Lincoln Spector - Author - Good Gear Guide

Stories by Lincoln Spector

Article | 10/11/2008 How best do I clean my Registry?

Has a surgeon ever told you that, although they're an expert and will do the best they can, the operation still has some inherent risks? Imagine repla...

Article | 28/10/2008 Is my power supply powerful enough?

There's nothing to calculating how many watts your PC will need to operate properly. You total up the power needs of your processor, your motherboard,...

Article | 27/10/2008 Why doesn't this program open in a window?

Make your programs behave themselves.

Article | 15/10/2008 How do I get a text-based report Into Excel?

If a program can output a delimited text file (I'll get to what that means in a minute), Excel can turn it into a reasonable table.

Article | 30/09/2008 Why doesn't Vista mail help you type in contacts?

Microsoft tried to make the simple task of addressing a message easier in Windows Mail. They succeeded in making it less intuitive.

Article | 30/09/2008 Can I recover from recovering my PC?

Virtually all commercially-sold PCs come with some sort of recovery tool--an alternate way to boot your system (either a CD, a DVD, or a special key c...

Article | 24/09/2008 Why can't I open Vista's cookies folder?

If you click Start, type cookies, and press ENTER, Vista tries to do what XP did: Take you to your Cookies folder, located at C:\Users\your logon\cook...

Article | 22/09/2008 WinZip Pro 12

Thanks to Windows' built-in support for .zip files, you haven't had to own WinZip or a similar program to compress and decompress .zip archives for qu...

Article | 16/09/2008 Ten fixes for Vista's worst features

Just ask anyone who's seen Spiderman 3: good ideas seldom survive bad execution.

Article | 6/09/2008 How to get administrator access without a password

Without an administrator-level account you can log onto, you can't install new software, edit the registry, or really maintain the PC in decent condit...

Article | 5/09/2008 Twelve unnecessary Vista features to disable

Vista, thy name is bloat!

Article | 3/09/2008 How I upgraded my laptop's hard drive and almost lost my mind

I bought a new hard drive for my laptop recently, and set out to install it Tuesday morning. No big deal; I've updated hard drives before.

Article | 3/09/2008 Why do I still get black bars on my HDTV?

Letterboxing (black or grey bars on the top and bottom of the TV screen) and pillarboxing (similar bars on the sides) serve an important function: The...

Article | 29/08/2008 Easy solutions for common e-mail headaches

E-mail is the ultimate killer app. Even technophobes who hate everything digital reluctantly acquire e-mail accounts so that they can stay in touch wi...

Article | 27/08/2008 How do I remotely troubleshoot someone else's PC?

Both Windows XP and Vista come with remote control programs called Remote Assistance, but they're too difficult for a novice to set up.