AUGUST 2014
» DEPARTMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
» FEATURES
9 News
70 Top 10 Fixes for Common PC Problems 41 Reviews & Ratings
103 Here’s How
94 Five Cool Ways to Use Business Cards in Evernote
» COLUMNS 121 Hassle-Free PC 124 Answer Line 27 Consumer Watch
126 Tech Spotlight
COV E R I L LU ST R AT I O N BY JO H N PAT R I C K T H OM A S
SVP/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Jason Snell EDITOR IN CHIEF Jon Phillips DESIGN DIRECTOR Rob Schultz
Follow Jon’s tweets at go.pcworld. com/JPtweets
EDITORIAL SENIOR EDITORS Michael Ansaldo, Michael Brown, Mark Hachman,
Melissa Riofrio SENIOR WRITER Brad Chacos ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Sally Zahner ASSOCIATE EDITORS Alex Campbell, Caitlin McGarry STAFF WRITER Florence Ion VIDEO PRODUCER Jamie Lai SENIOR COPY EDITOR Tracy Yee-Vaught COPY EDITORS Sushmita Mitra, Gail Nelson-Bonebrake
ART AND DESIGN SENIOR DESIGNER Kate Godfrey DESIGNERS Liz Marken Fiorentino, Yasmin Vahdatpour SENIOR PRODUCER Zack Stern VIDEO EDITORS Dan Masaoka, Victor Schwanke DIGITAL IMAGING SPECIALIST Michael Homnick
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Yardena Arar, Rick Broida, Jon Jacobi, Aoife M. McEvoy, Sarah Jacobsson Purewal, Lincoln Spector PCWORLD LABS SENIOR LAB MANAGER James Galbraith LAB ANALYST Albert Filice
Other ways to read PCWorld
n www.pcworld.com/ resource/rss.html
www.pcworld.com/ newsletters
@pcworld
www.facebook.com/ PCWorld
go.pcworld.com/ dailyapp
About Us
FOUNDERS FOUNDER David Bunnell FOUNDING EDITOR Andrew Fluegelman
INTERNATIONAL DATA GROUP, INC. CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD Walter Boyd CEO, IDG COMMUNICATIONS Michael Friedenberg
REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS You must have permission before reproducing any material from PCWorld. Send email requests to
[email protected]; please include a phone number in your message. BACK ISSUES PCWorld back issues can be downloaded in digital format from www.zinio.com at $6.99 per issue. Back issues in print format (subject to availability) cost $8 per issue for U.S. delivery, and $12 for international delivery; prepayment in U.S. currency to PCWorld is required. Send a check or money order to PCWorld Back Issues, P.O. Box 37881, Boone, IA 50037-0781. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES Access your subscription account online—24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can use online subscription services to view your account status, change your address, pay your bill, renew your subscription, get the answers to frequently asked questions, and more. WEB www.pcworld.com/support EMAIL
[email protected] (Send your full name and the address at which you subscribe; do not send attachments.) PHONE In the U.S. and Canada 800/234-3498
QUESTIONS AND COLUMNS Send material electronically to the appropriate online address listed below, or mail it to PCWorld. We reserve the right to edit letters. ANSWER LINE
[email protected]
MAILING LISTS Occasionally we make our magazine subscribers’ names available to other firms whose products may interest you. To have your name excluded from these mailings, send a request and your email address to PCWorld Subscriber Services at
[email protected].
