• Anti-Virus - Makes sure you can't get or spread a virus, worm, or Trojan horse.
• Anti-Spyware - Prevents unauthorized information access by spyware and adware.
• LinkScanner - Ensures every web page you visit is safe – even before you go there.

• Lenovo
• HP
• Dell
• Gateway
• eMachines
• Toshiba
• Asus
• Compaq
• Averatec
• Acer
• Samsung
• Sony

• Compaq - $12.99 for the first kit.
• HP - $12.99 for the first kit.
• Lenovo - $17.03
• Sony - $14.99
• Toshiba - $11.25/$12.99

1. Check that your PC can run Windows 7 with the Windows Upgrade Advisor.
2. Enter your college/university e-mail address.
3. If you're eligible, you'll receive an e-mail with purchase details.
4. Click on the link provided in the e-mail to proceed with your purchase.
5. Purchase your license/product key.
6. Checkout and download.

Microsoft has begun heavy ad rotation for advertisements for its newest operating system Windows 7; you may have seen the one that features a charming toddler extolling the happiness it will bring to the computer world.

Color me skeptical, having been stung before by Windows OS "updates." I had a chance to talk with Vishal Dhar, the founder of iYogi, a service that provides brand-independent Windows OS customer service to the 90,000 customers who have signed up for its 24/7 tech support.

What can we expect with the launch of Windows 7?

"Windows Vista to Windows 7 migration should be virtually seamless. Where we see a challenge is in Windows XP migration to 7." Dhar pointed out that 70% of Windows users didn't upgrade from XP to Vista, so the large majority of users will be facing this larger jump. A recent iYogi survey showed that almost half of consumers it polled expect to call tech support for help in the process.

There is a great deal of conflicting information about when Microsoft will release its newest version of Windows, Windows 7. The company CEO announced this week that Microsoft is releasing a free beta (test) version on Friday, January 9th, while Silicon Valley Insider reports an MS exec's speculation that the OS in final form wouldn't hit the market until perhaps 2010. This follows an earlier rumor that the OS would be loaded on new PCs around the middle of 2009.

What does this mean to you? It means you might want to hold off on purchasing a PC running Windows Vista, at least until Microsoft promises a free upgrade at the time of the Windows 7 release. Given the problems users have encountered with Vista, one can only hope that Windows 7 is an improvement. Many users are still clinging to their old Microsoft XP, and I can't blame them. I've had dozens of blue screens with Vista when I had almost none with XP. In fact, Dell has found such demand that it has been able to charge an extra $150 bucks just to replace Vista with XP on new computers ordered.

As far as Microsoft's offer of a free beta version of Windows 7? Given its track record of putting out software that isn't ready for prime time (oh, Windows Millennium,) why would you want to take on a version even less polished? Unless you feel the need to punish your computer...

Microsoft is beginning to build buzz in long term preparation for yet another version of Windows, at the moment known as Windows 7. Speculation has the company putting this on the market late next year or early 2010.

I began using computers in the 1960's, and would have laughed in your face if you had told me that forty years later they would still be so complex and unharmonized that even a relatively savvy user would have to spend hours each week just nudging commands to get it to work. Therefore, excuse me if I seethe a bit about having yet another OS shoved down my throat.

I've been using Vista lately because I have to; XP won't be supported forever. I have a license for MS Office 2003, which does everything I need these programs to do, just fine. Under Vista, though, these formerly dependable programs crap out regularly. Do I suspect Microsoft is OK with this, as it provides incentive for me to buy newer versions of the programs? Of course I do.

I don't want a new Windows. I want a computer that runs the software I use without reverting to the blue screen of death every day. I want a computer in which I don't need to know how to access the msconfig file or configure my wireless network or reboot in safe mode and check my error log.

If Microsoft sold cars, do you suppose I'd need to stop and reboot my ignition system daily? Would I have to know how to set a timing sequence? Would I need to know which controls to press, in which order, to get the windows to roll down?

I think Microsoft has made enough money that it should spend some to make computers work better, rather than worse. They seem to be the software equivalent to the windshield replacement company owner who goes out at night with his BB gun to shoot out windows. Anything to keep suckers coming back, over and over again.