About Windows Secrets

  • Editor-in-Chief

  • Tracey CapenTracey Capen
    Editor in chief Tracey Capen was the executive editor of reviews at PC World magazine for 10 years, from 1995 to 2005. He was InfoWorld’s managing editor of reviews from 1993 to 1995 and worked in the magazine’s test center and as networking editor from 1989 to 1992. Between his stints at InfoWorld, he was senior labs editor at Corporate Computing magazine.

  • Senior Editors

  • Fred LangaFred Langa
    Fred Langa is senior editor and weekly contributor to the LangaList Plus column. His LangaList Newsletter merged with Windows Secrets on Nov. 16, 2006. Prior to that, Fred was editor of Byte Magazine (1987 to 1991) and editorial director of CMP Media (1991 to 1996), overseeing Windows Magazine and others.
  • Woody LeonhardWoody Leonhard
    Woody Leonhard is a Windows Secrets senior editor and a senior contributing editor at InfoWorld. His books on Windows and Office include the award-winning Windows 7 All-In-One For Dummies. His many writings cast a critical eye on the latest industry shenanigans.

  • Associate Editor

  • Kathleen AtkinsKathleen Atkins
    In addition to her duties as associate editor for the Windows Secrets newsletter, Kathleen Atkins is a freelance writer, editor, and avid photographer. Prior to joining Windows Secrets, she worked at Microsoft Press.

  • Contributors

  • Susan BradleySusan Bradley
    Susan Bradley is a Small Business Server and Security MVP, a title awarded by Microsoft to independent experts who do not work for the company. She’s also a partner in a California CPA firm.
  • Katherine MurrayKatherine Murray
    Katherine Murray is the author of Microsoft Office 2010 Plain & Simple (Microsoft Press, 2010), Microsoft Word 2010 Plain & Simple (Microsoft Press, 2010), and Microsoft Word 2010 Inside Out (Microsoft Press, 2010).
  • Ryan RussellRyan Russell
    Ryan Russell is a quality assurance manager at BigFix Inc., a configuration-management company. He moderated the vuln-dev mailing list, was the lead author of Hack-Proofing Your Network, 2nd Ed., and the technical editor of the Stealing the Network book series.
  • Lincoln SpectorLincoln Spector
    Lincoln Spector writes about computers, home theater, and film and maintains two blogs: Answer Line at PCWorld.com and Bayflicks.net. His articles have appeared in CNET, InfoWorld, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications.
  • Robert VamosiRobert Vamosi
    Robert Vamosi was senior editor of CNET.com from 1999 to 2008, writing Security Watch, the winner of the 2005 MAGGIE Award for best regularly featured Web column for consumers. He is currently a security, risk, and fraud analyst for a financial services research firm.
  • Becky WaringBecky Waring
    Becky Waring has worked as a writer and editor for CNET, ZDNET, Technology Review, Upside Magazine, and many other news sources. She alternates the Best Software column with Windows Secrets contributing editor Scott Spanbauer.

Our history

The Windows Secrets Newsletter began with the merger in July 2004 of two high-tech e-mail newsletters: Brian’s Buzz on Windows, edited by Brian Livingston beginning February 2003, and Woody’s Windows Watch, founded by Woody Leonhard in 1998. The two publications merged on July 22, 2004, and began using the domain name WindowsSecrets.com. Brian’s 50,000 subscribers joined Woody’s 100,000-strong list to form a combined, unduplicated subscriber base of about 140,000.

The LangaList, an e-mail newsletter edited since 1997 by Fred Langa, merged with Windows Secrets on Nov. 16, 2006. Adding its 145,000 subscribers resulted in a publication with a circulation of about 270,000.

The Support Alert Newsletter, a publication edited by Ian “Gizmo” Richards for most of its existance from 1998 to 2008, merged with Windows Secrets on July 24, 2008. Combining Support Alert’s 150,000 subscribers with Windows Secrets pushed the total circulation over 400,000.

Today, Windows Secrets is also distributed via an RSS feed, and the site delivers more than 1 million page views per month.

About the Lounge

In late 2008, Windows Secrets was asked by senior editor Woody Leonhard to become responsible for his discussion board, then known as “Woody’s Lounge.” The board was upgraded in early 2009, moved to the domain name Lounge.WindowsSecrets.com, and renamed the WS Lounge on October 30, 2009.