If you don't want to try the new Windows Vista Beta 1 on your system, but you'd like your Windows XP desktop to have a nice-looking Longhorn/Vista theme, here's something you might want to try.

Improve Windows XP's Security on computers not connected to a Domain. Windows XP Home does not include all the security features Windows XP Professional does, so some security options may be unavailable to the Home user. Security on Windows XP starts with having the latest updates. Installing SP2 is essential in making sure your system is secure. SP2 requires a Spyware and Virus free system to install without problems. Please read the advisory and run through Steps 1 and 2 completely before installing SP2.

This Windows Genuine Advantage stuff is already starting to aggrivate me, especially since I don't have a live connection available on some of my testing boxes. Here's how to unofficially bypass this check...

Extended64

Although there is no AMD64 build of Internet Explorer 7 yet available, one can easily run the x86 build in WOW64...

Extended64

Installation of a new motherboard can be a real pain in the butt. If your new motherboard uses any other chipset then the old one, chances are you may experience the BSOD (blue screen of death) in Windows 2000/XP.

NGOHQ.com

For everything you need to know about buying your next notebook, see the extensive guide here. Updated with information on Turion, the latest GPUs from ATI and NVIDIA, Windows Vista and more.

This is a basic guide to overclocking both the processor and memory. There is a lot to learn about overclocking and most of it cannot be told or read about, it?s more of a hands on topic. Experience is the key to successful overclocking so get into your BIOS and start playing, using this article as a guide. At worst you can always re-load the default BIOS configuration.

Earlier this year Microsoft and ASUS showed a new technology that might be baked in to future laptops, an auxiliary display, a small LCD on the outside of a laptop that can display email, battery, CPU, Wi-Fi signal and all sorts of things. It's much like the Flipstart (that hasn't shipped). I like the idea, but don't wait to wait until Windows Vista/Longhorn so here's how to make your own that's almost as good...It's also a great and cheap way to add a LCD to a PC case, this HOW TO uses the now free Konfabulator! Here's how!...

First of all we must determine the meaning of the word ?hosting?. So, what is hosting? Hosting origins from the word ?host? which has different meanings that are familiar to you. Hosting means providing place for your website on the web hosting company?s servers and makes it viewable in the Internet and floating it. Why can you once need hosting? Read more at DV Hardware

PCSTATS are going to walk you step-by-step through the process of assembling your own home theatre PC out of contemporary components. We'll also explore the various things you can do with an HTPC after it's built.

Have you been wondering what the difference between WEP, WPA, 80211i, Layers or Security, CKIP, TKIP, VPN, IDS, etc. means? We look at all the current wireless security protocols and explain it to you in an easy to understand fashion.

TheTechZone

Covering over 220 desktop graphics cards, this comprehensive comparison allows you to easily compare 15 different specifications for each and every card! If you need to find out about the specification of any card, just come over and check out our Desktop Graphics Comparison Guide! We hope it will prove to be a useful reference. We will keep this guide updated regularly so do check back for the latest updates!

In this guide we'll take you through installing multiple operating systems on the Intel based Developer Macintosh machine. This guide was put together by Ross Carlson and Joel Wampler to hopefully get you through building a machine that can run every major operating system currently available. This guide takes about 2 hours total. Let's get started...

In a world where things happen pretty quickly, there is a quiet revolution going on around the world. It has been ten or more years in the making and threatening to force a new paradigm shift in communication. Having its debut in Israel, and much of its recent activities in the US, VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol is about to take the communication world by storm. Read more at DV Hardware

Stupified by shaders? Finding pixels perculiar and vertices vexing? Check out our guide to shaders, which will explain all the complex details in a nice and simple manner.

Bit-Tech

Today im going to checkout AMD's "Cool N Quiet" Technology in AMD64 CPU's. AMD has implimented cool n quiet in all the latest AMD 64 cpus, cool n quiet slows the cpu clock down by changing the multiplier when the cpu is not under heavy load it also lowers the cpu voltage, thus saving power and reducing heat, which also helps extend the life of the processor.

GeForce 6 and 7 series have a dedicated 2D processor in charge of enhancing the quality of 2D videos executed by programs such as Windows Media Player. This feature was highly praised by nVidia when they released their GeForce 6 series and recently with the release of their GeForce 7 series. nVidia announces their chips from these series as ?two-in-one?, since they have not only a 3D processor, but also a processor for enhancing 2D videos.

LCD's are highly sensitive and any amount of pressure, touching or handling may damage it. As such, dead pixels aren't an uncommon thing. Apparently, some degree of dead pixels is to be expected. Still if you have a lot of them, it would be classified as a defective screen. So, how do you determine if you have dead pixels? Read more at DV Hardware

Just got word that Adrian has updated his premier BIOS optimization guide! Here's some of the updates.

Many of the features that Windows Explorer provides can be easily customized to make Windows XP even better. This chapter will show you how you can change many of the features and how to take advantage of some of the new, lesser-known features. It will start off with showing you how you can customize the way you interact with files and then how you view your files. By the end of this chapter, you will have completely customized all of the ways that you use Explorer to browse through and create files on your computer.

ExtremeTech