Latest in pc maintenance

So you want to get rid of your computer. To keep your data secure you will want to securely wipe the drive. This ensures that no one can recover the deleted files. However, you might not want to remove the entire operating system itself. Just re-installing your operating system or restoring from your recovery partition isn't enough to guarantee that your files won't be recoverable. When getting rid of a PC that has potentially sensitive data, you should wipe the drive to be sure your data can't be recovered.
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If you've plugged a USB stick or external hard drive only to find out it's "Read Only", don't panic: there's a reason for this, and there's a way to fix it. Different operating systems organize files in different ways. For Windows computers to read HFS drives, Microsoft would have to pay Apple... something they won't do. Enabling Apple computers to write to NTFS drives would involve similar expense – the basic result is that your Mac cannot write to NTFS drives. For now.
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Are you tech support for your family or friends? Do you receive frantic calls because they've installed malware or somehow managed to break their computer and they need you to fix it? This can be extremely obnoxious -- not to mention time-consuming. If you're tech support, here are some tips to help you make your users' computers more newbie-proof. Once you've got everything set up right, your users will hopefully leave you alone so you can get on with your life and have more precious free time.
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It's in the human nature to collect stuff and in the digital age we mostly collect data. For a long time, the storage capacities of hard drives seemed to increase too slow to match user demands. We have now reached a turning point. With the aid of generous free Cloud storage and streaming services, it seems like local data storage needs are peaking and will eventually level off.
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If you aren't already backing up your important files, you should be. Whether it be by manual copying files over to multiple hard drives or using a system like Apple's Time Capsule, it's very necessary to keep your files in more than one place. Why? Simply put, hard drives break. Sometimes they break for no reason, too. It's always best to be prepared. You may be wondering what exactly you should back up. Fortunately, that's what this entire article is about!
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Given time, the performance of any computer will tend to degrade - even Macs (gasp!). Years of improperly un-installing applications can leave your drive littered with preference files and resources that are no longer needed. A small drive can quickly fill up with photos or music, causing everything else to come crashing to a halt. Or perhaps your Mac is just old and can't quite handle the latest software or OS updates - but with a little performance boost, it'd be good to go for another year at least!
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Before downloading a free program, you should be sure it's trustworthy. Determining whether a download is safe is a basic skill, but one everyone needs -- particularly on Windows. Use these tips to ensure you download only trustworthy and safe free software, not bad software that will infect your computer with adware, spyware, or maybe even something worse.
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Malware remains a potential threat for many PC owners. Here at MakeUseOf, we’ve been helping to combat that threat by offering several anti-malware apps free of charge through our Rewards Program. One of those apps has a sequel. IObit Malware Fighter 2 is a major overhaul of the company’s anti-malware app. It adds a variety of features that update the software for modern times, including cloud security and full Windows 8 support. Let’s see how IObit’s new app stacks up.
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Almost nothing that you buy is a one time investment. Most things have follow-up costs for maintenance or just for plain being used. With computers these costs are small and easily neglected, but depending on your needs they can add up to substantial amounts nevertheless. Since you can’t manage what you don’t measure, let us [...]
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I often joke about being the only IT guy with a 36-inch pipe wrench in his toolbox. Funny, but also probably true. But I do carry one IT tool in my kit that is just as powerful and hefty as that pipe wrench - the Windows System Control Center on my Tools USB flash drive. The WSCC is an interface that gives you access to the SysInternals and NirSoft suite of tools. It's like having a 3 foot pipe wrench in your back pocket! Only considerably more comfortable.
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Would you believe that many computers and smartphones can run cooler and consume less power? A trick exists, called undervolting, which can increase your CPU's efficiency with few drawbacks. If performed right, devices generally produce less heat while exhibiting improved battery performance. The process can require a great deal of patience and confidence as the potential for disaster exists.
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You've got your trusty USB flash drive plugged into your computer, and you go to copy some files to it. Then you get this - "The disk is write protected. Remove the write protection or use another disk." Then you say, "Whaaaaaa....?!?!" How did this happen? This is your USB stick, you should be able to read, write and do whatever you want with it! Deep breath and stay calm. It is just an error message.
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Just as shorting a computer out will ruin it, making it run in temperatures it was never meant to take will cause it to malfunction. SpeedFan is a free utility for Windows designed to help you keep a close eye on just how hot your computer is getting, down to the individual component level.
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Have computer problems? Microsoft's Fix It service attempts to fix them for you. If you've browsed Microsoft's help pages, you've probably seen a variety of "Fix It" programs you can run to quickly fix a problem without walking through a complicated troubleshooting process. We've covered the Fix It Center in the past, but now we're really going to put Microsoft's Fix It service to the test.
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Do you ever feel like keeping all your software updated is too much of a hassle? OUTDATEfighter, created by FIGHTERtools, is a new program that allows you to scan for software and Windows updates, without leaving the program's window. That means no need to open a browser and manually download each program, like some other programs do.
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