Using the Windows desktop involves managing windows. Some people may use full-screen windows, but power users know that the key to being productive is having multiple windows visible at a time, whether you’re using multiple monitors or the side-by-side Aero Snap feature in Windows. Sadly, the Windows desktop still lacks many useful window-management features. However, you can get many great new Windows desktop features by installing third-party utilities.

If it’s about time you purchase a new computer, that computer is probably going to come with Windows 8. Microsoft hasn’t included a tutorial with Windows 8 — aside from the cryptic “move your mouse into any corner” line — so you’ll need to do a bit of research to get up to speed with the latest version of Windows. Most users agree the key to getting along with Windows 8 is ignoring as much of the new interface as possible. Start with finding the desktop.

Microsoft removed a variety of features from Windows 8. Many of them aren’t great losses to most people, but they are if you depended on them. Luckily, Windows 8 isn’t yet a locked-down mobile operating system, no matter how hard Microsoft is trying to make it into one. Most important features can be restored with high-quality alternatives, but replacements for other features are nowhere near as polished as Microsoft has removed the necessary theming code.

Steam is packed with a variety of useful features you may not be aware of, but third-party developers have made utilities and websites that add even more features to Steam. From moving installed games to other hard drives without re-downloading them to managing your game backlog and seeing just how much money your Steam library is worth, these tools add a variety of missing features. Steam has gradually added features you once needed third-party programs for.

If you’re like me, there’s a good chance you install lots of Android apps to try them out. From the latest popular mobile games to new and potentially useful utilities, these apps build up over time. They eventually begin to clutter your app drawer with icons you never tap and fill your storage with app data you’ll never use. Luckily, there’s a fast way to uninstall multiple apps at once.

Tablets running Android 4.2 support multiple user accounts. User accounts work just like they do on a PC — each account has its own apps, settings, and other data. If you share your tablet with another person, you can use user accounts to allow each person to have their own environment — including the launcher setup, Google account sync, and other settings. This helps give each of you more privacy when you’re using your tablet, and also allows each of you to log in with your own Google account and see only your own email and other data.

Have computer problems? Microsoft’s Fix It service attempts to fix them for you. If you’ve browsed Microsoft’s help pages, you’ve probably seen a variety of “Fix It” programs you can run to quickly fix a problem without walking through a complicated troubleshooting process. We’ve covered the Fix It Center in the past, but now we’re really going to put Microsoft’s Fix It service to the test.

We sometimes forget with all the focus on Windows 8′s new “Modern” interface, but Windows 8 has a variety of great desktop improvements. One of them is File History, a built-in backup feature that functions similarly to Apple’s much-loved Time Machine. Enable File History and Windows will automatically back up your files to an external or network drive. You’ll be able to restore previous versions from these backups.

At one point, our computers had a central processing unit (CPU) with a single core. These days, most CPUs you’ll come across are dual core, quad core, or even octo core. We’ll explain exactly what a core is, whether a quad-core CPU is twice as fast as a dual-core CPU, and how this all impacts your real-world computer usage. Knowing the difference will help you make smart decisions when purchasing new hardware.

Linux gaming rigs? Yup, they’re happening. With Valve’s Steam on Linux and a forthcoming Valve Steambox using Steam to run Linux games, the future is looking up for gaming on Linux. You can even install Ubuntu and Steam on a computer today, plugging it into your TV and using the big picture mode interface. The missing piece of the hardware puzzle is a controller. Luckily, Microsoft’s ubiquitous Xbox 360 controller functions well with Linux.

Let’s face it, touch controls are terrible for many games. Have you ever tried playing a platformer game on a touchscreen? It’s an exercise in frustration. The good news is that you can connect a game controller to your Android device and play games the way they were meant to be played, whether they’re controller-enabled Android games or old games played via an emulator.

YouTube’s comments section is one of the worst places on the web. On an Internet already full of nonsense no sane, intelligent person would want to spend their time reading, YouTube’s comment section stands out. Whenever you’re using YouTube, you might accidentally scroll down and see the stream of useless, nonsensical, and obnoxious comments. The people who left comments on bathroom stall walls in the days before the web seem to have migrated to YouTube.

We all seem obsessed with having the latest and greatest technology. Some people buy every new and upgraded smartphone or iPad that comes out, even if they don’t need the upgrade. It’s become a given – of course we’ll upgrade to the latest operating system and any other software that’s offered to us. Why wouldn’t [...]

Windows 8 uses a new “hybrid boot” feature to improve boot times. When you shut down, your computer doesn’t actually shut down normally – it performs a sort of limited “hibernate” that stores a state with drivers, services, and other software loaded into memory. When your computer boots, it doesn’t need to reinitialize all your hardware, load drivers, and load services – it simply loads the state from your hard drive and continues the boot-up process.

Movie files are generally not optimized for the smartphone. They often take up too much space and may be encoded in a format that the smartphone can’t play back very easily. If the movie in question is on a physical DVD, it will need to be “ripped” into a standard video file before you can play it. Video conversion isn’t as essential as it used to be when playing videos on a modern smartphone.