Those of us who use Windows Vista and who have few complaints beyond the usual trivial grumbles, may wonder why we should upgrade again to the soon-to-be upon us Windows 7.

Enticingly, Windows 7 is built on the Vista codebase, which means that, at its heart, is Windows Vista. This should not be a traumatic move, even though many users, especially in business, are still using XP.

Microsoft has though moved the deckchairs around and added a lot of extra features. It also runs well on Vista hardware, namely PCs that have been designed and optimised for Vista. Windows 7 is designed to boot faster, run smoother and is said to outperform Vista on the same machine.

Windows 7’s kernel is around a tenth the size of the kernels in XP and Vista. This promises an improvement in reliability and also means that the company now has a self-contained building block that makes it simpler and quicker to test and add new features, without having to worry about the rest of the operating system.

Overall, this operating system promises to do many of the things Windows Vista failed to do when it launched.

If you have Windows Vista Ultimate or Home Premium you have some great tools for recording various media.

You may already know that you can record movies from television with Windows Media Center. It’s probably one of the easiest things you can do with the program. But there are a couple of things to remember when you record a favorite movie from TV.

You need to set some general recording options to make sure you catch the entire movie. And second, there are two separate ways to record a movie: as it plays on live television or by setting up a request in the guide.

Microsoft has a web page which shows you how to do this, plus a load of other tips for getting more out of Windows Vista.

Take a look.

Americans may have seen the new Microsoft TV ad in which Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld strut their stuff in aid of the ailing Windows Vista brand.

The ad started airing in the U.S. last week and is the first in a $300 million campaign to reinvigorate Windows, long considered one of the strongest brands in technology.

The expensive advertising highlights a number of concerns:

* Widespread lack of enthusiasm for Windows Vista, especially among corporate IT groups, which regard it as a step backwards from XP. They hope to hang on without upgrading until Microsoft’s next-generation operating system arrives.

* Apple’s constant attacks on Windows via its witty and successful PC versus Mac marketing campaign.

* Microsoft’s inept confusion of the Windows brand with its Windows Live attempt at web services, from security and anti-virus to email and IM.

The real challenge, of course, is to generate excitement about a box of software that most users take for granted, and to develop more distinct, compelling messages around what Windows offers to consumers, enterprises and software developers.

Otherwise, Vista could be the new Windows ME.

Did you notice that Microsoft had stopped Windows Updates recently? The reason is because of a conflict with one of its own software products.

The company recently delayed the release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 because of incompatibilities with its Dynamics Retail Management System program which could lead to data losses. Automatic updates to Windows Vista Service Pack 1 were also affected by the same issue.

Now Microsoft is resuming the updates using a filter to prevent machines running the retail system from receiving them.

A company statement read, “A fix for this issue is currently in testing at Microsoft and with customers, and we hope to make it publicly available this month. Until then, Microsoft is advising Microsoft Dynamics RMS customers to not install either service pack.”