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System Restore has been around since Windows ME, but it’s still misunderstood by many Windows users.

It has also evolved over time, gaining new features and functions — which only adds to the confusion.

The Microsoft Ribbon evokes a wide range of responses, from abject apathy to raging conflagration. I’ve never been a fan of the Ribbon, but then I didn’t get to make the rules.

Love or hate the Ribbon, you can make it more to your liking — add buttons, move controls around, create new tabs, and more.

You have arrays of sophisticated computer tools to choose from for almost any endeavor, but you can’t seem to get your text in plain form anymore, even when that’s the only thing you need.

For times when simplest is best, here are some tools for transforming formatted or bitmapped material into words — just words.

Windows Media Player (WMP) has evolved enormously since its humble beginnings, but not all its improvements are easy to find. For example, you can control the default two-second silence WMP adds between tracks — but only if you know where Microsoft buried the setting.

Once upon a time, researchers and writers might have debated the virtues of paper notebooks versus index cards for recording their thoughts and findings. Today, it’s all gone digital. The choice between two leading note-taking apps — OneNote or Evernote — depends in large part on how well they integrate with the platforms and software you’re already using.

Not everyone has hardware to spare, but if you happen to have an extra Windows PC, you can put it to work entertaining you. With a minor investment in time and money, you can set it up to record and play TV shows.

Here’s what to do when unknown and uncommunicative software tries — and fails — to launch at boot. Any of three different approaches, including careful use of Windows’ built-in selective startup, should get to the root of the problem.

If you keep Windows and your programs in one partition and your data files in another, you’ll be able to make restorations faster and more easily. Here’s why you should make the split, plus step-by-step instructions for how to do it.

After each Patch Tuesday release, I scan the security forums and websites for reports of patching issues. I morbidly call this monthly search “looking for dead bodies.” At this time, I’m still waiting to see what happens with MS12-006.

Some third-party, add-on software promises to increase your security by preventing websites from tracking you across the Web. But all the current major browsers have enhanced privacy modes available that do the same thing, for free, with just a few clicks.

In the brave new world of huge software packages and gigantic memory requirements, capacity counts. Here’s what you need to know about upgrading from 32-bit to 64-bit machines — because sooner or later, upgrades will happen to you.

Creating truly secure passwords can be difficult — at least for some security professionals, it seems. A recent data breach at the private intelligence firm Stratfor revealed some all-too-common password weaknesses. Here’s how to strengthen your own.

It’s always annoying — and sometimes dangerous — when software changes your browser’s homepage without your consent.

Here’s how to prevent malware, or any software, from making unauthorized changes to your browser’s homepage.

In following Windows 8′s somewhat painful road to fruition, I’ve found a lot of things to lambaste.

But one new feature — Storage Spaces — might by itself justify the jump to Win8. It’s a killer application.

We start 2012 with the usual suspects: media-player patching, Windows Kernel, and MS Office.

Most of the patches this round are not critical, but the most unusual is a much-anticipated fix for an SSL vulnerability called the BEAST attack.

Freeware tools make it simple to change your right-click menu options. You can also safely alter your system’s context menus with some quick manual Registry edits.

If you enjoyed spending time with family and friends over the holidays and are looking for good ways to keep in direct contact, look to the Web for free services. When an e-mail or Facebook post just won’t do, here are popular voice/video-communication tools worth trying out.

As music CDs give way to downloaded tunes, PCs are taking on a new role as personal, digital jukeboxes. There are plenty of Windows music players to choose from, but one of the best — Window Media Player 12 — comes free with every copy of Windows 7. Here’s how to make it even better.

We ended 2011 with an out-of-cycle .NET update — one that desktop users can ignore for now but Web-server admins should make a high priority. There are also a few other leftover 2011 updates it’s time to put behind us.