Innehållsförteckning för November 2023 från PCWorld

Microsoft’s next huge Windows 11 feature update, code-named Windows 11 23H2, has a big addition: artificial intelligence. Microsoft is readying for the era of the AI PC with the addition of Windows Copilot, powered by Bing Chat. The update debuted on Sept. 26 in preview form before its wider release in the fourth quarter, when it will be called the Windows 11 2023 Update. It’s the closest thing to a theme that we’ve seen within a Windows 11 update in some time. AI will power Windows Copilot, of course, but also recommended files in File Explorer and Start as well as a designated AI-specific section within the Microsoft Store app. You should also expect various small improvements across Windows in terms of both ease of use and functional updates, like…

With Mozilla’s takeover of the online service Fakespot, a new security feature will soon find its way into the Firefox browser. With Review Checker, Firefox users will in future be able to check whether a product review is fake or genuine. GRADING FROM A TO F Fakespot’s technology will be integrated into the Mozilla browser as a new Review Checker feature. The tool grades whether product reviews come from real customers or were possibly written for payment or to artificially pump up overall review ratings. The product reviews will be rated by the Review Checker with grades ranging from A to F. A and B stand for “reliable reviews,” while “unreliable reviews” are graded with D and F. Product reviews with a murky grade of C fall in between. In…

Google has given an already-known security vulnerability a new CVE ID with the highest severity level. The reason for this is that the vulnerability, originally classified as a Chrome bug, affects significantly more applications, because it’s a WebP vulnerability instead. The WebP image file format is particularly popular on the web because it offers a good balance between storage size and quality. But the vulnerability allows attackers to use a specially crafted WebP image to create a heap buffer overflow and execute malicious code. To do this, the image must be opened in an application; in browsers, simply calling up a website is sufficient. The code executed in the background can then install malware, for example. NUMEROUS KNOWN APPLICATIONS AFFECTED The vulnerability, which was discovered by Apple’s Security Engineering and…

If you somehow missed the announcement of Apple’s Vision Pro earlier this year, you might not be aware of the current drive toward mixed reality. For the uninitiated, it’s basically another name for augmented reality, which means the addition of virtual elements atop your normal surroundings. That could be anything from a virtual screen playing a video to a plant in the corner of the room. It really doesn’t matter: The important part is that you can see both your real environment as well as elements of a virtual one at the same time. It’s funny, because mixed reality isn’t even remotely new. Microsoft rolled out Windows Mixed Reality six years ago and there have been a bunch of mixed reality VR headsets you could hook up to a suitably…

Although we live and work in a multiplatform world, PDF editors still tend to be Windows-only affairs likely due to the software’s origins as a “business” tool. Online PDF editors can often fill in the gaps for Mac users and those who work with PDFs on the fly via mobile devices. Soda PDF Online is one of the best of these, offering a complete suite of PDF tools in a user-friendly, platform-agnostic package. Soda PDF Online is a subscription service offered in two basic tiers. A Standard license provides the essential tools for viewing, creating, converting, and editing PDF documents for $12 a month or $84 a year. The Pro tier adds OCR searching, e-sign software, form and commenting capabilities, and batch processing options for $15 a month or $87 a…

Good software is the basis of all PC use, but many professional programs are too expensive for private use. This is where free software-based applications step in. These apps, including their source code, are available for no charge on the internet. Regarding the question of quality and functionality, there’s no need to worry—much open-source software offers real competition to professional products on both counts. In this guide, we present the best open-source tools for typical areas of application—from Office, to media editing, to file management and backup. OFFICE, PDF, AND CONFERENCE TOOLS Editing documents is part of everyday computer life. With LibreOffice, you get a comprehensive office package for creating texts, spreadsheets, and presentations. The program is an offshoot of Open Office, whose source code was released back in 2000.…

The printer always goes on strike when you need a printout very quickly. You probably first focus on the hardware to troubleshoot. But often your printer or multifunctional device is not responsible for the problem. Rather, the last Windows update turns out to be the cause. It can destroy the printer driver, change the basic settings of the Office software, or add driver versions to the system without your active intervention, which can then lead to unforeseeable printing problems. Apart from Windows, consumption costs are a perennial issue with printers—at least if you have an output device that is supplied with cartridge ink or standard toner cartridges. But here, too, there are solutions with which you can noticeably reduce the follow-up costs right down to the paper. You do not…

