Innehållsförteckning för September 2023 från PCWorld

Well, this is bad. “Downfall” is the name Daniel Moghimi, a security expert at Google, has given to a new vulnerability he has discovered in several generations of Intel processors. Attackers can exploit the vulnerability and read data from other programs and memory areas. The vulnerability has already been reported as CVE-2022-40982, and Intel confirmed the flaw here. Moghimi reported the vulnerability to Intel on August 24, 2022, but only made the vulnerability public today so that Intel had time to release microcode updates that can fix the vulnerability. Intel’s Downfall was closely followed by AMD’s Inception, a newfound security hole affecting all Ryzen and Epyc processors. We’ve included details at the end of this post. INTEL’S ‘DOWNFALL’ FLAW IS SERIOUS Moghimi explains the vulnerability in detail on a dedicated…

Microsoft Office, which was renamed Microsoft 365 a while ago, is about to release a round of drastic visual changes. Microsoft is giving its Office suite a new standard theme across all individual applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Everything from fonts to colors to even line weights is getting new default settings. The changes are intended to make documents created with Microsoft 365 look more modern and accessible, Microsoft says. Here’s a brief overview of what Office users will need to adjust to in the new default theme. NEW STANDARD FONT: APTOS REPLACES CALIBRI The first, most obvious change that every Microsoft 365 user will see immediately: Office will soon be using a new default font. Since 2013, Calibri has been the default for Office apps. But…

Microsoft has begun following through on its promise to kill off Cortana, the AI assistant that debuted in Windows 10. Microsoft’s recent Windows Insider build in the Dev channel turns off Cortana, which only appears as an app within the Microsoft Store. If you apply an available update to the Cortana app, that will essentially turn it off: You’ll receive a message saying that Cortana has been deprecated—programmer speak for turning off a specific feature. Microsoft had made its intentions clear earlier: In June, the company said that it would begin ending support for the Cortana app in August. That doesn’t mean Cortana is entirely gone. Microsoft did say that Cortana will still be available within Outlook Mobile and various versions of Teams, including Microsoft’s conferencing solution, Teams Rooms. Instead,…

Simplicity is an asset. It’s what sells online password managers—they take the hassle out of managing dozens (if not hundreds) of unique, complex logins. You sign up, install a browser extension, and click a few buttons, and the service handles the rest. But online password managers require trusting a third-party with sensitive data. While most are worthy of such faith, it takes just one big slip-up (like LastPass’s epic failure to strongly safeguard its servers and also to fully encrypt all customer data) to confirm everyone’s worst fears. An offline password manager is really the only way to fully control your logins…yet the most popular of them, KeePass, is not exactly simple. Learning its ins and outs can be a turnoff to all but the very patient, even if you’re reasonably…

For those who suffer with repetitive stress injuries, arthritis, or general hand pain, ergonomic accessories can be a lifesaver. There are plenty of dedicated keyboards around, with split or angled keys, but most mice you see have weird shapes that alter how you hold and interact with the device. Contour has a different and novel approach. Its SliderMouse Pro acts as a highly maneuverable bar across the top of a wrist-rest. So, does this method help or hinder? I put it to the test to find out. DESIGN & BUILD At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is a pretty standard wrist rest. The SliderMouse Pro has a wide, curved surface for precisely that function, with just the top area giving away its actual purpose. The rest…

A Wi-Fi standard is like a blueprint for technology companies. It defines the specifications according to which Wi-Fi routers and networking gear transmit wireless data to PCs, smartphones, and more. Each standard intends to achieve two goals: faster Wi-Fi speeds for every connected device and a smooth connection to as many devices as possible. The new Wi-Fi 7 (with an official name of 802.11be Extremely High Throughput) aims to achieve this by building on the groundwork of the last two WI-Fi standards and extending them. From Wi-Fi 6, it borrows functions such as OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing) and BSS Coloring, which ensure that even in very large networks every device can transmit data without delay. Wi-Fi 6E also contributes the 6 GHz transmission frequency, which enables Wi-Fi WLAN speeds. The advantages…

