A feeling of deja vu continue to bother me whenever I use Vista. Could Microsoft's newest operating system be a replay of Millennium Edition and why did Microsoft favor Intel over its own customers? A spam offered me a free high-def television, but I didn't bite. In Nerdly News, the MPAA says piracy is killing the motion picture industry, but box office receipts hit another record high in 2007. If you bought an HD-DVD player from Circuit City and you want to exchange it for a Blu-ray device, you might be able to.

Zoho is another challenger facing off against Microsoft in an effort to bring office applications to the Internet. A new e-mail fraud variant is offering "free" cameras, computers, and other gear for you to "test", but I have a better idea: Send me $5000 and I'll send you a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Election day is here in Ohio. In Nerdly News, two instances of situations where the inmates seem to be running the asylum.

HD radio is on the air, but will it save the medium? We examine both the medium and a receiver. The stupid spam of the week could be an effort to insert a "man in the middle" to steal your information. A look at options for a buying a computer when general specifications are available. In Nerdly News, the short life of HD-DVD and phishing doesn't affect just the big banks any more.

Why Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 might be the right choice for you; how crooked registrars make a bundle on expired domains; a first look at version 4 of The Bat. In Nerdly News: HD-DVD turns to toast and the San Jose Mercury News looks at cybercrooks.

From Canadian pharmacies to Nigerian money messages, from pay-per-click frauds to spams in Russian, $12,000 from Apple, and more. It's all about spam this week. In Nerdly News: A new version of The Bat, the state of Internet video, and Best Buy dumps analog video in favor of digital.

How to set up a backup system that you'll actually use. Predictions from 1900 and 1998. Microsoft is apparently accelerating work on Windows 7, which will replace Vista. In Nerdly News, Microsoft wants Yahoo and the RIAA wants all your money.

Beyond Compare is a handy utility designed for power users that might appeal to regular users, too. After trying for weeks to fix Itunes, I've dumped Itunes in favor of Winamp. Has Sprint's lousy customer service finally caught up with it? In Nerdly News: Blu-Ray versus HD-DVD, bidding for spectrum, and another lost data tape with names and Social Security numbers.

I still can't decide whether I love or loathe Vista; many days, it's a little of each. I do know that I'm anxiously awaiting service pack 1. When an update fails because the updater can't find the program it's supposed to be updating, I wonder what the programmers were thinking. On the day Steve Jobs addressed the faithful at Macworld, Apple rendered an application on my Windows machine unusable and nearly killed my Apple Powerbook. This week's stupid spams include one that claims to come from the IRS.

Google Earth continues to evolve and it becomes an even better waster of time or maybe a better educator. Or both. Recently I deleted more old e-mail messages than would have fit on 80 original IBM PC hard drives; we are becoming a nation of digital pack rats. In Nerdly News, there's a series of short items from the CES keynote by Bill Gates to questions about electronic voting and why phone companies are shutting off FBI wiretaps.

A new look for the website and improved technology behind the scenes. USB no longer means "Plug and Pray." An explanation of how a website can "guess" your number. Does Microsoft send prize messages from a Yahoo account? In Nerdly News, the end of the Netscape era and plans by the RIAA to make it illegal for you to use music you've purchased.