PCTips Box

Why upgrade? Chances are you have bought something online with a credit card, used internet banking, or dealt with confidential information on your computer. If you use a wireless router with anything less than WPA2 encryption, your information may not be as secure as you think.

“WPA2 security is definitely worth the modest amount of effort required to set it up. The original WPA security standard can be cracked with relative ease unless you use a passphrase that is longer than 20 characters and is not merely composed of words that can be found in a dictionary.” [Quote from the PC World article: Wireless Tips: Your Wireless Network Needs a Security Update]

1. Check current devices for compatibility. Your router and wireless network card may already support WPA2; Google your devices and find out. If they do, download the latest drivers for your wireless network card and update the firmware on your wireless router (very easy to do, but follow the manufacturer’s instructions carefully). (more…)

Microsoft has yet to finish with the delivery process of Windows Vista SP1, and the company is already hammering away at the service pack plugging security holes. According to the Redmond company, Vista SP1 is affected by multiple vulnerabilities that will be addressed with April’s security bulletin releases, scheduled to be issued on April 8, 2008. Out of the total of eight security bulletins planned of the coming week, no less than six impact various editions of the Windows operating system, and Vista SP1 did not manage to escape unscathed.

“As part of our regularly scheduled bulletin release, we’re currently planning to release five Microsoft Security Bulletins rated Critical and three that are rated as Important. These updates may require a restart and will be detectable using the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer. As we do each month, the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool will be updated. (more…)

It’s possible to have Vista and chow down on your XP cake, too, if you apply a free — for now — virtual machine.

If you’re stuck with a Vista PC, but you really prefer using XP, I’ll show you how to set up XP as a virtual machine on Vista, plus some tricks you can use to get the most out of this setup.

Why you should give virtual machines a free try

It’s unarguable: Windows XP operates more quickly than Vista (a fact that PC World recently demonstrated even with the new Service Pack 1 installed on Vista). Additionally, no one who’s independent of Microsoft’s payroll suggests that device drivers are just as easily available for Vista as they are for XP, or that Vista supports as many software applications that people own. (more…)

The end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008 have been a veritable Service Pack fiesta for Microsoft in terms of the company’s flagship products. Both Windows and Office have got their fair share of updates, but the productivity suite of both the 2003 and 2007 versions has simply beaten the Windows client to the punch, so to speak. Microsoft made available both Office 2003 SP3 and Office 2007 SP1 ahead of Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3. In fact, the third service pack for Office 2003 dropped as early as September 2007.

Microsoft’s perspective over Office 2003 SP3 is that the service pack represents merely a pit stop for Office users on the road to the Office 2007 System. At the same time, Office 2003 SP3 brought to the table enhancements around the board from security to performance and to increase compatibility with Windows Vista. (more…)

Prepare for some fun and games in March when Microsoft releases the long awaited Service Pack 1. It’s all going to be a bit of a palaver with the main download (assuming that you have broadband) preceded by three ‘helper’ updates, two of which will determine which parts of SP1 your PC needs. The third one is only for users of Vista Ultimate and Enterprise editions. If you have a slow Internet connection, or no connection, or a lot of machines to update then you’ll be able to get SP1 on DVD, or download an image copy of the DVD image file.

Microsoft claims it has learned lessons from XP Service Pack 2 and this one will go much more smoothly. Unlike SP2 there’s very little for most users to get excited about, there’s nothing to see and most of the updates are concerned with behind the scenes stuff, (more…)

With the first Beta of Internet Explorer 8 scheduled to drop by mid 2008, and with additional details on the successor of Internet Explorer 7 to be offered at MIX08 this March, Microsoft has started opening up on the browser little by little. First, Dean Hachamovitch, IE General Manager revealed in mid December that IE8 comes with support for a wide range of standards, and now, Chris Wilson, IE Platform Architect, offered an insight into Internet Explorer 8 compatibility. In this context, the promise is that IE8 will not break the web. (more…)

There is little doubt that 64-bit architectures are the future, as far as the parallel evolution of processors and operating systems goes. But when it comes down to Windows, the 32-bit version of the platform will survive not only with Windows Vista, but also with Windows 7. At this point in time, among the scarce details made available by Microsoft about the forthcoming iteration of Windows, to follow Vista, the only sure thing is that Windows 7 will come in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors.

According to estimates from the Redmond company, by mid 2008, the install base of the Windows operating system would surpass the 1 billion milestone worldwide. But the vast majority of those Windows copies will still be 32-bit, largely just Windows XP and Windows Vista. (more…)

If you are experiencing problems with a program that worked correctly on an earlier version of Windows, this wizard helps you select and test compatibility settings that may fix those problems.

It is as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4…

1) How do you want to locate the program that you would like to run with compatibility settings?

* I want to choose from a list of programs (scans the system for programs)
* I want to use the program in the CD-ROM drive (scans you CD drive)
* I want to locate the program manually (lets you browse for an executable file) (more…)

Mozilla wants addon developers to start updating their themes and extensions for Firefox 3. Lack of addon compatibility is a frequent complaint immediately following major Firefox updates because many users depend on the additional functionality that they get from third-party components. Mozilla hopes that developers will start resolving compatibility issues now so that a robust assortment of popular addons will be available in time for the Firefox 3 launch.

An announcement posted in the Mozilla Developer Center urges developers to get started and provides important information about changes in the addon versioning system. (more…)

Mozilla Firefox is all set to support the Windows Vista. So lets check out few points regarding the compatibility of Mozilla Firefox and Windows Vista.

* If the browser is installed in a non-default location, software updates may fail. You can reinstall the software to the default location, or to a non-default location as long as the install folder is named “Mozilla Firefox”. Alternatively, you can start Firefox by right-clicking on its icon and selecting “Run as administrator” from the menu. (more…)