Panda is one of the better security software manufacturers. Together with Symantec, McAfee, CA, Trend Micro and Avira, Panda Security offers complete PC security solutions. The choice of security software is very personal, some people base it on earlier experiences and other go by reviews and user feedback.

But the Panda solutions are certainly good PC protection. Currently they have an interesting 15% discount for US customers.

So if you were still waiting, or need to renew your current PC security software, consider their offer.
Do take not that these offers expire by November 30 (2009)!

Their security software solutions are:

USA: Panda Anti-Virus 2010 – 15% OFF

USA: Panda Internet Security 2010 – 15% OFF

USA: Panda Global Protection 2010 – 15% OFF

USA: Antivirus for Netbooks – 15% OFF

When you click the link, the rebate should be included automatically. But just in case they don’t, just enter the coupon code: NTP15R10.

Safe Computing!

In a move to make YouTube the most accessible video site for anyone, particularly the deaf community, Google has announced they’ve now accomplished auto captioning of videos, where people will be able to see what a video has to say.

Captions have been around on YouTube for quite some time, but that said, as PC World states, “the new auto captioning service will exploit the speech-recognition algorithms used in Google Voice to produce captions automatically. Ken Harrenstien, the software engineer who created the new ‘auto-cap’ technology, acknowledges that the captions will not always be perfect right now.”

Harrenstien, who is deaf, states that the technology will only get better and always continue to improve.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For those who stayed with Windows XP and did not install Vista, this video shows users who to perform a clean install (rather than a mere software upgrade) from Windows XP to Windows 7, the latest operating system from Microsoft.

As many of you know, Windows 7 (which has been a good hit for Microsoft) comes bundled with IE8, a powerful and better internet browser, but not on the top of the world’s browser lists, as Microsoft would have hoped. Firefox and Google’s Chrome continue to dominate.

That said, many had speculated that IE9 would be previewed at this week’s PDC conference. This week, Microsoft is announcing its future plans on specific plans for the company, including its internet browsing software. But, according to CNET, they didn’t preview code to IE9 as many had hoped.

“In his opening keynote at the Professional Developers Conference on Tuesday, Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie pledged that Microsoft will make Internet Explorer the absolute best Windows browser, but did not offer further details,” states CNet.

So, IE9 is still a mystery to most but Microsoft assures its PC followers, it will soon be the best browser for a Windows machine. Time shall tell.

Although Windows Vista is more technically advanced and secure than its predecessor, XP, it has had mixed reviews, has probably not been as widely adopted as Microsoft had hoped and there remains a hard core of XP users who refuse to upgrade to Vista.

Some current users want to remove Vista. They may have upgraded to Vista and decided it is not for them or have bought a PC with Vista pre-installed. In either case, they will need to install another operating system, such as XP or the new Windows 7, in its place.

Uninstall Vista from a Dual-Boot System

In some cases, you may have two operating systems on your PC, each installed on a different partition, so that you can choose which to use when you restart your computer. This is the simplest scenario since you only need to delete Vista and then use the remaining operating system. However, backup any data on the Vista partition because this will be cleared when you remove Vista.

Start the PC and choose the other operating system (say Windows XP). Insert the Vista DVD into the drive and launch Vista, then close all menus. Click Start then Run and type ‘E:ootootsect.exe/nt52 ALL /force’, where E: is the DVD drive letter. Press Enter.

Restart your computer and select Windows XP, then reformat the Vista partition. On completion, delete Bootsect.bak and Boot.bak from the Windows XP root folder. You will now have a single-boot system.

Uninstall Vista and Replace with XP

In effect, you can replace with various operating systems but XP may be the most likely.

This process involves the complete removal of Windows Vista, reformatting the hard disk and installing Windows XP. This means that you will lose all data and every piece of software that is currently installed. Before starting, therefore, ensure you have a full backup of all your data and the original CDs or downloaded files for all your software. You will need to copy back and reinstall once you complete the process. You will also need to ensure you have a valid installation disk for XP, including a registration key, and have XP drivers for your devices.

Restart your PC and press F2, F10 or Del (this may vary) to load the BIOS menu and change the boot order to start with the CD drive. If there is no CD in the drive, it will instead boot from the hard disk as normal.

