So, you’ve got yourself a brand new, shiny computer. Trouble is, your whole desktop looks a little…impersonal. You’re sitting there thinking to yourself, “high time I changed this.” Trouble is, you’re not sure how to go about doing so. Have no fear- it’s actually an incredibly simple process. Step 1- Access the...

Using an operating system that’s has good adoption is important for when you actually want to get stuff done with your computer (you know, being productive?) When you use an OS with wide adoption, naturally there’s more vendor support; this means more stuff will work with your computer on both the hardware and software side of things. Here’s...

When you purchase a new/refurbished system from some manufacturers, the recovery disk media is an optional component. Optional because the recovery data is typically stored on a partition on the hard drive which you can access via the BIOS boot menu. So should you purchase this optional media? Absolutely. What if your hard drive crashes and the system is off...

Many unfortunately remember the infamous "Vista Capable" logo disaster. A whole bunch of new computers at the time Windows Vista was launched had a little logo that was supposed to indicate yes, they were capable of running Vista. But as we all found out, many of those new computers were barely "capable." Instead computer owners were treated...

This is not a review of Windows 7 the operating system, but rather www.windows7sins.org. I suggest reading thru that web site before reading this article. Some will agree with every point made on that site while others will say, "Um.. I don’t think so." Here’s my two cents on each "sin". 1. Poisoning education I disagree solely...

By default whenever you create a shortcut in Windows, a small arrow is placed on the shortcut icon to indicate this is indeed a shortcut. If you would like to remove this arrow, you can do so easily by following the applicable instructions for your OS:Windows XP Windows Vista / 7Both articles show you how to make a registry change and offer a utility which...

The fact Microsoft is offering Windows 7 free for an entire year to anybody who wants it is definitely a change for the better. It used to be that whenever any software maker released a product, they would do so, wait for the mountain of complaints to come in, then provide fixes. Concerning operating systems, that’s typically how commercial releases worked...

Put simply, I don’t upgrade operating systems. Ever. I install any OS new and recommend the same to anyone else. It doesn’t matter if it’s Windows, OS X or Linux. Don’t upgrade. Back up your stuff, wipe the drive and start from scratch with the new OS. To note, I don’t do this with incremental updates (e.g. XP Service Pack 2 to 3)...

For those of you out there that run a dual-boot system with Windows XP and Ubuntu, you’ve noticed that Ubuntu is the default OS that loads on each system startup. There is a way to change this so that XP is the default OS instead. Full documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto/ChangeDefaultOS What that documentation instructs you to...

Making the switch from Microsoft Windows or Apple’s OS X to Linux can be a daunting proposition for most people. There are a lot of negative myths, half truths and misinformation out there that scare many people off. Fortunately there are several ways to experiment with, and get to know, Linux that will not change your system as it is now. Method 1 –...

The other day I got into a somewhat heated discussion about why Linux is a viable alternative desktop OS. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to move the other side past the rhetoric and myths that seem to surround Linux. It is because of this discussion that I am writing this…as a way to give accurate information. Let’s start by looking at some of...

Some have asked me off and on why I’m not using a Linux distribution full time as my primary operating system. Over the years (yes, years) I’ve tried but never found a Linux that did it all for me. The video below explains a bit of why I feel that...