Computer

Time can be a difficult thing to keep track of when you're at your computer listening to music or playing a game. Sometimes you don't realize how loud the audio is and whether it's disturbing the people living with you or next to you. Volume Concierge is a simple and small app that can adjust your system's audio level at set times so you don't have to worry about it. Read on to learn how to set it up.

Step 1: Download and install Volume Concierge.

Step 2: The program should run automatically after … Read more

Ever wish you could share albums of photos with less-than-tech-savvy friends and family?

Google Picasa offers a great way to show off a collection of photos with its slideshow option. This will be especially handy for those holiday moments coming up when picture-taking is at a yearlong high.

To begin, you need to have Picasa installed, as well as at least one album or collection of photos you'd like to make into a gift CD/DVD. If you plan on including a slideshow option on the disc, you should also make sure the pictures are … Read more

Google recently added the multiple user account feature to the beta version of Chrome.

In the past some file structure hacking would have been necessary in order for multiple users to have a personalized experience in Chrome. Luckily you can start taking advantage of this new feature today by downloading and installing the beta and then following a few quick steps.

Step 1: Grab the Google Chrome Beta here: http://www.google.com/landing/chrome/beta

Step 2: After you finish installing, click on the wrench near the top-right corner and select Options.

Step 3: On the left-hand side … Read more

Chances are you have heard of the popular photo-sharing iOS app called Instagram. What makes the app so appealing is its broad range of filters and effects the average photog can apply to photos to make them, in some cases, look amazing. … Read more

You don't need expensive graphics software to edit photos like a pro. In fact, you don't need graphics software on your computer at all. All you need to edit photos like a pro is an Internet connection and a Flash-enabled Web browser.

Pixlr Editor is a free, Web-based photo-editing tool by Autodesk that looks and works a lot like Photoshop. It has many of the same tools as desktop photo-editing programs; tools like crop, smudge, red-eye correction, and spot-healing are all there. It even supports layers, history (for undos), and has a fair amount of filters to choose … Read more

When Siri for the iPhone 4S was announced, downloads for Vlingo, a voice command app for Android, shot up 50%. Why? Because voice command, especially with artificial intelligence, can complete tasks more efficiently than our own fingers.

The act of talking to our gadgets is still in the awkward stage, but pretty soon we'll all be voice-commanding our phones, forgetting that we ever lived without artificial intelligence.

Voice command (and speech recognition) isn't just available for phones. Check out our guides on getting these services on any of your gadgets:

Android

Is your Windows 7 system a sea of bland yellow folders? Custom folder icons can make folders easier to find and they're prettier to look at too. Here's how to customize your Windows 7 folder icons:

Step 1: Right-click on a folder you want to customize and select "Properties."

Step 2: In the "Customize" tab, go to the "Folder icons" section and click the "Change Icon" button.

Step 3: Choose one of the many icons listed in the box then click OK. These icons are located in C:\Windows\system32\… Read more

Are you afraid that your computer will crash one day and take all your valuable data with it? A proactive way to help avoid data loss is to move your documents, photos, music, etc., from the Windows system drive to another physical drive.

Windows uses special folders like, My Documents, for quick access to files, but are stored on the system drive (C:), alongside the Windows operating system. Here's how to change the default location of the special folders:

Step 1: Browse to C:\Users\username, where "username" is the name of your Windows user account.

Step … Read more

Some of your friends use Dropbox, some use AIM, others use GTalk, and you're tired of keeping track of these preferences when you want to send them something.

Now you can use a service that works within both your Web browser and theirs. There's no wondering if you're both using the same file-sharing client because it's done through a peer-to-peer (P2P) connection right inside the browser. Here's how to get started sharing your files much faster:

Step 1: Open up http://www.justbeamit.com in your Web browser.

Step 2: Drag … Read more