Recently, Microsoft released Security Essentials their free antivirus and antimalware software. It’s a simplistic program that will compete with the free offerings from AVG, Antivir and Avast. For those on a tight budget or those who run unprotected systems, this successor to Microsoft Live One...

Upgrading from Vista is relatively simply. The steps to upgrade XP are more complicated. You can easily move your program data to the new installation, but programs and their settings are a different matter. Some quick ideas: Get a new hard drive first. This may sound a bit radical, but it has a number...

Traditional antivirus programs block malicious programs. The majority of the crippled systems that we see are running antivirus programs, in some cases very good ones, that didn’t classify the web threat as a “virus.” They can come from legitimate sites too. The best way to deal with...

Google’s recently started pushing its Chrome browser on its search page. More than an advertisement, it’s making PC users question whether they need it and what benefits it would offer versus Internet Explorer. There are four popular browsers that hold the majority of the web browser market:...

It’s a fairly boring issue, but your email may be at risk if your hard-drive fails or your laptop goes missing. If you download your mail to your local system and you don’t have a backup, you could end up with an accidental clean slate. Exchange Server and webmail folks are excluded from...

Outlook 2007 is a dog and there are lots of reasons for this, not all of them Microsoft’s fault. Unfortunately, you’re probably stuck with it. Even the most staunch Office 2003 users have been forced into upgrades. The issues are obvious. Outlook will slowly load and seem to hang more as...

If the Koobface news from last week wasn’t enough to start you updating your antivirus software, news that a new variant on the Conficker worm is rearing its head should. This map from Team Cymru shows its effects on the world’s PCs. There are two things you need to do: make sure that your...

Antivirus vendors make healthy amounts of money off selling their software and the updates that make it useful. Unfortunately, the false sense of security that comes from these applications means that many are surprised when their system is stricken with the latest spyware. Any program that installs...

Apparently, my user experience with Windows 7 has been more than corroborated. Kelly Poe’s campaign is to have Microsoft get the thing out now. It won’t happen. But if it did, hopefully they’d fix this major flaw first. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Release Windows 7?", url: "http://n-t.com/2009/01/release-windows-7/"...

I’ve been working with the upcoming release of Windows, dubbed Windows 7. This is an important release for the majority of our customers who have skipped Vista. The installation was amazingly painless and daily usage has been remarkably stable. The interface improvements make you wonder why they...