ItsGeekToMe.co

Q: I enjoy reading your column in the NWF Daily News. Is there an honest, unbiased website that reviews computer software? I’m looking for a registry cleaner but I don’t trust the results when I search for reviews on the multitude of products available.

– Joe M.
Destin, Florida

A: I can’t guarantee the “unbiased” part, but in thinking back on reviews I have sought out and used, I have most often gone to CNET (reviews.cnet.com).  Their reviews are not limited to software.  Indeed, peeking in on that site, I find the claim “CNET Reviews is your home for the best unbiased reviews of computers, digital cameras, cell phones, and more.”  In my opinion, the reliability of the review is more important than whether the reviews are biased.  I trust CNET to recommend software that is not of questionable origin, or that is not a Trojan or other malware.  One thing that I do not like about CNET is that their pages that contain links to the reviewed software also contain numerous banner ads which the advertisers overtly attempts to disguise as download links that give the appearance that you’ll get the software that you were just reading about.  For some reason, CNET tolerates this, even though doing so means that it is very easy for you to inadvertently download and install something vastly different than what you intended.  So read carefully, and remember my advice for installing new software: never do it in haste, and carefully read every dialog that an installer displays before clicking it.  By the way, as discussed in the column a couple weeks ago (I.G.T.M. Issue #288 – Jan 27, 2013) the best “registry cleaner” is to simply re-install Windows.

Q: I loaded Windows 8 last month. I established a user password (big mistake). Used the password several times, but today it will not accept password. Have tried reloading Win8 with no luck. What are my options?

– Ed J.
Fort Walton Beach, Florida

A: Your question makes it sound as if you think Windows somehow changed your password when you weren’t looking.  I can assure you that’s not the case.  If you are certain you’re typing your password correctly, toggle your Caps Lock key and try again. Don’t skip this step just because you “know” it’s not the problem.  You might have been entering “pASSWORD” all along, thinking you were entering “Password”, and now, with Caps Lock off, it seems to have stopped working.  Second, did you set up a password hint when you set the password?  If so, use it!  That feature is intended to help you remember your password.  If you’re using a Microsoft account (i.e. Windows Live) you can reset your password online by visiting account.live.com/password/reset.   Microsoft’s final solution if all else fails is to re-install Windows 8.  You said that you’ve already “tried reloading” it, to which I would respectfully respond that you can’t possibly have performed a complete re-install and still have the problem.  Reinstalling the operating system deletes all user data, all accounts, and all their associated passwords.  So whatever it is that you did it was not a “reload”.  Perhaps you used Windows System Recovery?  That will repair damaged operating system files, but it will not remove user accounts or passwords.