Speed! Power! Looks! Fun!
Oddly enough, no one has come up with the perfect PC with the perfect operating system and the perfect applications that make everyone happy all the time. Crazy world.
That's why we turn to utilities, from the little ones that show you the weather forecast and keep you from making common e-mail faux pas to the far bigger ones that search your system at the speed of thought and back up your hard drive. And as the pace of major software development slows—yes, it really has been five years since Windows XP shipped, and three since Microsoft Office 2003 arrived—familiarity begins to breed contempt. Imperfections are magnified, and we search out better ways to get things done.
