Microsoft’s boards are flooded with complaints about the issue.

There is a little utility that was coded for older versions of Windows and works perfectly for Windows 7 too. It sits in the Windows system tray and automatically locks the point while you’re typing. I was a bit skeptical, but in my testing it has been flawless. Download it from Google.

It can even format for you. You just voice your punctuation marks, like “comma” or “period”, and it sticks them in. If you say, “new paragraph”, it formats it for you. It’s pretty impressive and it’s accuracy is reminiscent of their PC application.

So, why would you want this? Three obvious scenarios:

• You’re a bad iPhone typist.
• You’re in motion and typing isn’t an option.
• You’ve got a lot of text to write and little time.

After a week of testing, we’ve started using Dragon for more than 50% of our composition. It’s fast, surprisingly accurate and simple to work with. Occasionally, it would lose its server connection and our dictation would be lost. That’s the apps one flaw: you can’t dictate offline — it needs that server link to do the translation.

We cannot recommend this app enough. Try it for yourself. As the cliche goes, “you can’t beat free.”

For those on a tight budget or those who run unprotected systems, this successor to Microsoft Live One Care  is as an obvious consideration for antivirus and antispyware. But does it actually work?

So far, the answer is yes.

The system requirements are pretty easy to meet. You need to be running Windows XP 32-bit, Vista or Windows 7 and you need 1GB of RAM. So, if your PC is from the last five years, Security Essentials is likely to run. Obviously, you’ll need to check your system first.

First, some great news. The download was ridiculously fast, the installation procedure was extremely simple and the definitions updated more quickly than Antivir. The interface is sparse, which threw me for a loop. You don’t normally see this kind of “stripped-down” software in the security world, where bloated code and feature touting reign.

One install caveat: you need to submit to Microsoft’s Genuine Advantage validation during the install. Not a serious concern for most, but still a bit “Big Brothery” for our tastes.

Memory usage fluctuated, but averaged around 65MB. The initial scan barely affected system performance; I let it run while I continued working on other tasks.  The time to complete the scan was very good too (about 2/3 of the time of the other major freeware AV vendors). Realtime protection caused minimal delays and were quite livable. We wish that Microsoft would offer an option on the system tray icon to temporarily disable it, but it can be done from within the program settings.

My big question? Is this software actually doing anything to protect my system? It’s way too early to expect accurate results from our real-world usage, but AV-Comparatives recently rated it as one of the best for protection and a low number of false positives. Of the five infected systems we’ve thrown it on, all have cleaned up nicely.

Conclusion: I’ve run without antivirus software for years and I just may keep this one. It’s that seamless.

Some quick ideas:

1. Get a new hard drive first. This may sound a bit radical, but it has a number of advantages. You start with a clean slate, your content is guaranteed to be preserved on your old drive, you get a drive with less mileage on it and you can choose a faster, larger drive.
2. Run backups before anything. Things happen. It’s best to try to backup what you can before making any changes. A large, external drive is the best option for this. If you haven’t got one, then Tip #1 above is even more critical.
3. Know your applications. You’ll need to reinstall every application (except for the ones that are bundles with Windows 7). If you’re missing key discs or your software is outdated, you may need to resolve this issue first. Again, with Tip #1 is helpful here – if you forget an app, you can go back to the old drive in an emergency.
4. Check your hardware. Not every device has a Windows 7 driver. In general, native support for devices has been excellent, but it’s worth checking.
5. Run the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. This tool is useful if you have concerns about whether your PC is suited for the upgrade. The results aren’t perfect, but they are insightful.

Still with the idea? Microsoft has a good walkthrough on how to get Windows 7 installed. Make sure that you document the steps that will require your PC to be unable to access the web (print out the steps if needed).

See the Microsoft tutorial.

The best way to deal with these threats is to prevent them. Here are some quick fixes:

1. Stop using Internet Explorer — even version 8. Load up Firefox, Chrome or Safari and use that as your primary browser. You’re far less likely to run into issues. It’s been said many times, but it’s true.

2. Free software often has a price. You’re courting disaster with every poker and online game you install. Be very careful this. Kids are frequent targets too. If you’re not sure, just Google it and add the keyword “spyware.” See if anyone else is losing their mind about it.

2. Bolster your filtering. Suites such as Kaspersky Internet Security are more effective than old, basic antivirus programs. Microsoft’s new Security Essentials is a good choice on the free side. Avira’s Antivir is a great free antivirus program, but you’ll end up with malware if you hit the wrong site…it’s spyware filtering is not very good.

3. Make sure you’re up to date. While not a sure thing, Microsoft’s updates are often related to security issues with web browsing. Run your updates if you don’t have automatic updating turned on. Obviously, this requires a bit more thought for corporate users.

4. Stop using the Internet so much. Phonebooks and encyclopedias are virus-free. It sounds radical and we’re  kidding…sort of…but it’s guaranteed to keep your system safer.

If you do get hit (or preferable before you’re infected), install the free program Malwarebytes and use that to scan your systems. It’s detection and cleanup tools are easy to use and quite effective.

And that’s why we’re pleading to you now: back your stuff up now.

If you don’t have a backup system in place, we have some tips on how to do it on the cheap. The first thing is to figure how much room you need and exactly where you data is. If you’re not sure, you may want to consider buying a good-sized external hard drive that will backup your entire system.

