Hello from a festive and very snowy Top Windows Tutorials HQ. It is the 10th of December and that means it is time for the last newsletter of 2010! This month we look at some ways your PC can help you enjoy the festive season more. We also have a look at how and why the internet is getting full, and what's being done about it. Of course we still have our usual tip of the month and free utility of the month too.

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In this months issue:-

1) What's new at Top-Windows-Tutorials.com?
2) Forum update and free software give-away!
3) Decorate your PC with the festive Winter Wonderland theme!
4) Another cracking Christmas with your PC!
5) Tip of the Month - Disable Autoplay
6) Free Utility of the Month - Free Download Manager
7) Is the internet nearly full?

What's new at Top-Windows-Tutorials.com?

Microsoft recently launched their new Windows Live Essentials 2011 edition. This means updates to all their popular free software packages including Windows Live Photo Gallery. We updated our four Live Photo Gallery tutorials for this fantastic new version, to view the tutorials, visit this link.

If you're having trouble downloading larger files from the internet, or simply want more control over your downloads and your bandwidth, then our free utility of the month, Free Download Manager, can help. Our new Free Download Manager tutorials show you how to download and install this useful utility, visit this link to find out more.

Finally for November, we looked at a great new Windows enhancement called WindowFX 4. See how this utility can make Windows Aero look even more stunning by watching our tutorial/preview here.

Forum update and free software give-away!

We're happy to see several new members sign up for our forum, however there are still only one or two users actively posting on there. Because we're eager to encourage more of our readers to participate in the forums, we've decided to run two special promotions.

First of all, anyone who signs up to our forums from now until the 25th of December will be able to claim a free copy of iCare Data Recovery! iCare Data Recovery Software can perform hard disk data recovery, it's useful for dealing with hard disk failures, accidentally formatted hard drives, MBR (Master Boot Record) corruption, bad boot sectors, unreadable or deleted partitions and all kinds of other problems. Of course, software like this is no substitute for a proper backup, but it can prove invaluable should one of those emergencies arise.

To get your free copy, simply visit this post on our forum. You will need to sign up for an account and if you want to be in with a chance of getting more free software, then read on to find out about our next promotion.

From today (10th December 2010) until the 9th of January 2011, anyone who makes at least one post on our forum, in any sub-forum except Introductions, will be eligible to win one years free subscription to Eset Smart Security. This fantastic security package is worth almost £40 and can be yours for nothing.

The prize will go to whoever the Top-Windows-Tutorials.com staff feels has made the best use of the forum. This could be starting a new thread asking for help, helping another user, leaving feedback on a tutorial, writing a review of one of our Superguide packages or generally any activity that our forum is designed for. So don't delay, get stuck into our forums today and get posting! See this link for more information.

Decorate your PC with the festive Winter Wonderland theme!

Christmas is coming and soon we'll all be decking the halls and trimming the tree. Don't let your desktop be left out of the festive fun, get the Winter Wonderland theme! This professionally made theme uses Stardock Software's advanced skinning engine to completely transform Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7. The theme includes a festive desktop background, weather gadget (so you'll know if it's going to be a white Christmas!), icons and complete visual style that totally transforms your desktop.

Bring some festive cheer to your PC or surprise your children by transforming their computers with this visually stunning theme. Go here for a Windows XP preview or go here for a Windows Vista/Windows 7 preview. To get your Windows desktop all decked out in just a few clicks, visit this link.

Another cracking Christmas with your PC!

As Christmas gets closer, let's not forget how useful your PC can be to help you celebrate the festive season. Computers are far from boring, stuffy grey boxes these days and there are hundreds of ways that your PC can make Christmas brighter this year. Of course, your PC can help with the Christmas shop, but it needn't stop there.

Need some Christmas music? Why not attach your PC or your laptop to your stereo and pipe out some Christmas music in your living room. Using either a 3.5mm to rca cable or a digital audio cable, you can connect virtually any PC to any hi-fi system. This article on PC Pro explains in more detail. You can now play and enjoy Christmas tunes from E-music, Spotify or iTunes, where hundreds of tracks are available!

Why stop at just music? If you have a HDTV then you can easily connect your PC to your television for some truly breathtaking visual effects. Using either a VGA or a DVI cable you can enjoy big screen gaming or why not enjoy the visualizations provided with music players such as Windows Media Player or Winamp? In Windows Media Player, simply start some music playing then press the "Now Playing" button (in the bottom right hand corner in Windows Media Player 12). Now press and hold the alt key and press enter. Hey presto, your own disco wall! For more information on how to hook your PC to your HDTV, check this thread in our forum.

For the cosier, quieter Christmas moments, what about an animated snow scene or a fireplace on your monitor or TV? Stardock Deskscapes allows you to use animated wallpaper on your desktop. The range of wallpapers is huge and includes snow and Christmas scenes. Check out Deskscapes through Impulse or by visiting this link.

We all know that the PC can be an invaluable tool when it comes to Christmas shopping, but if you've left your gift buying to the very last minute, you might be interested to know that games or utilities purchased as digital downloads on Impulse can also be sent as gifts. Simply log into your Impulse account, add the game or program to your basket then on the checkout pages use the "Purchase as gift" option. You'll need your friend or family members Impulse account name or e-mail address, and remember that any item purchased as a gift is delivered immediately to that persons e-mail. To download Impulse and start shopping, visit this link. If you're thinking of getting one of our Superguides as a last minute gift remember that they are free from any consumer unfriendly copy protection, so you are able to download a copy then save it to a DVD or other media to give as a gift.

