One of the key "under the hood" features Microsoft touts for Windows Vista is that it's more reliable than Windows XP. That may seem like an overstatement for those of us who have recently upgraded from Windows XP to Windows Vista. To be fair to Microsoft, XP can now be thought of as a mature operating system, with well-understood behavior. Troubleshooting Windows XP problems can be a mystery, but the techniques and tools available are well understood.
Not so with Vista.
As you first start using Vista, simple navigation is a chore. Vista's surface changes over XP are more substantial than previous Microsoft OS releases, so simply finding the old stuff is more difficult at first. Much of the old stuff is there, and the usual command line tricks can work. All you need to do is click on the start button, click "Run"? Continued

How many useless PCs do you have sitting around? Whether they're too old and slow or simply stopped working one day, cast-off tower and minitower machines are a plague on the land. So I decided to repurpose one by stripping it to its essential form?an empty box?and rebuilding it as a self-powered subwoofer. This is an inherently bad idea. Metal clangs and vibrates; speaker cabinets should be nonresonant. PC cases have more holes in them than the Godfather's enemies; speaker cases need to be airtight. Metal is inconvenient to work with; wood cuts easily. None of those practical considerations matter once you get the burning desire to mod a PC case in a totally unusual way. If you're like me and, for whatever reason, can't resist the temptation, here's how it's done. I had a number of dead PCs in the basement, including a tall, thin tower and a couple of short, squat Hewlett-Packard machines. I chose an HP for its case's wider front panel, because I wanted a front-firing speaker. ExtremeTech

For this project I have selected the FOXCONN NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS as my test subject, which I reviewed back in November 2006. It should be noted that the older GeForce 6 and 7 generation video cards may also be overclocked using the same methods discussed here in this article.

Our affiliate TweakHound has published a tweaking guide how to tweak and optimize Vista.
Worth a read, so head over

Many people think that if you want to play games on your PC, you'll need to have an expensive, high-end computer. Our Build-It configuration for the Killer Gaming Rig is tempting and impressive, but it's really an anomaly: Most gamers don't have PCs nearly that expensive. As much as we're impressed by the sheer power of rigs like that, and by the fantastic craftsmanship of the systems in our Ultimate Game Machine competition, a PC that will let you play all of today's games doesn't have to cost a ton of money. ExtremeTech

If you have often thought of building your own water cooling rig, but weren?t sure where to start, then take a look at TechARP?s how-to guide that can help get the ball rolling.

Windows Vista brings a lot of new features. Instead of describing all new features brought by this new operating system ? like new programs that now come with the OS ?, we will describe only those that are related to PC hardware.
Vista can be found in six different flavors: Starter (sold only pre-installed on new PCs on underdeveloped countries), Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise (sold only in high volumes to companies) and Ultimate. The difference between them is price and supported features. They can also be found in two versions, full and upgrade, which is cheaper but requires you to have an original copy of Windows XP.
In this tutorial we will be also saying on which versions each new hardware-related feature can be found ? not all versions have all new features. The only version that has all new features is the very expensive Ultimate version. So, the decision regarding the version you should buy must also be based on the features you want to have and not only on pricing. For average Joe finding the correct balance between price and features is probably the highest challenge of this new version of Windows HardWareSecrets

The TweakGuides Tweaking Companion (TGTC) is the complete system optimization guide for Windows users. Designed for novice and advanced users alike, it is written in plain English to help you genuinely understand all aspects of Windows and your PC. More at WinBeta

The release of Mozilla Firefox 2 further expands the capabilities and features of this highly regarded Internet browser, proving that just because you are popular doesn't mean you should slack off. Some of the new and updated features include: a visual refresh, integrated phishing protection, browser session resuming, live Titles and JavaScript 1.7 support, among others.
Regardless of how you feel about Mozilla Firefox, it's quite fair to say that much of the change and innovation in Internet browsers in recent years has happened because of it. This guide goes through numerous configuration tips and tweaks for Firefox 2, covering all aspects of the browser such as the options menu, preferences, CSS customization, interface, extensions and more. More at TechSpot

Intel Corp., the world?s leading supplier of core-logic sets which controls over the half of the market, plans to release new chipsets that will bring advanced functionality to end-users, but may scrap the support for legacy PS/2 and LPT ports, which will catalyze end-users to acquire new peripherals when migrating to new personal computers (PCs).
Intel?s forthcoming chipsets code-named Bearlake X and Bearlake Q chipsets, according to a news-story published by IO Panel web-site citing sources close to Intel?s Israeli center, will boost performance of Intel Core 2 processors by 15% compared to its speed on mainboards using current-generation core-logic sets. This seems to be logical, as the new core-logic sets will support 1066MHz memory and higher-speed processor system bus, which, along with performance of forthcoming Conroe chips, should definitely improve performance of PCs. X-Bit Labs

