Lounge: Windows Secrets Columns

TOP STORY Best practices for trouble-free Windows patching By Susan Bradley For Windows users who manage their own system updates, the patching process is a bit like going to the...

LANGALIST PLUS Easily add Recent Places to your Start Menu By Fred Langa Windows 7 automatically puts "Recent Items" on your Start menu, but omits the equally useful "Recent Places." ...

PATCH WATCH Patch Watch update: Duqu-patch install problems By Susan Bradley For Windows XP systems, the recent Duqu patch detailed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS12-034 might be a...

TOP STORY Exploring Windows' Administrative Tools: Part 1 By Fred Langa Windows has a long and honorable history of including advanced tools and options that help unlock the operating...

LANGALIST PLUS More on System Restore's disk-space needs By Fred Langa Proper sizing of System Restore can resolve issues with seemingly mysterious backup/restore failures. Also this...

WOODY'S WINDOWS Windows Live is dead — get over it! By Woody Leonhard Last week, in a widely anticipated move, Microsoft officially started tolling the bell for Windows Live's demise. ...

My trusty old XP laptop runs XP Pro (2002) SP3. Windows Update wants to apply two patches for .NET 1.1 SP1 : 2656353 ad 2656370, plus one patch for .NET 2.0 SP2 : 2656369 Susan Bradley...

TOP STORY DNSChanger is not the end of the world By Woody Leonhard DNSChanger virus spells 'Internet Doomsday' … The end is nigh, according to the FBI … 'Internet doomsday' will strike us...

LANGALIST PLUS More on shrinking Windows' huge WinSxS folder By Fred Langa Each version of Windows has its own best way of reducing the clutter. I previously answered a reader's question...

BEST SOFTWARE Free photo-editing tools do more than ever By Lincoln Spector When digital photos need fixing, having the right tools at hand — and knowing how to use them — can make...

TOP STORY Taking stock of the Windows 8 versions By Woody Leonhard Microsoft just released details on the versions of Windows 8 it'll offer when the OS ships — most likely sometime in...

BEST PRACTICES Moving media from your PC to the big screen By Lincoln Spector Most personal computers — and many work PCs — eventually acquire lots of entertainment (music, family...

PATCH WATCH Time to sweep out a few of the leftover patches By Susan Bradley We get another breather from new Windows and application fixes, giving us time to review some past problem...

TOP STORY Office Q&A: Image wrangling in Word 2010 By Katherine Murray We include pictures in everything — from blog posts to annual reports to letters to Grandma. But easy as it is to...

LETTERS Readers write about serious troubles Prompted by recent articles about Internet scams, Windows updates, and slow-moving computers, Windows Secrets readers offer stories and...

LANGALIST PLUS Windows reports file sizes two different ways By Fred Langa The amount of space a file occupies on your hard drive is different from — and almost always larger than — the...

BEST HARDWARE Familiar computing products get new capabilities By Michael Lasky The era of the single-function device is over. Today, it's all about versatility — including the option of...

LANGALIST PLUS A vexing Web-browser security warning By Fred Langa Web pages that mix secure (https) and unsecure (http) elements are a problem. Here's how to reduce repetition of...

BEST PRACTICES Safely send sensitive information over the Net By Lincoln Spector All too often, we send and receive sensitive information by unsecured e-mail, leaving us open to data...

PATCH WATCH Targeted, but limited, attacks on text docs By Susan Bradley Microsoft's most critical patch this month is one I recommend holding back on. I trust that savvy Windows...

Outstanding! Worth my entire year's paid subscription for this one issue alone.

TOP STORY Web filtering keeps you a little safer By Susan Bradley Web-filtering services can provide additional security and protection from Malware.

BEST SOFTWARE Protect your computer: sandbox apps and files By Lincoln Spector Every time you launch a new program, visit a website, or open a suspicious e-mail, something terrible...

BEST PRACTICES Parental controls for kids — and adults By Michael Lasky There are many good reasons to limit how kids use a PC and where they go on the Internet — and sometimes good reasons to...

LANGALIST PLUS Sometimes the solution is to disable an AV app By Fred Langa There can be times when anti-malware applications are too aggressive and cause unexpected problems, such as...

BEST PRACTICES Internet research for the careful citizen By Kathleen Atkins Almost everyone has friends or family who forward urban legends or political tall tales to their entire contacts...

BEST HARDWARE Moving data between devices is as easy as U-S-B By Michael Lasky Whether you're facing that mass file migration from an old PC to a new one, or you just want to move selected...

LETTERS Readers with ideas write to Windows Secrets Notable Microsoft user-interface features of historic and recent varieties prompted Windows Secrets articles — and reader responses. ...

LANGALIST PLUS What's causing these severe, recurrent crashes? By Fred Langa Diagnosis and repair can be difficult when crashes leave behind few clues and a crippled machine. But a...

BRIEFING SESSION Controversial service puts Win7/Office on tablets By Michael Lasky Can a tablet app that connects to a Cloud-based version of Windows 7 provide one more reason to...

PATCH WATCH Remote access leads to remote attacks By Susan Bradley KB 2621440 is the one patch released this Patch Tuesday that needs to be installed immediately on all computers and...