Many of you did not upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista, but are planning to upgrade to Windows 7. How dare you leave the Microsoft upgrade path? As a punishment, you can't upgrade directly from XP to 7; you have to do what's called a clean install, which means you have to jump through some hoops to keep your old data and programs.

Not to worry, we'll show you a couple ways to deal with the pain of installing Windows 7 on your XP machine. And afterward, Microsoft will forgive you your trespasses. Maybe.

Before you start, do these three things.

1. Run the Windows 7 upgrade adviser. It will let you know if your computer can handle any version of Windows 7.

2. Check the Windows 7 compatibility center. This is different than the upgrade adviser. It will tell you if you need to update your drivers or apps to make them work in 7.

3. Make a copy of your hard drive, just in case things go horribly wrong. I recommend using Macrium Reflect; it's a free download available from Download.com.

OK, now you're ready to upgrade.

CNET Download.com's Seth Rosenblatt joins the Real Deal to answer all your questions about Windows 7 so you can be prepared for October 22.

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Notepad2 is a free download that's very small entirely free and has more functions than the notepad that comes with Windows.

Here's how to add it. Download it from your favorite Download site and unzip it to your desktop.

Change the name from Notepad2 to Notepad.

Now a little warning. You are about to mess with system files, so be careful. Don't do it if you're not comfortable.

Open up My computer and then the hard drive where Windows is installed.

Go to tools then folder options and fide the setting called Hide protected operating systems and uncheck it.

Now go to the windows directory to system 32 directory and rename notepad.exe to notepadx.exe.

That way you still have the old notepad if you need it. However Windows will automatically restore it's original notepad if you just copy in the new one. We can prevent that.

Now go into dllcache.

Copy the notepad you renamed on the desktop into that folder.

That replaces the copy of notepad that Windows restores form.

Go back up to the system 32 directory

Copy the notepad from the dektop into that directory too.

Press cancel on the dialog box.

If you're worried about seeing hidden files, you can go back into the tools section and recheck Hide hidden system folders.

Shout out to Omar Shahine who runs the blog where I found Shakeel Mahatel's method for doing this. It takes a village.

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A lot of folks were understandably upset when Apple released five new applications for the iPod Touch that currently exist on the iPhone (Mail, Stocks, Notes, Weather, and Maps), and then proceeded to charge $20 for the package. Now, they're even more upset. Apparently, Apple's insistence on selling Touch owners the $20 upgrade is sending some of them into an unending loop of refusal and redirection.

I SAID "No, thanks"!

(Credit: Courtesy of Apple.com)

We've been discussing this a lot lately on the Buzz Out Loud podcast. It started when a caller told us that he plugged in his iPod Touch shortly after the new applications were announced, and was presented with a nag screen about upgrading, with no way to say "No, thanks." A few other people reported that they were nagged several times before a "No, thanks" button finally appeared (I guess they got out of the screen by clicking Cancel or something similar). Then people started e-mailing us tales such as this one from a guy named Matt:

"You click 'No, Thanks' and the program brings you back to the upgrade screen with only an 'OK' button. Click the 'OK' button and you're routed to the iTunes store to purchase the apps that should have been on the iPod Touch to begin with. Click back to your iPod, and you're at the upgrade screen with 'OK' again."

Users on the Apple forums (as well as some BOL listeners) report one worse--instead of the infinite loop, they actually get an error when they try to decline the $20 upgrade:

"I click "No Thanks" and an the following message keeps coming up: 'an error occurred, the iTunes store could not process your request.' "

People are unable to sync at all, because they're trapped in the "No, thanks" loop or getting the error--workarounds range from choosing Sync from the File menu to actually unplugging the computer from the Internet so you can sync (apparently the latter was a suggestion from Apple support).

Perhaps cruelest of all, the problem is plaguing users in countries, such as Brazil and Singapore, who can't even purchase the software from the iTunes store. Ouch. So far, there are at least two active threads on Apple's forums about the issue, but no indication of a fix coming anytime soon.

Technical flubs with iTunes are nothing new, but this one does seem particularly cruel to the people who are already feeling a bit shafted by the $20 price tag for, as Matt puts it, applications that should have been on the Touch in the first place. Here's hoping Apple quits kicking sand in their faces long enough to fix this glitch.