2010
It never fails – awhile back, perhaps it was a few years, perhaps it was only a few months, you bought a new super-fast, top-of-the-line desktop or laptop computer. At first it ran fantastic – there were few software crashes, browser pages visually popped on-screen, and games ran smoothly at high frame rates.
Unfortunately as the computer got older, problems started occurring. Crashes became more frequent, web pages took longer to load, games appeared slightly jerky, and the overall computing experience lost its luster.
Why did this happen? Is there a conspiracy among computer and software manufacturers to make computers run slower so you'll give up and buy a new machine?
While conspiracy theories are questionable, here are seven valid reasons why your computer may start to run slower as time passes:
1. Slower boot due to installed software
If you install software, device drivers, or other applications that request to be loaded upon a computer's boot, naturally your computer will start up slower.
Security software such as firewalls and antivirus applications must start up immediately to help increase your security. Some software partially loads at boot so when you launch applications they seem to start faster. Plus, device drivers and helper software for printers, multimedia devices, and other peripherals may require being loaded at boot to make using such devices in a plug-and-play environment as seamless as possible. All of this increases your overall boot time.
2. Slower overall experience due to installed software
Just as loading these applications slow your computer's boot time, they also may require additional CPU cycles, causing your main applications such as web browsers or word processors to run slower. Plus, more tasks consume additional RAM, requiring your computer to use your hard drive as virtual memory. Paging information to and from your hard drive increases the disk thrashing, slowing down your computer further.
You can help offset this somewhat by installing additional RAM if supported by your computer.
3. Uninstall software doesn't always work well
While most applications support an uninstall procedure, these don't always work perfectly. Uninstallers may leave temporary files, items in the Windows Registry, startup tasks to now non-existing files, device drivers that now are not needed, etc. Install and uninstall many applications and the leftover garbage can drastically slow your computer's overall speed.
4. Hard drive fragmentation
As you write and delete files on your hard drive, the locations of files become scattered throughout, and files themselves can become fragmented. This causes longer times to seek for and load individual files, slowing down your computing experience.
This is more of a problem on Windows computers, and while it comes with defragmentation software, it may not automatically run by default and need to be executed manually. Plus, it is debatable how well it actually works. Third-party software claim to do a much better job in defragmentation, potentially increasing your computer's performance.
2010
By Stuart J. Johnston
PC administrators and security staff may feel a bit safer after Microsoft issued patches for a pair of zero-day vulnerabilities on Tuesday, as well as fixes for an additional pair of previously undisclosed security flaws.
All four vulnerabilities are rated "critical" -- the highest ranking on Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) four-tiered severity scale.
However, if technical staff were thinking that July would be a quiet month for updates, some might be feeling differently now that Microsoft has also concluded support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).
This month's Patch Tuesday security release fixes the publicly revealed Windows Help and Support Center flaw that Microsoft says had already garnered some 10,000 attacks in the wild after it was disclosed last month by a Google security researcher.
The security flaw is present in versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, according to Microsoft's Security Bulletin.
Also fixed on Tuesday was a publicly disclosed hole in a display driver included with 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 that surfaced in mid-May, although no attacks have been associated with the vulnerability so far, Microsoft said.
The display driver vulnerability, however, is only rated critical for Windows 7; the security hole as it exists in Windows Server 2008 R2 is rated "important," which normally indicates that the user has to perform some additional action -- such as loading a file from a malware-laden site -- to become vulnerable to attack.
The third and fourth critical vulnerabilities in this month's Patch Tuesday update are fixes in Microsoft's Access database, which comes with some editions of the Office productivity suite. Affected versions of Access came in Office 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) and SP2, as well as in Office 2003 SP3.
Microsoft's fixes remedy two critical security flaws that both exist in the way Access handles memory when loading ActiveX controls, the Microsoft Security Bulletin for the flaw said. Neither hole was publicly-disclosed prior to release of the patch.
Support ends for Windows XP SP2
Tuesday was also the last day of extended support for Windows XP SP2, meaning that after today, SP2 users can no longer get support or security patches.
Users of XP SP3, however, are still covered until April 2014, while the venerable Windows 2000 also hit the end of the road for support on July 13. There is no Service Pack for 64-bit editions of XP, so those editions will continue to be supported.
