Next Tuesday Microsoft will make the Release Candidate of Windows 7 available for the public to download and play with.

Here are some tips to help you get ready:

• First, the download is big - the 32-bit edition is nearly 2.5GB, and the 64-bit download is bigger. You need a fast connection.
• If in doubt as to which download to bring in, go for the 32-bit edition.
• Microsoft won't be placing a limit on the number of product keys it offers, so there's no rush to get the download.
• The Release Candidate doesn’t expire until June 1, 2010, so if you grab a copy you have plenty of time to test the OS thoroughly.
• Here are the system requirements:
  - 1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
  - 1 GB of RAM (32-bit)/2 GB of RAM (64-bit)
  - 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit)/20 GB (64-bit)
  - DirectX 9 graphics device with Windows Display Driver Model 1.0 or higher driver
• Don't go nuts and start installing the software on you main system without a backup!

More info on Windows 7:

• Get your Windows 7 GPU drivers
• Verdict: Windows 7 - Like Vista, just a bit easier to use and less annoying
• Windows 7 - Official system requirements
• Windows 7 "XP Mode" system requirements
• Max memory limits for 64-bit Windows 7
• Windows 7 on a netbook - My verdict
• Windows 7 RC 32-bit vs. Vista SP1 32-bit - Gaming shootout
• First Look: Windows 7 Release Candidate (build 7100)
• Windows 7 Release Candidate (build 7100) leaked

Here's an interesting question I received today ...

Question: Depending on whether you have a 32-bit Windows or 64-bit Windows, which makes more sense; adding more RAM or fitting a faster hard drive (such as a solid-state drive or SSD)?

A lot depends on what you do with the PC, so I'll look at the general picture and then some more specific scenarios.

On the whole, the gains from adding more RAM to a 32-bit Windows system start to tail off at about 3GB (when entire OS can only address 4GB, so there's no point going over that). so if you've already got 2GB or so of RAM installed then adding a faster drive will give you more bang for the buck than adding more memory at that stage. If you've got less than 2GB of RAM, then add the RAM first.

On a system with 64-bit Windows installed things are a little different. Here you get performance gains up to 8GB, and you should make sure that you have at least 4GB of RAM fitted. Below 4GB, add more RAM, but if you have 4GB installed then you'll get more benefit from fitting a faster hard drive.

Finally, let's look at some specific scenarios:

• While many games need at least 2GB of RAM, because the level files are huge you can cut down loading times considerably by installing a faster drive (and loading the games onto that drive).
• Applications such as Photoshop that load and save huge files also benefit from a fast drive.
• If you want a quiet PC then an SSD is great, but you can also find cheaper regular drives that are great for applications such as media centers, such as Western Digital’s Caviar Green drives, or the Seagate Barracuda LP.
• If you have lots of digital photos, a fast drive will help you scan through them quicker.

Remember that these are general guidelines and your mileage could vary.

Thanks to a Slashdot user for this funny:

In the beginning, there was a User.

This User did not possess the special knowledge of the Priests of the Cult of Computers.

This User was granted divine Manna from heaven in the form of a shining disc with an outer shell of a transparent horn-like material.

"Lo!" said he, "I have found the Sacred Tablet of AOL!"

And he put the Tablet in the Slot of Curious Whirrings, and nothing happened. And this was Good.

But the User was unhappy, and complained to the Disciples of AOL, that the sacred disc of AOL was defective.

And so the Disciples of AOL conferred with the Disciples of Borg.

Now, the Disciples discipled for a while, and determined that the User could never be trusted grok the mysteries of "Drive D". The Disciples agreed, also it was bothersome and unholy, to be summoned each time a Tablet was delivered by divine provenance to another User. And so Autorun was created.

Verily, the User could place the Sacred Tablet of AOL in the Slot of Curious Whirrings, and without any further discipling by the Disciples, could run AOL.

And thus were the Demons of AOL unleashed upon the world together with the Lord of PC Plague and Pestilence, he-who-should-not-be-named-but-nevertheless-I-will, Autorun.

If you're an Office 2007 user then you need to head over to the Microsoft Download Center and grab Service Pack 2 (SP2).

SP2 offers what you expect from a service pack. A mix of performance and security updates, as well as support for a new file formats such as PDF and ODF.

If you don't want to bother grabbing the Office 2007 SP2 right now, it'll be available via Automatic Update "no sooner than three months from now."

It didn't take long for scammers and spammers to take advantage of all the Swine Flu news.

First, the spammers are using Swine Flu, in conjunction with the names of famous stars, to encourage recipients to open spam emails.

• First US swine flu victims!
• US swine flu statistics
• Salma Hayek caught swine flu!
• Swine flu worldwide!
• Swine flu in Hollywood!
• Swine flu in USA
• Madonna caught swine flu!

Then there are the scammers who are flocking to snap up Swine Flu related URLs.

Stay safe!