The AI PC, propelled by Intel’s Meteor Lake, is almost here. So why should you care? It’s the billion-dollar question. Intel is building NPU AI inferencing engines into its processors beginning with its 14th-gen Core chip, Meteor Lake, also known as the Core Ultra. Robert Hallock, an AMD veteran now overseeing technical CPU marketing for Intel’s microprocessors, has said that Intel’s goal by 2025 is to ship 100 million “AI PCs,” a term Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger began using in July. Intel announced the architecture behind the 14th-gen Core Ultra chip on the same day its Innovation conference began in San Jose, California. Intel used the conference to pitch developers on what an AI-powered future will look like, especially one powered by Intel. Intel’s Core Ultra is notable for several things,…

Artificial intelligence will change the way that we work. Or so say the most fervent purveyors of the tech, now including Microsoft. But after seeing ChatGPT, Dall-E, and other AI systems integrated into the latest versions of Windows 11, Office, and the company’s Microsoft 365 platform, I can’t say I agree. Make no mistake, Microsoft is pushing new tools like its Copilot system hard, integrating it into systems that are staples for the company and hundreds of millions of users. But speaking as a power user—and accepting the limited perspective that gives me for many who are not—I can’t see these new tools being anything more than an occasional curiosity. They won’t change the way that I work, and I think even those who stand to benefit the most from…

It’s not easy to move a desktop PC and its monitor from room to room, and even if you do, there’s usually a bunch of cords and setup to deal with afterward. TV manufacturers have overcome that problem by releasing portable lifestyle options. But what about desktop PCs? Enter the radical new HP Envy Move. Announced during a press event on Thursday, HP’s Envy Move All-In-One PC is a computer-centric spin on that portable lifestyle TV concept. It’s a lightweight standing PC with a handle on the back that you can essentially cart from room to room like a suitcase, to fit your different work or entertainment needs. I’m not going to lie to you—it originally seemed like a strange concept when I first heard about it at HP’s Global…

The latest in a series of excellent portable SSDs that started around eight years ago with the T1, Samsung’s T9 is the first to bring SuperSpeed USB 20Gbps performance to the table. If you’re blessed with such a port (nee USB 3.2 2×2), it will nearly double the sustained throughput of the older T7. (Only odd numbers are used in Samsung’s numbering for the series.) Alas, compared to other 20Gbps drives, the T9 is merely a middle-of-the-pack performer. But it also provides the most luxe tactile experience of the pack with its textured surface and sculpted lines. FEATURES The Samsung T9 is a 20Gbps USB SSD that uses NVMe internals and sports a USB Type C port for connectivity. Samsung provides both Type-A to Type-C and Type-C to Type-C cables.…

Ugreen’s 9-in-1 USB-C docking station is typical of the brand: quality design and manufacture, obtuse naming, and pricing that seems to vary from one vendor to the next. Oh, and nowhere on this DisplayLink dock is any indication that it uses DisplayLink, either. If you found the dock on Ugreen, the company calls it the “Ugreen 9-in-1 4k HDMI Fast Charge Universal Docking Station” and refers to its product number, 90912. On the box, the dock is called the “9-in-1 USB-C Docking Station (CM615).” Amazon calls it the “Revodok Pro.” eBay sellers, naturally, refer to it as something completely different. They’re all the same dock, and it’s worth hunting it down. Ugreen’s dock is a DisplayLink dock, which falls between the raw power of a Thunderbolt dock and the budget price…

An attack on your Wi-Fi network is not like a bank robbery: Instead of masked robbers blowing open the vault with a loud noise, a hacker inconspicuously approaches the router, searches for weak points, and tries out several attack paths. Or he exploits a known security hole by unleashing an attack on the router that’s been prepared for this purpose. Because you never know when and where your router will become a target, you should always ensure that the device is protected against hacker attacks: Increase the protection level of the router with suitable settings so an attack is too costly for the hacker. And keep yourself regularly informed about security gaps so you can plug them with firmware updates. We show you how the most dangerous Wi-Fi network attacks…

