8 Legal Uses for BitTorrent: You'd Be Surprised
Like HTTP, which your browser uses to communicate with websites, BitTorrent is just a protocol. You could use your browser to download pirated content, just as you could use a BitTorrent client to download pirated content, but that isn't the only possible use. Sure, let's face it -- BitTorrent is probably primarily used for downloading unauthorized content. But that's far from its only use, and the protocol still has a lot of value to people who don't pirate.
9 Ways to Customise the New Tab Page in Chrome
Chrome's new tab page is serviceable, but a bit boring. Whether you're looking for a nice background for your new tab page or want to easily create your own visual bookmarks, add custom widgets, and view live information such as the weather or updates from your social networks, we've got a list of ways to make Chrome's new tab page your own.
Facebook Usage Is Changing - So Which Online Social Activities Are Growing?
Facebook isn't cool anymore. It's the website where your older relatives hang out. It's the place where people post political screeds, religious diatribes, and personal drama you don't want to read. It's seen as a service that doesn't care about privacy, one that constantly wants more and more of your data to sell and profit from. So what are the kids using these days?
Which Browser Has The Better Password Manager? Firefox vs. Chrome vs. Internet Explorer
Although there are a variety of dedicated password management tools, every modern browser has its own built-in password manager. But just how good are the built-in password managers? We'll look at how each popular browser's password manager compares when it comes to convenience, security, sync features, and supported devices and operating systems. Dedicated password managers still have some advantages, so we'll cover how you can get a better password manager no matter which browser you're already using.
What Is PRISM? Everything You Need to Know
The National Security Agency in the US has access to whatever data you're storing with US service providers like Google Microsoft, Yahoo, and Facebook. They're also likely monitoring most of the traffic flowing across the Internet. We'll try to summarize the important revelations about PRISM from the recent leaks and discussions around this important topic.
How to Run Old Games & Software in Windows 8
One of Microsoft's big strengths -- and weaknesses -- is their focus on backwards compatibility. Most Windows applications will work just fine on Windows 8. This is especially true if they worked on Windows 7, as Windows 8 is very similar to Windows 7. Some old games and software, particularly ones designed for older operating systems like Windows XP, Windows 98, or DOS, may not work properly out of the box. The below tips apply to all different types of software and will help you get an idea what the problem is.
Managing Notifications in Windows 8
Windows 8's new app platform provides an integrated notification system for Modern apps. Windows 8-style apps can use several different types of notifications -- traditional toast notifications, lock screen notifications, and live tiles. All of these can be managed, whether you want to disable an app's notifications, allow notifications only for certain email accounts, or temporarily silence notifications. Unfortunately, Windows 8 doesn't include a notification center that shows a history of your notifications in one place.
5 Password Management Tools Compared: Find the One That's Perfect for You
Choosing some sort of password management strategy to deal with the huge amount of passwords we need is crucial. If you're like most people, you probably store your passwords in your brain. To remember them all, you end up choosing weak, easy-to-remember passwords and reusing them for multiple accounts. But there are better ways -- a good password management tool will allow you to use secure passwords without devoting lots of time to memorization. Read on to learn about a variety of powerful solutions to manage strong passwords.
How to Browse the Web Anonymously On Your Android Smartphone
When you access a website on your smartphone, your cellular carrier, network operator, and government all know you accessed that website. Tor allows you to browse anonymously and bypass web censorship on your desktop. Orbot brings Tor to Android, so you can do the same from your smartphone. Whether you're connected to a cellular data connection or Wi-Fi, Orbot works the same. Like the Tor browser bundle for PCs, it connects to the Tor network and allows you to browse the web anonymously.
Everything You Need To Know About Passwords
Passwords are important and most people don't know enough about them. How do you choose a strong password, use a unique password everywhere, and remember them all? How do you secure your accounts? How do you protect your files and operating system? And what if you ever lose a password? We've covered all this and more over the years. Be sure to read our password management guide for an in-depth overview to everything from choosing strong passwords to picking a password management technique and setting up two-factor authentication.
6 Quick Ways To Get Familiar With A New Operating System
In the past, the only consumer operating systems that mattered were Windows and maybe Mac OS X and Linux. Now, we also have Chrome OS, Android, iOS, and Windows Phone to worry about. And new versions of these operating systems are coming out even more frequently. Things are changing frequently. The days of learning a single operating system like Windows XP and using it for ten years are behind us. Here are some tips for keeping up with new operating systems and learning how they work.
