Glennr4466 found a flaw in my advice about booting into Windows 8 Safe Mode. Because it requires a reboot, it doesn’t work if Windows refuses to boot at all. If Windows 8 won’t boot normally, it ...

Microsoft has a surprise for users tired of waiting forever while their computers boot up. It will take less than 10 seconds for a Windows 8 PC to go from powered down to the start screen, according ...

One of the big barriers to upgrading to Windows 8 is that Windows 7 is so good. For keyboard-and-mouse users, Windows 8 isn't a hugely compelling upgrade -- and without judicious use of third-party ...

For a long time, Microsoft didn’t sell Windows install media in the form of bootable USB flash drives. Instead, it prefered to stick to old-school DVD media, despite the fact that many notebooks today ...

That's good advice, and I'm happy to follow it. If all we do is sit around and moan about dual-booting Linux on UEFI systems, it really is likely to discourage some people from trying it, and the ...

One of the greatest things about owning a Macbook is that you’ll get the best of all worlds. You will not only be able to use the Mac OS X, but also install Windows ...

Over the past few days I have been installing Windows Updates on my two most recently acquired Windows 8 systems (see My New ASUS Laptop and My New Compaq Laptop). I had read several news items and ...

Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. is a senior editor and author of Notepad, who has been covering all things Microsoft, PC, and tech for over 20 ...

Creating a bootable Windows USB drive used to be a chore, but today, one solution can pretty-well suit most people. However, there are times when a flash drive has some quirk that prevents it from ...

You can have your new Microsoft operating system and keep your old one, too—here's how. I've been testing PC and mobile software for more than 20 years ...