Climb the steps all the way to Windows guru status with our invaluable selection of tips and shortcuts for XP and Vista.

Don't be confused; this XP has little to do with Microsoft. It's what happened when software developers pushed the best practices of programming to the edge, to the extreme.

Dont be confused; this XP has little to do with Microsoft. It is what happened when software developers pushed the best practices of programming to the edge, to the extreme.

Is Vista’s suave new interface and menu system window dressing or a radical improvement in usability?

Are your Windows 95 apps not running under XP? Tim Dean goes through a few tricks to help you get it running.

Don't want to settle for rolling green hills on your desktop? PC Authority looks at the alternatives with our guide to the latest desktop enhancements.

FAQ: 10 Frequently Asked Questions about Sony DVD players

An often irreverent look at some of the past week's other news.

Will a beefed-up firewall, User Account Control and disk encryption make Vista a safer choice than XP?

Your wireless network is more powerful than you imagine. Use this guide to fully understand and utilise it.

PC Authority takes a trip down computer memory lane and discovers just how PC technology has evolved... and how Microsoft and IBM nearly destroyed each other.

Microsoft has started from scratch with Vista’s networking features — but are they any better than those found in XP? We log-in and find out.

Last year the Pentium 4 was beginning to show its true colours as a top performance desktop CPU, but it was still squarely outmatched in the value stakes by the new Athlon processor. DDR RAM was also becoming the standard, with SDRAM finally going the way of the extinct plankton, graptolites.

Since the release of the Eee PC 701, the 'Notebook' has dominated. Easy to use, cheap and able to be left on the coffee table next to the remote, Notebooks are true appliance computing. The choice of which one to buy comes down to personal preference, but it's hard not to prefer those with the best usability. Our rundown of your options covers their performance, battery life, and design.

Your photos, music and data are just a virus or hard disk failure away from oblivion. Build a triple-layer defence using PC Authority's practical guide.

Vista’s Network and Sharing Center brings networking, file sharing and discovery options together, making it far easier to diagnose problems.

A million music downloads, movies on demand and copies signed by Bill Gates.

Can't find a file? Tim Dean looks at some tips to make Windows XP's Search work for you.

It's always a bonus to uncover a shortcut or program enhancement, and here we bring you 100 tips and tricks that we hope will make your computing experience quicker, simpler or more rewarding. Server Tips.

We help you determine whether your current PC can run Vista and which version of the operating system best suits your needs.