Innehållsförteckning för Sep-14 från PCWorld

Tech and trends that will affect you today and beyond. SOME OF THOSE people seeking to scrub their histories from the Web under Europe’s recently implemented “right to be forgotten” rule are being economical with the truth when making their requests, Google says. In a July 31 letter to European data regulators (go.pcworld.com/ forgotten), Google lists some of the challenges it faces in complying with the ruling, which allows individuals to compel search engines such as Google and Bing to remove links to pages that mention their name if the references are “inadequate,” “irrelevant,” or “excessive.” Unreliable information Part of the problem is that in deciding whether to grant or reject a request, Google must often rely on information the requester submits. “Some requests turn out to have been made…

MORE THAN TWO and a half months after the Surface Pro 3’s debut, all of its variants are finally available: Following the June 20 launch of the Core i5 versions, on August 1 the Core i3 and Core i7 editions of Microsoft’s new laptop-replacing tablet hit the streets. Shipping notifications for preorders landed in inboxes soon afterward. You can waltz into a Microsoft Store to pick up one of the new models, too. Beautiful display, good battery life PCWorld Senior Editor Mark Hachman found a lot to like in the Core i5 version of the Surface Pro 3, awarding it 4 out of 5 stars in his review (go.pcworld.com/surpro3rev). In particular, he applauded the larger, gorgeous 12-inch display; the more ergonomic kickstand and Type Cover connection mechanism; and the battery…

Make smart purchases, stay safe online. The only PUP no one loves They’re called PUPs—potentially unwanted programs—and they sneak onto your system as accessories to the program you actually intend to install. They can slow performance, install space-stealing browser toolbars, and even invade your privacy. You don’t have to give up free software to avoid PUPs, but you do have to pay attention during the installation, since each PUP first appears as a trap in the desired program’s installation wizard. Here are tricks and traps to look out for during software installations. The suspect Not long ago, I needed a simple program that could do one simple task: convert a video DVD—a DVD I created myself, with no DRM issues—into an ISO file. So I downloaded FreeAudioVideoSoft’s All Free ISO…

TESTED IN PCWORLD LABS In this section, hardware & software go through rigorous testing. Watch the video at go.pcworld.com/ativvid BASED ON THE way most laptops sound, I’d venture a guess that audio is the last thing engineers think about when they design laptops. But I won’t lump Samsung’s 2014 ATIV Book 9 (go.pcworld.com/ativ9) in that crowd, because it sounds absolutely divine—especially with headphones. The Samsung ATIV Book 9 is a beautiful, elegantly thin laptop that will turn heads when you pull it out of your designer messenger bag. It’s the thinnest, sexiest notebook we’ve reviewed this year. But it’s much more pedestrian under the hood—with one exception. It’s equipped with a Wolfson WM5102 audio CODEC (encoder/decoder). Wolfson produces some of the world’s finest DACs (digital-to-analog converters). But it’s not entirely…

STARTUP PROGRAMS, JUNK files, and even clumps of dust weigh down your PC, making it slow down over time. Give your PC’s software and hardware a quick tune-up, and it should run just as it did the day you bought it. Inexpensive hardware upgrades can even make it faster than it was brand-new (go.pcworld.com/hwup). Software tune-ups 1. Disable or remove unwanted startup programs Many programs install system tray utilities or services that piggyback on your system’s startup routine, slowing boot time and wasting RAM. In Windows 8, right-click your taskbar, select Task Manager, click More details, and, in the Startup tab, disable programs you don’t need. In Windows 7, use the Startup Manager in CCleaner to change which programs start up when the system boots (go.pcworld.com/cclean). In CCleaner, navigate to…

Watch the video at go.pcworld.com/zbox760 Zbox EN760 Plus: Petite but great at gaming » Don’t let the size of Zotac’s tiny PC fool you. The EN760 Plus (go.pcworld.com/en760) has the graphics horsepower to play even the most demanding games. It costs less than a tower PC and can fit almost anywhere—including the back of your monitor or HDTV. You’ll need to provide your own keyboard, mouse, and operating system though, as these are not included.…

