Using a VPN to protect your web use
Ask Jack: Dave Null is looking for a good free VPN (virtual private network) to ensure his privacy while using open Wi-Fi hotspots
Windows 8? Windows RT? Is this bifurcation Intel’s fault?
Matthew Baxter-Reynolds: Intel machines running Windows 8 will have advantages over the ARM versions. Which means no post-PC world for Microsoft
Wanted: A type-and-talk system for deaf telecoms users
Ask Jack: Mike and his wife find it's almost impossible to have a telephone conversation with her parents, who are both very deaf and technophobes. Is there an acceptable technological way of combining talking and typing?
Microsoft revenues beat forecasts but Xbox and Bing disappoint as profits dip
Strength in Windows and Office divisions continues but online services and games console weakness drags profits back. By Charles Arthur
I survived a week on Windows8 on a tablet (instead of an iPad)
In fact, the Windows 8 Consumer Preview works well, even on hardware designed for Windows 7. But the acid test may rest with the hardware companies. By Matthew Baxter-Reynolds
Windows 8 for tablets: success lies in being human
Matthew Baxter-Reynolds: The iPad's success is a bit like that of text messaging - the clue isn't in the technology but in what it enables. So, Microsoft, here's how to do it.
Keeping Word documents private, and other queries
Ask Jack: Four questions this week – John's partner wants to edit Word documents privately, Stan has a CD stuck in a laptop drive, Derek's CDs are skipping, and Mary can't turn on Windows XP's auto-update
From Start to stop: a glimpse of how real people will use Windows 8
Charles Arthur: In what may become the first of a long-running series, Lockergnome's Chris Pirillo unleashes his father on the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Confusion follows
Windows XP paralysed by hard disk thrashing
Ask Jack: Nigel Tasker's PC can stop working for up to 10 minutes due to hard disk activity, so what can he do about it?
Reports of the death of the PC are greatly exaggerated
Tablets may be selling like hot cakes but there will always be a place – and a market – for the personal computer, writes John Naughton
That Windows 8 experience? Confusing. Confusing as hell
Matthew Baxter-Reynolds: Trying out Windows 8 on the desktop gives a strange feeling: there's a solid update to Windows 7, and then there's a strange interface which jumps context. Plus you can't join a device to a domain? Whose idea was that?
Wanted: a system for annotating documents on screen
Ask Jack: Nomadic11 wants a tablet for reading and marking up Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF documents on screen. Something like the old ThinkPad X61, in fact, but lighter
Windows 8 Consumer Preview: first look on a tablet
Microsoft's radical new version of its well-known operating system tries to bridge the gap between desktop, laptop and tablet. How does it fare? By Tim Anderson
Windows 8 is ‘generational change’ says Sinofsky, launching downloadable beta
Work on new version began three years ago with tablet versions made of cardboard as Microsoft tries to bridge gap between mobile and desktop with single interface. By Juliette Garside
Mobile World Congress 2012 – day three
Coverage from Barcelona on day three of the world's largest mobile trade show
Want the Windows 8 preview? First, catch your 1366×768 resolution tablet
Charles Arthur: The Windows 8 Preview arrives at the end of this month - and if you want to get the full Metro feeling, you'll want to try it on a tablet. But they've got unusual screen sizes - and they might be pricey. Is this the flaw in Microsoft's strategy?
WinRT for coding for Windows 8? Is .NET really such rubbish?
Matthew Baxter-Reynolds: The shunning of .NET in order to get third-party Windows programmers coding Metro-style apps might make sense inside Microsoft, but outside it looks like a rebuff
Is it worth backing up to the cloud?
Ask Jack: RL Symonds wants his PC backed up online, but if his hard drive crashes, how would he get his data back?
Windows 8 on ARM: the Schrödinger’s cat of operating systems
Matthew Baxter-Reynolds: There's been plenty of criticism of an article suggesting that Windows 8 will be dead on arrival – but like the mythical cat, the answer to this one is all in the observation
Replacing a Windows laptop’s hard drive
Ask Jack: Dell has sent Dennis Fornes a replacement hard drive for one that may be about to fail, and he wants to know how to make the swap
SSD test: Samsung, Crucial, Plextor and Kingston race it out
Solid-state drives (SSDs) are the key to ultrabooks and they can give your old laptop or desktop a whole new lease of life. Here we've compared a group against each other, and against two hard drives. By Charles Arthur
Microsoft’s Windows division suffers 6% drop in revenues
Competition from smartphones and tablet computers combined with floods at components factories have dented PC sales
Microsoft warns of lower profits as PC sales shrink
Microsoft says PC sales fell by 1% in fourth quarter of 2011 as Thailand floods have a lingering effect on hard drive shipments. By Charles Arthur
Kinect for Windows to launch in February
Keith Stuart: A new version of Microsoft's Kinect motion controller will be coming to PC, complete with 'Near Mode' functionality and a $249 price tag
CES 2012: what to expect from consumer electronics in Las Vegas
The annual Consumer Electronics Show will see the swansong keynote by Steve Ballmer, while 'ultrabooks', Nokia, tablets and smart TV all jostle for attention. Not to mention the celebrities. By Charles Arthur
Microsoft sees a future through cleaner Windows
Windows 8, the PC giant's new operating system, is stylish, award-winning, multi-platform – and critical to its future
Microsoft to sue Comet over ‘fake’ Windows discs
UK retailer Comet to defend Microsoft action over sale of unauthorised Windows recovery discs. By Mark Sweney
Christmas special: Setting up your new Windows 7 laptop
Ask Jack: Richard Cowling is getting a new Windows 7 laptop for Christmas, and wants some advice on setting it up, and backing it up
Head of Windows Phone division shifted to prepare for Windows 8
Andy Lees to get new and unspecified position straddling Windows Phone and forthcoming Windows 8 while Terry Myerson will take over for struggling OS. By Charles Arthur
Making a DVD from your home movies
Ask Jack: Dave Null wants to use his Windows PC make some DVDs that his technologically challenged relatives can watch on their standalone DVD players
The Xbox 360′s new dashboard: what you need to know
The Xbox 360's dashboard is about to undergo a transformation. Nick Cowen takes a look at the new features and analyses the reasons behind the change
Picking the parts for a future-proof PC
Ask Jack: Stuart Bannerman is building his own PC and wants to know which parts he should choose to make it last
Can an iPad, a keyboard and an RDP client work for Windows development?
Why not put your Windows development virtual machine into the cloud and access it via whatever device you feel like? It's certainly worth a try. By Matthew Baxter-Reynolds
Moving on from BT Yahoo email
Ask Jack: Alan Moore was using BT Yahoo email with an old copy of Microsoft Outlook, but it no longer works and he hates BT Yahoo. Is there a fix, or is it time to move on?