There are a bunch of tools that let you load an operating system onto a USB flash drive, allowing you to boot from that drive and either run or install the OS. But most of those tools are only ...

Every Windows PC usually starts from the built-in hard drive, as the term “Windows PC” implies. This is because the Microsoft operating system is not anchored in or with the hardware, but is installed ...

First off, a little context. I'm a 30+ year Mac user and I just bought my first PC in decades. I'm no stranger to Windows and Linux, but haven't used them as a desktop OS for about 15 years. My ...

To boot Windows XP from USB drive, make sure that you have at least a 4GB USB drive (8GB is better). It should be a good quality drive, with a good access speed. To boot Windows XP from USB drive, ...

Starting your Surface from a USB drive can be useful if you want to change firmware settings or Windows startup settings or if your Surface device does not turn on, start, boot, or wake from sleep.

So you want to take Windows 8 for a spin on a computer that doesn’t have a disc drive? Not a problem. While Microsoft has only released a disc image of Windows 8 Developer Preview, you can use the ...

If you have a bootable USB drive, you can boot your Windows 10 computer from the USB drive. The easiest way to boot from USB is to open the Advanced Startup Options by holding the Shift key when you ...

N.B.: Some laptops allow you to set the boot devices using a Windows application. Toshiba, for example, does this with some of their laptops. The application is either a standalone application or an ...

I am in charge of upgrading a small computer lab from Windows XP to Windows 7 and I'm having a hell of a time with it. One quirk of these computers is that they don't have a DVD drive, so I've made an ...

While it's lightweight and has all the bells and whistles of the other models, the MacBook Air does have limitations. One is that its drive space is at a premium. Plus, it is a computer, and prone to ...