Restart your PC with the Windows XP CD in the drive. A blue screen should appear and you will accept the Windows licencing agreement. Since you want to remove Vista and replace it with XP, choose to install rather than repair when prompted.

Select the partition where Vista is installed and then choose to continue when the operating system is detected. Agree to format the partition or disk using the NTFS file system. Once formatting completes, XP should start to install automatically. When this is done, run a Windows Update to get all the latest updates and security patches — there might be a lot.

Lastly, make sure you have the correct drivers for all your devices by accessing Device Manager. Depending on the operating system you use, this may be available from the Control Panel or by right-clicking My Computer then choosing Manage. Device Manager will list the types of device in the right pane and you need to right click each device in turn and select Properties. Then click the Driver tab and click the Update Driver button to download drivers and install the latest version on your PC. When you complete the process, you may be prompted to restart your computer. Choose to do this only when you have completed the process for all drivers.

Downgrading to XP From Vista

If you have bought a Pc with Vista pre-installed, you will have an OEM version and may be able to downgrade to XP at no cost. This only applies if you have Vista Business and Ultimate editions, when you can downgrade to XP Professional. However, this is a limited offer and may no longer apply.

If you are able to downgrade, you will have a copy of Windows XP Professional with a product key. Failing this, you can only undertake an uninstall and replace, as detailed previously.

Downgrading involves reinstalling the operating system and so, as before, you’ll need to backup all your data so you can copy it back later and reinstall all your software. Insert the Windows XP Professional CD into the drive and follow the instructions. At the activation screen, you can choose to activate online or by telephone; in the latter case, you should be guided through the rest of the process.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video show users how they could download and install Windows Live Essentials, a suite of freeware applications by Microsoft that offers integrated and bundled email, instant messaging, photo-sharing, and blog publishing capabilities to any of Window’s web-based services.

The recent official release of the new Microsoft Windows 7 operating system has made a lot of people think about whether or not they should upgrade. When purchasing a new PC, the choice is not that difficult, it will be either Vista or Windows 7, Windows XP is not available anymore. But for existing PC users the upgrade question is quite valid.

Windows 7 Hardware Compatibility

One of the main considerations should be the compatibility of your PC. If you are running Windows Vista, your PC will almost certainly also run Windows 7 smoothly. But if you are still running an older Windows version, like Windows XP, the performance and compatibility of your PC’s hardware should be checked.

As a first step, simply download and run the Windows Upgrade Advisor. This Microsoft program checks your PC hardware and tells you whether your PC is ready for Windows 7.

Also consider if your PC is 64-bit compatible. In Vista you can use the System Performance Information to check if your PC is 64-bit capable. Simply click the View and print detailed performance and system information link.

In Windows XP you could use CPU-Z to check the architecture compatibility.

Check for EM64T or AMD64 in the Instructions line.

Windows 7 is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, where the amount of memory (RAM) supported is one of the main differences. But although a 64-bit version supports beyond 4 GB, there are also drawbacks. Applications and device drivers are sometimes not available for or compatible with 64-bit architectures.

Windows 7 Benefits

One of the main reasons to upgrade to Windows 7 is to ensure continued support from Microsoft. As most people will know, Microsoft does not support Windows XP anymore.

Another reason to consider Windows 7 is the new user interface. If you did not upgrade to Windows Vista because of the many bad experiences with Vista at the start, you might want to skip Vista and go to Windows 7 now. The graphical user interface will take some time to get used to, but has many new features that are targeted at easy-of-use and efficiency. The network configuration is a lot easier than in Vista, jump lists give you quick access to files, locations and functions that are frequently used on a per application basis.

If you are into movies and music, Windows 7 has a great new feature to enable media sharing. Media streaming allows you to distribute your multimedia files across your network, to any compatible device.

One big advantage over Vista is that the presence of the User Account Control function is reduced a lot. In Vista most people turned the UAC off to get rid of the annoying confirmation messages, but in Windows 7 Microsoft limited the number of actions that require user confirmation. The drawback of course is that this also reduces the level of safety that was intended to be achieved with the UAC.

