Another reason to use a different browser (such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome) is that Microsoft's Ad team overrode developers so they developed the browser in a way that users must deliberately turn on privacy settings every time they use the browser.

If you turn on InPrivate filtering and close your browser, next time you start your browser, you will find InPrivate filtering turned off!

In Firefox, if you start Private Browsing, it will stay on until you stop Private Browsing. In other words, your browser doesn't store cookies or browser history.

You can use software like IEPrivacyKeeper to remove cookies and browser history on close will remove the cookies but can't prevent the cookies within your browsing session.

I discovered this interesting rant from a sysadmin.

He points out lots of things about computers and how they are designed to make the average user disenchanted.

From the error messages to the confusing names of the processors, I agree totally with him.

I disagree when it comes to plumbing, you can get just as demoralised with pipes.

Microsoft have announced that Internet Explorer 9 will not be available for XP. Since the latest version of the web language (HTML5) supports 3d and video playback without having to rely on a third party program (such as Silverlight or Flash) and the libraries are available in Windows Vista and 7, the browser won't work on XP or below.

Microsoft advise XP users to stay with Internet Explorer 8. I'd personally advise users to switch to Mozilla Firefox, where HTML5 is supported in the browser for XP.

Microsoft has discovered after a in-depth investigation that a rootkit called Alureon was the cause of the reboot loop problem after installing several patches.

Rootkits are programs that replace system files to prevent an antivirus discovering what they are doing as well as provide trojan horses a chance to run programs without the users knowledge. A rootkit can cause a computer to send out spam emails.

Rootkits can be very difficult to discover and remove and in some cases it is easier reinstalling the computer from the CD than to remove the rootkit as too many program components may be damaged.

You probably have noticed a recent update to Internet Explorer. This is the fix for the notorious Google Hack that has become something of a PR disaster for China. The flaw in the browser would allow people to compromise the machine by visiting a website. Once you visit a hacked website, the browser runs a malicious program on your computer.

Bleeping computer has a tutorial for turning on and off the taskbar thumbnail preview. This is what shows what your programs are doing when they are minimised. If you want to know which window is which, you can simply hover over it. Of course, if you are irritated by this, you'd want to turn the feature off.

If you used Windows 95, 98 or ME, you would be using FAT32. Windows 2000 and XP introduced NTFS for larger drives than 32GB since that is the limit that FAT32 could support. When Windows Vista (Service Pack 1) came out, Microsoft implemented a new file system called exFAT, which is the 64 bit replacement for FAT32. The upper limit was lifted from 32GB to 512TB. exFAT has a distinct advantage over NTFS with drives of 32GB and below, since NTFS uses almost 50MB for its tables and exFAT uses 96KB. Microsoft decided to release patches that brings exFAT to Windows XP. One of the big advantages is the improved support for flash media devices. I have no idea what happens if you format a memory card to exFAT, whether it will work in your camera.

StarDock have produced a truly amazing application called ObjectDock. Its like the Apple Mac application bar, with similar customisation options, like pushing in applications and pulling them out and then some. You can change the colours or have the icons swing instead of zoom. I find this program simply amazing, especially because it is free!

Stardock have created a program called fences that allows you to place a fence around icons on your desktop. You can label each fence different, so you know all your work files can be kept separate from other files really easily. Fences is free for personal use but requires at least .NET frameworks 2.0 to be installed.

Sometimes Outlook 2003 won't open HTML emails properly, this could be due to a number of reasons.

For years people had to suffer with using Outlook Express and then for Windows Vista it became Windows Mail. In Windows 7 it has disappeared entirely, along with Windows Messenger and a few other applications.

One of the things that bugs me with Windows is that sometimes things are slow to respond, namely my Start menu program icons take a while to load and when I save as in Word. I shave a lot of my files between multiple computers so the following tip may help everyone, and it certainly helps me: One of the quick ways to speed this up is to open a folder, go to the Tools menu, choose Folder Options and under View tab, uncheck the first box "Automatically search for network folders and printers"

Microsoft have released several different editions (versions) of their Windows 7 operating system:

Windows users are advised to replace their current hardware, but if you wish to upgrade you must buy the retail edition rather than an upgrade edition of Windows 7. You must have a machine that is capable of running windows 7, in other words: 1GB memory (2GB for 64bit) 16GB hard drive space free (20GB for 64bit) DirectX 9 compatible graphics card You will need to backup all your files, as Windows 7 will perform a custom install and wipe off all your files.