The expiration of support for XP SP2, though, may have far-reaching effects as administrators scramble to either move SP2 PCs to Windows XP SP3, or upgrade them to Windows 7.
"Microsoft's July update is a small step for security updates, but a huge leap for enterprise security," Wolfgang Kandek, CTO at security researcher Qualys, said in an e-mail to InternetNews.com.
"Windows 2000 and Windows XP SP2 are being retired from official support today and will not receive security updates anymore. Our own internal statistics indicate that approximately 50 percent of Windows XP machines are still on the SP2 level and external surveys put the number of organizations that still depend on SP2 at 77 percent," Kandek added.
Other researchers agreed on the task ahead for admins as they adjust to the end of support for SP2.
"This may seem like a light patch month in the amount of effort required by administrators to protect their networks, but all administrators could have quite a workload as Windows 2000 and Windows XP SP2 have officially reached end-of-life support," Jason Miller, data and security team manager at security firm Shavlik Technologies, said in an e-mail to InternetNews.com.
"Unlike patching, deploying new operating systems or Service Packs can be quite an undertaking as it requires plenty of time and effort," Miller added.
2010
by Amar Toor
It may seem like a trivial choice to some, but picking out the perfect wedding ring is actually a pretty major decision. This is the piece of jewelry, after all, that your future spouse will be wearing (in theory) til death do you part, so it probably shouldn't look like a Ring Pop. Even more importantly, this ring could one day serve as an immediate deterrent to any bar flies or hussies trying to grab a slice of the love of your life. So what's the best way to mark your marital territory and fend off the hounds? With an über geeky wedding ring, of course.
Instead of going the traditional route and buying just another soporific wedding band, one future bride decided to go the extra mile, and ordered a ring custom designed to look like a USB key. Her fiancé happened to be Microsoft Game Studios Software Development Engineer Ray Arifianto (read: "Geekzilla"). Though not much of a gamer or techie herself, as Kotaku reports, she has absolutely no problem with wearing a USB key around her finger for all of eternity. Engraved on the inside of the ring is the phrase, "For a lifetime of memories." Though, by judging from the size of the ring, we're guessing that by "lifetime," the future Mrs. Arifianto means "128 GB."
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2010
Author: Mark Kaelin
In his Tech Sanity Check Blog post, Jason Hiner uses studies by Barclays and Gartner as a basis for his prediction that 2011 tablet PC sales will reduce sales of Intel and Microsoft Windows-based personal computers. The Barclays study suggests that, rather than Tablets supplementing keyboard-equipped PCs, they will actually supplant them. Sales of Windows-based keyboard PCs will be reduced, and they will be replaced by the Apple iPad and its ilk.
While I agree there are going to be millions of Apple iPads and competitor products that follow in its wake sold in 2011, I do not believe that really means users and the information technology professionals who support them are giving up their keyboards?
OK, I admit I have a bias here. I have used the Apple iPad and I really don’t understand what the appeal is. It does have a nice screen, but so does my notebook. It can play videos and music, but so does my notebook. I can check my stock portfolio, baseball box scores, and e-mail with a tablet, but I can do that already with my notebook. Tablets PCs don’t do anything I cannot already do.
On the other hand, I have a keyboard on my notebook PC, which is vital to all my interactions — tablets have clunky simulated keyboards that allow only the basic two-finger typing I stopped using way back in high school. With all due respect to Steve Jobs, there is nothing magical or revolutionary about the iPad or any Tablet.
I mainly use computers for two things — writing and playing computer games — both of which require a keyboard. And I don’t mean games like Tetris, I mean serious hardcore games like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Civilization. Tablets like the Apple iPad just don’t cut it.
So the poll question I have is: Will you or your users really give up the keyboard for a tablet PC? Can you or your users really conduct normal day-to-day business with a computing device that does not have a keyboard? Will the tablet move beyond the niche markets where it has been proven to be effective to a broader user base? And if that does occur, are you ready to support it?
2010
by John P. Falcone
If you're in the market for an e-book reader, the past couple of weeks have considerably changed your options, and for the better. Barnes & Noble's and Amazon's new products and price drops have made their e-book reader hardware considerably more affordable, and you now have excellent options available in the $149 to $199 price range. Also, a flood of new reading-centric apps continues to solidify the Apple iPad's position as the premium media tablet of choice.
