Q: If I were to purchase a new laptop now, would Windows 7 already be installed or would I have to pay for the upgrade when it comes out in October? I've heard many negatives regarding Vista, so I'm hesitant to make the purchase until Windows 7 makes its appearance.
— Gail DeLorenzo
A: If you buy a laptop between now and the October release of Windows 7 it will come with Vista. However, you should also receive a coupon for a free upgrade to Windows 7 when it is released. Double-check with the retailer or online merchant to make sure that coupon is being included just to be safe.
Complaints about Vista have been common, and there were multiple glitches with early versions. However, Vista is now stable and a much better operating system than Windows XP. Windows 7 promises to be even better.
Q: Lightning last night killed my desktop computer. I could not start it this morning. Can I save the data on the hard drives?
— Mike Martin
A: If a lightning strike did indeed kill your computer, it's possible it damaged your hard disks beyond repair. There's no way for me to know. If it's within your skill level, try installing the disks in your replacement computer to find out. If that isn't something you are comfortable doing, you'll need to have a technican check them for you.
Help from a reader
I have a suggestion for others, based on my own experience. I was getting the famous blue screen of death on my computer along with a message that there was a serious problem making a physical memory dump necessary. I changed RAM (and) even the hard disk with no real success. But I found what caused the problem.
Sometimes installing a new software driver to operate a modem or other device, usually from a USB port, will cause this error message to occur. If the software driver is removed, the problem will go away, and the computer will operate normally again. Apparently not all USB software drivers are compatible with all Windows operating systems.
— Michael Friedlander
Bill: You're right, a bad driver — the tiny program that serves as the interface between your computer and a device such as a printer — can create problems. It's good to know. But that's not the only possible cause of a blue screen. That blue screen is like a fever in a human. It says something is wrong, but there are various possible causes.
HAVE A QUESTION?
Please send your questions to Bill Husted at tecbud(at)bellsouth.net. While he reads every e-mail, not all are answered. E-mails are selected for publication based on the likelihood that the answers will be of general interest.