can only use retail product keys, not Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) product keys.

VirtualBox currently runs on Windows 8.1 through Windows 11, Windows Server 2012 through 2022, macOS 10.15 through 12, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, 20.04 LTS and 22.04, Debian GNU/Linux 10 (Buster) and 11 (Bullseye), Oracle Linux 7, 8 and 9, CentOS/Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, 8 and 9, Fedora 35 and 36, Gentoo Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 and 15, openSUSE Leap 15.3 and Oracle Solaris 11.4.

With its flexibility in configuration, multiple monitor support, and support for 64-bit virtual machines (only on 64-bit host operating systems), it's my choice for VM. And did I mention that it's free? For more information on Oracle VirtualBox, follow the link below:

Oracle VirtualBox

With all of the talk nowadays about moving from personal computers to smartphones and tablets, I wondered if I could have the best of both worlds. I wanted to know is if I could run a version of the Android OS on my netbook. Having set up both multi-boot computers and virtual machines, I thought that it might be possible. And with the Android-x86 Project, it is.

Android-x86 opening screen running inside of an Oracle VirtualBox

The Android-x86 Project is an Apache open-source project working on porting the Android operating system to the x86 hardware architecture. It's the same hardware architecture that is in almost all netbooks/laptops and personal computers. They have a couple of different builds for different systems (32-bit, 64-bit, and UEFI), mainly netbooks, laptops, and tablets.

Android-x86 main screen running inside of an Oracle VirtualBox

Android-x86 can be run from a cd, installed into a virtual machine like Oracle's VirtualBox, a USB drive, or your computer's hard drive as the primary operating system. You can even set it up to multi-boot with Windows. Here's a quote from the Android-x86 website:

This is a project to port Android open-source project to x86 platform, formerly known as "patch hosting for android x86 support". The original plan is to host different patches for android x86 support from the open-source community. A few months after we created the project, we found out that we could do much more than just hosting patches. So we decide to create our code base to provide support on different x86 platforms, and set up a git server to host it.

For more information on the Android-x86 Project, follow the links below:

Android-x86 Project - Run Android on Your PC

If you're a hardcore computer user like me, your system runs 24/7 with no screen or power saver options (I turn off the monitors when not in use). I like to walk into my office and have it ready to go. So when I noticed that my version of Windows still had the Hiberfil.sys file and I do not use hibernation, it was time to remove this file and regain that drive space back (in my case, 16 GB).

The Hiberfil.sys is a hidden system file located in the drive's root folder where Windows is installed. The Windows Kernel Power Manager creates this file when you install Windows. The computer uses the Hiberfil.sys file to store a copy of the system memory on the drive when hibernation is turned on.

The size of the Hiberfil.sys file is approximately equal to how much Random Access Memory (RAM) is installed on the computer. The computer cannot go into hibernation if this file is not present. And even if you have disabled hibernation, your computer can still go to sleep. Here is the difference between sleep and hibernation:

• Sleep: Windows can turn off the screen(s) and drive(s) while continuing to run in memory. A tap on the keyboard or moving the mouse will turn the screen(s) and drive(s) back on.
• Hibernation: Windows takes the active memory, writes it to the Hiberfil.sys, and then turns the computer off. Pressing the power button will start Windows back up, where it loads the Hiberfil.sys file.

How to turn on or off hibernation in Windows

To disable hibernation, you must open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges. Since this article covers multiple versions of Windows, click on the link below that matches your version of Windows for how to open an Admin Command Prompt. All links open in a new window.

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 11

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 10

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows 8

How to open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges in Windows Vista and Windows 7

To delete the Hiberfil.sys file and make hibernation unavailable, follow these steps:

1. Open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges (see instructions above)
2. At the Command Prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate off and press ENTER.
   
3. Type exit and then press ENTER to close the Command Prompt window.

To recreate the Hiberfil.sys file and make hibernation available, follow these steps:

1. Open a Command Prompt with Administrator privileges (see instructions above)
   
2. At the Command Prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate on and press ENTER.
3. Type exit and then press ENTER to close the Command Prompt window.