Industry expert Dave Taylor offers tech support on technical and business topics, including iPhone, iPod, Microsoft Windows, Sony PSP, cellphones, online advertising, CSS, Web design, business, Unix, Linux, SEO, Mac OS X, and shell script programming.     


microsoft windows

Can I run Windows 7 on my iPhone or iPad?

Early this morning I was poking around in the iTunes Store and came across the most surprising iOS app I've ever seen listed: Windows 7 for iOS, direct from Microsoft Corporation. Unfortunately, by the time I clicked on the download button, it had been pulled and I can't find the listing again when I search. Still, what would you pay to get a fully functional copy of Windows 7 on your new iPad?

Question answered on April 1, 2012 at 08:36 AM :: Comments to date: 2

Change window border color in Windows 7?

Category: Windows PC Help

I don't want to change my theme, I like my background picture, and I don't want weird buttons or widgets all over my desktop. I just want to change my window frames from boring grey to pink or orange or some other cheery color. Can I do that in Windows 7 or am I stuck applying themes from Microsoft until I find one I like?

Question answered on March 24, 2012 at 08:02 AM :: Comments to date: 1

How do I enable "natural language search" in Windows 7?

Category: Windows PC Help

I hated Vista search and am not finding Windows 7 search much better. What the heck, why can't I just search for files by name and attributes? Stupid Microsoft. I hate having to get third party apps to do something as simple as a file search. Is there some way to make Win7 file search actually work properly, Dave, or are we all just hosed?

Question answered on March 23, 2012 at 08:36 AM :: Comments to date: 2

How can I change my Windows PC computer name?

Category: Windows PC Help

Just inherited a computer from my Dad and it's very nice, except it has a generic WINPC computer name. I want to change it to something a bit more memorable. How can I easily change the name of my Windows 7 laptop PC?

Question answered on February 8, 2012 at 08:46 AM :: Comments to date: 3

How do I grab a screen shot / capture in Windows 7?

Category: Windows PC Help

I'm writing a research report on Microsoft Windows and need to be able to take screen captures or grabs and include them in the document. I know that "print screen" is supposed to accomplish that, but I'm just not sure how it works. Can you explain how to take a screen capture in MS Windows 7, please?

Question answered on June 3, 2011 at 08:55 AM :: Comments to date: 9

How do I stop or disable Windows 7 autoupdate?

Category: Windows PC Help

I'm working with a group of software developers and recently had a problem where my copy of Windows 7 automatically updated to change something and the app we're building stopped working on my computer. After we figured out what had happened they told me to disable the automatic system update feature in Windows 7. But how do I turn the autoupdate feature off, it seems like it's built-in to Microsoft Windows now??

Question answered on December 28, 2010 at 08:29 AM :: Comments to date: 2

How can I get more space on my Windows hard disk?

Category: Windows PC Help

I keep running low on space on my PC hard drive and am wondering if there's any sort of trick for freeing up all my wasted space, especially with temp files and such? I'm running Windows 7 if that makes a difference?

Question answered on October 23, 2010 at 08:24 AM :: Comments to date: 0

How do I update Windows 7?

Category: Windows PC Help

This may seem obvious, but I'm used to "Update Windows" as an option in my Start menu and it's not there any more in Windows 7. How do I update my Windows 7 installation to ensure it stays up-to-date on patches, etc?

Question answered on June 23, 2010 at 08:15 AM :: Comments to date: 2

How do I verify my Windows Live email address?

Category: Windows PC Help

I have my Windows Live account set up but keep getting an error message that I need to verify my address. Since my address is part of the Windows Live network (hotmail) I'm a bit confused: how do I verify my addr?

Question answered on June 21, 2010 at 08:08 AM :: Comments to date: 22

Review: Smart PDF Converter Pro for Windows

One of my favorite features of Mac OS X is how PDF (portable document format) tools are tightly integrated into the operating system. Want to save something as a PDF document? Any app that can send a document to the printer, be it a Web page, a screen capture, or a nicely formatted report, can just as easily do a "Save As PDF", and even specify what image quality should be used. Sure, Adobe sells its Distiller program, but on a Mac I would estimate that 95%+ of your document to PDF requirements are already included in the operating system.

This capability is completely missing from the Windows world, whether you're running Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. It's just not the same. This means that if you want to work with PDF files, you're going to need to spend some money getting a commercial application that adds this set of features to your PC.

That's why I was interested in learning more about Smart PDF Converter Pro when the company contacted me. I switch back and forth and quite often find that it's very useful to send an unmodifiable document to a client or customer, a PDF rather than a Word file or HTML page. Testing Smart PDF Converter Pro? Sure!

Question answered on March 26, 2010 at 08:02 AM :: Comments to date: 3

How do I delete cookies in Microsoft Internet Explorer?

Category: Windows PC Help
I'm becoming paranoid about people tracing what I do online and have decided that one proactive step I can take is to delete all of my "cookies" in MSIE [Microsoft Internet Explorer]. Will that work, and if so, how do I delete these pesky cookies?
Question answered on January 18, 2010 at 08:08 AM :: Comments to date: 1

How do I figure out what version of Windows I'm running?

Category: Windows PC Help
How do I find out what version of Windows I'm running? Am I running Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional Edition, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate Edition, Windows 7 Professional, or what?
Question answered on December 9, 2009 at 08:50 AM :: Comments to date: 4

How can I shrink picture/photo size in Windows?