Bank statements, contracts, tickets, love letters…most things in this world can be sent via email, and protecting your email is extremely important. We show you how to do it in the world’s most popular email service, Gmail, but the basic concepts apply to other services. SKIP SMART FEATURES Gmail has many smart features that give you suggestions based on what you and others have written in the past. If you find this monitoring uncomfortable, you can remove it. HOW? Go to Gmail, click on the wheel in the top right corner, and select See all settings > General. The list shows a number of so-called smart features that are all based on monitoring. Deactivate them! Then also select Inbox and go down to “Importance markers” and change to “Don’t use…

Psst. Hey, you. Yeah, you. You wanna try out some of the latest Windows 11 features? The ones even Microsoft doesn’t want hundreds of millions of users to have access to yet? Well, all you gotta do is tiptoe down one of the slightly less reputable alleys of the internet and download this here tool. Don’t worry, this one fell off a truck coming right out of Microsoft HQ, it’s legit. Install it, run a couple of command lines, and you can skip right past the Windows Insider program A/B test and get the good stuff. On August 2, Microsoft posted some instructions for its Bug Bash program, a periodic event where it encourages developers and Windows super-fans to track down bugs in the latest Windows Insider builds and report…

Back in September last year, Google launched a way to remove search results showing personal contact information—details like your home address, phone number, and email address. You could make the request from any method of accessing Google search, then monitor the status of your request(s) from its new Results About You tool. But you still had to stay on top of search results about you. Now the company has rolled out some updates to the tool to alleviate some of that work (and stress)—as well as introducing a further way to protect your privacy online. Promised to arrive in “the coming days,” the Results About You’s new dashboard will both show you existing search results containing your contact info and also automatically alert you if those personal details again pop up…

If you’ve been on the hunt for a Raspberry Pi in the last couple of years, you know just how hard it’s been to get one. Supply went down and prices shot up, and what used to be an affordable $35 single-board computer became quite expensive. But earlier this year, the group that produces the Raspberry Pi said many more would start hitting shelves by summer. And as promised, it appears that’s finally happening. For the first part of the year, output was relatively low—around 400,000 per month, with most of them going to commercial buyers rather than tinkerers and enthusiasts. Then in June, the Raspberry Pi foundation announced that number would double to 800,000 that month, and then climb further to 1 million in July. This dramatic uptick in…

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Chromebooks. I adore their straightforward nature. I like the lack of fancy bells and whistles, which suits me just fine because I primarily use mine as a work machine. Nowadays, Chromebooks come in just about every kind of variety, from gaming machines to luxurious convertibles. Although convertible Chromebooks, aka 2-in-1s, aren’t new to the tech world, there are a couple of real standouts. Asus’ new Chromebook CM34 Flip is one such example. The CM34 Flip is a good laptop for the everyday person. You’ll find AMD hardware under the hood as well as a touch-enabled display with skinny bezels, a 360-degree hinge, and phenomenal battery life. As far as features and functionalities go, this specific machine checks off a lot of…

A quality monitor arm is among the smartest upgrades you can purchase for your home office setup. Monitor arms greatly improve the range of positions a monitor can take on your desk, providing more comfort and an attractive look. They also free up space on your desk, leaving it open for other use. These perks are offset by a problem: the price. Most monitor arms worth buying are close to $200, and heavy-duty arms are even more expensive. It’s important to buy the right monitor arm the first time—to that end I put several popular monitor arms through their paces. Here I offer the best monitor arms from my tests. 1. BEST MONITOR ARM: ERGOTRON LX Price: $269  The Ergotron LX is a sturdy, practical monitor arm that can handle…

The browser is the most commonly used program, and there are many ways to increase your security while you surf the Internet. Here we have collected the most important tips for staying safe and secure. Our examples show how to do it in the main browser, Google Chrome, but it works in much the same way in its competitors. CHECKING SECURITY Google Chrome’s Security Check and Privacy Guide tools allow you to quickly check that the browser is secure enough. HOW? Tap the three dots in the top right. Select Settings > Privacy and security. Select the Security control and then Privacy Guide. CLEARING DATA Our browsers store cookie files that are used, among other things, to personalise advertising. However, you can delete these. HOW? Open Privacy and security (as…

