System and Security

Sooner or later, everyone has problems with their operating system, no matter the version. When the going gets tough, some system recovery tools come in handy. Windows 7 has a few tools available which can help you when the system no longer behaves as it is supposed to. These tools can be used in the following scenarios: boot errors, upgrade failures or reboot loops.

In this article I will share with you the list of available tools, explain what they do and the scenarios when they are helpful.

Windows 7 is most probably Microsoft's easiest to install operating system. It seems that the company has learned from past mistakes and now almost everyone can install Windows 7 on their computer by themselves, provided that the computer complies to the minimum system requirements. In this blog post, I will share with you the best Windows 7 installation guides that can be found on the internet. Apart from installing Windows 7 from scratch, there are situations when you will want your new operating system to run in parallel with another one, be it Mac or Ubuntu Linux. In this post I will cover the following installation scenarios: installing Windows 7 from scratch, upgrading from Windows Vista or Windows XP, as well as dual-booting with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X Leopard and Ubuntu Linux.

Starting August 6th, Windows 7 is available through several official channels such as TechNet and MSDN. People who already use test versions of Windows 7 will want to grab their own copy as soon as possible and upgrade their systems. By default, the Windows 7 DVD setup allows you to upgrade only from Windows Vista or Windows XP, not from a test version of Windows 7. To help you out, I created this guide on how to upgrade from your current test version to the final version of Windows 7. As you will see, the procedure involves a very simple tweak of the normal installation procedure.

When Windows Vista was launched, User Account Control (UAC) has been the most criticized and misunderstood feature. Even though it is very important for security, many people have chosen to disable it and expose their systems to possible security problems. Also, lots of sites have published different 'tweaks' for this feature which render it useless and expose users to problems. Windows 7 brings further changes to this feature which have caused additional controversy. This is why I will try to bring more clarity about this feature. I will explain what UAC really is, how it works, what options you have and why you should never disable it. If you are thinking to turn it off, please read this article so that you better understand this feature and how it helps you.