I took some photos with my digital camera and I want to e-mail them to friends or upload them to my Facebook, but the files are enormous, and uploading them takes forever! Can I make them smaller while still having the photos look the same?
Question answered on October 16, 2009 at 08:51 AM :: Comments to date: 7

How can I connect to a printer in Mac OS X Snow Leopard?

Category: Mac OS X Help

I move around quite a bit as a road warrior and though I don't often need to print, sometimes being able to produce a hard copy is definitely helpful. Problem is, I don't want to bother people in different temporary offices with configuration details: I'm running Mac OS X Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro, is there some easy way to add printers on the go?

Question answered on September 23, 2009 at 08:00 AM :: Comments to date: 1

A surprising PC speed culprit: dust

Whether you realize it or not, an enemy of your computer's performance is dust. Over time, your fans will pick up dust which collects on the components, the heat sink and on the fan blades themselves. Eventually, this impedes cooling and can cause your machine to run hot, reducing efficiency. It can also gum up the working mechanism of the fans, causing them to overheat or seize.

The issue? One you probably think about every day: how do I speed up my PC?

Question answered on March 8, 2009 at 10:33 AM :: Comments to date: 6

How do I encrypt / password protect files in Windows?

Category: Windows PC Help

I read your explanation of how to password protect individual files or folders on a Mac (see How to encrypt folders on your Mac), but is there a way to do that easily in Windows? Thanks!

Question answered on January 26, 2009 at 08:02 AM :: Comments to date: 6

How do I keep my Mac or Windows computer desktop clean and organized?

My computer desktop is driving me crazy, Dave! Whatever I do to organize things, I find that I have so many icons and files that I lose track of important documents on a daily basis. Surely there's some way to tame this chaos?

Question answered on June 7, 2008 at 09:44 PM :: Comments to date: 8

VMWare Fusion won't run on my Macbook Air?

Category: Mac OS X Help

I have no idea what happened, but I had Microsoft Windows XP running just fine within the VMWare Fusion application, as you documented (see installing Vista in VMWare Fusion) and now it crashes without an error when I try to run it. Help! I need to get this working!

Question answered on March 3, 2008 at 12:05 PM :: Comments to date: 2

How do I install Windows XP on my Mac with Parallels Desktop?

Category: Mac OS X Help

I read through your splendid tutorial on installing Windows XP with Apple's Boot Camp product (see boot camp help) but that's not for me. I don't want to have to reboot each time I want to try something out with a Windows app on my Mac. I've read about something called the Parallels Desktop and am hoping you can explain how to install it and how to use it so I can run Windows in parallel with Mac OS X? Thanks.

Question answered on June 27, 2006 at 09:08 AM :: Comments to date: 194

Leaky RAM is ruining my PC?

Category: Windows PC Help

This has been bothering me for quite some time, and noone else has been able to give me a good answer:

How do you retrieve RAM lost to memory leaks?

I have one gig of RAM my computer, but I can only use 550MB of it... I just recently got into programming, and I am sure that memory leaks are the cause of this RAM loss. Is there a program I can use, is my RAM now useless, or did I miss something?

Question answered on December 16, 2005 at 03:45 PM :: Comments to date: 3
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What's a "pump and dump" OTCBB stock?
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Review: Sony NEX-5N Digital Camera


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Multiple signatures in Google Gmail on my Mac system?
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Can I Enhance My Google Plus Photos?
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Create a "Follow Me on Kickstarter" button?
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CES ShowStoppers Launch.it pitch event
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CES 2013: Early Coverage from Startup Debut


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Unblock number on AT&T SmartLimits Parental Controls?
Review: Running with Friends
How do I turn off autocorrect on my iPhone 5?


iPod, Sony PSP and MP3 Player Help
Getting Started with your new Apple iPod
Deleted iTunes library but still have tracks on iPod...
How do I fix the time / date on my Apple iPod Touch?


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How do I buy a book on my Kindle Fire?
Forgot Kindle Parental Controls Password. Now what?
Turn a Kindle Fire HD into an ebook-only reader?


Mac OS X Help
Mac Calendar Alarm Reminders After Event?
Convert FLAC audio files to MP3 tracks on my Mac?
Audacity can't find LAME library, I can't save Mp3?


Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
Is paying for visitors to my site against AdSense policy?
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Add Po.st Social Media (Facebook, Google Plus) widgets to your blog?


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Quickly Create a New Pinterest Board?
Convert a public Pinterest board into a private or secret board?


Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
How to SEO optimize YouTube videos?
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Change in Web site navigation drops PageRank to zero?


Shell Script Programming
Stealth image capture photo from webcam on my Mac?
Secretly capture screenshots on my Mac?
Parsing "id" strings in a Shell Script?


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Roundup of Cool iPhone 5 Cases
Review: Microsoft Surface RT, Acer Iconia W5
Review: Forus U2 Smartphone / iPhone call recorder


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Protect unpublished book manuscript during review process?
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How do I get into online writing?


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Add a header graphic to my Twitter profile?


Unix and Linux Help
Install Ubuntu Linux within Parallels Desktop on Mac?
Copy and Paste from the Mac OS X Command Line?
Shell script to convert lowercase to title case?


Video Game Tips and Help
Review: Running with Friends
Review: Vector HD for iOS
Review: Temple Run 2


Windows PC Help
Enable ASP.NET on my Windows 8 system?
Audacity can't find LAME library, I can't save Mp3?
What's the easiest way to speed up my Windows PC laptop?




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