Is a clean install your go-to for stubborn Windows issues? Think again. There are ample recovery options right at your ...

When a Vista configuration bogs down, the simplest approach is often to reset the OS via a clean installation; if your data is fully backed up and/or stored in the cloud, the reinstallation is a ...

Having bootable media ready can be a real lifesaver when you need to do a clean installation of Windows. Thankfully, it's easy to set that up. There are two main ways to create bootable media for a ...

As part of its recent campaign to make Windows the platform of choice for "hybrid work," Microsoft is rolling out a new security feature. It's called Smart App Control and it's kind of like Windows ...

For a certain kind of computer buyer, the first thing you always did with a new laptop or desktop from a company like Dell, HP, Acer, or Asus wasn’t to open the box and start using it. Instead, you ...

PCs, for a long time, had a bloatware problem. The major PC manufacturers—Dell, Asus, Acer, and the like—had a bad habit of including "free trials" of software like Norton AntiVirus on new devices.

Above and beyond the benefits of a fresh do-over, clean installing Windows 11 improves security, exposes new features, and more. With the Windows 10 end of support date arriving on October 14, ...

We originally published this install guide for Windows 11 shortly after the OS was released in October 2021. To keep it current and as useful as possible, we updated it in October 2024 to cover ...