Stories about: Nero

Late yesterday, Microsoft unveiled the public beta for Windows 7, the follow-on and follow-up to Vista, which from all signs the company is trying to forget as fast as possible.

If you install the beta of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) expecting to see visible changes to your version of Vista, you'll be sorely disappointed. At least in this initial beta, all the changes are under the hood, and even they are far from earth-shaking.

Are you worried about malware and spyware plaguing your system? I have a cool, free tool that gives you an extra layer of defense when you're Web surfing. I also have two free utilities that can lock up and hide your sensitive folders and keep them from prying eyes. Plus, for readers who didn't like my earlier tip for disabling the Insert key, I offer a nifty program to watch your Insert, Caps Lock, and Num Lock keys.

Way back in the 20th century, Windows prepared you for the day your PC wouldn't boot. It came with a program that formatted a bootable floppy disk, complete with diagnostic and repair utilities. If you had the forethought to create that floppy while Windows was still working, you were ready when it eventually failed.

For many users, getting started with Linux is surprisingly easy. New, friendlier versions of the free operating system, such as Fedora and Ubuntu, feature straightforward menus and automated installations that make switching from Windows to Linux a relatively simple process.

A leading anti-piracy body has accused eBay over counterfeit software, claiming in a new report that "at least 90 percent of all software available on eBay is illegal."

A British consumer advocacy group is charging that Microsoft and other major software companies engage in misleading and unfair practices related to end-user license agreements (EULAs), and has asked for an investigation by the U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

You can download a complete version of Ubuntu Linux from the Ubuntu website. The ISO (or CD) image is around 700MB. Two versions of Ubuntu are supported: 6.06 and 7.04 -- we're using 7.04 for this walkthrough. To follow suit, select Desktop Edition, Ubuntu 7.04.

IP networking integrator, NetStar, has won a $5 million deal with the University of Melbourne to complete the first phase of a major campus-wide network upgrade.

Propelled by new tools to extend AJAX and make the Web even more interactive, the worldwide market for digital content creation products is expected to grow from $US3.04 billion last year to $US4.95 billion by 2012, according to a market research firm.

Microsoft on Wednesday released a list of 800 applications it has officially verified so far to run bug-free on Windows Vista.