Mac users can use Time Machine for easy data retrieval (as long as you’ve got a newer OS and you’ve purchased a Time Capsule from Apple…or at least initialized an external hard drive). Windows offers many options for the average user, but the built-in backup utility is antiquated. Here are some quick and easy solutions.

Backup Everything
Buy a big USB hard-drive and use the software that it comes with backup everything you have. I just checked with Staples and found a large Maxtor for $120. Using the included software is fairly easy and most users would have plenty of room to spare. Pretty easy, but not cheap.

Backup Online
You pick what you want to backup and let the software handle the rest. This is a safe option since everything is encrypted as it is uploaded, but it’s pretty slow even with a great broadband connection. It may take days to upload your files and getting them all downloaded in case of a system failure will take a long time too (it’s normally quicker to download than upload). For home users, Carbonite and Mozy are our favorites. For business, we like MozyPro despite the higher cost per GB.

Other Options
DVDs and other options have significant drawbacks in capacity, but if you have a small number of critical documents and little in the way of multimedia files, you can use an external USB flash drive or CDs/DVDs to backup. The flash drive option is more simplistic and faster, but you’ll likely want at least a 16GB USB flash drive. On the flash drive side, Kingston has never let us down.

If you’re wondering why, given Google’s dominant web search, the answer is easy: performance. No desktop search tool can index your system without slowing you down. It may not be a massive drag, but it’s there. And when you combine it with antivirus software and other apps, the effect can be quite noticeable.

A number of the major search vendors offer a free desktop client that indexes your drive and allows you to search your email and document content. The content indexing is important. It’s an improvement over older OS-integrated search tool which were designed to just find files.

If you have a significant number of local documents or email, you may want need help finding things. Luckily, Windows 7 and Mac users have integrated search tools that are quite effective (Vista did too albeit in a slightly clunkier form). If you are a PC users, say with Windows XP, and you think you need desktop search software, read on. If you’re a Mac user, Mac’s built-in Spotlight is your best option (unless you really need Google Desktop for Mac’s extra tools).

One thing to note are the security concerns. You may end up with one big searchable database of everything you do, depending on what you index.

Here are some results from our testing:

Exalead one:desktop
After several weeks of use, this tool from the French search engine maker proved quite solid. It’s search results are informative and customizable. It’s also proved to be light enough that you could leave it on without much impact on system resources. If you have a slower system, things could bog down a bit while it’s indexing though. One thing we didn’t like: the results are displayed in your web browser. It was distracting and the lag was mildly annoying.

Windows Search 4.0
Believe it or not, Microsoft did OK with this one. It’s odd when “OK” puts a product in the runner-up position. It can suck up your system’s resources even when not indexing, but it’s speedy enough in use. It’s results are decent and its integration is useful for Microsoft Office 2007/2010 users. I contemplated keeping it, but preferred the ability to easily quit out of Exalead. Also, it did not find some text with certain file types (even though it was supposed to have indexed them).

Copernic Desktop Search
A long-time favorite of many, this software is quick to launch and has some strong design features. It’s relatively easy on resources and customizable, however, its indexing results sometimes inexplicably missed certain content. One more drawback, it now displays ads in its results window. Not huge, but creepy. A decent tool if you are mostly concerned with speed and ease of use.

X1 Professional Desktop
A really strong, established product. It worked very well. It’s just hard to part with $50 for desktop search (put that money towards a Windows 7 Upgrade). After buying X1, Yahoo has gone back and forth from a free to a paid model. They seem to be focusing more on enterprise network search products now. It’s a 30-day trial. I mention them because of the strength of the software. If it was free, it would easily be my first choice. Their enterprise search tools may appeal to you if you’re a corporate user.

Google Desktop

It’s results are decent and if you use GMail, it’s integration is absolutely essential. Three problem: it does not fare well when it comes to resource usage, it’s insistent on searching everything and it doesn’t appear to uninstall well. I’ve read reviews where they don’t even mention the performance issue, which is sad. It will slow your system down–sometimes unmercifully–and that’s why it’s last on our list.

Of course, others like the search tool from Ask, didn’t make the cut.

There are four popular browsers that hold the majority of the web browser market: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Opera. Apple’s Safari, the standard browser on Macs, is less common but showing up on more systems due to its bundling with iTunes.

The problem with PCs is that you can switch to another browser, but you will still need Internet Explorer on your system. Some sites will require it and although there are ways to remove it, it’s not easy.

Internet Explorer 8
Good: Faster than 7, more standardized, more secure.
Bad: Slower than others and still a sitting duck for hackers.
This browser is touted as being faster and safer than previous versions. This holds up pretty well, but other than its launch speed, it’s still a mixed bag. Update to 8 if you haven’t for the supposed security benefits.

Firefox 3
Good: Add-ons can be a godsend, themes are useful and its known for its security.
Bad: Can suck up RAM with multiple tabs, slower to launch, add-ons can weigh it down.
My daily browser of choice. Fast enough for daily tasks and more customizable than any other browser. It’s also become quite stable after some earlier glitches.

Google Chrome
Good: Really fast, clean interface and safe.
Bad: Not easy to tweak, pages don’t always render as they should and Google can be creepy.
I think Chrome is a great tool. I just wish that Google’s information usage wasn’t suspect.

Opera 9
Good: Unique features, safe, and well supported.
Bad: Slow on launch and certain functions, page rendering sometimes off.
This is a geek favorite. I use it on my smartphone. Its competition is catching up though, especially Firefox.