First, make sure your virtual machine is powered off, not suspended.

Then, find your virtual machine's folder, most likely in Documents. Right- or control-click on the virtual machine file you want to rename and select "Show Package Contents."

Find the VMX file, right- or control-click it and open it with Text Edit or your favorite text editor.

Find the line called displayName and change it to the name you want. In my case, "Windows 7." Then save the file.

Now go launch VMware Fusion. In the library, select the wrongly named machine and delete it, but choose "Keep File."

Go back into the finder to your virtual machine's folder and rename the virtual machine file name to the correct name.

Now go back to the VMware Library. Choose File, then Open.

Browse to the newly renamed virtual machine. Select it. When it asks if the VM is moved, select "I copied it."

Voila! Your VM has a new name.

Many of you are getting new PCs these days, either as a gift, or just because there's a shiny new operating system out there. But once you get it fired up and the operating system installed, it's time to populate it with good software. Don't just take all the dreck off your old machine people. Use this as an opportunity to start fresh. Let me give you the seven essential pieces of software for your new PC.

First, there's security. You need an antivirus app, and it's not something you need to pay for. CNET's Download.com gave AVG Free Antivirus edition five stars out of five. And if you're not a big company, it won't cost you a dime.

Now that you're protected, it's time to browse the Internet. Don't just go with the Web browser that came with your operating system. There's Opera, and Google Chrome, and Firefox, and so many other options. And you know what? I'm not going with any of them. I recommend Sea Monkey. Why? Because it has the Firefox Web browser, but it also bundles e-mail, an IRC client, and Web page editor as well. If IRC and Web editing doesn't matter to you, then maybe go with Firefox and Thunderbird for e-mail. However, to get the most bang for your byte, I say go Sea Monkey.

Next, you need to tell all your friends of your experience on your new computer. So get an IM client. On Windows, I recommend Pidgin. For Mac use Adium. They both are free, open-source multiservice clients that work great.

Next, it's time to save you a few hundred bucks. Don't go out and drop dough on Microsoft Office. Open Office from Openoffice.org is better than it's ever been. I use it daily for word processing, spreadsheet manipulation, presentations, and more. If you're an Excel superuser, you may have issues with it, but for the average Joe, it's going to do everything you need--for free!

Productivity is covered. Now for some entertainment. For that, you need VLC media player. It can handle almost anything you throw at it. Have DVDs won't play in that piece of crap software that came with your PC? VLC will handle it. Music? Any format you can think of. And it's got that magic price you love.

Two more and we're done.

Now you need a graphics editor. How else will you put your friends heads on celebrity bodies. For Windows there's nothing better than Paint.NET. It's free and powerful. For Mac? It's tough. I like Acorn, which is free to download but $50 to keep. For free that stays free, try Seashore, which is based on the GIMP engine, or Skitch.

Finally, one last security piece of software. Antispyware. You can go with a cocktail of Ad-Aware, Spybot Search and Destory, Windows Defender, and so on. That's not a bad idea, but if I was backed up against a wall and forced to pick just one, I'd pick Hijack This. Trend Micro has given us one of the most powerful malware removal tolls you can find, and it's freeware.

Now there's certainly many other apps you need, such as registry cleaners, torrent downloaders, FTP clients, and so on, but they start to stray into niches that vary for different types of users. I can say without a doubt that these seven programs are essential for you to install on every PC, no matter who you are.

Tom and Rafe discuss life with Windows 7, Entourage, Seagate hard drives, Ubuntu and more.

Listen now: Download today's podcast

These 10 videos from CNET TV cover a range of useful tips for Windows 7 users, including how to make a system repair disc, how to customize the Start menu, what some of the best hot keys for the operating system are, and more.

There's also advice on how to upgrade from either Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7, how to fix Ethernet driver problems in VMWare, how to burn an ISO directly from the newly enhanced Windows Explorer, and how to get to the jump list from your left mouse button.

Windows 7's calculator is packed with features. Who knew?

(Credit: Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET)

Some of my personal faves we haven't yet turned into videos. Desktop junkies will love that you can now set up a desktop wallpaper slideshow. From the desktop, right-click and choose Personalize, or go to Appearance and Personalization in the Control Panel. Click Desktop Background at the bottom, and change the picture location to the folder you want. Alternatively, you can choose images from across multiple photos. Unfortunately, the Aero Glass taskbar color won't change to complement each new slide, but you can set it to rotate images as often as every 10 seconds.

I can't vouch for its efficacy, but another trick is that Windows 7 includes a monitor color management tool which photographers and graphic designers are sure to appreciate. You can get to it either through the Screen Resolution window's Advanced options, then clicking Color Management, or going to Run and typing DCCW.

If you right-click on a program or a shortcut launcher, you can now pin it to either the Start menu or the Taskbar, which should save you from having to run the program to get it onto the taskbar. Another functional redo has been visited upon the Calculator. There are new views for Programmers and Statistics, and there are new features for quickly doing unit conversion, date differentials, and using templates to create customized finance calculations.

There are far more Windows 7 tips and tricks than these, of course. If you have a favorite, tell us in the comments below.

I tried reinstalling VMware Tools, but nothing worked. Nothing, that is, until I tried this handy tip I found on Dave Taylor's Web site. The problem is in a VMware configuration file. Let me show you how to find and modify it to make your Ethernet work.

Shut down the virtual machine. Even if it's suspended, I recommend firing it up and shutting it all the way down.

Now you need to find the virtual image of Windows 7.

It's likely in Documents, in a folder called Virtual Machines.

The image for your Windows 7 is likely called something like Windows 7.

Whatever your image is called, if you're sure it's the right one, control or right click and choose "Show package contents."

Now find the file that ends in .vmx.

Right or control click on that file and choose "Open with." Then choose Text Edit, or whichever text editor you prefer.

Once the file opens in your editor, scroll down until you find these four lines that start ethernet0.

You're going to add a fifth line.

Type ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"

Now save that file and close it.

Go restart the virtual machine.

You should now have the ability to surf the Internet.

ISO images are files that contain an image of an entire disc. Usually, you download them from the Net and burn them to a CD or DVD to make an install or boot disc.

Windows 7 makes it easy to turn ISO files into discs.

Let's say you've downloaded a lovely ISO of the Linux operating system Ubuntu. If you burn it to a CD, you can boot off the CD and experiment with Linux without having to mess installing it.

Here's what you do.

Put your blank disc in the drive.

Double-click the ISO file. It will be listed as a Disc Image File under type.

Select the proper drive letter.

Press Burn.

And sit back and let it burn.

When you're done, you'll have a proper CD you can boot off of.

Here's how:

Click the Windows button aka "Start."

Type "System repair" in the search box.

Then choose Create a System Repair Disc.

Put in a blank CD or DVD and choose the correct drive from the drop-down.

Press Create Disc.

And let Win 7 do the rest.

Now you're protected.

If you're upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7 it should be a fairly easy install. You can do what's called an in-place upgrade as long you install the same version of Windows 7 as you have of Vista.

For instance, if you have Windows Vista Home premium you can upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium. You can also go from Vista Business to Windows 7 Professional, and from Vista Ultimate to 7 Ultimate. Any other upgrade, like Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 Professional, will require a clean install. That means you can't just turn Vista into 7. You have to export all your data, erase the hard drive, and then reinstall all your applications and data. A lot of computer experts think you should do a clean install anyway, just to make sure your machine runs better.

See our video for upgrading XP to Windows 7 for that process.

But if you're lucky enough to be able to do an in-place upgrade and want to, here's what you do.

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.