IDG CONSUMER & SMB PRESIDENT, IDG CONSUMER & SMB Bob Melk EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Christine Ebangi SVP & COO, IDG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. Matthew Smith SVP & GENERAL MANAGER, ONLINE OPERATIONS Gregg Pinsky SVP & CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, IDG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. John Gallant SVP, HUMAN RESOURCES Patricia Chisholm VP, DIGITAL ACCOUNT SERVICES Danielle Thorne VP, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & DIGITAL MEDIA Bill Rigby
ADVERTISING SALES VP, SALES Neil Dhanowa COORDINATOR, SALES OPERATIONS Lauren Eckenfelder (415/975-2687) ACCOUNT DIRECTORS Patrick Mortonson (415/243-3664), Brian O’Rourke (630/785-3063), Amy Singer (201/634-2317), Cody Widdes (415/974-7356) SALES MANAGER Duane Hampson (415/978-3133) ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Jennifer Lam (415/978-3271), Shari Redan (207/899-2099), Chrissy Schneider (415/978-3269) MARKETING MANAGER, MARKETING Sarah Donato CONSUMER MARKETING MANAGER Randall Grilli RESEARCH MANAGER Miguel Beteta Rodrigo
IDG CREATIVE LAB SENIOR MANAGER, MARKETING SERVICES Tina Marfori ASSOCIATE EDITOR, CONTENT MARKETING Matthew O’Connell PROGRAM MANAGER, CLIENT SERVICES Sherry Brecher
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR, PRODUCTION Nancy Jonathans SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER Tamara Gargus
About Us
TECHNOLOGY CTO, IDG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. Aaron Jones SENIOR DIRECTOR, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING Thomas Alexander CHIEF ARCHITECT Jim Hutson PRINCIPAL SOFTWARE ENGINEER Justin Counts SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEERS Alexis Barrera, Bill Cappel, Alejandro Germenos,
Byron Halbower QA ENGINEER Eric Pivnik SENIOR DIRECTOR, IT & WEB OPERATIONS Sean Greathouse SENIOR WEB OPERATIONS ADMINISTRATOR Andrew Trice DIRECTOR, DIGITAL PRODUCTS Brandon Mahne PRODUCT MANAGER Lauren Wakefield
WEB DESIGN DIRECTOR, ONLINE DESIGN Sky Collins WEB PRODUCER Ryan Medlin
CONTACT PHONE 415/243-0500 FAX 415/442-1891 MAIL Editorial: 501 Second Street #600, San Francisco, CA 94107 STAFF ADDRESS To contact any PCWorld staff member, simply format the address as
follows: fi
[email protected] PUBLICATION INFORMATION Volume 32, number 8. PCWorld™ (ISSN 0737-8939) is published monthly at $24.95 for one year (12 issues) by IDG Consumer & SMB, Inc. Copyright 2014, IDG Consumer & SMB, Inc. All rights reserved. PC World and Consumer Watch are registered trademarks of International Data Group, Inc., and used under license by IDG Consumer & SMB, Inc. Published in the United States.
enhanced editions
Get your digital PCWorld now! The best way to experience PCWorld magazine on your device. The enhanced editions on Android, iPad, and Kindle provide these kinds of interactivity and more!
VIDEOS: Tap and play videos
SLIDESHOWS: Swipe
360-DEGREE VIEWS:
(with Internet connection).
image to activate slides.
See products from all angles.
Get it here: go.pcworld.com/digital DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Monthly recurring, $1.99 per month; single issue, $6.99
NEWS 10
Microsoft changes course
15
Windows 7 ‘mainstream support’ is ending, but don’t panic
16
Rumor: Microsoft’s ‘Windows 9’ campaign begins this fall
20
Microsoft gives away nearly 300 ebooks
22
The military is studying your Facebook and Twitter habits
24
Grim Fandango remaster confirmed for PC
Tech and trends that will affect you today and beyond.
Microsoft changes course Satya Nadella’s strategy memo reveals a focus on productivity. BY MARK HACHMAN
O
N JULY 10, with the release of a Microsoft strategy memo
(go.pcworld.com/nadellamemo), CEO Satya Nadella charted a new course focused on interconnectivity and productivity—one in which the standard-setting Office applications and other products and services could slowly blur together, becoming different modes of working with the same data. Right now, of course, you can still buy Windows, Office, Windows Phone, and other Microsoft products and services. But within the next decade, your interaction with Microsoft products could be radically different. Nadella’s strategy memo marks an evolution: Following Steve Ballmer’s “devices and services” strategy and Nadella’s own “mobile first, cloud first” concept, the plan now is to make Microsoft “the productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world.” “Microsoft has a unique ability to harmonize the world’s devices, apps, docs, data and social networks in digital work and life experiences so that people are at the center and are empowered to
NEWS
do more and achieve more with what is becoming an increasingly scarce commodity—time!” Nadella writes. For Nadella, productivity requires connections, intelligence, and most of all, ubiquity. He writes at length of the need to “reinvent” the company’s culture and products to achieve that new reality.
Connections forged Microsoft has already spent considerable effort connecting its apps to one another. For example, Microsoft’s Business Intelligence platform can tap into Bing Maps, and Excel can connect to live data sources stored within the Azure cloud. The Bing search engine has morphed into a knowledge repository powering Cortana and other services. And Microsoft has responded to the collaborative advantages of Google Apps and other competing services by making enhancements in its Office suite, especially its Web apps (go.pcworld.com/offwebapps).