With these new variables, now is a perfect time to re-evaluate the e-book reader landscape and figure out which product is best for you. If you're an experienced shopper, you can jump straight to our list of top e-book readers; however, everyone else can consult this quick guide, which boils the purchase decision down to five questions:
1.How much are you willing to spend?
You ask this same straightforward question yourself with every purchase decision. At the bottom of the price scale, you'll find lesser-known readers such as the Aluratek Libre and Kobo eReader that now cost as little as $119 to $129 (the latter price is if you factor in a $20 gift card from Borders). However, we strongly steer bargain hunters toward the Barnes & Noble Nook. The company's new Wi-Fi-only version of its Nook reader has an ultra-affordable $149 price tag.
If you want to step up to an e-book reader with 3G wireless that lets you download books and magazines anywhere there's AT&T cellular coverage, we recommend that you consider the Amazon Kindle or 3G Nook, which cost $189 and $199, respectively.
Amazon's large-screen Kindle DX and the Apple iPad dominate the high-end e-book reader market. The Kindle DX costs $379, while the iPad ranges in price from $499 (16GB, Wi-Fi only) to $829 (64GB, Wi-Fi plus 3G). Yes, both of these devices are considerably more expensive than the aforementioned readers, but the iPad is more of a Netbook or laptop competitor than it is an e-book reader competitor. The iPad offers a variety of step-up features--such as a color touch screen, full-motion video, and thousands of apps--that aren't available on more affordable e-book models.
We know there are a variety of competing e-book readers available that we didn't mention, including the trio of Sony Reader models, Entourage Edge, and the Alex eReader. That's because we don't consider any of them truly competitive with the Nook, Kindle, or iPad at their current prices.
2.How large of a screen (and weight) do you want?
Even if you plan to never leave home with your e-book reader, you should consider its size before buying one. Since you hold the device in front of you whenever you want to read, the weight and size can be an issue. The smallest and lightest e-book reader we've seen is the Sony Reader Pocket Edition, which has a 5-inch screen and weighs just 7.7 ounces. The Kindle and Nook models each have 6-inch screens and weigh 10.2 and 11.2 ounces, respectively, without their cases.
If you want a truly large (9.7-inch) screen, you'll want to buy the Kindle DX or Apple iPad. However, at 1.2 pounds and 1.5 pounds, respectively, some people find these devices to be too heavy to hold for long reading sessions.
Remember, all e-book readers let you adjust the font size of the content you're reading, so even a small screen can display much larger type than you're used to seeing in a book, magazine, or newspaper. In other words, a smaller screen does not mean you need to sacrifice readability.
3. What's your screen preference: e-ink or backlit LCD?
Dedicated e-book readers such as Nook and Kindle use an e-ink screen. However, e-ink screens have some drawbacks: They're black and white and the pages don't refresh as quickly as an LCD does. However, they do an excellent job of reproducing the look of the printed paper. With few exceptions, they're not backlit--so you can't read in the dark--but you can read them in direct sunlight, which is something you can't do on an LCD screen (just try reading your phone or laptop screen outside on a summer day).
In contrast, the iPad's LCD screen is a bright, colorful, beautiful display. It's also a full touch screen--the Nook has a small LCD touch screen that's used for navigation, but the larger e-ink display doesn't respond to finger swipes. But those advantages have trade-offs. The iPad's reflective screen makes it hard to read in bright light, and many people find the backlight tires their eyes over long reading sessions.
So, which screen is better for reading: e-ink or LCD? We can't answer that question for you. If you don't have a problem staring at your laptop or LCD monitor screen for hours on end--or if you enjoy reading in low light--you'll probably like the iPad's screen. However, if you prefer the look of newsprint or if you enjoy reading outside, an e-ink display is your friend.
We'd strongly recommend that you try a few devices before you buy one: iPads are on display at all Apple Stores and most Best Buys. Nooks can be found at Barnes & Noble bookstores and Best Buy. Kindles are available at Target. (Note that the Kindle and Nook displays are effectively identical, so either one will do for screen comparison, even if you intend to buy the other device.)
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