Open vs. closed software platforms

Windows is a rare breed: an open software platform that has seen a great deal of success. Open platforms are what people tend to think of when they think of software platforms in general because they are more accessible. If I’m thinking about a software platform not as a consumer but as a development platform, I’m probably going to think of something I myself would have easy access to develop on....

How to resize your Boot Camp partition without reinstalling Windows

If you’re a hardcore gamer, using Boot Camp to run Windows on your Mac is a fact of life. If you enjoy the MacOS, you’ll probably find yourself devoting as little of your hard disk as possible to your Windows partition. As you accumulate more games, you’re bound to hit capacity on your Windows partition. Your next step is to restore your disk to a single partition, recreate your Windows partition,...

USB computer repair kit

ReadWriteWeb has posted about a new release of a Computer Repair Utility Kit—a collection of 57 applications to copy to your USB flash drive in case of emergencies. Most of the applications need not be installed on the offending machine. They cover the gamut from drive maintenance and diagnostics to spyware and virus removal. If you find yourself fixing lots of Windows-based machines, this would certainly be a...

Windows 7 tips

I have to admit even though for about a year now my primary machine has been a Mac, I’m just a little excited about Windows 7. It’s monumental that this release of Windows will actually lower resource requirements. When has that ever happened in the past? For all you Windows 7 beta-testers out there, Techmeme has come through with 50 seriously useful Windows 7 tips. A cursory glance at the tips reveals...

Incredible guide to tweaking Windows XP services

This guide has everything you ever wanted to know about tweaking the services in Windows XP. Then it has some more… and more still! Basically services are magical programs that start with Windows and run while your machine is running. Each one uses a tiny slice of your resources and provides some… service. The idea here is that many people don’t use many of the services. So, rather than letting...