One of our readers asked us to create a tutorial about the Check Disk tool in Windows Vista. Even though nothing has changed about this tool since Windows XP, we decided to create such a tutorial and make sure all our readers understand what this tool does and how to use it.

Basically, Check Disk is a tool that verifies your disks for file system integrity, locates bad sectors and recovers readable information. This can be very helpful when you have some form of hardware failure which affects the integrity of your files. Unless you have some serious hardware problems, Check Disk can help you recover corrupted information from your hard disk, floppy disk or memory stick.

Disk Cleanup is one of the applications that did not change much in Windows Vista. It's functionality has remained the same and the interface was changed here and there. No additional features were added. Just like in the previous versions, Disk Cleanup scans your disks, finds unnecessary files and helps you remove them to cleanup some space and make your computer run a bit faster. In this article we will show you how to work with it and save some valuable space from your hard disk.

Many people lose data everyday due to various reasons: virus infections, accidental deletion, hardware & software failures, power failures and so on. To protect yourself from data losses, you can create a backup so that you will easily restore it when needed. Using Windows Vista’s Backup and Restore center, you can easily backup your personal files or the entire system. You can create a manual backup or schedule automated backups which will add the new files or the modified files into your original snapshot.

In this tutorial we will show you how to backup your data. In the following weeks we will also publish a tutorial about restoring your data.

Some of our readers asked us how they can manage their disks in Windows Vista. To answer their questions we created this tutorial where you can learn the following: how to change a drive letter, how to shrink an existing partition, how to create a new partition, how to format or delete a partition and how to extend a partition.

Everything is done using only one tool called Disk Management. As you will see, things are pretty simple. Just follow our instructions and you will finish in no time.

In our previous article we mentioned that the Disk Defragmenter has been simplified a lot. In this new version, the user interface doesn't allow users to select only one of their partitions for defragmentation. You can defragment all your partitions at once or none. However, this doesn't mean that users they cannot customize the Disk Defragmenter at all.

You can always start the Command Prompt and use the appropriate command line parameters to obtain the results you want.

Disk Defragmenter is another application that has been changed in Windows Vista compared to Windows XP. Unlike other applications that were modified, Disk Defragmenter was simplified to a bare minimum. You no longer have menus or the colored graphs showing you how the data is arranged on your hard drive. The application offers only two options: "Defragment now" and "Modify schedule". Even though some people will miss the old interface and the configuration features, others will welcome the change. One thing is for sure - working with the Disk Defragmenter is easier than ever.

In this article I will go through the new interface and the available options and you will see for yourselves how easy it is to use the new Disk Defragmenter.

In simple words, Virtual Memory is system memory that is simulated by the operating system and it is placed on your hard drive. It combines your computer's RAM with temporary space on your disk. When your PC runs low on RAM, virtual memory moves data from RAM to a space called the paging file or swap file. Moving the data frees up your RAM and your applications can continue to run without crashes.

If you don't have too much RAM installed on your system it can be a good a idea to increase the size of your virtual memory. If you are like me, you might still want to configure the size of the swap/paging file or it's location, even if your PC has plenty of RAM available.

As you will see, configuring the virtual memory in Windows Vista is easy. Just follow these steps:

On the internet you can find lots of information about the Windows Experience Index. You can find a lot of guides presenting this feature, how it works and how to increase your system ratings. Unfortunately, another similar feature has passed almost unnoticed. It is called the System Stability Index and it allows users to evaluate the stability of their systems and to make informed decisions about how to troubleshoot. The System Stability Index is a number from 1 (least stable) to 10 (most stable) and is a weighted measurement derived from the number of specified failures seen over a rolling historical period.

In this article we will show you how to access the System Stability Index of your Windows Vista PC and how to access the information you need regarding the failures that might take place.

Windows Vista brought a big number of changes, including a new startup process. The Windows Vista boot manager is pretty different compared to the one in Windows XP, therefore managing your boot configuration is more complicated. Fortunately for us, the "PROnetworks" team developed VistaBootPRO - a tool that allows users to manage their boot configuration without getting their hands dirty with the technical stuff. Unfortunately, VistaBootPro has a fee of $9.95 for personal use.