A Look At Today's Operating Systems: Part 0 - Introduction

The way we use computers these days is changing quite a bit as tablet computing increases in popularity, and as such, desktop operating systems are radically changing to keep up with it. Personally, I find myself more productive with a mouse and keyboard, but for those who generally just need to check their emails and stocks and stuff like that, tablet devices would be a good fit for them. In this series, I'm going to show off the latest Windows and Mac desktop operating systems, as well as some others.

Now, in this introductory part, let's just take a quick look at some traditional desktops, whether it's the latest release of the respective operating system, or one that's not too far behind.

Protecting your computer and yourself, with common sense.

In my last post, I explained how to update Windows and Mac OS X, and other programs, to install security updates. I also mentioned some free antivirus and antispyware software that do the job quite well. But even after that, there's still one thing that software can't necessarily protect you from...

Keeping your system patched up and protected

Computers aren't perfect. In fact, they're really stupid and will do exactly what you tell them. If you tell them to make a pizza, they'd do it if they had arms and legs. But, if you tell them to wipe a hard drive, they'll do it. If you tell it to turn off, it'll do it. If you give it some really complicated instructions where you confuse the computer so bad that you've made it through its security checks and can now run whatever code you want, that's an exploit. That's why you need to update your system with the latest security updates and keep it protected against viruses when necessary.

The New App Store

It offers easy access to thousands of free applications. It offers the ability to purchase applications. It launched in October 2010. It's...