Vista

Q: What exactly is Windows 7’s XP mode and what’s it used for? – Brian
A: Microsoft knew that it was going to have a tough time convincing hardcore Windows XP users to migrate to Windows 7 because some older applications and hardware (like scanners) that required Windows XP could not be updated to work in [...]

Q: 64-bit Windows (7) is a must for me as I bought a quad core PC for its power, only to discover that this power is limited by having a 32 bit OS. Do I need to buy the full version, or can I buy the upgrade version since I have Vista 32 bit? – [...]

As you probably know, you can customize many different aspects of Vista (and previous versions of Windows) to meet your own preferences. One such customizable aspect is the mouse pointer.
Vista has a default style for the mouse pointer. Now you may find this default style rather dry and boring. If so, you can change [...]

Vista tries to make the task bar less cluttered by grouping together icons of a similar type. For example, all your open Word documents will be grouped under a single button and all your open web sites will be grouped under a separate button. I personally like this feature since I tend to have numerous [...]

When Windows Vista generates an error message, a dialog box appears asking whether or not you want to send an error report. If you have already sent in a report for a reoccurring problem or if you find this to be an annoyance, you can disable error reporting all together. To accomplish this you have [...]

User Account Control (UAC) is the feature that lets Vista run more reliably without giving the user local admin rights to the system. This does result in some additional dialog boxes and warnings that pop up for users but in the end reduces the damage that malware can do to a computer.
User Account Control is [...]

When you create a user account in Vista, it is assigned a log in picture that is displayed on the login screen. If you do not want to be a flower, you can easily change the picture to either one of the stock photos included with Vista or your own photo.
To change your user account [...]

In previous tips, I showed you how to edit your pictures using Photo Gallery. The application, though, can be used for more than just editing picture. Photo Gallery makes it easy to share pictures with your friends and family. Just select the picture you want to share and then select one of the following options:

Slide [...]

Gnomie Haarukka from Finland writes:
Dear Chris,
This issue has annoyed me for years. There truly is no other operating system in the computer world than Windows for gaming. Of course some games are being released for other platforms, but mostly for Windows systems only. Myself, I’m a huge fan of Linux and I love the whole [...]

Vista makes it easy to save photos that are on your camera onto your computer. All you need to do is connect your camera to your computer and Vista will walk you through the process.
To copy photos from your camera to your computer:

Connect your camera to your computer.
Make sure your camera is turned on.
Click [...]