• Tech stories of 2011: Jobs, Android and Anonymous rank in top 10

  By Marc Ferranti | 14 December, 2011 03:32

  In 2011, the increasingly mobile and socially networked world of technology became more intertwined than ever with politics and the law. Patent wars shaped competition in tablets and smartphones, hacktivists attacked a widening array of political and corporate targets, repressive regimes unplugged citizens from the Internet, and the U.S. government moved to block the giant merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA. With the passing of Steve Jobs, the world lost a technology icon who redefined the computer, entertainment and consumer electronics industries. These are the IDG News Service's picks for the top 10 technology stories of the year:

• Microsoft to Windows XP: Please die, already

  By Jeff Bertolucci | 26 October, 2011 11:11

  Microsoft is eager for Windows XP, its 10-year-old operating system, to fade into computing history. The sooner the better, in fact. But for that to happen, the Redmond company needs millions of XP users to drop creaky, old XP and migrate (hopefully) to Windows 7, or even to Windows 8, which won't arrive until next year.

• Windows Intune 2.0: Four new features

  By Shane O'Neill | 18 October, 2011 08:04

  Windows Intune, Microsoft's Web-based PC management and security platform, may not get the same level of attention as cloud services like Office 365 or Windows Azure, but Microsoft is betting big on Intune to be the cloud service that will facilitate IT's evolving job of remotely managing PCs.

• Windows XP to Windows 8: Don't go there

  By Shane O'Neill | 22 September, 2011 07:17

  A majority of enterprises have migrated to Windows 7 or are planning to do so. But for Windows XP holdouts ready to side-step Windows 7 for the upcoming Windows 8 OS, you are risking a gap in support, stresses research firm Gartner in a new "first take" analysis of Windows 8 migration in the enterprise.

• Six big Windows 8 features for small business

  By Katherine Murray | 07 September, 2011 00:03

  With Microsoft's big BUILD conference right around the corner on September 12, people are buzzing about the Windows 8 news that's sure to come, and for the last couple of weeks, Microsoft has been parceling out information. So far, the features we’ve seen look colorful, fast, flashy, and flexible—but how much of a difference will they make for small business users?

• Prepare your PC for future data disasters

  By Rick Broida | 05 February, 2011 01:51

  Reformatting and restoring a PC is not fun--in the way spending 2 hours in the dentist's chair is not fun. You have to back up all your data (and pray that you haven't forgotten anything), reformat the hard drive, install Windows, track down missing drivers, find and reload all your software, restore your data, and pull out clumps of hair over the things you inevitably neglected to save. (Firefox plug-ins, anyone?)

• Switching to desktop Linux? 6 ways to ease the migration

  By Katherine Noyes | 27 January, 2011 06:52

  With all the many compelling reasons for a company to switch to Linux on the desktop, it's no wonder that businesses large and small are increasingly relying on the free and open source operating system.

• Windows 7: 10 Cool Keyboard Shortcuts

  By Shane O'Neill | 21 September, 2010 05:27

  Keyboard shortcuts are wonderful time-savers but many of us are either too accustomed to the mouse or too lazy to get beyond Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V.

• Safely dual-boot Windows 7 and XP

  By Chris Byers | 03 August, 2010 02:41

  QUESTION My PC dual-boots Windows XP 32bit and Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit. Every time I work in XP I lose all my restore points in Windows 7.

• How to get more from a quad-core PC

  By Chris Byers | 13 August, 2010 02:20

  QUESTION: My Windows 7 Home Premium computer has a quad-core processor and 4GB of RAM. I've not found any advantage to using four cores. How can I use the processor more effectively and allocate different processes to the individual cores?

• Asus unveils three tablets and a slate

  By Jason Cross | 05 January, 2011 12:32

  At CES 2011 today, Asus announced three new Android tablets and a Windows 7 based slate PC. The tablets, all Android-based, go by the moniker "Eee Pad" while the Windows 7 device is called an "Eee Slate." Each one offers some unique features, from stylus input options to sliding keyboards or docking stations. Unfortunately, we don't yet have exact shipping dates or prices for the Android tablets, and the Eee Slate looks to be fairly pricey.

• Is Linux really harder to use?

  By Katherine Noyes | 03 August, 2010 08:17

  Not surprisingly, the misperception that Linux is harder to use than other operating systems is also one that competing vendors routinely use to scare potential new users away from Linux.

• Microsoft, get back to work!

  By Tony Bradley | 31 July, 2010 04:13

  Steve Ballmer assured analysts and the world that Microsoft is hard at work developing a Windows 7-based tablet to compete with devices like the Apple iPad.

• Windows 7 Migration: Five Real Challenges & Lessons Learned

  By Shane O'Neill | 23 July, 2010 08:19

  Windows 7 momentum is slowly but surely spilling over into the corporate world as long-frozen tech budgets begin to thaw and new PCs are purchased.

• Windows 7 Rollout Lessons Learned by Early Adopters

  By Shane O'Neill | 16 February, 2010 05:18

  Windows 7 may have helped propel to record levels, but many enterprises are still slowly, carefully deploying the OS, if at all.

Whitepapers about Windows 7

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  Best Practices for Preparing for SharePoint Migrations

  This paper focuses on some of the most common platforms that content can be moved from: Windows Server file shares, Exchange public folders, and previous versions of SharePoint. However, the strategies discussed can also be applied to content from other sources, such as Documentum, Novell or UNIX file shares, Notes databases, and web sites.