A few weeks ago we have been contacted by James A. White who asked us if we would be interested in reviewing a book he just published. Until now we did not review any books, but considering the fact that it is about Windows Vista and computer basics we decided to give it a try. So... here you have our first book review.

Once the final version of Windows DreamScene was launched, we wanted to make some tests to check it's impact on the overall system performance. Like many other applications that deliver eye candy, we were expecting to see some decrease in performance. So, we selected a few applications for testing the impact on performance and made some tests on two computers.

As a part of Windows Vista Ultimate Extras, Windows DreamScene has been in beta stages for quite a long time. After more than six months, Microsoft did not manage to offer a final version to its users. Also, the list of available video wallpapers is pretty slim.

Fortunately for the users, a company called Stardock produced two Windows DreamScene enhancement products which complement the scarce offerings from Microsoft: Stardock DeskScapes and Stardock DreamMaker.

Today, Lucien Chiong, in his first article written for our readers, will share with you the basics about these two products in the form of a short FAQ.

We've been using Windows Defender for some time and we must say that we are very impressed by one of its features. It is called Software Explorer and its main utility is to allow users to view detailed information about the programs that are currently running on their systems. It can also be easily used as startup programs manager or as a replacement for the Windows Task Manager.

In this article we will show you everything you can do with the Software Explorer. As you will see for yourself, Software Explorer is very versatile and easy to use.

For this interview we have as a guest a very popular but also a very anonymous character – the one and only "How-To Geek". He and his team managed to build in a few months, one of the best and biggest computer help sites on the internet. This is why their work is featured very often on famous sites such as LifeHacker, Digg or Reddit.

If you want to know more about the “How-To Geek” and his success story, just click on Read More.

Initially we wanted to check out the Add-Ons for Internet Explorer page to see the available offerings and try to create a "Top 10: Best Add-Ons for Internet Explorer 7". We browsed through most of the available Add-Ons and we barely managed to find some that are good enough to be included in a Top 10. However, we found lots of bad Add-Ons with little or no functionality and many other issues.

This is why we decided to cancel our "Top 10: Best Add-Ons..." and create "Top 10: Reasons Why Internet Explorer 7 Add-Ons Suck" instead:

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.

Our second guest for the series of interviews we started last week is Joseph Fieber, the man behind ITsVISTA.com. Even though he is a very friendly character, many of you might not know him as he is not your typical internet VIP.

Joseph managed to build one of the best Windows Vista resources available on the internet. ITsVISTA.com has been a tough "competitor" and a source of inspiration for us since the very beginning. Joseph not only wrote quality content but he also managed to continuously update his site to include new features and services. If you would like to know more about him, just click on "Read more" to read the interview.

Windows Vista for beginners is a small fish in the Windows websites pound. We know nobody else and it seems that not too many people know us. A while ago we decided to change this. So, we slowly started to get to know the people that run some of the sites forming the Microsoft Windows online community. We also want our readers to know them so we thought that creating a series of interviews with them would be a good idea.

Our first guest in the series of interviews to come is Corrine Chorney - one of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals in Windows Security. She is a member of several security forums and a very active blogger. Compared to other Microsoft MVPs she is not very famous. That’s because she is a modest person who values helping others more than personal fame.