Tag: PC

Adblock Plus, one of our favorite extensions, is finally available for Chrome. It was only announced recently that the beloved extension would be coming to the Google browser -- but, to speed up the process, the Adblock Plus crew teamed up with the guys behind AdThwart, an ad-blocking add-on already available for Chrome. They changed the name to the more familiar Adblock Plus, and the two ...

Microsoft's Security Essentials has officially reached version 2. Ever since its launch last year, MSE has been a favorite among free security software connoisseurs. It's consistently ranked alongside the best paid anti-virus options out there in terms of detection and removal. And it basically blows its free competitors out of the water. The latest version adds an improved heuristic detection ...

NASA recently decided to sell off some of its old computers. Unfortunately, though, it forgot to erase some of the sensitive data that many of those computers still held. The embarrassing oversight came to light in a recent internal investigation (PDF), during which the issue was discovered at four NASA locations: Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers, and the Ames and Langley Research Centers. ...

Users running both the 64-bit edition of Windows 7 and the free AVG 2011 antivirus suite may have had a little trouble booting their PCs after a recent update. The update, which AVG released yesterday, was causing a STOP error, thus preventing PCs from booting into Windows. It's since been pulled, but, if you've been stung by the bug, be prepared to break out that recovery disk. You can find ...

E-book reading platforms are a dime a dozen these days. (Don't believe us? Just do a search in the Android Market or iTunes App Store for "e-reader" or "books.") But Copia -- a new e-reading app/store/community -- stood out when it was announced at CES almost a year ago, thanks to the deeply social reading experience it provides. In addition to syncing your spot in a book, taking notes and ...

In our quest to digitize every last bit of our lives, one thing has escaped us: a streamlined system for taking and managing our notes. We've looked at Evernote, which is an impressive service with some top-notch software, but it had one major flaw in that we couldn't get it to stick; it just never worked for jotting down quick notes. Simplenote is the ideological opposite of Evernote. It lacks ...

It's no great secret that public and open Wi-Fi networks are not particularly secure. But developer Eric Butler's alarming new proof of concept, called Firesheep, shows just how simple it is to steal log-in credentials, and how many popular websites leave their users exposed. Many sites offer a secure log-in feature, but then rely on an unencrypted cookie to identify your session and keep you ...

We first got a peek at the mysterious HP Slate in January at CES. Since that time, it's made only fleeting appearances on our radar and the project seemed to be all but dead. But HP surprised us all by making the Slate 500 official on Thursday. The Atom-powered, 8.9-inch tablet is available to order now, but units won't start shipping until November 12. Inside the $799 tablet you'll find a 1.86 ...

Facebook has been extending its blue and white tentacles across the Web, embedding its "Connect" widgets and "Like" boxes anywhere with a empty bit of white space. But maybe you don't care about Facebook, or maybe you're worried about potential privacy problems. Maybe you just like your Internet uncluttered by ads, buttons and widgets. There are plenty of reasons for wanting to banish the ...

The new HTML5-powered 'Booki.sh' e-reading app is entirely Web-based and, unlike Kindle, Nook or even Blio, can be viewed in any modern browser, regardless of platform. This means that PCs, Macs, Linux, Android, iOS and BlackBerry can all view content through Booki.sh. The app takes advantage of HTML5's rarely used offline storage to let you read without a wireless connection. As you can see in ...

Chief software architect at Microsoft Ray Ozzie was digging though his archives when he stumbled across a folder dated November 20th, 1985. Inside was the original press release and related materials for the release of Windows 1.0. The presser includes quotes from the likes of Bill Gates, who proclaims, "Windows provides unprecedented power to users today and a foundation for hardware and ...

Skype, the ever popular (but struggling) VoIP and video calling platform, officially releasing version 5.0 for Windows. The first thing regular users will likely notice is an overhauled interface that feels significantly more modern and clean than past versions. But the big news is that Skype will be integrating with Facebook using the social network's Connect feature. The interface will have a ...

iPhones and iPod touches running iOS 4.1 now have a jailbreak solution courtesy of Limera1n and hacker Geohot. However, the Windows-only jailbreak tool is causing a stir among developers, many of whom believe Limera1n was rushed to upstage rivals before being ready for broad use. The hack doesn't support the iPhone 3GS, and is definitely used at your own risk. ...

PDFs viewing on an e-reader is a must-have feature. But there is a problem; many PDFs you'll find, whether passed out by professors or downloaded from free e-book sites like Project Gutenberg or Google Books, are poorly formatted for reading on the devices. There are often errant page headers and page numbers that end up in seemingly random spots of the text. You might occasionally encounter ...

It's been a slow and painful death for Windows XP, and it's not over yet. (If the operating system were a beloved pet, you'd have put it to sleep ages ago.) Microsoft plans to officially start barring manufacturers from selling computers preloaded with the aging OS on October 22nd, and Dell plans to get a head start on the phase-out by eliminating XP as an option from its direct sales site this ...