In a previous article about Windows 8, we unwillingly started a big debate about the ribbon and its efficiency. Some people do not like the fact that Windows 8 uses it more widely than Windows 7 and complain that it is less efficient compared to the older interface from Windows XP. In order to continue the debate using facts instead of subjective opinions, we decided to make a benchmark and compare the efficiency of the ribbon, as it is used in Windows 8 versus the interface we are all familiar with from Windows XP. Let’s see the results.

Windows Explorer has been a weak-spot of both Windows Vista and Windows 7. Many users complained about it being inferior to the version used in Windows XP and a lot more frustrating to work with. Luckily, with Windows 8 things are improving a lot. After using Windows Explorer for a few days in Windows 8 Developer Preview, i can say that it rocks. It is a real pleasure to work with. Here’s twelve reasons why:

When it comes to computing habits, people are always bad at security and passwords. We keep reusing the same password(s) over and over again and we don’t realize how easy we make it for the bad guys to steal our credit card details and other important information. Even after the big fiasco that was the hacking of the PlayStation Network, both people and companies remain dormant and are slow to change their password security habits. I would like to make a wake up call and show how to change your habits and have a secure computing life on the Internet.

Lots of people have issues with wireless network connections and they don’t know how to fix them. If you have access to an Internet connection, at least you can Google things and find some help. But what do you do when the wireless connection you have trouble connecting to is the only that can give you Internet access. Well... you can read & learn our step by step diagram for how to troubleshoot a wireless connection by yourself. If it is hard to remember, you can even print it and have it available when needed.

Today we continue to uncover artists through Windows 7 themes. We invited another Romanian photographer - Georgiana Gîrboan - to join our series and share her work with Windows 7 users. Approaching a wide range of subjects, Georgiana proves her talent and versatility in every picture: not matter if it is a portrait, landscape, animal photography or even a self portrait. We invite you to find out more about her in a short interview, and discover her work through our Windows 7 themes.

Do you have a brand new computer on which you need to install and configure everything: from the operating system, to drivers, applications, plug-ins, etc.? Do you need to delete everything from an “old" computer and reinstall it all from scratch? If the answer is yes to any of these questions, then you are in luck! After setting up many computers (both old and brand new), I managed to create a checklist with steps you must go through, in order to have the best experience possible: without (too many) crashes, in the least possible time and in a secure way. This article shares the most optimized list of steps you need to go through, in order to have everything working correctly.

After showing how to install and also remove Internet Explorer 9 add-ons, I thought it would be useful to share with you some of the best add-ons you can find for Microsoft’s latest browser. Therefore, I searched for a couple of days and tested lots and lots of add-ons: from very broken add-ons to terribly useful ones. Now that this exercise is finished, this is my list of "Top Add-ons for Internet Explorer 9".

Months before we started working on our book - Network Your Computers & Devices Step by Step - we tried to understand just how complex home networks are and which are the most common challenges people face when working with them. Even though we increased our knowledge on the topic through the comments we received on the site and few small surveys, we never got as close as we wanted to truly grasping the whole picture. In order to change this, we decided to start a study called The Anatomy of a Home Network. After running the study on several web locations, for a few weeks, we finally got closer to our goal. If you are curios to know just how complex home networks are, read on to find out.

The last couple of Security for Everyone episodes, introduced two Facebook applications that help protect you by warning against threats on Facebook, specifically those found in your wall or news feed. Today we are going to introduce a couple more utilities that help protect you and also take a look at the privacy settings in Facebook. My intention is not to discourage you from using Facebook but to encourage you to enter into it wisely and re-evaluate your activity and settings on a regular basis.

At the beginning of 2010, we started a series on system recovery tools for Windows 7. Little did we know that the series would expand tremendously and, in the end, we would cover quite extensively a very old and misunderstood tool: the Command Prompt. While working with it, we were fortunate to truly learn its power and usefulness. Therefore, we would like to end our series of articles with a recap about all the great things the Command Prompt can do.

Here at 7 Tutorials, we’ve been slowly but steadily covering all of the features that Windows Media Player 12 brings to Windows 7 users. Windows Media Player has long been a favorite bundled application for organizing, ripping, burning and, of course, playing music, videos and more. Over the years, Windows Media Player has evolved, expanding in complexity and features while simultaneously streamlining its interface towards a more intuitive user experience. In our opinion, Windows Media Player 12 is the best iteration of this long running media library and playback program. After delving into our tutorials, guides and articles below and learning the ins and outs of Windows Media Player 12, we think you’ll agree.

After showing you how to create or delete user accounts, and also how to edit a user account in Windows 7, we focused our attention towards those of you who also have the tough job of being a parent. With this article we are going to make a short summary of our parental controls series, which covered to tools you need to use in order to have control over the computing activities of your children.