We would like to start our series of reviews of Windows oriented gadgets with a very good looking device: the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse. Even though this product has been launched at the end of 2010, it is still one of the best looking mice you can find on the market. I have used it for more than a year and, in this, review I will share my complete experience, including details about its performance and looks, long after it was purchased.

During the early days of Windows, the operating system was the direct target of most malware creators and Microsoft has worked a lot on hardening the operating system, creating and delivering security patches to its users as timely as they possibly could. Today, Windows is a more secure operating system and the malware creators’ focus is now on finding and using vulnerabilities for popular Windows applications. Therefore, keeping your applications up-to-date has become very important for having a secure computing experience. But... how do you keep your applications up-to-date, without manually searching for updates once very few weeks? This analysis aims to answer this question and propose some good tools for this task.

NOTE: This article has been updated based on feedback received from users and the developers of some of the applications included in my tests.

While analyzing the searches that people make on our website, I learned that some of you want to know ways of finding the specific version of an application you are using. Since we do not have a tutorial to meet this need and help our readers, I decided to create one. Here are 6 ways you can learn the exact version of any application you are using, be it an application bundled with Windows or a third-party application you installed.

A few weeks ago, some of our readers asked us to recommend the best programs for managing the Windows startup. We decided to listen, do some thorough testing and share our recommendations. If you asked yourself: "Which startup manager should I use?" don’t hesitate to read this analysis.

Reading the title of this book review - I’m sure you have an ironic smile on your face. Why would a blog about Windows, for Windows users, review a book about Steve Jobs? Because no matter how much he berated Microsoft and Windows, Steve Jobs had a great influence on the tech world and contributed to the exciting & privileged context in which we find ourselves today. Should a Windows user (or fan) read Steve Jobs’s biography by Walter Isaascon? Read on to find out.

Have you ever wondered why do we call them screen savers? Do they really save our screens? We’ve done a bit of research and found out that, due to changes in monitor technology, the term screen saver has become a misnomer in recent years. Let’s see why.

A while back, we published an article about risks to watch for when downloading & installing free software. While we had an idea of how damaging it can be to perform quick (or typical) application installations, without carefully reading what you are about to install, we really wanted to have numbers and real tests done to evaluate the full impact. I managed to find two days to spend on making such tests and here are the results: 8 real ways you will ruin both the performance of your system and your computing experience, if you choose to make quick (or typical) applications, without reading through the installation steps.

These days you can find quite a few programs that promise to help you recover accidentally deleted files. It is great to have lots of options but, which program is really good at helping you recover deleted files? Which deliver on their promise? To find out, I tested some of the most popular applications in this niche, most of them being free. Let’s see what I discovered.

As film has given way to digital media, photographers have moved from the dark room to the computer. This transition has been going along for more than a decade and in that time professional photographers have been learning how to come up consistent and dramatic photos. Editing photos have become a much larger part of what a photographer does and, as a result, the pros have developed some best practices when it comes to setting up an environment that allows them to do their work easily, efficiently, and well. In this article I will try to share with you a few minimal best practices that you must do, to get yourself started in the right direction.

Today you can find lots of software which helps remove programs and clean up leftover files, folders and registry settings. In theory this is a good thing, as it helps eliminate some of the bloat on your Windows computer. But are these solutions really effective at removing all traces? To find out, I tested some of the most popular applications in this niche, both free and commercial. Let’s see what I discovered.

"Wow!" was all we could say after we saw some of Steve Coleman’s photos. Impressive colors and original perspectives are two characteristics of his photography that made us want to promote his work. We gathered a few of Steve Coleman’s photos into a Windows 7 theme to share with all our readers. Also, we have a great interview with Steve, so that you get to know both the artist and his work.