You might wonder if it’s even possible to have a safe computing experience in this day and age, beyond unplugging your broadband connection and never installing any software. Of course it’s possible, but it will take some work on your part. You need to install tools to protect yourself, learn good practices, and most important: Exercise common sense. Here’s what you need to do, from the bare minimum on up. And for advice on buying security software, check out our Security Suites 2008 buying guide.72 Tips for Safer Computing

Some people are happy with their operating systems as installed. Others like to tinker. Still others—PC Magazine readers, often enough-need to dive under the hood and make those systems run exactly the way they want. Its all about control, and Linux gives you as much control as you can handle. The configuration tools in Ubuntu Linux provide a full range of customization choices. Some are cosmetic, of course, but others dig deep into system settings. As with so much in Linux, the key is finding the settings; once you’re there, configuration is fairly straightforward. For less-than-straightforward settings, stay tuned for future columns! Configure Linux

I recently upgraded my memory to 4GB, but when I run Vista, it shows
that I’ve only got a little over 2GB of RAM. Where did the other 2GB go? Where’s the Rest of My Memory?

Scenario: You want to install Vista on your PC alongside your XP installation, on the same drive. You have already installed XP. How to dual-boot Vista with XP – step-by-step guide with screenshots

Center for Information Technology Policy » Lest We Remember: Cold Boot Attacks on Encryption Keys

Contrary to popular assumption, DRAMs used in most modern computers retain their contents for seconds to minutes after power is lost, even at operating temperatures and even if removed from a motherboard.

Secure Your Word Docs – Expert Help by PC Magazine
New features in Office 2007 can allow you to protect your documents better than before.

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Open the Start menu and in the search box type
secpol.msc; press Enter to open the Local Security Policy editor. On
the left, expand the branches to Local Policies\Security Options. Then,
on the right, double-click the Interactive logon: Do not display last
user name option, select Enabled, and click OK.

If you’re using the Home Basic/Premium edition of
Vista and don’t have the secpol.msc file, don’t fret. Just open the
Registry Editor and expand the branches to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\
CurrentVersion\Policies\System.
Double-click the DontDisplayLastUsername value in the right-hand pane
and type 1 into the value data field. If the value is not there,
right-click an empty area of the right pane, select New and then DWORD
(32-bit) Value, and then type DontDisplayLastUsername for the name of
the new value. (It should, but doesn’t, go without saying that you
should back up your Registry before making any changes to it: see
go.pcmag.com/saferegedit for instructions on safely editing the Windows
Registry.)

Vista Log-In Hacks – Expert Help by PC Magazine

innotek VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization
products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an
extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise
customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely
available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General
Public License (GPL). See “About VirtualBox” for an introduction; see “innotek” for more about our company.

Downloads – VirtualBox

Your PC’s Been Arrested—Now What? – Expert Help by PC Magazine

A great slideshow for people that are tempted to try a Mac.
What’s New in OS X Leopard – News and Analysis by PC Magazine