Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Producing top-quality anti-virus software is no easy task; keeping customers happy and their computers protected—by keeping software up to date with the latest definitions—requires an expensive work force and floor space in costly data centers. Knowing this should explain why companies including Norton, Symantec, and McAfee charge high fees for their software. Even though it’s expensive to produce anti-virus software, there are some excellent free programs available online.

Sometimes we try to save money and it ends up costing us more in the long run (cheap furniture, electronics, shoes etc.), however, you really can get top-notch virus protection and pay nothing in the process. If you’re already using a paid option, make the most of your purchase and continue to use it (just bookmark this page and come back when your subscription expires.)

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We’re no strangers to App Stores. Headed by Apple, companies are adding their own stores to their platforms and Microsoft is following suit.

As always, we at Windows Guides take a topic (not well-known, difficult to understand/get facts, commonly explained wrongly) and do our best to explain it to you. Here’s what I’ve gathered thus far by answering the questions I have on the Windows Store.

 

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<- Back to Free Windows Books.

Here’s a list of questions I’m asked frequently about the free Books from Windows Guides:

Are the books really free? What’s the catch?

Why do I ask you to subscribe?

What skill level is required to follow these books?

How do I download the books?

How do I open and read the books?

What is the password for the books?

The password provided for the books does not work?

When I attempt to open the PDF, I get an error. What can I do?

Under what license are these books released?

—

Are the books really free?

Yes, the books are really free. All I ask is that you either sign up to our newsletter or our RSS feed emails; I hope that the emails will help you learn even more about PCs. There’s no catch here: this is just a geniune attempt to help Windows users. All ebooks are 100% content. No catches. There is no sales pitch. Your download is yours to keep, share, burn, distribute or email, just please keep it complete and unaltered.

Why do I ask you to subscribe?

To get the ebooks, listed above, you will need to subscribe to my site, but I promise your e-mail address will be kept private between you, me, and Feedburner (who send my newsletter out and can be trusted.) By subscribing, you’ll get updates from my site only.

This site serves as a hobby for me. The reason I want you to subscribe is because I publish a LOT of fun content on this site and I want you to get your hands on it before anyone else. By subscribing, you are doing nothing more than saying “let me know about the newest free stuff and tips on your site.” Yes, I want you to come back because it’s worth your time!

What skill level is required to use these books?

I’ve designed all my books to aim at users of all skill levels; even if you’re new to Windows or computers in general, you can still follow along easily. All books have a chapter titled Getting Started aimed at helping you build a solid foundation, which will help you as you work through the rest of each book.

How do I download the books?

To download the books, follow the instructions here: Instructions to get free books.

How do I open and read the books?

I recommend Adobe reader or PDF-XChange Viewer to open PDFs.

What is the password for the books?

If you sign up for the newsletter, the password and instructions will be sent straight away.

The password provided for the books does not work?

Please copy and paste the password, which is case sensitive, and it will work.

When I attempt to open the PDF, I get an error. What can I do?

When you open a downloaded PDF, you may see an error like this:

Explanation: The PDF download was interrupted in some way and now a corrupted PDF file is in your cache. Every time you attempt to download a new version, the corrupted version is retrieved from the cache.

Solution: Either clear your browser cache or use a different browser and download the PDF again.

Under what license are these books released?

 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

<- Back to Free Windows Books.

Update: September 15th 2011 @ 11:11 ET: Added some more feedback from readers below.

Update: September 17th 2011 @ 7:44 ET: Added more feedback.

Yesterday, I put up four questions, which ask you about what you think about Windows 8. Quite promptly someone answered with the response:

“Less of this stupidity. I have not yet left BUILD and you lot seem to be lauding it”

[…]

“As it has not been released whats the point of this? How many beta testers are there?”

Just in case you’re also stuck at some unknown conference and didn’t know the Developer Preview is available, you can find out more about it here. Here’s what some of you said:
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If the world ends, this will be our last iteration of Windows available to the public. Given that the world probably won’t end—and, by end, I of course infer “cease[s] to exist”—this will be a closer look into to the ever-changing future of “PC” technology.

Long story short, Ballmer refers to the next version of Windows and “Windows 8” and says it will be released “next year.”

Ballmer: Next version of Windows due out next year | neowin.net

Remember the quick launch bar in Windows Vista? The one with the Flip-3D, Show desktop, and IE shortcuts? You can have it in Windows 7 too; in this guide, you’ll learn how to restore this toolbar.

More Windows 7 Guides

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