Q: I made a leap from Windows 2000 to Windows Vista.  I loved the simplicity and efficiency of 2000’s Search.  One click on the Start button, click on Search, and there you had all the criteria for file searching. Your book talks about Vista’s Indexing feature, all based on a file’s name. Well, I produce so many files that I don’t always recall their names!  Where is the date search?  I have to click on Help and Support, then tediously find another link to search, then more reading, never telling me anything. What used to take seconds now takes minutes!

A: I don’t like Windows Vista, either. To be fair, though, Windows Vista searches not only by file name, but by the contents of many of your files. And you’re currently taking a roundabout method to fine-tune Vista’s Search. To solve your problems, try these tips to tweak Vista’s Search feature: Click to read more »

Q: Under Vista Ultimate, my computer earned a Windows Experience Index of 5.9. (I expected that because I own a Dell Precision M6400 mobile workstation that’s maxed out in performance. When I did an upgrade install of Windows 7 RC (Build 7100), I was disappointed to see the Performance Experience Index remain at 5.9. I thought it would increase to 7.9. Is there a problem with Windows 7 RC on an upgrade install?

A: First, a little background. Microsoft introduced the Windows Experience Index with Windows Vista. It’s a number that lets shoppers see how PCs matches up against each other in terms of speed, memory, processing power, and graphics. To see your PC’s Windows Experience Index, click the Start button, right-click Computer and choose Properties. By comparing numbers on the showroom floor, shoppers can more easily see the strengths and weaknesses of different PCs.

The Windows Experience Index shown to the left lists this PC as rating 4.4. In Windows Vista, PCs ranked anywhere from 1.0 to 5.9, and your PC ranked at the top. However, Microsoft changed the rankings with Windows 7, ranking PCs on a scale between 1.0 and 7.9.

Although your PC ranked tops on Windows Vista’s scale, several things could be responsible for it not reaching the top of Windows 7’s scale: Click to read more »

It’s considered bad e-mail etiquette to send or forward e-mail to friends by adding their addresses to the To: or Cc: areas. The recipients probably don’t know each other, and they may wish to protect their privacy by not revealing their e-mail addresses to strangers. (Messages are often forwarded many times, leaving everybody’s e-mail address in the hands of strangers.)

The solution? Place the recipients’ addresses in your e-mail program’s Bcc: field, not the To: field or the Cc. “Bcc” stands for “Blind Carbon Copy.” Everybody listed in the Bcc: box still receives the message, just as if they had been listed in the To: or Cc: boxes. However, the message’s recipients won’t be able to see the e-mail addresses of all the other recipients. Most e-mail programs list an option for Bcc: near or below the Cc: area.

Unfortunately, Windows XP’s Outlook Express doesn’t usually show the Bcc: box as an option when sending mail. To turn on the Bcc line in Outlook Express, follow these steps: Click to read more »

The promo video I made for Amazon is online now, and the price of Windows 7 For Dummies has dropped to a 34% discount!

Q: I’m a 51-year-old newbie to the Internet. I have an old Dell Dimension 8100 that I bought as a used PC. It runs Windows ME. It has a 40GB hard drive and 256MB of RAM. The hard drive still has a lot of free space. It has Internet Explorer 6. (I’m told that’s being phased out by Google.) I have your books Windows Me For Dummies and More Windows for Dummies. I would like to know if I could find a disc to install Windows XP, or if should I buy a new PC.

A: You can still buy a Windows XP Home upgrade CD through Amazon. If you don’t plan to play computer games or do much video work on your PC, you can still get by with Windows XP. But if you want a PC that will last longer and do more, it’s probably time to invest in a new PC.

As for Internet Explorer, nobody’s really happy about Internet Explorer 6 still being around. You can still use Internet Explorer 6 to run searches through Google, but Google’s Gmail program doesn’t work well with that antiquated browser. Your quick ‘n’ easy solution is to upgrade to Firefox, a free alternative browser that’s light years ahead of Internet Explorer 6.