You didn´t noticed that one ?.... 8800GTS 320MB, one of the cheapest Direct X 10 capable cards around, fresh from oven. You want more overclocking headroom? A bit more voltage may help would you think? Ok then let's go.
First right at the back of the Graphics Card, you can measure the voltage of the GPU core and the voltage of the GDDR3 Memory. Use your multimeter to measure at the points marked below..... VR-Zone

For the first time since Windows NT, Microsoft has dramactically improved how users, enterprises, PC makers, and OEMs configure, install, and deploy Windows. New capabilities, such as offline servicing and the ability to create just one install image for multiple hardware configurations, make Windows deployment easier than ever. But if you're an IT administrator who'll need to deploy Windows Vista either now or in the future, you've got a lot to learn. WinSuperSite

First let me start by saying that one of the selling points of Vista is the new user accounts security enhancements, but sometimes, defaults don't meet everyone's taste when it comes to how we deal with our PCs. I for one, always used full administrator accounts since I first knew what a Windows user account is, and never been hit by a virus/spyware/crap, using common sense and updated AV software, so I don't want to give permissions to myself or face strange error messages every time I do a simple task on my computer.

Performance wise, Core 2 Duo have proven itself to be a much stronger performer than AMD's current offering, more so when performance per watt is factored into the equation. However, for some of us, the icing on the cake is the overclocking potential of these Core 2 Duo processors. Out of the number of processors available, the Core 2 Duo E6300 and the recently launched E4300 are probably the most sought after for. We've been toying with our E6300 processor for some time now. Today we're going to share what we found.

Tech-Hounds.com

Windows Vista's been out for a few days, and people all over the Internet are alternately singing its praises and berating all who even dream of installing it; you could probably spend a sleepless month reading the content that's been coughed up by major publishers, not to mention that of armies of bloggers and message board posters.
In a recent article, we kicked around the idea of dropping a Vista upgrade over an existing Windows XP installation. Windows Vista's Setup program?the multitude of code that installs the operating system?doesn't copy files and wriggle the new operating system atop the old one, resulting in a mishmash of both, as was more or less the case with prior Microsoft OSes. Vista's compartmentalized installation routine actually copies an image of Vista onto the hard drive and then plows through things like hardware detection and configuration. Read on at ExtremeTech

As some Beta and RC versions of Vista were downloadable for everyone and Vista Final is out now, I would like to give you some advices to avoid similar frustrations as I had with the installation of various Vista versions onto my nForce4 SataRaid system. This guide may also be helpful for users, who already got the final (RTM) version of Vista, because the nForce SataRaid problems for users with "old" (= LEGACY mode) nForce4 SataRaid systems have not been resolved with the final version. The Vista RTM in-the-box nForce SataRaid drivers do not support nForce2, nForce3 and LEGACY mode nForce4 SataRaid systems! (Notice: LEGACY mode nForce RAID chipsets have the option to create S-ATA and P-ATA RAID arrays simultaneously.)
If you have an nForce4 SataRaid system, you may try to boot off the Vista DVD and follow the instructions given by NVIDIA in special PDF files (you find them here). If you have an nForce RAID system, which is fully supported by Vista, the Vista Setup will automaticly detect your RAID array and your RAID partitions. In this case you are lucky and don't need any assistence by reading this post.
But if you are booting off the DVD and realise, that Vista will neither detect your RAID array (as a single hard disk drive) nor your Raid partitions, you may need a guide for the installation. Read on nForceHQ

Madshrimps writes: "The overclock ability of PC hardware is known for more then a decade now. As the market seemed to ask for more user friendly ways to overclock, manufacturers came up with ideas like dipswitches, softmodding through BIOS, asynchronous bus functions, etc. Though the risk stays the same, and once you run out of luck you might find yourself paying another $200 for replacement parts. Today we take a look on how we revived our motherboard after a failed BIOS flash, followed by supercharging it for extreme performance."

Almost like clockwork, people hoping to make their name during what some call the "Web 2.0" gold rush are putting their AJAX and Flash skills to the test with the concept of Web based operating systems. Having tried as many as I can get my hands on, I?m still quite reluctant to put a lot of faith into them for a number of reasons.

You may see a difference, you may not. I sure did.