Users who feel technically competent can try out Windows 10 before it's in stores.
We found a safe and easy way, using a Mac and the new Parallels software. Parallels Windows Desktop 10 for Mac creates a virtual Windows environment on your Mac but doesn't affect anything else on the computer.
That's important, because if a user tries to install the Windows 10 Preview version on a Windows machine, Microsoft fills the screen with several dire warnings: You could lose all your files, your printer and keyboard may stop working, and your computer could become a doorstop. Windows Desktop 10 for Mac, on the other hand, is free for 14 days and easy to use.
Desktop 10 for Mac was as easy as clicking yes, until we ran out of storage space. Then we had to uninstall a few Mac programs, which involved dragging them to the virtual trash can. (One time we missed and dragged a thousand or more icons onto the screen. It may be better to use "delete" from the file menu.) Once we had Windows 10 installed, we installed the free openoffice.org, which is just like Microsoft Office. Finally, we installed our favorite anti-virus program, Bullguard, though the free Avast is also good.
Here's why we like Windows 10: You get a better "start" button.
The Windows 8.1 "start" gave users a screen full of colorful squares which are hard to read at a glance. In Windows 10, you get an actual list of programs and apps. At the top of the list is "File Explorer." This makes it easy to find any file on your machine. (In Windows XP, 7 and 8, you can get something similar by right-clicking the start button and choosing File Explorer, Windows Explorer or Explore.)
Windows 10 also has a search box next to the start button. We typed "Cortana." Cortana is Microsoft's answer to Apple's Siri, a digital assistant that can talk to you when searching for information. Cortana is, let us say, a work in progress. For simple requests, it worked fine. When we asked for "Mexican restaurants," it knew what city to search in. But if we just said "Mexican food," as in "We're thinking of going out for Mexican food," we got recipes. For more complicated questions, it usually asked us to try again later.
Beyond simple searches, it can give users reminders, take notes, set alarms and play music. It also makes predictions. We read about a guy who made money letting Cortana predict the results of English soccer games. It also makes predictions for the NFL.
If you want Windows Desktop 10 for the Mac after the free trial, it's $80, or $40 if you are upgrading from an earlier version of Parallels. When it's finally ready for the PC, it may or may not be free.
Internuts
• JobApplicationDB.com lists 1,200 companies with their job applications. It claims to be the largest direct application site and is adding more each month. Users are directed to a company's internal career site where they can see jobs not posted on job boards.
• Do a search for "10 Fabulously Quirky Restaurants" to see TripAdvisor's list. In Bavaria, your food is delivered on a roller coaster; in England you can dine in a tree-house. And, in the Maldives, you can have dinner under the ocean. (The average elevation above sea level is a little more than 3 feet; the average elevation of Florida is about 6 feet.)
• ChessCademy.com is an awesome site for learning chess. It's also free.
Reader Question
No matter how often we write about it, the most common question we get is: "How can I speed up my computer?"
Usually, a computer slows down because it has too many programs, too many browser add-ons and possibly some infected files. A Microsoft employee points out that Windows computers might never slow down if we didn't add anything to them. Even uninstalled programs can leave bits behind.
One reader asked us about programs like Tune Up Utilities, which we used to recommend for speeding machines up. But our favorite tech guru feels these speed-up utilities are a sham. We thought at first the program improved Joy's computer but she has since stopped using it, with no change in results.
The best way to speed up a cluttered computer is to dump its contents and restore it to the original factory settings.
On most PCs, start by simply shutting down your machine. Then, when you turn it on, keep tapping the F11 key until you get the "restore" screen. In our experience, this is the best way to get a fast computer back. Joy says it always feels like she just bought a new machine.
Bringing a computer back to its factory state is a fairly drastic operation, because unless you save all those files to some other place, they will be wiped from the hard drive. That means you need to first save them to a disk or storage space in one of the many cloud storage accounts available on the market. Microsoft has free storage called One Drive for 15 gigabytes, which is quite a bit. Other free ones -- with limits -- are Google Drive and Drop Box.
And any programs a user has purchased will be wiped out, of course, so they need to have the disks for those so they can be reloaded. Any downloaded programs will have to be downloaded again.
Numbers Report: Health
Google is about to focus lots of attention on health questions.
These account for one out of every 20 searches. Though it isn't available everywhere yet, when it is, you'll see symptoms and treatments, illustrations, ages affected, and whether the problem in question is contagious.
Bob and Joy can be contacted by email at [email protected] and [email protected].
SundayMonday Business on 03/02/2015