vista

Microsoft: Small businesses start to eye Windows 7

After eschewing Windows Vista, small businesses are starting to consider moving away from Windows XP, Microsoft Vice President Brad Brooks said in an interview on Tuesday.

"Windows Vista was a generation of the operating system that was passed up by small businesses; they stayed with XP," Brooks said. "We're seeing a lot of trends at retail that are telling us small businesses are starting to come back in the marketplace."

In particular, Brooks said that office and electronics retailers are starting to stock more PCs with the professional version of Windows 7. "That's … Read more

Dig deeper to find the cause of Windows start-up delays

Who doesn't want their PC to start faster? Even if you've trimmed the list of Windows' start-up apps, as described here in October 2008, you may still find your PC starts too slowly.

A year ago, I wrote about the free Startup Delayer from R2 Studios that lets you adjust how Windows loads your start-up programs. Two useful free tools for trimming your PC's roster of start-up apps are Pirisoft's CCleaner and Microsoft's (formerly SysInternals') AutoRuns. The problem is, you can do massive damage with such registry-editing programs--to the point of making your machine unbootable.… Read more

Windows 7 market share tops 10 percent

Windows 7 hit another milestone this past weekend, with the operating system accounting for 1 in 10 computers accessing the Web, according to Net Applications.

Market share for a new Windows release often peaks on a weekend day, when consumer use is highest, then trends down again when the work week begins. Nonetheless, Windows 7 use has been trending quickly upward.

In less than a month on the market, Windows 7 had reached the 4 percent milestone--a level it took Windows Vista some seven months to reach. Windows 7 was launched on October 22.

Microsoft said as part of … Read more

Audio vs. computers, and the winner is?

I'm not knocking computers, I'm using one right now. It's just that they've got to be among the least reliable consumer products ever made. Glitches, stability issues, crashes, and balky software are all part of living with computers, but people put up with the hassles. You just have to accept that you can't always access certain programs or files on your system.

It's also clear that computers aren't built for the long haul. The best two-channel audio products--turntables, amplifiers, speakers--have useful working lives measured in decades. I've owned four computers in the past 13 years.

Audio, unless it's broken, works every time. Computers and software products can't make the same claim. Brand-new and functioning as intended by the manufacturer doesn't guarantee a usable, out-of-the-box experience. The owner might have to invest a few hours on the phone or Internet trying to get satisfaction from customer service. Your wasted time is never compensated for; you're just the sucker who bought a not-ready-for-prime-time product. … Read more

Browse safely with Internet Explorer

Unless you're brand new-to using computers, the recent news that an Internet Explorer hole was exploited in China-based attacks against Google Gmail users and dozens of high-tech companies was no surprise.

Lately, malicious software has increasingly targeted holes in media players such as Adobe's Flash Player and Reader PDF software, so the Chinese attack on IE is in some ways a throwback. Many tech pundits have responded by recommending against using Internet Explorer at all. The free and easy availability of alternative browsers such as Firefox, Opera, Apple's Safari, and Google's own Chrome would appear to … Read more

Amazon.com has the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx GPS Navigator for $210.95, after $89.04 savings.

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Another e-tailer named in probe changes course

Another e-tailer criticized by federal lawmakers two weeks ago for profiting from "misleading" and "deceptive" marketing practices appears to be rethinking its position.

VistaPrint, an online printing company, announced Monday it has "terminated its contract" with Vertrue, a so-called post-transaction marketing company that has come under scrutiny along with competitors Affinion and Webloyalty. This summer, the U.S. Senate Commerce committee began looking into scores of consumer complaints about the marketers--some going back years.

VistaPrint said in a statement that the company's contract with Vertrue ends December 20.

The three Connecticut-based marketing firms … Read more

Windows 7 sales outshine Vista

Judging by its initial sales, Windows 7 is certainly proving more popular than Vista.

Microsoft sold 234 percent more boxed editions of Windows 7 than it did Vista in the initial releases of both products, according to research released Thursday by NPD Group.

In actual dollars, Windows 7 has also been more successful than Vista. However, early discounts on pre-sales copies and a lack of a promotional boost behind Windows 7 Ultimate led to revenues only 82 percent greater than those of Vista.

"Ultimate was a much bigger part of what Microsoft did with Vista, whereas this time I … Read more

FAQ: Buying the right Windows 7 upgrade

When I wrote on Monday about the ins and outs of what counts as proper licensing of Windows 7, I was worried that it might turn into a flame war. But, instead, readers sent in a whole bunch of really good questions on the intricacies of licensing Windows 7 that went beyond the basics I had covered.

Things like dual-boot machines and systems with beta versions of the operating system raise all sorts of interesting licensing challenges.

Before we dive into the edge cases, though, here's a recap of the basics on Windows 7.

For those upgrading their PC, … Read more