vista

The Windows registry is often considered forbidden territory for newbies. Only the most experienced users are encouraged to peer into its contents. Wise Registry Cleaner claims to offer a tool that even the least experienced can use without fear of wreaking havoc upon their computer. While the tool is indeed easy to use, it doesn't offer anything extra to help put new users at ease with their registry.

Wise Registry Cleaner presents a simple, easy-to-understand interface with three tabs at the top that walk you through its cleaning features. We started with the program's main selling point, its … Read more

Windows 7 scooped up more market share last month at the expense of Windows XP.

For September, Windows 7 carved out 44 percent of all Web traffic among operating systems, as recorded by Net Applications. Windows XP took second place with 41.2 percent. Those numbers showed a wider gap between the two since August when Windows 7 finally grabbed the lead over XP by a fraction of a percentage point.

More than ten years after its release, Windows XP has proven its strong staying power. Many users and organizations bypassed Windows Vista, which held just 6 percent of the … Read more

Windows 7 has overtaken Windows XP as the world's most popular desktop operating system, marking the end of the venerable OS' reign over the PC world.

Windows 7's market share stands at 42.76 percent compared with Windows XP's 42.5 percent, according to figures from Web-tracking company Net Applications for the month of August.

Microsoft has seen Windows 7's share rise by roughly 1 percentage point month-on-month for around the past year -- about the same level of decline seen in Windows XP -- while Vista's share has remained static at around 6 percent … Read more

Windows 7 and Windows XP are virtually neck and neck in their contest to be the dominant OS, according to Web analytics firm Net Applications.

For the month of July, Windows 7 grabbed 42.21 percent of all network traffic recorded by Net Applications. Windows XP eked out a slightly higher share, capturing 42.86 percent. As Windows 7 has been catching up to its 11-year-old counterpart, it will certainly reach the top spot sometime this month.

The latest results show a huge difference over July 2011 when Windows 7 held just 29.6 percent of Net Applications' mobile traffic, … Read more

Windows 8 is due to be released to consumers on October 26. Priced at just $39.99, the upgrade is surprisingly affordable. If you're thinking about upgrading to Microsoft's latest operating system, now might be a great time to start your preparations. Having an upgrade plan can help mitigate many of the risks involved with a major OS upgrade. Here are some suggestions to help your upgrade go as smoothly as possible:

Check your system for compatibility The first thing you'll want to do is to check your PC to see if it can run Windows 8 … Read more

Still running XP or Vista and eyeing Office 2013? Sorry, you're out of luck.

Unveiled Monday, the upcoming new Office suite won't support Windows XP or Vista, meaning users who need or want Office 2013 will have to upgrade to Windows 7 or Windows 8.

Microsoft confirmed the tighter requirements on its Office 2013 Preview Technet page. Only Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2012 will be able to run the new suite.

Users will also need a PC with at least a 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM for the 32-bit version (2GB … Read more

Microsoft is trying to make the Windows 8 upgrade more tempting by cutting the upgrade price and throwing in Media Center, too.

Those with Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 will qualify for an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro for $39.99 in 131 markets, Microsoft said today.

And Media Center can be added "for free" through the "add features" option within Windows 8 Pro after the upgrade, according to Microsoft.

That might not seem like much but Microsoft said previously that Media Center must be "acquired" via "Add Features to Windows 8" … Read more

Microsoft published a "brief" history of the Windows interface in a blog post today that offered some flashes of candor about Vista and Windows 95 and argued that the tablet as we know it today is one device too many. Redmond also said it was dropping Aero Glass.

First and foremost, Microsoft said it has "moved beyond" Aero Glass on the Windows 8 desktop, in Friday's Building Windows 8 post.

"We spent a lot of energy carefully considering how substantially to update the appearance of the desktop in Windows 8...Our primary goal was … Read more

Still plugging along with Windows XP or Vista? Dreading the prospect of upgrading to Windows 7 because Microsoft offers no direct upgrade path? (More on that in a bit.)

Help is on the way. Today only, in honor of its 29th birthday, Laplink is offering PCmover Windows 7 Upgrade Assistant absolutely free. It regularly sells for $29.95.

To get the software, click here, then click the little "Add to cart" box in the upper-right corner of the free-PCmover banner. Scroll down and click "Proceed to Cart." Follow the instructions on the following page.

Not interested? … Read more