Ed Bott Resources on ZDNet

ZDNet Author Biography: Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. He's served as editor of the U.S. edition of PC Computing and managing editor of PC World; both publications had monthly paid circulation in excess of 1 million...; more about Ed Bott »

ZDNet Resources

Fixing Windows Vista, Part 3: Top Troubleshooting Tools: Do you think Windows Vista is slow, crash-prone, or unreliable? Join the crowd. Over the past year, reviews of Windows Vista by mainstream media outlets, the technical press, bloggers, and ordinary users have been, for the most part, scathing. And many of those bad reviews were absolutely accurate. My...; Tags: Performance, PC, Driver, Microsoft Windows Vista, CPU, Tool, Dialog Box, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Performance Management, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Human Resources, Workforce Management, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-05-06
The Ultimate Vista Troubleshooting Toolkit: If Windows Vista is operating at less than peak efficiency, chances are there's a simple cause. Find the problem, fix it, and you're back at full speed. So where do you begin digging? In this screenshot gallery, Ed Bott describes 10 built-in diagnostic utilities that every Vista user should know...; Tags: Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows, Software, Ed Bott, Windows Vista, performance, utilities; Image galleries 2008-05-06
Fixing Windows Vista, Part 2: Taming UAC: The User Account Control feature in Windows Vista has been known to drive normally level-headed people over the edge with frustration. If you find it annoying, you might be tempted to turn it off. According to Microsoft research, somewhere between 12 and 16 percent of all Windows Vista users do...; Tags: Program, Account, Microsoft Windows Vista, UAC, Dialog Box, OK, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-04-29
Sorry, conspiracy buffs, there's no Windows "back door": Techdirt's Mike Masnick is usually pretty reliable, but he completely blew it today, hitting the publish button on one of the sloppiest, most inflammatory stories I've seen in a long time: Microsoft Gives Vista Backdoor Keys To The Police It's long been assumed that Microsoft has...; Tags: Security, Password, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Corp., Encryption, USB, Tool, Computer, CrunchGear, USB Switchblade, Productivity, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-04-29
Good Microsoft, Bad Microsoft: On paper and in theory, Microsoft is a single corporation, with something like 80,000 employees worldwide. In the real world, it's actually a collection of dozens, maybe even hundreds, of small companies that appear to act without a lot of central supervision. That is the only possible...; Tags: MSN, Microsoft Corp., Entertainment, Advertising & Promotion, Corporate Communications, Marketing, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-04-23