Don't forget that your PC can make capturing and preserving those Christmas memories easier too. Not only can you show your festive photos on the big screen, you can also edit and enhance them using software like Windows Live Photo Gallery or Google Picasa. See our tutorials here for more information.

If you've gone one better and purchased a video camera, the PC is an essential tool for taking your home movies and editing and enhancing them. Software like Cyberlink Powerdirector can turn your home videos into professional looking films that can then be recorded to DVD or uploaded to video sharing sites like Youtube.

Of course, if you really want to take your Christmas decorating to extremes, then excessive outdoor Christmas lights are a must. Light-o-Rama supply a range of lights, controllers and software letting the adventurous festive PC user use his computer to coordinate amazing light shows. If the idea of configuring your seasonal lighting from the confort of your PC sounds like a dream come true, then make haste to the Light-o-Rama homepage here.

What ideas do you have for using your computer over the festive period? Let us know in our Forum and you could win a years free Eset Smart Security (worth almost £40!). Visit this link to find out more about our forum.

Tip of the Month - Disable Autoplay

The Autoplay feature in Windows allows programs stored on removable media to start as soon as the disk/memory stick/memory card is inserted into your PC. While this is a convenient feature, it can also be a security risk. Malware has taken advantage of this feature to automatically infect a machine as soon as the unfortunate user unwittingly accesses an infected disk.

Disabling Autoplay is easy. XP users should use the Run command from the Start Menu, and enter "GPEDIT.MSC". A Group Policy window will then appear.

Now, from the folders on the left of this window, choose Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System.

Finally, locate the entry for "Turn off Autoplay". Double click it and then modify it however you choose. Click on OK when you are done, then restart your computer.

The process is similar on Windows Vista and Windows 7. Start by searching for "GPEDIT.MSC" on the Start Menu and clicking on the icon that appears.

A window titled "Local Group Policy Editor" will then appear. Now, from the folders on the left of this window, expand Administrative Templates, Windows Components, Autoplay Policies. You should now see "Turn off Autoplay" at the top of the list, Double click this. You will then see a "Turn Off Autoplay" window. Configure the options on this window however you like, to completely disable autoplay, make sure to choose "Turn off Autoplay on: All Drives" under "Options:". Finally click on OK and restart your computer.

If you need more help with this process, we've posted a quick tutorial with screen-shots on our forum. click this link if you are an XP user, or this link if you are a Vista/Windows 7 user.

Free Utility of the Month - Free Download Manager

Ever had trouble downloading files from the internet? Frustrated at having to restart downloads due to disconnections or internet hiccups? Worry no more, Free Download Manager is the answer to your prayers! This handy utility not only speeds up downloads but allows you to resume downloads that were interrupted, a huge time saver especially for bigger files.

Using Free Download Manager is easy, in fact, once it is installed it integrates into your favourite web browser and simply and transparently handles your downloads as soon as you click them. To find out more about this handy utility, see our tutorial here.

Is the internet nearly full?

The Internet has seen huge growth in the past decade. Its gone from something only used by a minority of individuals to a service that is now an essential part of many peoples lives. With the rapid expansion of the global internet, there are more and more individuals and corporations online than ever before and this is having one significant side effect, we're running out of room.

How can the internet ever be full? This is due to the networking system that the global internet uses, namely TCP/IP version 4. On this system, each computer on the internet has an assigned number, called an IP number. This number is like a phone number that computers use in order to talk to one another. Computers always talk in numbers, but thanks to a system called The Domain Name System (DNS), we can enter a more friendly name such as www.google.com, and have a Domain Name System computer translate it for us.

So, while we're not likely to run out of domain names any time soon, each domain name actually needs an IP address to go with it. There are around 4.3 billion possible IP addresses, but many are reserved for special use and, while this seems like a huge number, let's not forget that there are 4 billion people in Asia alone.

Fortunately, a new underlying technology is being introduced to the internet. IP Version 6 will easily contain enough IP addresses so that every individual on the planet could have several all to themselves. However, transitioning to this new system is not easy. Although many big businesses have made the switch and operate IPV6 compatible websites, small businesses and ISP's have been slower on the uptake.

What does this mean for you? Well, at the moment you have nothing to worry about. If you rent your equipment from your internet provider, they should provide upgrades if and when they are necessary. If you're planning on buying networking gear in the future however, it may be worth checking to see if it has IPV6 compatibility built in, though expect most store clerks to meet you with a puzzled gaze if you ask them about it. Although IPV4 internet access is likely to continue for some time, there may be significant advantages to switching to IPV6 when it is possible to do so. Currently very little home or office equipment has IPV6 compatibility and bridging this gap is likely to be another headache for the techies to solve.

To conclude, IPV6 is an important new technology, but it isn't really something that home users need to concern themselves with. Your ISP will handle the upgrading process for you whenever it is necessary. For ISP's, web-hosts and other online businesses its a matter of grave importance and one that really should have been tackled several years ago!