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I have no sound on my computer (windows 7) any longer except for the windows dings. When I go to youtube, etc - there is no sound anymore. I have tried to figure out what is going on but no luck. Would really appreciate some help. Thanks and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Microsoft attempted something different and daring with Windows 8. It introduced a whole new interface and means of interaction with your PC that was identical to a smartphone or tablet. It threw out the “Start” menu and mouse-driven interface people had used for decades in favor of a touch-driven interface with tiles, some of which received active information updates. And people hated it. “They tried to get their entire audience to jump from a UI [user interface] they were comfortable with to a brand new one with a serious learning curve,” California-based Creative Strategies tech analyst and president Tim Bajarin...

Not content to blow both feet off with a shotgun, Microsoft is going for the kneecaps now by blackmailing it’s customers. If you are still dumb enough to use Windows, you are about have your wallet shaken down by Microsoft in a familiar yet still unwelcome way.We don’t feel the need to sugarcoat this much because the company’s behavior is so blatant and uncaring it is almost staggering. Worse yet the victims, that would be almost all Windows users, have only themselves to blame because the pattern has been well laid out for years now. Microsoft has been unapologetically blackmailing...

Computerworld - Microsoft has quietly stopped serving security updates to Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) on consumer and small business Windows 7 PCs unless the customer has successfully applied an April update for the browser. [....] Users who have not installed the IE security update issued on April 8 -- identified by Microsoft as MS14-018 -- on Windows 7, and who rely on Windows Update to download and install fixes, did not receive the June 10 IE update. Nor will IE11 receive any future updates, security or otherwise, until that MS14-018 has been installed. Windows Update will not display the appropriate...

May was the seventh full month of availability for Microsoft’s latest operating system version: Windows 8.1 continues to grow slowly while Windows 8 remains largely flat, allowing the former to finally pass the latter in market share. At the same time, Windows 7 has managed to climb back over the 50 percent mark, while Windows XP still has more than 25 percent of the pie, despite support for the ancient OS finally ending in April.The latest market share data from Net Applications shows that Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 have gained a combined 0.40 percentage points (from 12.24 percent to...

I got an older Compaq Presario Laptop and I've been toying with the idea of putting Ubuntu on it. I was wondering if I would need to totally wipe the HD to get Ubuntu to run properly or can I install it while leaving Windows 7 on and it will still run OK. I am going to get a new laptop eventually but am in no hurry so it would be nice to still keep windows But I can manage for now without it being I use my Entertainment System Computer most of the time. Thanks in advance for any...

Microsoft sold more than 200 million Windows 8 and 8.1 licenses during the controversial OS's first 15 months, Tami Reller, the company's executive VP of marketing, revealed Thursday at a Goldman Sachs technology conference.Sounds impressive, right? Not exactly.Sure, 200 million is a big number -- that's about one license for every 35 people on the planet, a level of ubiquity most companies would kill for. But Microsoft isn't most companies. Put into historical or aspirational context, Windows 8 and 8.1 have underwhelmed.Not convinced? Here are five reasons not to be impressed.1. Windows 8 sales can't keep pace with Windows 7's precedent.In...

HP really wants people to buy a Windows 7 PC instead of a Windows 8 machine. The PC maker has been emailing customers over the weekend noting that "Windows 7 is back." A new promotion, designed to entice people to select Windows 7 over Windows 8 with $150 of "savings," has launched on HP’s website with a "back by popular demand" slogan. The move is clearly designed to position Windows 7 over Microsoft’s touch-centric Windows 8 operating system.

Good evening, I'm seeking your opinion/advice on these two laptops. If given the choice which would you choose and why? Our child has been given a gift: a Dell 11.6, but we may be able to exchange it for the Lenovo. I'm just wondering whether or not it would be worth the exchange. I'm inclined to think it is, but trading one for the other presents a little bit of a challenge. We must travel out of state in order to exchange the laptop. I'm wondering if it would be worth the wait and travel. Thank you, as always, for...

Makes obvious prediction -- since it's calling the shots -- that ending support for XP will mean 'more systems will get compromised' Computerworld - Microsoft today used the hoary practice of predicting next year to drive another nail into Windows XP's coffin.

Ever since this update was downloaded and installed, it locks up many times a day. I have done the Repair deal, and taken all of the optional stuff off Firefox, but the lockups continue. Boo. Hiss.