Fixing Windows Vista, one machine at a time: If the "Vista sucks" movement has a public face, it's the Sony Vaio. No one knows that better than my new friend Jeremy Toeman. In May 2007, this 15-year Windows veteran replaced his old, beloved, XP-powered Vaio with a newer Vaio that came with Windows Vista Business installed. Practically overnight,...; Tags: Sony Corp., Sony Vaio, Clean Install, Installation, Driver, Microsoft Windows Vista, Machine, Recovery Partition, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-04-21
Is Hyper-V ready for the Windows desktop?: A few days ago, my ZDNet blogging colleague Jason Perlow offered some suggestions on how he would design Windows 7 for maximum backward compatibility. One of his key proposals involved using virtualization to solve application compatibility problems: What if Microsoft were to build a "Personal" Hyper-V...; Tags: Desktop, Virtualization, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Corp., Hyper-V, VM, Linux Integration Component, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-04-17
Making sense of Windows' irrational pricing and licensing: A few weeks ago, Microsoft announced it was cutting the price of retail, shrink-wrapped copies of Windows Vista. The new suggested price for an upgrade edition of Windows Vista Ultimate is $219, down from $299. The cost of an upgrade edition of Vista Home Premium drops to $129 from $159. Those price...; Tags: Product Activation, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Corp., Price, Pricing Strategy, Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-04-14
Cast your vote in the Windows 7 release date prediction pool: When will Windows 7 be ready for release? The tech blogosphere seems to have interpreted Microsoft's latest carefully parsed announcement as pointing to a January 2010 release. But I agree with my colleague Mary Jo Foley that a 2010 date doesn't make much sense. And I don't need any inside...; Tags: Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows Vista, Rule, Tech Blogosphere, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-04-09
Vista SP1 reboot bug fixed: Remember that issue where trying to install Vista SP1 would result in a hard-to-break reboot cycle? Well, the Microsoft Update blog says the problem was caused by "a few unknown and rare events" during the installation of one of the prerequisites to installing SP1: KB937287, the Servicing Stack Update (SSU)....; Tags: Update, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows Vista SP1, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-04-07
Windows Media Center meets cable TV in HD: Six months ago, after years of waiting, I finally had a chance to switch my Media Center setup over to a fully digital, cable-compatible, high-definition configuration. How has it worked out? Let's just say you'd have to pry the Media Center remote from my cold dead fingers. ...; Tags: Cable Television, Dell Computer Corp., Windows Media, Media Center PC, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Media Center, CableCard, Media Center PCs, Cable, Network Technology, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment, Telecommunications, Networking, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-04-04
The Vista license "loophole" that isn't: Software licensing is often hard to understand. But that's no excuse for so-called Windows experts to deliberately publish sensational stories that turn the facts upside-down. I'm talking about the fuss that Scott Dunn and Brian Livingston kicked up in yesterday's version of the Windows Secrets newsletter, in...; Tags: License Agreement, Clean Install, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Corp., Edition, Scott Dunn, Nothing, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-04-04
MaxWin to supersize Windows: Yesterday, I wrote about Microsoft's efforts to reduce the size of the Windows kernel as part of its MinWin project. Early today I learned of a top-secret parallel development effort being run by a separate group at Microsoft. The hush-hush project is called MaxWin, and if my sources are correct...; Tags: Microsoft Corp., MaxWin, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-04-01
Is MinWin really the new Windows 7 kernel?: In my post about Windows 7 back in January ("Windows 7 = Vista Release 2"), I ended with a statement that deserves some follow-up: Those who are predicting that Windows 7 will include some radically stripped-down kernel (the so-called MinWin project) or a new file system are missing the...; Tags: Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows Vista, Kernel, MinWin, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-03-31
What Microsoft can teach Apple about software updates: Last summer, I looked at Apple's announced plans for its Safari web browser and wondered out loud, Is Steve Jobs planning a hostile takeover of the Windows desktop? Apple's decision last week to begin aggressively pushing Safari to any Windows user running iTunes (in other words, anyone with an iPod or an...; Tags: Security, Apple Safari, Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Apple iTunes, Updates, Microsoft Windows, Tools & Techniques, Operating Systems, Digital Music, Software, Management, Personal Technology, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-03-24
Sony drops its $49 "no crapware" fee: The blogosphere is buzzing today with contempt for Sony, which just outlined its Fresh Start program and immediately ran into a buzzsaw of criticism for its plan to charge $49.99 for the privilege of getting a crapware-free PC. The echo chamber at Techmeme is working overtime, led by Engadget: "Sony has the...; Tags: Sony Corp., Sony Vaio, Desktops, Hardware, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-03-21
Your turn: Readers choose their 10 favorite Windows programs: Two weeks ago, I published a list of my 10 favorite Windows programs of all time. The response was overwhelming and refreshingly enthusiastic. As the title made clear, that list reflected my personal preferences; I certainly don't expect all my choices to be essential for every Windows...; Tags: Program, Microsoft Office OneNote 2003, List, Requirement, System, Screen Shot, Quick Macros, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-03-20
Want Vista SP1? Here's what to expect: When Microsoft released Windows Vista Service Pack 1 to manufacturing on February 4, they promised to make it available for the general public in mid-March. Today they delivered on that promise, making SP1 available to Windows Vista users through Windows Update and as a standalone installer package from the Microsoft...; Tags: Microsoft Windows Update, Version, Driver, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Corp., Microsoft Windows Vista SP1, SP1, Installer, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Operating Systems, Software, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-03-18
Speeding up a sluggish Sony: Last week, Jeremy Toeman's accursed Sony Vaio arrived here, and over the weekend I had a chance to get my hands on it for the first time. (If you missed the back story, read the first installment that I posted earlier this month.) The short version: Jeremy, a digital media expert and...; Tags: Sony Corp., Sony Vaio, Backup, Microsoft Windows Vista, Jeremy Toeman, VGNSZ460N, Desktops, Microsoft Windows Vista (Longhorn), Hardware, Operating Systems, Microsoft Windows, Software, Ed Bott; Blog posts 2008-03-18
Process Explorer: Main view (Ed Bott's 10 Favorite Windows Programs ): Process Explorer: Main view (Ed Bott's 10 Favorite Windows Programs )I like this one betterSystemExplorerhttp://systemexplorer.mistergroup.org/Favorite Windows Utilities non-u$oftKeyText, TUT (The Ultimate Troubleshooter), ReGet, IconSaver.RE: Process Explorer: Main view (Ed Bott's 10 Favorite Windows Programs )It's easily the best of its type. I have been using it 4 years.jrmelb; Tags: Microsoft Windows, Favorite Windows Programs, Process Explorer, Ed Bott; Discussion threads 2008-03-04