The PC has provided the ability for users to make, edit and copy of all types of digital information. PC Pitstop Research took a look at the prevalence of DVD decryption and ripping software found on the PCs running the analytical tests on our website. This type of software makes it possible for a PC user to decrypt and rip a DVD movie onto their hard drive or other digital media. A search of the Internet for DVD coping software reveals a variety of both freeware and commercial applications that a user can use to create backups of their DVD movies. Approximately 15% of the PCs visiting our web site have at least one of the DVD decryption and ripping applications installed.

Over the past 20+ years, the PC industry has revolved around key innovations in processor technology. Recent years have been marked by the emergence of multi-core processor technology. Today, there are essentially three types of processors currently available for the desktop PC user: single core, dual core, and quad core. The 'core' is the part of the microprocessor that does the work. This is different from computers with multiple processors.

The PC Pitstop June 2007 survey took a look at how people are adapting to and using online video. Improvements in technologies and bandwidth have opened up a whole new way for how information is being shared and accessed on the internet. 40% of the folks that answered our survey indicate that they are frequently watching online news videos. Web sites such as YouTube.com and MySpace.come are basically allowing anyone, with a PC and the desire, to make and share their online videos with the world.

The results of our May 2007 PC Gaming Survey have been analyzed. How many people use the various shortcuts or media features on their computer?

The significant highlights:

• Over 70% of people under twenty reported not having a fax modem.
• Almost 70% of people never use that menu button by the spacebar. Right-click does the same thing. It takes more energy to take your hand off the mouse than it does to right-click, however.
• Not even 2% of people who responded use the SysRq key. Maybe it's time to take that off the keyboard.

PC manufacturers have been loading "trial application" on the PCs they sell for years. We took a look at three of the more common bloatware titles to get a view of the historical trends. The titles identified for our analysis included the WildTangent Game Console, URL Assistant by Google (aka Browser Address Error Redirector) and Microsoft's own Activation Assistant for the 2007 Office Suites. Our research shows that the prevalence of these applications have more than doubled in the past year. Vista systems especially seem to a target for this software. Over 35% of Vista systems running PC Pitstop's on-line tests in May 2007 had a least one of these bloatware application installed.

Our research shows that, overall, approximately 3.1% of PCs that have one physical hard drive also have an unutilized partition with drive letter D:. Our research indicates that 4.8% of portables and 2.4% of desktops have a D: drive partition that has 99% or more free space. It appears that it is common for some vendors to split the primary hard drive into two partitions. Often a drive is split into two equal partitions. If you think your hard drive capacity isn't what you paid for, you might want to check to see if you have an unutilized drive partition.

The results of our April 2007 PC Gaming Survey have been analyzed. Below are some of our findings.

Almost everyone has a favorite PC game. Almost 96% of the responders to our survey indicate that they play one or more PC games on a regular basis. While the games that are loaded with the Windows operating systems are not as addictive as other types, almost 70% indicated that they occasionally or regularly play these free games.

The results of our February and March 2007 Vista Survey are in. Our initial analysis of the survey data is found below.

In summary, the results of our survey are generally not good news for Microsoft. While Microsoft's 'The "Wow" starts now' tag line for Vista marketing focuses attention to its visual and graphic capabilities, the software giant appears to have under-estimated the importance of marketing the more tangible benefits that PC users want or expect. Our survey results indicate a significant amount of uncertainty or confusion by PC users as to the benefits of upgrading to Vista.

The results of our December 2006 Storage and Backup Survey are in. Our initial analysis of the survey data is found below.

An astounding 27.5% of people never backup their hard drive, and 13% do it once a year. Personally, I backup once a month, and I really should do it more often. I am the owner of about 5 PC's, and due to the law of averages, I experience about 1 hard drive crash a year. If you think of all the important information one stores on their PC's, pictures, emails, work, videos, it would be a crime to lose all of this due to procrastinating a backup.

The results of our January 2007 Printer Survey are in. Our initial analysis of the survey data is found below.