Amazon delivers billions of packages every year, and criminals are taking advantage of it. With phishing emails, text messages, or phone calls, the fraudsters claim that supposedly unauthorized orders are on the way to your house. That creates fear and a feeling of stress in recipients, potentially tricking you into divulging your bank account information or Amazon login details through a fake landing page, or installing malicious software when you land on it. The attackers then exploit that mistake for further scams. Nevertheless, people who react calmly and prudently can quickly unmask the tricksters. Here’s how to spot a fake Amazon order confirmation scam. CHECK YOUR AMAZON ACCOUNT The most important thing to know: Most reputable companies, including Amazon, never ask for confirmation of payment information by phone or email.…

Today PCWorld is launching Smart Answers, a chatbot tool that helps you get more from our content. It’s built using Generative AI and existing content written by our human editors. The way we interact with content is changing. It wasn’t so long ago you would have sifted through a printed magazine for advice on the latest consumer technology, yet it felt like a revolution when magazines switched to digital and online editions. These days, everything you could ever want to read is on the internet—or just as likely on YouTube or TikTok. The difficulty comes in finding trustworthy, up-to-date information that precisely and immediately answers your question, and most of us tend to rely on search engines and algorithms to figure that out, with varying degrees of success. But faced…

These days, the sheer volume of scam attempts online makes it difficult to figure out what’s genuine and what’s not. Norton’s AI-powered Genie tool is designed to help. Norton says Genie uses artificial intelligence to analyze images and text, then tell you if it’s likely to be a scam or not. If it thinks you’re being scammed, you’ll be offered advice on what to do next. To get started, head to the web version (on Chrome, Safari, Edge, or Firefox) or download the iOS app (version 14.0 or later), then upload a screenshot or paste text from a potential scam. This can be a message, email or link you’ve received, or a post on social media—the only requirement is that it’s clear enough to read easily. After a few seconds,…

The Asus Zenbook 15 OLED (UM3504) is a powerful laptop that’s great for basic office and photo work, watching content, and even a spot of light gaming. While it doesn’t have dedicated GPU, the USB4 port means that you can connect to an external GPU if you need extra grunt in that department. Asus says the 15-inch OLED display covers the entire sRGB and DCI-P3 color spaces, so for budding creators looking to get started with content creation, this could be the one. While it’s not a budget laptop, the Zenbook 15 OLED isn’t priced exorbitantly either. But how does it stack up to the competition? DESIGN & BUILD Picking up the Zenbook 15 OLED for the first time, you’ll notice how thin it both looks and feels—thin frame, thin…

TunnelBear is a popular VPN service owned by the McAfee security company and based in Toronto, Canada. It’s been around for a while now and has always stood out due to its unique and kitschy bear-themed interface. The service has tried hard in recent years to add more features such as unlimited device connections in order to remain relevant in an increasingly competitive VPN market. Certainly there are ursine puns aplenty to enjoy here, but is the VPN service just right for you? I took it for a walk in the woods to find out. FEATURES AND SERVICES When you first open TunnelBear, you can’t help but notice how much work the designers have put into it. The main interface is a world map geographically dotted with the available servers. As…

MacBooks and Windows laptops used to have more in common than they do today: An Intel processor was at the heart of both mobile systems. Since November 2020, Apple has equipped its laptops with its own system-on-a-chip—the M1, which was followed by the M2 about a year ago. This made the differences that have always existed between MacBooks and Windows notebooks even more obvious. But each platform has certain advantages and disadvantages that can be decisive for a purchase decision. Here we present the most important reasons why you should prefer a Windows laptop, while our friends at Macworld have a companion list of the reasons you might want a Mac. 1. HUGE RANGE OF SOFTWARE FOR WINDOWS LAPTOPS You can really do everything with a Windows laptop: Because there…

Microsoft has made a big deal about the increased security in Windows 11. According to Microsoft, the surprisingly high system requirements that prevented many users with even fairly new computers from installing the Windows 11 are mainly due to security features. So what’s the deal and how can you make sure you benefit from it? We provide the answers and show you how to better protect your privacy—both from Microsoft and others. The more our lives are lived digitally, the more important it is. WINDOWS 11 SECURITY FEATURES YOU DIDN’T KNOW EXISTED Many of Windows 11’s system requirements relate to security features that have been around for years in Windows 10, but few outside of corporate IT departments paid attention to. Some of these won’t turn on automatically if…