February 15, 2007
Use Vista without activation for 120 days
It's widely assumed that a newly installed copy of Windows Vista must be "activated" before 30 days are up. But Microsoft has built into Vista a simple, one-line command that anyone can use to extend the activation deadline of the product to a total of 120 days — almost four full months! Read more »
New hardware doesn't have to cause problems
Usually a major hardware change causes endless software hassles. It doesn't have to be this way. If your current PC doesn't have "PCI Express" technology, your next one most likely will. Here's the scoop on PCI Express and what it means for Windows users. Read more »
Vista voice-recognition software is laughable
A video of a Windows Vista speech-recognition demo that went awry was devoured critics of the new operating system when it was posted on the Web late last year. Footage shows the program badly garbling the demonstrator's commands. Read more »
Tips for erasing and recovering data
Sometimes you want to permanently erase data from your systems, and other times you want to recover data. This week, I bring you more information about what does and doesn't work when erasing data from your systems. I'll also discuss your options when your hard drive fails and you need to recover data. Read more »
More denial-of-service flaws emerge
A slew of denial-of-service flaws seem to be cropping up lately, or maybe it's just that I've been finding a lot of them. I'll start off this week's column talking about a flaw that affects multiple Web browsers, including both Firefox and Internet Explorer. Read more »
Security and daylight patches are critical
With 12 security patches being flagged as critical, plus this week's Daylight Saving Time fixes, your patch session this month will be extensive. Because there are so many this month, I'm putting all the similar patches together within sections below. First up are the critical Office patches. Read more »
