Ed Bott

Microsoft’s officially recommended technique for upgrading from the Windows 7 beta to the Release Candidate involves using a utility called Windows Easy Transfer. Here’s a step-by-step description of how this program works.

When you have two or more computers, how do you keep your digital life in sync? Start with these five Windows tools that help you handle files, bookmarks, passwords, and RSS feeds. Best of all, each one is free.

The ultimate improvement in browser performance is not making a page load faster but making it unnecessary to load the page at all. That’s the guiding principle behind some of the most interesting interface changes in the official release of Internet Explorer 8. In this gallery, I take a closer look at each one.

Windows 7 Build 7048, which leaked out of Microsoft’s labs last week, isn’t the long-awaited Release Candidate (RC), but it does include changes that were checked in after the beta release and will be a part of the RC when it’s ready. Here’s a preview of 21 changes – some big, some small – that should be included.

For more details, see A sneak peek at the Windows 7 Release Candidate.

This week, Microsoft announced a major change to its all-you-can-eat music download service. The new Zune Pass costs $14.95 a month and gives subscribers the right to download anything in the Zune marketplace. In addition, the monthly fee includes 10 song credits, which can be used for DRM-free MP3. Here’s how it works.

After months of keeping Windows 7 under tight wraps, Microsoft has finally showed off its long-awaited OS upgrade in public, at the Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles. This gallery shows features from the pre-beta release as well as later internal builds not yet publicly released.

Microsoft’s decision to make the latest Media Center update a limited release has angered some Media Center enthusiasts. So what’s the fuss about, and why should a true TV geek care about these esoteric changes. In this gallery, I provide the details to show you what’s in the TV Pack.

When you update to iTunes 8 on Windows, you may get more than you bargained for, including a Blue Screen of Death. Why? Because it’s actually installing five separate programs, plus three system services and a new device driver. All without disclosure or consent. One of those files, it turns out, is a device driver that has been known to cause system crashes.

One of the most common performance-enhancing tips offered by many Windows-oriented websites is to “disable unnecessary services.” But is this really a good idea? Ed Bott explains how to measure the impact of services on system performance and decide which services are worth disabling.

If Windows Vista is operating at less than peak efficiency, chances are there’s a simple cause. Find the problem, fix it, and you’re back at full speed. So where do you begin digging? In this screenshot gallery, Ed Bott describes 10 built-in diagnostic utilities that every Vista user should know about.

Last month I had a chance to use a pair of Sony Vaio notebooks that together gave Windows Vista a terrible name. In this screenshot gallery, I’ll give you a close-up look at what I had to do to turn Sony’s messy, half-baked Windows installation into one that is worthy of their excellent hardware and that takes full advantage of the new features in Vista.

After years of waiting, the pieces of Windows Media Center are finally clicking into place. With CableCARD support and the latest generation of Media Center Extenders, Vista can deliver just about any kind of digital media throughout a household, without breaking the bank. Here’s how Windows expert Ed Bott put a multi-room system together.