There are a number of ways you can tweak Windows, whether you are looking to improve performance, iron out irritations, improve security or change the appearance of something you dislike. Some settings can be changed through the Control Panel, some by using a third party tweaking tool, or you may prefer to dabble in a little registry editing. But if you have the Professional version of Windows 8 there is also Group Policy Editor and here we have rounded up ten top tweaks you can apply in this way.
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s we all enjoyed increasingly faster CD and DVD drives, but then the growth curve leveled off. Will we ever see faster optical disc drives?
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During the first week of April Mozilla will introduce a patch into the dev release of Firefox 22 that will block third-party cookies by default. The move is meant to help better protect users’ privacy from advertising networks who add cookies to browsers and track browsing habits across the web.
Do you perform a lot of calculations and mathematical functions on your PC? Tibi’s Mathematics Suite is a free package of useful mathematical applications that go beyond the Windows calculator and allow you to perform useful mathematical functions on your computer.
Internet Explorer 10, the same version that comes with Windows 8, is now available for Windows 7 users as well. Even if you aren’t an Internet Explorer user, you should still think about upgrading IE to the latest version for security reasons.
In a perfect world, there would be no way for your computer to be infected via your browser. Browsers are supposed to run web pages in an untrusted sandbox, isolating them from the rest of your computer. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always happen.
Whatever platform you look at – iOS, OS X, Android, Windows, Linux – there is some form of software store available. Android users have been able to enjoy Google Play (under various guises) for some time, and Apple’s App Store is well known even outside of tech circles. Microsoft was a little slow to join the party, but Windows 8’s Store means everyone is now on the same page. But is the store that’s built into Windows 8 the best option?
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Last week Oracle released its latest update for Java, but another security hole has just been found that could allow a complete bypass of the security sandbox feature. Details of the latest exploit have been sent to Oracle and the waiting game for a new update starts all over again.
Do you sometimes wish that you could use Microsoft Word’s more useful features, such as auto-complete, automatic spelling correction, and Autotext, in other programs in Windows? PhraseExpress is a free program that allows you to do just that.
Linux users often use the terminal to accomplish tasks. This can be intimidating if you’re a new Linux user who wants a graphical environment that’s easy to come to grips with, but you shouldn’t be put off by the Linux terminal.
If you want to squeeze every last drop of performance out of your PC, you might consider disabling some of the built-in Windows services. But which ones should you disable? And which ones can you safely disable?
Websites – at least the desktop versions – are designed for broadband connections and are larger than ever. This isn’t normally a problem, but what if you’re tethering your computer to a smartphone with a limited data plan?
Printing out web pages you want a hard copy of can be a little hit and miss. Unlike other documents, it is not easy to tell exactly how many pieces of paper will be needed, and whether or not there will be any awkward clipping. Add to this the problem of wasting ink by printing out unwanted images and ads, and it is little wonder that many people resort to copying and pasting into a word processor. But by using browser add-ons and bookmarklets, you can gain control over what you are printing.
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Android developers can restrict their apps to certain devices, countries, and minimum versions of Android. However, there are ways around these restrictions, allowing you to install apps marked as “not compatible with your device.”
Our last edition of WIG for February is filled with news link coverage on topics such as identity fraud is on the rise in the U.S., a security flaw let a hacker access any Facebook profile, the PlayStation 4 will play used games, and more.
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Between the browser history and tracking cookies, it’s easy to feel like your browser is tracking and spying on you. But web browsers store this private data for good reasons.
There is nothing quite like being able to relax as you walk through open spaces enjoying the warmth of the sun and feeling the wind on your face. Roam through these open and peaceful meadows on your desktop with the second in our series of Meadows Wallpaper collections.
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What is the Universe? When someone says that the Universe includes ‘everything’, just what do they include in their definition of ‘everything’? Minute Physics tackles the topic in this video about the observable universe versus The Whole Universe.
If you have accidentally deleted files from your Windows computer or from an external USB drive, memory card, or other external storage device, there’s an easy way to recover those files using a free program.
Many recent Android phones – and even Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets – have integrated NFC hardware and support Android Beam. Android Beam allows you to send content between devices just by pressing them back-to-back.
