Cell phones generally adjust their clocks automatically when you travel and physically move them into a new time zone. (The cell phones receive their location information from the closest cell towers operated by that phone company.) Most laptops, however, are not "aware" of their geographic location, and so if you travel with one, you have to set the time zone yourself. Let's have a look...

I finally switched from carrying a boat anchor (aka a PC laptop) and am now enjoying the slim, lightweight world of a Netbook. All is good. Until I realized that I can't actually update from Windows Vista (slow, clunky) to Microsoft Windows 7. I heard that there's a way I can download it? I don't want to get anything illegal, but I'm definitely intrigued! Can you tell me more about how to download Windows 7?

It's a puzzle: is a Microsoft Windows Vista laptop with a crystal-clear 12.1-inch screen, 320GB hard drive, 4GB of RAM and a carrying weight - without the external Blu-Ray drive - of about four pounds a netbook? An ultralight notebook? A laptop? HP calls it an "Entertainment Notebook" and refers to it in press materials as "one of the thinnest, lightest notebooks in the market".

Whatever we call it, I was delighted to get my hands on one of these shiny, well-built DV2 computers that offered a very different PC experience than the usual low-budget, poorly assembled PC gear. Focused on multimedia capabilities and highly portable, the DV2 is a fast device with a terrific screen -- plenty crisp and bright enough to let you enjoy movies, even Blu-Ray disks via the external drive -- and a comfortable, solid feeling keyboard.

At $669 (with a $30 rebate that HP's currently offering as I write this review) the DV2 is not the least expensive notebook on the market and it's not even close to the cheapest notebook that HP offers, for that matter. But it's not price, it's value that counts, and that's where we get into another dilemma: would you be happy paying $700 for a multimedia laptop computer that only had a 12" screen?

I think the answer is "yes", because from my own testing, the attractive DV2 fits in quite well between cheaper, small-screen netbooks and more expensive, bigger-screen, heavier notebooks...

I'm an old-school computer user and when I got my new laptop I decided that rather than overwrite the OS with Linux, I'd actually stick it out and learn Windows Vista. So far, not so bad, but one thing's bugging me: when I create a file like "test.xls" the system shows it as "test" with an Excel icon. I want to see the filename suffix, though, the ".xls" part. How do I enable that feature / disable that feature in Microsoft Windows Vista??

My husband really wants to use my new Dell Windows Vista laptop, but I am afraid he'll mess up all my work files with his gaming and Web surfing. His response is "don't worry about it", but I'd be in serious trouble at work if a problem arises. Instead, I'd like to just give him his own account on my system. Can you outline for me how I can set up a new account for him in Vista? Thanks, Dave. You might just save our marriage!

Help! Something abdominable has happened to my wife's Toshiba A200 Satellite laptop (model PSAFCL-00R00G, preinstalled OEM Vista Home Premium, not under the worranty anymore). Before going to the full story I'd like to mention that after my unsuccessful repair attempts the laptop is now partially functional in Save Mode, and (if you'll take me on board) the copies of its current System Infos, Administrative Events Reports, Windows Logs etc. can be sent to you.

During few last weeks either the unability to startup normally or BlueScreen crashes ("Unrecoverable hardware problems" mostly immediate after startup) made the laptop being completely unstable and unworkable. After many useless attempts I managed to boot from Paragon Partition Manager 9.0 Bootable CD. This has revealed the bad sectors on the HD's active partition, and I've reformatted it with the maximal precautions provided by Paragon application. Then I've used DriveClone 3.1 bootable CD to recover HDD from USB external drive. Unfortunately the only available DriveClone recovery image was made in December 2007.

According to all tests and repair operations available to me (including Windows chkdsk) both HD and WindowsOS are now OK but in the Normal Mode laptop still either refuses to startup or goes to BlueSceen crash during typing BIOS password. It however boots and is stable in Save Mode (but refuses to establish the internet connection in Save Mode with networking).

The partional functionality of Save Mode allowed me to find out the several current problems. According to Service Control Manager (event ID 7026) the boot-start/system-start drivers AFD, DCDisk, DfsC, eeCtrl, NetBIOS, netbt failed to start. In addition, (the event ID 5038) the image hash of the file \Device\HarddiskVolume2\Windows\System32\drivers\flbrc.sys is corrupted. The latter bothers me a lot as according to my knowledge the flbrc.sys driver provides difference between NTFS functionality in XP & Vista. At the same time, I'm unable to update those drivers in Save Mode.

There are also awful problems related to Norton Internet Security that has been installed on December 2007 Recovery Image. Firstly, any attempt to perform NIS Ful System Scan in Save Mode makes laptop crash leaving unsolved my suspicious about the current presence of malware or viruses although Windows Defender Full System Scan with December 2007 definitions did not find any malware. Secondly, NIS can be disabled or uninstalled (I'd be pleased to do the latter if you'd reanimate the beast) only in the unaccessible Normal Mode making impossible to apply another antivirus or antimalware application can be installed and used (like Combofix) in Save Mode.

This is the last point where I've given up and decided to ask for your help! Help!

I'm excited that I just bought a new Dell XPS M1330 laptop and got what I feel is a really good deal on the unit. Problem is, when I plug the laptop into the wall, it's super-bright and the screen looks great, crisp and colorful. Pull the plug and even though I crank the brightness all the way up and sidestep all the battery saving display settings, it's still so faint that I can barely see what's on the screen. What's the scoop? I didn't buy a laptop so that I'd end up tethered to the wall!

I try to keep my PC's device drivers up-to-date, and regularly download updates from intel, nVidia, AMD, and others. Some of these updates come in .exe form, and must be run as programs to perform driver updates. Thing is, sometimes these roll-ups don't update everything they're supposed to. For example, on the latest intel infinst_autol.exe, it failed to update my PCI Bridge (244E) device and I couldn't figure out how to find the necessary .inf and .cat files to do the job myself. Any suggestions?

I have been hearing good things about Windows 7 from industry sources and am wondering if you think it woudl be a good idea for me to migrate from Vista? For that matter, what about Mojave? Is that a good interim choice, and if so, where do I download that?

After many years of using a PC, I've finally switched to a Mac and am now running Microsoft Windows Vista within the VMware Fusion environment. I have heard from a bunch of people that it's better than Parallels. Anyway, be that as it may, can you tell me how to install the VMware Tools, which apparently I need?

I spend a lot of my time on the phone with people in New York and London, but am based in San Francisco. What I'd love to have on my Vista machine is a set of clocks on the screen that can show me the time in these other regions, but I can't add unapproved software to the machine here at work. Solution?

I've made the move to Microsoft Windows Vista and am digging the new interface, but I am a bit frustrated that anyone else who uses my computer can see the latest applications and files I've worked with right on the Start menu. Is there some easy solution?

Just got started with Microsoft Windows Vista and am totally baffled by everything that's changed, honestly. Even the most basic is proving a challenge: how do I change my desktop picture in Vista?

I just read about Parallels 3.0 being released which is very cool, but rather than run Windows XP in Parallels, as you've written about, I want to run Microsoft Vista on my Mac instead. I have a MacBook Pro with 2GB RAM: is that enough? And if so, how do I install Vista in Parallels?

What is the most effective way to perform file, folder or data searches in Windows Vista? Is it the same as it was finding files in Windows XP?

I am running Windows Vista on the family computer, which means that there are several different users. Is there a way for me to prevent other family members from accessing my school and work files or limiting access to the computer? I’ve heard Windows Vista provides some sort of feature to do this?