“What the hell happened to the laptop?!” my wife screeched, easily heard a few rooms away.

Oh wait, that was HER first impression of Windows 8. Here’s mine.

My first impression is a little more kind. But just a little.

First the good news — Windows 8 is FAST. As in fasten your seat belts fast. How fast, exactly?

I installed the Windows 8 Consumer Preview to my laptop and was amazed.

My aging Acer Aspire 5100 laptop — approaching its fifth birthday — boots to the Windows 8 login screen in exactly 45 seconds.

In a total of one minute and ten seconds I am booted up, signed in and ready to work. That’s very impressive.

What’s not so nice is what you see when you sign in.

Windows 8 Metro

My wife was immediately agitated. Where’s the desktop? Where’s the start button? How do I run programs? How do I get on the Internet?

All valid questions. With fast but not simple answers.

Welcome to the world of the Windows 8 Metro User Interface.

Why Microsoft decided to throw every Windows users in the world such a harsh curve ball is not clear. I can see the Metro advantage on a tablet PC with a touch screen (think an iPad killer) but Windows 8 takes quite a lot of getting used to for the mouse-and-keyboard masses of computer users.

Can you do away with the Windows 8 Metro interface and go back to the Windows desktop you’re used to? Sure. But not on your own. There are several complicated steps involved which is far beyond the technical abilities of most people.

Don’t panic! I can do it for you inside of 30 minutes.

As unsettling as it may be at first, Windows 8 is here to stay.

I wouldn’t run out to the store and purchase the Windows 8 upgrade the day it comes out — several months from now.

But your next PC will likely have Windows 8 pre-installed so just make sure you’re mentally and emotionally prepared for the good and the bad.

And don’t worry — all of your Windows Vista and Windows 7 software will run just fine on Windows 8. Every program I launched after the Windows 8 upgrade ran flawlessly.

At the end of the day Windows 8 has much more good than bad.

The Big Game’s Over but it’s GAME ON for Tax Season. Pushing aside the empty pizza boxes and empty beer cans after the Giants victory last night, you might be wonder when the next big game comes on.

It’s game on right now, actually. In case it escaped your notice, April 15th is coming up fast. You’re starting get your 1099 forms and 1098 forms and your W-2 will be in your hot little hands soon if not already.

If you use a CPA or a tax preparation service like H&R Block to prepare and file your taxes you might want to consider a new tax strategy; do your own taxes.

I’ve been using TurboTax on and off for years and with TurboTax 2011 there’s no reason in the world to pay an accountant or tax prep firm hundreds of dollars when you can purchase TurboTax for just $45 and do your own taxes in just about an hour – if not less!

Year after year TurboTax gets more and more powerful with added features to help you accurately prepare your own taxes while helping you find every possible tax deduction you can take. Even though TurboTax is more powerful than ever, it’s easier than ever to use too. Every screen is very user-friendly with plenty of examples and illustrations to guide you through tax prep quickly and easily.

For most of the population, TurboTax is all you’ll ever need to prepare your own taxes. That’s because most Americans just need to punch in some numbers from their W-2s, 1099s and 1098s and then file. In almost every case you can file online and get your refund electronically which cuts out weeks of waiting.

There are some cases where using a tax professional is the best way to go. The most likely reason why you’d want to pass on TurboTax is cases where you have a very complex tax return with sophisticated tax issues that require the direct involvement of a tax professional.

For everyone else — and that’s 99 % of the population – TurboTax is the way to go. Once you see how easy it is to file your taxes and save a lot of money, you’ll never look back.

If your computer starts running slow – I mean reeeeeeal slow – all of a sudden that means your computer has a virus infection, right?

Not necessarily.

Twice in the past week I’ve checked out client computers and identified exactly why their computer was running slower than an old car on a freezing winter morning; they had two different antivirus products installed. A customer this morning had three different internet security products installed.

When I uninstalled the extra antivirus programs and left the computer with just one internet security product, the computer sped right up. Instantly.

With antispyware protection and antivirus products more is not better. Not at all. Less is more. And none at all is bad.

So the next time you notice your computer is running slow check and make sure the parking brake is released; that is to say make sure you’re computer has just one antivirus product installed.