Last week, in honour of the Windows 7 launch, we covered Microsoft's biggest successes in the computing field. This week, in the interest of balance, we're looking to the company's dark side..

From budget laptops to ultra-tiny netbooks, ultraportables and high performance, we explain the tricks to finding out the ultimate laptop at the right price.

After the disappointment - perceived or otherwise - of Windows Vista, many are pinning their hopes on a revival with Windows 7. And from our first impressions of the pre-beta code, that's exactly what they can expect.

Pretty much every new product gets hyped as a potentially disruptive technology these days, and usually nobody outside of the company's marketing department actually believes it.

Microsoft has never been known to make mistakes in the past, but never was it more apparent than with Vista - and no matter the promises and the hype, Vista never truly delivered.

Vista felt sluggish, bloated and slovenly, but has Microsoft made Windows 7 any faster for those who crave the ultimate performance from their PC? Here are the benchmark results.

From watching iView on your mobile to live Australian TV while overseas, to Freeview, Foxtel IQ2 and TiVo, Stuart Andrews and Zara Baxter perfect the menu for takeaway TV.

Ex-Vista boss Jim Allchin is taking pre-release orders of his debut rock album from Amazon, proving there’s life after Vista.

XP is proving to be a golden oldie.

Microsoft has admitted that Windows Vista is shipping with a bug that was first discovered in Windows machines in 1999.

Microsoft has given its strongest hint yet that Windows 7 will be in the shops by Christmas.

As Vista and Windows 7 share the same core code, Microsoft has decided to merely nudge up the version number (Windows Vista was 6) so that applications are tricked into thinking it's Vista they're dealing with

The formal release of Windows 7 is still months away, but the new operating system is already being given the thumbs-up by industry analysts..

New updates for Windows 7 beta and reports of impending Vista SP2 Release Candidate emerge.

Choosing your Windows 7 version will be far easier than for Vista, but XP users will have to do a full install.

Things that make you go aaaargh, including Vista, Bluetooth and other things that may or may not make you mad

People are still willing to queue up in the middle of the night to buy the first few copies of Windows 7