The Business Centre

You want to live in harmony with your PC, but Windows is very rigid. So step out on the road to Utopia with any of these three approaches: a clever launching dock, a folder organizer, and a far-reaching macro program.

You start your workday by booting up your Windows PC. You end the day by shutting it down again. No fuss. No muss. No bother.

Who doesn't want better graphics quality from their notebook PC? You can get there by doing it yourself. But be warned: If the upgrade is possible at all for your laptop, it can be a time-consuming operation that involves disassembling virtually your entire notebook, so don't enter into this process unless you are willing to accept the risk of doing serious harm to your machine. That said, if done properly, this project can give you noticeably higher frame rates in the end. The process should take about 45 minutes all up, and it's not a procedure for novices. Here's how we did it...
Photograph: Charlie Nucci

Want better performance from your laptop? The conventional wisdom has long held that you should simply buy a new one. You can put such conventional wisdom aside: Upgrading a laptop may not be for the timid or the impatient, but if you're handy with a screwdriver, and the sight of a circuit board doesn't scare you, an upgrade can be a far more affordable solution.

Your new PC came with Vista. Maybe your office deployed Vista. Or, perhaps, you got caught up in the early hype and bought Vista. Whatever the case, now you're stuck with it. Wish you could turn back the clock and restore your beloved Windows XP? Unless your name is Marty McFly, you're outta luck.

Utility packages can be used for a variety of system-maintenance tasks. They speed up your PC by cleaning out the rubbish that hogs memory and disk space, and improve efficiency by tidying the Registry, thus reducing the time that your system spends searching through files to locate the one it needs.

Many of us dream of breaking free of the nine-to-five grind and setting up our own businesses, but few of us actually get round to doing so.

I confess: I use Vista. Every day. It's the only operating system on my main computer. Vista and I have a love/hate relationship. I love the look, the built-in search tool, and the little-known 'Copy as Path' command. But Vista comes with its own special set of problems. Here I answer three questions about the operating system that was supposed to take over the world.

Are you worried about malware and spyware plaguing your system? I have a cool, free tool that gives you an extra layer of defense when you're Web surfing. I also have two free utilities that can lock up and hide your sensitive folders and keep them from prying eyes. Plus, for readers who didn't like my earlier tip for disabling the Insert key, I offer a nifty program to watch your Insert, Caps Lock, and Num Lock keys.

A corrupted Outlook database trashes your e-mail archive and contact list. An accidentally deleted folder wipes out critical business documents. A sudden hard-drive failure destroys your MP3s and photo libraries. The list of potential catastrophes goes on and on, and few users are prepared to deal with them. That's because they lack a diversified backup plan.