Microsoft

Gnomie Mike Thomas writes:
Dear Chris,
Last night was Update Night here, and since I had Automatic Updates turned on, I received the two updates from Microsoft and they were installed. I then rebooted, as per instructions, to finish the installation.
After the reboot, I was unable to access the Internet — either by my DSL or by […]

Gnomie Justin Hall writes:
Hey Chris! Here are some features and improvements I would like to see in Windows 7.

Better driver support. I want to see no limits in what I can hook up to my computer and I don’t want to see error messages because of it.

One thing that bothered me with Vista was I […]

Another way that data theft can occur is through the installation of hardware such as removable storage devices. An attacker can install such a device on your computer with the intent of copying your data. Vista protects against this type of data theft through device installation restrictions.
You can control the installation of devices through […]

Vista includes three firewall profiles: Domain, Private, and Public. A firewall profile stores the configuration information for a specific network environment.
The profile that is active determines the firewall rules that are used to protect your computer. If your computer cannot authenticate with a domain controller using any available interface or if all interfaces do […]

Worried about whether your computer will run Windows Vista? Instead of taking a chance and installing one of the Vista versions, you can download and run the Windows Upgrade Advisor Utility. This utility will analyze your computer and tell you what versions of Windows Vista your computer will be able to run. It will also […]

Microsoft Corp. today announced it will offer ad-funded cash rebates to customers who find and purchase their favorite products through a new program called Microsoft Live Search cashback. Key partners including eBay, Barnes & Noble.com, Overstock.com, Sears, Zappos.com, and WPP joined Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates at advance08, Microsoft’s annual advertising customer event, to announce their […]

By default, the privacy level in Internet Explorer 7 is set to Medium. This means that Internet Explorer places some restrictions on the use of cookies. For example, it will automatically block certain third-party cookies.
You can customize the privacy level to suit your needs using the following steps:

Open Internet Explorer.

Click Tools and select […]

Gnomie Stefano writes:
Hi, Chris! I saw your video where you reacted to Preston Gralla’s blog post, Five reasons Vista beats OS X, and decided I would share with my somewhat unusual point of view.

Windows made the GUI happen: Because Windows was the first GUI OS that would run on the widely spread IBM PC (the […]

A great way to save time when searching for information in Windows Vista is to save some of your searches. For example, if you are frequently searching for the same information, you can save the search and Windows Vista will keep it up-to-date for you.
To save a search in Windows Vista, click the Save Search […]

To celebrate the consumer availability of new Extenders for Windows Media Center, the Windows Media Center team is today unveiling a Digital Home Makeover Contest. For one lucky winner, the makeover team will transform their disconnected digital lifestyle into a home entertainment dream with a prize package totaling up to $10,000.
The Digital Home Makeover […]

Love them or hate them, most folks will say that the one big flaw remaining in Google’s applications is the inability to sync reliably with Microsoft Outlook, still the most-used personal and business schedule management tool.
That obstacle has been made smaller, if not removed entirely, by Google’s announcement on Friday that Google Calendar will now […]

Gnomie Elayne D. Cipolla writes:
Hello Chris, Just finished watching the video on Vista and MS’s “tell it to the hand” attitude toward its bread and butter… the consumer. Having just purchased a Toshiba Satellite laptop at the beginning of February and didn’t hear about the nightmare that is Vista until after I purchased this […]

The Document Map displays a list of headings in your document in a separate pane. To use this feature, you have to format headings with one of the built-in heading styles, e.g. Heading 1.
To view the Document Map in Word 2003: from the View menu, click the Document Map option.
You can also customize the level […]

Word includes many different options that you use to make certain text and pictures stand out from all the rest. Two options you have for bringing more focus to a picture is to place a border around it and add a shadow.
To quickly add a black border to a picture:

Within your document, right click […]

In a previous tip, I outlined how to enable the Encrypting File System (EFS) for a folder in Vista. The local computer policy has additional settings used to further configuring EFS.
Within the local computer policy, navigate to the following container: Computer Configuration \ Windows Settings \ Security Settings \ Public Key Policies \ Encrypting File […]

Hi, my name is Lawrence and I believe there are a few top reasons to stick with Windows Vista or XP and not to switch over to OS X. Even though I like OS X, I think these reasons explain why PCs are currently 90% of the market. Here is my detailed list:

Major software support. […]

If you are using the Windows Firewall to protect your computer and network, you can enable security logging. The default location for the firewall log is the Windows directory. However, if you do not want to file stored in this location, you can easily change it.

Click Start | All Programs | Administrative Tools | Windows […]

Gnomie Ryan Grier writes:
Hey, Chris, I’ve been a computer power user for about five years now. I’m 13 and live in Scotland. Anyway, here are my top five reasons why you should have Windows Vista over OS X Leopard.

Plentiful popular software. Almost every program and device works with Windows — like Photoshop and Sketchup. Not […]

When you stumble across a Web page that contains invaluable information, such as a favorite recipe, you can add it to your list of favorites or you can save a copy to your computer. By saving it to your computer, you can view or print it later. The only downside is that the saved copy […]

Many people store their contacts in their email clients, such as Outlook or Outlook Express. Having a printed copy of your contacts can also be handy in the event that you are not in front of your computer but still need contact information.
The email client included in Vista, known as Windows Mail, lets you easily […]