We are proud to announce the official launch of our all new Tutorials section. Many of you may remember the tutorial section from the old PCAnswers website. Well now it's back with more up-to-date tutorials, guides, tips and tricks. If you're in desperate need of help or are looking for something interesting to do with your PC then this is the place for you.

Right now at the time of launch the section only hosts two entries, however we'll be adding a few each day for a week or so, then after that period we will update slightly less frequent. The ultimate aim of the PCAnswers Tutorials section is to make a one-stop-tutorial-shop that covers any and all of your computing needs, so watch this space.

Finally Google released its long-awaited (and much rumoured) web browser today - Google Chrome. Why the world needs another web browser is a good question, but Google is clearly intent on cutting into a space dominated by Microsoft and Mozilla. We've just downloaded the beta version of the lightweight browser (a tiny 475KB setup file), here's our initial thoughts:

In this issue of PCAnswers (189) we highlight the finer points of PC maintenance. Fix annoying PC niggles and get Windows running smoother. Increase your hardware's lifespan and generally improve your system's all-around performance.

This month our Explained! pull-out section is all about Audacity, the open-source audio-editing application. If you ever need to fix or edit an audio file then this is the only program you'll need - and we're on hand to take your through the application's many features. Remove noise, get that crisp broadcast sound and bring your recordings to life with sound effects.

Also in this issue of PCAnswers we have ten great "How To..." articles that reveal how to burn discs faster, back up files in Windows Vista, speed up file downloads and other essential computing activities.

If you've been keeping up to date with PCAnswers then you will have seen our exclusive Video Tutorials that work hand-in-hand with our "How To..." section within the magazine. Well now you can watch selected video online without inserting your CD via our PCAnswers YouTube channel.

Each month we will upload selected videos that may be of use to the masses, also on occasion we will upload web exclusive videos of shorter, yet just as handy tutorials. So watch this space!

Right now we have two amazing tutorials on speeding up your PC, one for the XP users and another for the early Vista adopters.

Learn new PC skills with the latest issue of PCAnswers where we delve into Vista's hidden tools, how to get more from your browser, burn better discs and enhance Windows Media Center. We've also got a complete 16-page pull out guide on The GIMP - the best open source photo editor around. We'll also show you how to use The GIMP with our exclusive video tutorial on its features.

There's ten other video lessons to learn from as well, including how to clean out your PC, set up Wi-Fi, how to use a Virtual Private Network, secure Google Calendar and how to speed up your PC's hard disk.

In our Big Test there's six great NAS drives reviewed and rated, as well as some handy hints on how to get the most out of them. It's all in issue 188 of PCAnswers on sale now.

As many of you will have noticed, there is a new section in PCAnswers called "help me buy". The idea behind this is to put group tests of equipment into the context of the everyday reader. The experts at PCAnswers may get weak at the knees at the thought of the latest gadgets and features, but it should be what's of interest to the average reader that determines whether something is worth buying or not. Discussing the options with a PCA reader gives a different opinion and perspective on tests.

If you are currently considering buying some new gear, whether it is a laptop, a printer, a webcam or whatever, we'd like to hear from you. You could feature in the magazine, and benefit from some first-hand advice from our PC experts.

If you would like to participate, please mail us here at pca.inbox@futurenet.co.uk, and give us some idea of the sorts of things you are interested in buying. UK addresses only for the time being!

Want to check out the new style PCAnswers before you buy? Then take a look at our free digital sampler. We've compiled a range of articles from PCAnswers #187 together to give you a good idea how the new magazine reads.

In Other news: Next week we'll be rolling out a whole new section to the PCAnswers website, so watch this space.

And finally we've made a few tiny alterations to the website, some you won't notice, like amendments to how the Latest Forum Topics box works, however some you will, like the ability to use the Firefox spell checking feature when making posts.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the discussions about our new site and forum. We appreciate your feedback and you are what makes the PCAnswers forum a helpful resource for thousands of people looking to solve PC problems.

The site has been developed so we can add to it and improve it as we go along, so we will try to implement the following features:

1. Forum jumping
2. View new posts
3. Spellchecker
4. Post count
5. Quotes
6. Notification of replies to topics
7. BBCode

Please let us know if there are any other features they would like - we want to make it the best resource for solving PC problems on the web!

Want to know if your old username and password work? Short answer: they do, sort of.

So you're worried about your forum account? Don't be: we've transferred all the posts and accounts to the new site; the only difference is that all usernames now begin with "pca_". If you want, you can change this username once you log in. Your password hasn't changed and you can access your account right away and start commenting and posting to the new website.

One of the most common computing complaints is that after a while, Windows takes a lot longer to load than it did when the PC was new. The main reason is that a lot of software presumptuously adds itself to your startup group. Either the whole program loads when Windows does, or a smaller “helper” application is started.