You have a table on paper but you need the data listed in Excel? Fortunately, there’s a simple trick for importing data on physical papers (or any other images) into Excel spreadsheets. Take your smartphone and take a photo of the data, then send the photo to your PC via email, OneDrive, flash drive, or in any other manner. Once the picture is on your PC, open Excel, select the Data tab, and then choose the command From Picture > Picture from File from the “Retrieve and Transform Data” area. Excel carries out text recognition and displays the data found on the right side of your spreadsheet. There you can check the data or insert it directly into the spreadsheet.…

In the span of a long weekend in September I took two separate trips to New York City. First, to see Microsoft’s latest offerings for the Surface line, which took a backseat to the AI-infused update to Windows 11. And second, to see Google reveal its Chromebook Plus push, a new standard for the company’s operating system along with its hardware partners. At the end of it all I had to ask myself: What the hell is Microsoft thinking? Never mind the underwhelming implementation of the AI Copilot in Windows. As both an old-school Photoshop user and a professional keyboard jockey, I found its image- and text-generation powers less than compelling. No, it’s the newly revealed Surface Laptop Go 3 that really sticks in my memory. Specifically the price—800 American…

Holiday cheer is coming early for makers and single-board computer enthusiasts: The Raspberry Pi Foundation recently announced the successor to the Raspberry Pi 4, and it looks totally badass. The new Raspberry Pi 5, which arrived at the end of October, has been unveiled with just two variants named so far: a $60 4GB version and a $80 8GB option. It’s a departure from leading with a $35 model (currently the 1GB Raspberry Pi 4), but given the long history of that entry price, it’s not unlikely that we’ll see additional variants announced down the road. Right now, the focus is on power, and it’s understandable why. Not only does the Raspberry Pi 5 appear ready to deliver a sizable step up in performance compared to its 2019 predecessor, but…

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Studio 2 will probably be too expensive for what it can do, comparatively. But this creators’ laptop still offers a nearly unique opportunity to create movies, edit and watch them, then scribble notes all over the screen. Any criticism of its performance dies down once you remind them of Windows’ performance slider, too. It arrives at an odd time, though. The Windows world is making waves about artificial intelligence, and the Surface Laptop Studio 2 calls out the Intel AI chip inside in its specifications. But an even better Intel AI chip—Intel’s 14th-gen Core Ultra processor, known as Meteor Lake—is just around the corner…though Microsoft’s Windows Copilot AI chatbot won’t use it, either. So this 14-inch laptop with a high-resolution (but not that high-resolution) screen, superb inking capabilities (but…

Back in the day, Chromebooks were nothing more than low-powered machines that ran a web browser as your operating system, an extension of Google Chrome if you will. They were durable and largely virus-free, making them a popular choice in the educational market. Nowadays, they’re capable of cloud gaming, which I never thought I’d see. Well, Google gave us whiplash once again with the new Chromebook Plus line of laptops. These devices promise better performance, 1080p webcams, AI-powered apps, and more. That’s where the Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 comes in. It’s a real game changer as far as cloud-based machines go. The Asus Chromebook Plus CX34 puts a lot on the table. The hardware is more powerful than your typical standard fare, the screen is bright, and the color scheme is…

Intel’s new 14th-gen Core chip, Meteor Lake, is designed as much for Intel as it is for you. A new disaggregation scheme separates the “processor” into four tiles, cutting power and increasing yields. But a doubling of graphics performance and a new AI engine cater to consumers seeking new features. Let’s be clear, though: Meteor Lake was not designed with CPU performance in mind. Intel executives describe Meteor Lake as offering the performance of the current 13th-gen chip, Raptor Lake, but at half the power—aided by low-voltage efficiency cores (E-cores) that are new to the platform. Even the way Intel assigns CPU tasks has been flipped on its head, pushing them first toward the lowest-power E-cores, then migrating them to the more power-hungry performance cores if need be. Intel unveiled…

Updating is one of the most important things you can do to avoid problems in your digital life. New threats and problems are constantly emerging, and manufacturers are doing everything they can to find ways to protect against them. Updating also ensures that you always have access to the latest features that are regularly released. In the Windows world, updates are managed by Windows Update. Most are automatic—as long as you restart your computer regularly. But you can also customize the updates to work the way you want them to. NEW FEATURE Recently, an option was added to download the latest updates as soon as they are available. Important security updates, which protect your computer from serious threats, are not affected by this. Instead, these are updates that simply add…