3 Uncommon Ways to Use Your Laptop Touchpad
Your laptop's touchpad seems like a simple, boring piece of technology, used only when no mouse is available. But touchpads can be fast and efficient. They have shortcuts for everything from easily scrolling to gestures for quickly getting around in Windows 8. Spend a moment learning your touchpad's tricks and configuring actions that work well for you. It will pay off when you can use your touchpad to get things done faster. For Windows 8 users, touchpads are a great way to add touch gestures to PCs without touch.
Surprise: Internet Explorer 11 Has Matured Into A Modern Browser
Remember Internet Explorer 6? Well, Internet Explorer isn't horrible anymore. Whether you like IE or not, you can't deny that it has improved dramatically and is now worthy of taking its place alongside other modern browsers -- especially with the new Internet Explorer 11. Internet Explorer 11 is part of Windows 8.1, which is currently available as a Preview release and will launch officially later this year. Windows 7 users will eventually be able to upgrade to Internet Explorer 11, too.
How To Upgrade To Windows 8.1 Preview & What To Expect
Anyone using Windows 8 can now upgrade to a preview version of Windows 8.1 for free. This update refines Windows 8, giving keyboard and mouse users important interface improvements and making the Modern interface more powerful. Note that you can't downgrade back to Windows 8 without completely reinstalling your operating system from Windows 8 installation media or a recovery drive. Windows 8.1 Preview is thus best confined to computers you can afford to experiment with and virtual machines.
3 Ways to Disable Windows 8 Gestures
Windows 8 is full of gestures and shortcuts. In addition to touch-screen gestures, there are swipe gestures you can perform with your laptop's touchpad and mouse gestures that involve moving your cursor to the corners of the screen. However, there are ways to disable all of these gestures. This is particularly useful if these gestures get in your way while using your touchpad or mouse. You can even disable a Windows 8 device's touch screen entirely -- we don't recommend it, but it's something you can do if you want.
2 Tools and Ways to Manage Your Windows Libraries
Microsoft has made some aspects of managing Windows libraries rather difficult -- what if you want to add removable drives or network shares to a library? What if you want to choose a custom icon for your libraries? To do these things, you'll need a third-party tool for managing your Windows libraries. These tools are useful on Windows 7, but they can be even more useful on Windows 8, as Modern apps don't have access to the file system and can only see files in the appropriate library.
6 Safest Ways to Backup & Restore Your Files in Windows 7 & 8
By now, we're sure you've read the advice over and over: Everyone needs to back up their files. But deciding to back up your files is only part of the process. There are so many different ways to back up your files, and it can be hard knowing where to start. We'll cover all the best ways you can back up your files and help you find the method that's right for you. The most important thing is having several copies of your files -- either on an external drive or in the cloud somewhere.
How To Restore, Refresh, or Reset Your Windows 8 Installation
In addition to the standard System Restore feature, Windows 8 has features for "refreshing" and "resetting" your PC. Think of these as ways of quickly re-installing Windows -- either keeping your personal files or deleting them from your hard drive. In addition to functioning as troubleshooting features, Refresh and Reset are similar to the "restore to factory defaults" option found on many simpler devices. We'll explain how to use these features, but we'll also explain what they do and when you'd want to use them.
10 Common PC Maintenance Errors That You Can Avoid
PCs still require maintenance, as much as we wish they were magic boxes that did all the work for us. Unfortunately, many people make mistakes when it comes to maintaining their PC. These mistakes could result in hardware damage, security breaches, data loss, and general system instability. We generally cover lists of things you should do, but knowing what not to do can be even more important. Here we cover some of the most common mistakes so you can avoid them and keep your PC running like new.
Every Windows 8 Shortcut - Gestures, Desktop, Command Line
Windows 8 is all about shortcuts. People with touch-enabled PCs use touch gestures, users without touch devices must learn the mouse shortcuts, power users use keyboard shortcuts on the desktop and novel command-line shortcuts, and you can even use special swipe gestures on your laptop's touchpad. Here we collected all the shortcuts you need to master Windows 8. If you've upgraded to Windows 8 or bought a new PC that came with Windows 8, you'll find that a lot has changed.