Review Following approximately one year after the release to manufacturing of Windows 8.0, which incorporated some radical changes, based around a new tablet platform running alongside the traditional desktop environment, Windows 8.1 is a critical release. Most Windows users have not warmed to the platform variously called Metro, Modern or Windows Runtime. Microsoft designed Windows 8.0 so that users cannot altogether ignore the Modern environment, even if they run only desktop applications. Moves like replacing the familiar Start menu with a Start screen and putting essential features like Shutdown in a somewhat hidden Charms menu were confusing and added little...

This morning, first thing I see is a warning from Windows 7, that says the hard drive is in imminent danger of failing, and to immediately back up all files. What's up with this. Anybody else getting this. Could it be gubmint boys causing this or just normal failure. DELL laptop is about one year old. Otherwise, up till now =NO PROBLEMS. And ,YES it is turned on. PLEASE, no joking around this time.

Calling the latest operating system a “failure” and Microsoft’s leaders “idiots,” a top tech website has proclaimed the PC era over. Windows is coming to a dead end, they say. PC shipments collapsed in the last quarter by almost 14 percent, analysts with IDC said last week, marking the biggest drop in sales since the firm started tracking them 19 years ago. The problem, said ZDNet’s well respected Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols, isn’t the designs from the likes of HP and Dell or the size of consumer’s wallets. It’s Microsoft. “Look at the numbers: Metro-interface operating systems have already failed,” Vaughn-Nichols...

Conservative business users ditch Windows 8 Lenovo is continuing to ship Windows 7 on the majority of its enterprise shipments. Although Windows 8 has been out for months, the OS of choice for enterprises remains Win 7. Windows 8 is still shipped with the machines, in the form of a bundled disc. The Register reports Lenovo learned the trick after it got burned with Windows Vista downgrades, so this time around it is preinstalling a downgraded OS by default. Lenovo is still interested in Windows 8 touchscreen devices, such as its ThinkPad Helix convertible. However, the Helix is rather pricey...

Notably, more than half of gamers who DO pick the embattled OS downgrade within weeks Arguably the most important, but relatively underdiscussed single story at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show can be expressed in a single word -- "solidarity".  Whether it was Intel Corp. (INTC) pushing customers towards touch-friendly devices or companies like Hewlett-Packard Comp. (HPQ) and Lenovo Group, Ltd. (HKG:0992) pushing Windows 8 hybrids/laptop designs, everyone was standing firmly behind Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) embattled Windows 8 operating system. With past releases Microsoft was blasted for not being innovative enough compared to Linux and OS X, in terms of user interface design.  Windows...

Sales of the Windows 8 operating system, which was launched on October 26, were driven by upgrades rather than users purchasing the software on new machines, according to Reuters. Microsoft sold 60 million Windows 7 licenses in two months, compare to 40 million licenses of Windows 8 in one month. Tami Reller, finance and marketing head of Microsoft's Windows division, said yesterday: "Windows 8 upgrade momentum is outpacing that of Windows 7," speaking at an investor conference held by Credit Suisse. Previous versions of Microsoft operating systems sold considerably fewer licenses than Windows 8 in a comparable period, with XP...

Enterprise IT decision makers are about half as enthusiastic about the new Windows 8 as they were three years ago about the then-just-released Windows 7, an analyst said today. Employees, however, have a higher-than-expected interest in the revamped operating system when it powers a tablet, second only to Apple's iOS, which runs the iPad. According to David Johnson of Forrester Research, 24% of the more than 1,200 North American and European IT hardware purchasers the firm interviewed in the third quarter said that while they had no plans in place to migrate to Windows 8, they expect to at some...

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has a rosy outlook for their new Windows 8 operating system, saying Monday that "we're seeing preliminary demand well above where we were with Windows 7." But other measures indicate that this statement may be somewhat misleading. Ballmer was speaking at a San Francisco event where Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 hardware were being showcased. Windows 8 itself officially launched last Friday, but has been available in preview form for more than a year. Comparing the new OS to its predecessor is natural, but could Windows 8, which has been intensely polarizing in the tech...

Not sure about this eight lark Tinman Michael Dell has said that he will continue to flog Windows 7 machines after Windows 8 hits the shops. The move is being seen as a note of caution, because some analysts are not sure how successful Windows 8 will be. Windows 7 is seen as a good stable operating system, particularly after the disaster that was Vista. Windows 7, which reached PCs in October of 2009, will be offered as an option to commercial and gaming customers. In fact Dell has said that it will offer Windows 7 as long as it...