IN LATE JULY, Microsoft updated its three Office for iPad apps—Word, Excel, and PowerPoint—with new features, including PDF export, presentation views, and a new flick gesture. The three apps are now upgraded to version 1.1 in the Apple App Store. Microsoft announced Office for iPad in March, and the elegant port of the office suite has so far received (mostly) glowing reviews. “Millions” of users have downloaded the apps, according to a blog post (go.pcworld.com/offipadblog) by Microsoft’s Office team. While Excel and PowerPoint each received their own unique updates, all three apps gained several common features, including the frequently requested ability to export documents as PDF files. In addition, you can manually crop photos and images in all three apps using a new crop tool that allows you to choose…

EVERYTHING WE’RE TOLD about digital security says that you should never let strangers roam your network without your permission. But if you’re a Comcast customer, that’s exactly what will happen as the company’s Xfinity WiFi service rolls out. Fortunately, there’s a way for you to bar the door. With Xfinity WiFi, we’re all hotspots now If you live in a major metropolitan area on the East Coast or in the Midwest, chances are Xfinity WiFi is already operating in your area. The service takes advantage of the dual-band (2.5GHz/5GHz) Xfinity Wireless Gateway 2 modem (model DPC3939) that it has been distributing to customers for the past year. Comcast reserves one band and antenna for your own use, and one to serve as a public Xfinity WiFi hotspot. There’s an easy…

LENOVO’ ThinkPad 2 was a great tablet, but its design was chunky, and its screen had fewer pixels than that of the smaller and newer ThinkPad 8. Most important, Intel’s older Atom platform struggled to run Windows 8 smoothly. The Lenovo ThinkPad 10 (go.pcworld.com/thinkpad10) improves in all of those respects without sacrificing any of the great quality or productivity perks of the ThinkPad line. Thin and light, yet solid, the ThinkPad 10 is the slimmest large-screen Windows tablet we’ve encountered lately, edging out the Surface Pro 3 (0.35 inch versus 0.36 inch). The tablet weighs a scant 1.32 pounds. Although the soft, matte-plastic back does not quite match the grippy, soft-touch texture of older ThinkPads, it feels nice. Because the back isn’t metal, the screen has a little flex, but…

IF YOU’RE A FAN of D-Link’s connected-home product line, the D-Link DIR-880L (go.pcworld.com/dir880l) is the 802.11ac Wi-Fi router to buy. It’s also a good choice if you’re merely seeking a new router that’s easy to set up and manage, with or without a PC. It’s priced about $30 less than either the Asus RT-AC68U or the Linksys WRT1900AC. Like both of those routers, this is a dual-band model that supports 802.11b/g/n clients on its 2.4GHz frequency band (802.11n clients at speeds up to 600 megabits per second) and 802.11a/ac clients on its 5GHz band (802.11ac clients at speeds up to 1300 mbps). Add 600 to 1300, and you get the oh-so-popular AC1900 marketing label, which D-Link applies to this model. You can set up a guest network on either or…

GOOGLE’S RECENT UPGRADES to Drive have made clear that the company is going head-to-head with Microsoft on productivity services. Unfortunately, in its efforts to emulate the industry standard, Google has made its cloudbased apps every bit as Byzantine as Office 365. Google’s services overlap and their names aren’t self-explanatory. This problem is aggravated by the company’s propensity to change those names, consolidate services under one moniker, or simply discontinue them. Fortunately, underneath the confusing nomenclature you’ll find that Google is currently offering three major productivity services to the public. (Though the company’s master list of products includes dozens of additional offerings, this story doesn’t focus on non-productivityrelated business services like Google AdWords, Google Analytics, Google Payments, and so on.) Here’s an analysis of each to help you decide whether one…

