windows

New year, new PC

Computing hope springs eternal every new year. Certainly 2008 will be the year we finally get our ducks in a row, right? No more in-boxes filled with hundreds of unread messages. No more junk files from apps uninstalled long ago. We'll keep adequate free space on our hard drives, and even defragment them regularly! (Well, at least for a month or two.)

For those of you who scored new PCs for Christmas or your year-end holiday of choice, it's literally a year of new computing. Your top-of-the-line, screaming-fast, quad-core machine is only as good as what you can do with it, however, and that requires quality software.

Luckily for you, we've collected some of our favorite downloadable software for Windows in two collections perfect for new PC owners. Our Security Starter Kit ensures that your pricey investment is properly protected, and the Windows Starter Kit provides a bevy of top-rated products from a wide range of categories that are free or free to try. Start editing pictures, chatting online, swapping files, or burning music mixes with this collection of essential apps for new PC owners.… Read more

Microsoft's Stay-At-Home Server campaign deserves a time-out

Q: How many feminists does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: That's not funny.

OK, getting that out of the way, let me tell you about the greatest marketing campaign since "The Wow Starts Now."

You see, Microsoft, known for its riotous sense of humor, thought it would try its hand of parody, creating a Colbert-like investigative report about whether servers belong in the office or in the home to promote the Windows Home Server. There's a whole series of larger than life posters here at the Consumer Electronics Show.

The problem is, the attempted parody ultimately reinforces all the stereotypes about moms, domesticity, and the so-called "Mommy Wars" that writers and activists are working really hard to erase.… Read more

Avoid accidental killings with GoneIn60s

GoneIn60s is a neat little program that makes those Homer Simpsonesque "D'oh!" moments where you close Firefox instead of iTunes a thing of the past. Weighing in at a hefty 206KB, Gone keeps closed programs running in your RAM for an additional 60 seconds after you hit that tantalizing red X, just in case you hit the wrong one.

Verizon Wireless SMT5800 debuts

Today, Verizon Wireless added a new smartphone to its lineup, and it looks to be a goody. Manufactured by HTC, the Verizon Wireless SMT5800 takes after the HTC Vox in design and boasts a compact cell-phone-like form factor yet manages to pack in a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard. There's also an alphanumerical dialpad on the exterior of the device.

The features are pretty much standard fare. It runs Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition and has a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0 (with support for the A2DP profile), and EV-DO. Onboard memory is 128MB Flash/64MB RAM and comes equipped … Read more

Talk cheap with Samsung BlackJack II smartphone, free with activation

It's a new year, so why not start it with a new phone? Buy.com has the Samsung BlackJack II smartphone for free, zilch, zip, nada with a two-year AT&T activation. Free shipping, even.

Like its popular predecessor, the BlackJack II runs the Windows Mobile OS (version 6, in this case). I'm not a fan, but if you can live with the abysmal navigation and sluggish performance, you'll find a lot of power under the BlackJack's slim hood. It features GPS, a 2-megapixel camera, and HSDPA support (which helps make up for the lack … Read more

Microsoft to offer Windows Home Server perks

Aiming to boost the appeal of its Windows Home Server software, Microsoft is offering an update to the operating system that will add both fixes to the existing product as well as add-ons and new features.

Dubbed Power Pack 1, the software makes it easier to choose which files can be accessed remotely, and by whom, and also makes it possible to watch recorded TV programming remotely, essentially letting the Home Server act like a Slingbox of sorts. It also allows the Home Server's contents to be backed up to an external drive.

It's the first significant update … Read more

Save time, stay safe by partitioning your hard drive

Why would anyone start futzing with their PC if the machine is working OK? Two reasons: to make it safer and to make it faster. Dividing your hard drive into multiple partitions accomplishes both. By separating your applications and data from Windows' system files, you speed your backups and protect your files and programs from being wiped out if Windows conks out.

Windows Vista lets you create new partitions (which it calls "volumes") quickly and simply via the Disk Management utility. Unfortunately, the only quick and simple way to partition a hard drive in XP is to use … Read more

Using MAMP for local web development

I stumbled on MAMP this weekend when I couldn't figure out why my Apache installation on the Mac no longer seemed to support PHP.

MAMP stands for: Mac, Apache, MySQL, PHP and is basically the Mac version of the LAMP stack. The thing I enjoyed is that it's a drag and drop install and you have the whole stack live with no configuration necessary. While it's not really for production it's much easier than having to navigate some of the intricacies of Apache (not that IIS is any easier, despite having better GUI tools) for development.… Read more

Windows Home Server remains a tough sell

Microsoft has largely succeeded in getting a PC into the home, but its effort to put a server there will be an uphill battle.

Bill Gates announced the product to much fanfare at last year's Consumer Electronics Show. However, even folks who are bullish on the concept, such as Forrester Research analyst J.P. Gownder, say it's destined to be a niche product for years to come.

In a soon-to-be-published research report, Gownder figures that home servers (not just those running Microsoft's home server product) will reach 4.5 million households by 2012. That's up from … Read more

Microsoft to issue two security bulletins next Tuesday

In preparation for its next Patch Tuesday, January 8, 2008, Microsoft said on Thursday that it will issue two bulletins.

One, deemed critical by Microsoft, will address remote code execution in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 service packs 1 and 2, Windows XP Service Pack 2, and Windows 2000 Service Pack 4.

The second, deemed important, will address local elevation of privilege in Windows Server 2003 service packs 1 and 2, Windows XP Service Pack 2, and Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, but not Windows Vista.

In addition to the two bulletins, Microsoft also plans to issue an updated version … Read more