XP

Sure, Windows 7 has garnered plenty of accolades since its release. But that doesn't mean that people haven't been annoyed at some of its new or unexpected behavior. The good news is that most of what ails Windows 7 can be remedied with a little know-how or an add-on program here or there. Read on to find out more.

Q: Where is Windows Movie Maker in Windows 7? I relied on this program in Windows Vista.

Microsoft on Tuesday released two security bulletins to fix eight bugs in its Windows and Microsoft Office software. Both bulletins are rated important, but analysts said many of the vulnerabilities could potentially be more severe if exploited.

Joshua Talbot, security intelligence manager at Symantec Security Response, is concerned that in many enterprise environments, Windows XP is still common, and these vulnerabilities are more serious on XP and older systems.

After a record-matching February that flooded corporate security departments with 13 bulletins to address 26 flaws, Microsoft's March Patch Tuesday cycle will be more manageable for IT administrators. On March 9, Microsoft will ship two security updates to fix eight vulnerabilities in Windows and Office.

In its monthly advance notification, Microsoft gave a sneak peak into the bulletins. Both are marked important, Microsoft's second-highest severity rating.

Although Windows 7 has been out for some time, many are just now thinking about upgrading. And that's when the questions begin. The existence of multiple editions, different upgrade options, restrictions on how a PC may be upgraded, the packaging of 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the operating system in the same box, and volume pricing are enough to confuse even experienced techies. Read on for some help.

Is Microsoft Internet Explorer too dangerous to use? In the aftermath of news that hackers exploited security holes in IE to break into Google's systems in China, the governments of France and Germany are taking the unprecedented step of recommending users stop using Internet Explorer 6, 7 or 8.

Germany's Federal Office for Information Security recommended "temporary use of alternative browsers" because of a "critical security hole" in Internet Explorer that allows hackers to remotely run malicious code on Windows PCs.

Next week will be a busy one for IT administrators. Microsoft plans to release six patches for December's Patch Tuesday -- three rated critical and three important. The patches will address 12 vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Office.

The coming week will be a busy one for IT administrators. Microsoft plans to release six patches for December's Patch Tuesday -- three rated critical and three important. The patches will address 12 vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Office.

Windows 7 is here. One of the ways the new operating system from Microsoft stands out is that it doesn't need powerful hardware to run well. This makes it suitable for use in netbooks, which typically come preinstalled with Windows XP.

"Windows 7 runs well on netbooks because we classified them as a target platform during the development process and optimized it for them," says Microsoft's Daniel Melanchton.

Ever wonder where you stored a certain file on your computer? If you have the new Windows 7 or even Windows Vista on your computer, you won't need any extra software to answer that question. The functionality already built into Windows 7 and Vista beats the performance offered by four free search programs, the experts at Germany's Computer Bild magazine found.

Both Windows 7 and Vista scored above the best add-on program. Windows 7 rated 2.84 on a scale of 1 to 5, with lower scores better than higher ones, and Vista rated 2.97. The best add-on program was rated 3.03.

Score one for Windows 7. The initial sales of the latest version of Microsoft's flagship operating system surpassed Vista's performance during its first few days on the U.S. market, according to the NPD Group.

Windows 7 unit sales in the U.S. were 234 percent higher than Vista's first few days of sales. A combination of early discounts on pre-sales and a lack of promotional activity for the Ultimate version resulted in dollar sales that were 82 percent higher than Vista.