ONE OF THE best features of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 is the ability to pin apps to the taskbar. Until Microsoft comes out with the refreshed Start menu, pinning apps is a must-have feature for Windows 8.1 users (go.pcworld.com/startback). As the go-to location for dealing with and switching between open programs, the taskbar may be the most-clicked location on your desktop. But you can use a few keyboard tricks to make things even more efficient. Pick by number If you have a bunch of apps pinned to the taskbar, the keyboard offers a quick way to fire up or switch to one of those programs without reaching for your mouse. Press the <Windows> key plus the app’s position number (on Windows 8.1, the numbering starts from the left…

THE CREATOR OF Cryptocat, Nadim Kobeissi, is back with another easy-to-use encryption tool. This time it’s a free Chrome app called miniLock (go.pcworld.com/minilock) that aims to make it easy to create and share single encrypted files with others. Similar to other encryption tools, miniLock relies on public-key cryptography. Under this scheme you have to share your public key with others so that they can encrypt files meant for you and only you. But unlike many encryption tools, miniLock is very easy to understand and use. The public key itself, dubbed your miniLock ID, is relatively short at around 45 characters. But it’s still too long to remember easily, so you’ll want to write it down or save it in a password manager such as LastPass or KeePass. Implementation is key…

Watch the video at go.pcworld.com/alienvid DELL REDESIGNED its Alienware gaming laptop series in 2013. The Alienware 17 (go.pcworld.com/alien17) now sports curves instead of lines, lines instead of plain surfaces, and steel-gray, anodized aluminum and magnesium alloy instead of rubbery plastic. As this is a gaming notebook, however, it’s what’s on the inside that really counts. The 2014 Alienware 17 is one of the first laptops to ship with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 880M graphics card, which has a stunning 8GB of GDDR5 memory. Nvidia’s 800M-series GPUs also have new gameroriented features, including the Battery Boost mode for extending gameplay time and the ShadowPlay game-capture software. Of course, the Alienware 17 is packed with other sweet specs, too, including a fourth-generation Intel Core i7-4910MQ processor (overclocked to 4.1GHz), 16GB of DDR3/1600…

Watch the video at go.pcworld.com/coalesse WORKING AT HOME has a lot of upsides, but one major downside: Home furniture is designed for leisure, not work. Dining tables are too high, coffee tables are too low, and lap desks are too small and unstable. If you spend a lot of time on your laptop, those poor ergonomics invite a host of back problems, repetitive strain injuries, and other maladies. Set up Coalesse’s Free Stand (www.coalesse.com) in front of just about any chair, and you have a work-friendly environment that will keep you productive and healthy. And when the factory whistle blows at the end of the day, you can fold the Free Stand flat and slide it under your sofa or easy chair to rid yourself of the irksome visual reminder…

Delve into Windows’ hidden abilities Windows is so deep and flexible that many of us don’t utilize its more powerful tools, whether from unawareness or forgetfulness. But a universe of tools and tricks lies within Internet Explorer, the Start button, and elsewhere. We’ll refresh your memory with some classic Windows power tips. GodMode 1/15 The GodMode developer tool collates the operating system’s farflung customization options into a single location. Important warning: Windows Vista users should not use GodMode, as it may immediately render the system unstable. Right-click the Windows desktop and select New→Folder. Name the folder GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} — you can replace “GodMode” with any other name, but you must enter the period and what follows exactly. The folder icon will switch to the Control Panel icon. Dive into our tutorial…

Q: IS GMAIL entirely safe and secure to use? If it isn’t, how can I make it safer for myself? A: That’s a very broad question, so I’m offering a very broad answer. Nothing in this world—especially if it’s stored in the cloud—is ever entirely safe. If you use Gmail, someone other than the intended recipient could read your mail, or your account might get hijacked. And that’s the case with every email service. Whether you use Gmail, Outlook, or your ISP’s email service, you need to protect yourself. Email is an open book by its nature. Your messages pass through multiple servers between your computer and your recipients’. Most likely no one will read them—but you have to assume that someone might. Gmail encrypts your mail with SSL…