Windows 7 Drawbacks

As with Vista, users will find that Windows 7 requires a higher performing system than Windows XP. So if you are running Windows XP on an older PC, upgrading might not be possible (or desirable) without upgrading some of your hardware.

Program compatibility can still be an issue with Windows 7. Although a lot of the major software manufacturers have already released updated versions for Windows 7, not all software will be compatible with Windows 7. The compatibility mode can help in some cases.

Device drivers are another aspect that can limit your hardware compatibility in Windows 7. Again, most manufacturers have created Windows 7 compatible drivers, and Windows 7 does support more hardware than Vista by default, but exotic devices and older devices might not be supported (yet).

For XP users, the main drawback will be that you can not upgrade from XP to Windows 7 directly. You need to do a clean install of Windows 7. Windows Easy Transfer that is available on the Windows 7 CD can help you migrate your user files, but you will need to reinstall all your applications.

Conclusion

It is obvious that there are multiple aspects to consider whether to upgrade or not. How and for what you use your computer determines if the Windows 7 upgrade is useful, or should perhaps be postponed a little longer. If you do plan to switch over to Windows 7, make sure to plan it well. Make a backup, run the upgrade advisor, check the Windows 7 compatibility center and use the Easy Transfer option to move your data over.

When done installing Windows 7, do not forget to download and install Windows Live Essentials to add the email support and messenger program.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Setting up a home-based network for your family and friend has never been simpler as before. This video explains Homegroup for Windows 7, a new and better networking feature that makes it easy to share files and printers in a home setting. It’s a big improvement over networking in previous Windows versions.

In another announcement from Google, Google is teaming with Boingo Wireless (a large wireless wifi/hotspot provider) to provide FREE WIFI ACCESS to hundreds of airports through out the country during the busiest time of the year (for travelers) – the holidays.

In a surprise announcement, Google stated, “We’re very happy to extend our Holiday Wi-Fi gift to the millions of people who will spend time in airports over the next few months,” said Marissa Mayer, Vice President of Search Products and User Experience at Google. “We know that this is a very hectic travel season for people, and we hope that free Wi-Fi will make both traveling and connecting with friends and family a little bit easier.”

The FAA has estimated that over 150 million passengers will pass through these airports between Thanksgiving and through January 15th, the article states. That’s a lot of people who will get the opportunity to not have to pay $6/hour or even up to $40/day in some cases to use wifi to get on the internet while they are waiting to board.

So will an airport near you be receiving this generous gift? You can find out here to see which airports will be participating. Safe and happy travels!

Nearly all of us have some commercial software on our PC that we bought or, more accurately, have paid for a license to use it. This type of software may be bought as a boxed product with an installation CD or may increasingly be available for download.

Use of the internet has led to the growth of other types of software, namely open source, shareware and freeware. Many people view these as being the same or similar, when in fact they are all different.

Open source software may be provided free of charge or at a cost, but is freely available to all and the source code is also provided. This means that anyone can modify the source code and redistribute their own version of it. As a result, open source software tends to have a community of developers that share knowledge and provide support.

Shareware is generally developed by an individual or a small company and is often provided in this form because there is no marketing budget. Although you can download for free in order to try it, you are expected to pay if you continue to use it. As an incentive, you will sometimes get something extra when you do pay, such as some documentation or support.

Freeware is, as the name suggests, provided with no payment being expected. Additionally, it is free in the sense that anyone can download, copy and use it without restriction, although the source code is not made available.

Why You Might Want to Uninstall Freeware

Since freeware costs nothing, there is little to prevent people downloading it and giving it a try. If they then decide not to use it, nothing has been lost. The result, however, may be that you have an awful lot of freeware sitting on your PC, most of which you probably never use. This does tend to fill up your disk unnecessarily and should be cleared down periodically, if only to keep things tidy.

Freeware tends to be produced by individuals, often as a hobby or a sideline. As a result, it probably won’t have any documentation provided, may not have any clear instructions and almost certainly won’t have any community to provide support. In other words, with freeware, you’re largely on your own.

A freeware product will usually be a small program, often a utility rather than anything large or complex. Since it is not professionally produced, it may not work as expected or do anything remotely useful. You should take care before using a freeware program on anything that is important.