Stories by Gregg Keizer

Microsoft has confirmed that users can apply a workaround trick to do a clean install of Windows 7 on a blank hard drive as long as they toe the licensing line.

Apple iPhone users are almost twice as likely to say that they're "very satisfied" with their smartphone than second-place RIM and its BlackBerry, a research firm said today.

Users remained stymied today by endless reboots after trying to upgrade their PCs to Windows 7, according to messages posted on Microsoft's support forum.

An add-on that Microsoft silently slipped into Mozilla's Firefox last February leaves that browser open to attack, Microsoft's security engineers acknowledged earlier this week.

Microsoft has confirmed a problem that hundreds of users have reported with downloading Windows 7, according to its support forum.

Users can do a "clean" installation of Windows 7 using an upgrade license to save $80-$100 over the price of a 'full' edition, a popular blog has reported.

Nokia today said it has sued Apple in federal court, charging that the iPhone infringes on 10 patents owned by the Finnish mobile phone maker.

Users are most concerned about Windows 7's migration and application compatibility issues, according to a sweeping survey of online forums, Web sites and social networking services, a support firm said today.

Among the retooling of the more prominent iMac and MacBook lines earlier Tuesday, Apple quietly introduced its first small-scale server, a $US999 box based on the Mac mini that one analyst called the only significant announcement of today.

Microsoft last week patched nine vulnerabilities, five marked "critical," in Windows 7, a move that will require users upgrading to the new operating system starting Thursday to download a security update to keep their PCs secure.

Just a day before Microsoft was to have retired Office 2004 for Mac by ending updates and fixes, including security patches, the company said Monday that it would instead extend the five-year-old suite's support until Jan. 10, 2012.

Snow Leopard users have reported that they've lost all their personal data when they've logged into a "Guest" account after upgrading from Leopard, according to messages on Apple's support forum.

Microsoft today said it will deliver its largest-ever number of security updates on Tuesday to fix flaws in every version of Windows, as well as Internet Explorer (IE), Office, SQL Server, important developer tools and the enterprise-grade Forefront Security client software.

As it promised, Mozilla has created a page that checks for outdated plug-ins used by Firefox.

Google's Gmail and Yahoo's Mail were also targeted by a large-scale phishing attack, perhaps the same one that harvested at least 10,000 passwords from Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail, according to a report by the BBC.