There are 4 different ways to install Windows Vista and choosing the right one for your situation is very important.

Should you do a "new" install of Vista? Or is a "clean install" better? What about a "paralle"l install? But a "startup repair" could be a better choice in your case.

Yikes.

It's actually an easy decision - and any of the four processes is even easier - you just need to make sure you do your research before tossing that DVD in.

You can learn more here: How to Install Windows Vista.

Whoops... delete a file (or files, or a whole folder!) on accident? Hey, we all do it.

You're most likely aware of the Recycle Bin so the first advice, of course, is to check there. If you haven't emptied the Recycle Bin since the file deletion, it's probably there and perfectly safe.

What do you do if not? What do you do if you emptied the Recycle Bin days ago and just now realize that you need that file back? A file recovery program might just save the day in that case.

I get a lot of questions about recovering files so I put together this guide which should help.

A part of what I do here on my About.com site is create PC troubleshooting guides. Many of those guides are focused on solving specific error messages.

A troubleshooting step in many of those guides is to update Internet Explorer to the latest version available. It tends to fix many problems because of how integrated IE is with the rest of Windows.

I know many reading this would have no problem doing that but for those that do: all you need to do to update IE is download the latest version from Microsoft and then install it. Piece of cake.

I created this document as a way to keep the latest version number updated and provide a link to Microsoft's download area for IE. I'll be linking to this page from my troubleshooting guides, which should help.

There are three major ways to install Windows XP on a computer and it's very, very important that you choose the right one.

A clean install will wipe EVERYTHING from the hard drive partition that XP is installed on. A repair install is like a "copy over" and shouldn't delete anything important. Finally, a new install is what you'd do if you just purchased a new hard drive to install Windows onto or you're building your own PC.

(OK, there's actually at least one other way - a parallel install - but it's not usually very useful.)

You can learn more here: How To Install Windows XP.