Microsoft has used its Web apps to quickly launch new features.
Microsoft’s Delve outlines working relationships and relevant information.
Nadella also recognizes the potential pitfalls of the so-called Internet of Things—that we could be overwhelmed by a wave of data that we simply can’t grasp, let alone place in its proper context. “Billions of sensors, screens and devices—in conference rooms, living rooms, cities, cars, phones, PCs—are forming a vast network and streams of data that simply disappear into the background of our lives,” Nadella writes. “This computing power will digitize nearly everything around us and will derive insights from all of the data being generated by interactions among people and between people and machines. We are moving from a world where computing power was scarce to a place where it now is almost limitless, and where the true scarce commodity is increasingly human attention.” It’s easy to dismiss this notion of “reinventing” the company as mere marketing-speak. And Microsoft’s product portfolio won’t change; Nadella identifies Bing, Dynamics, Excel, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Skype, and Word as components of the roster. But Nadella also calls out other Microsoft technologies that aren’t so much products as services—namely its ”Oslo” technology, now renamed Delve (go.pcworld.com/oslodelve), and Cortana, the digital assistant powering the latest iteration of Windows Phone. Both technologies interact in new ways with data that Microsoft has collected elsewhere. Other services, such as Skype Translator, will help to surmount language barriers affecting coworkers who are collaborating across continents.
NEWS
“Increasingly, all of these experiences will become more connected to each other, more contextual and more personal,” Nadella writes.
Software as services Microsoft’s role, as Nadella outlines it, is to facilitate those connections among devices, people, and data, parsing the data in such a way that it’s genuinely useful. “All of these apps will be explicitly engineered so anybody can find, try and then buy them in friction-free ways,” Nadella writes. “They will be built for other ecosystems so as people move from device to device, so will their content and the richness of their services—it’s one way we keep people, not devices, at the center.” Note his emphasis on “people, not devices.” It’s a hint regarding how Microsoft will differentiate itself as the company rethinks its strategy. Not too long ago, Google regarded offerings such as Google Drive and Gmail as services that belonged on their own platforms. But that’s less true today. While email can flow across platforms, it’s the intelligence on top of your email—reading a message to learn about an upcoming flight, say, and determining how soon you need to leave for the airport, factoring in traffic—that’s increasingly becoming platformspecific. I can open my Gmail account on my Windows Phone, but Google Now will ping me only if I have my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 handy. It’s conceivable, then, that what we currently think of as Microsoft products may evolve into services as our data flows freely in and out. In this arrangement, users are invited to partake of the services that Microsoft, Google, and Apple each offer—but those respective services never venture outside their corporate walls. (Compare this approach with the way Wolfram Research handles data in its latest Mathematica release; see go.pcworld.com/mathematica.) You can see this idea in action already. You can open a spreadsheet in Excel, or in Word. You can also manipulate that data via a Web app, if you like. Or to use Nadella’s example, you can take language—which is
Microsoft’s role is to facilitate connections among devices, people, and data.
just another form of data—and interact with it through Skype, Word, or Outlook, translating it and correlating it to your contacts. It’s that last bit, however, where Microsoft’s own software is required. In other words, Excel can run on an iPad, but Excel runs best on a Windows PC or a Surface tablet—not because of any hardware limitations, but because Microsoft reserves its digital intelligence for users who choose Microsoft platforms. In a way, a Windows PC or tablet authenticates the user, allowing that person access throughout Microsoft’s ecosystem. And that’s the direction Microsoft is heading these days. Instead of encouraging you to purchase a Microsoft Office DVD, the company now promotes Office 365 and asks you to treat the productivity suite as a subscription, with the promise of new capabilities and features added over time. You’re simply buying a bundle of services. Five or ten years from now, Nadella suggests, we may still open Word, or Excel, or Internet Explorer to do our work. But we may increasingly regard those apps as remnants of a bygone age.
Office for iPad looks great, but it lacks the smarts of Office on Windows.
NEWS
Windows 7 ‘mainstream support’ is ending, but… BY BRAD CHACOS
IN EARLY JULY, Microsoft reminded the world that it will stop providing “mainstream support” for Windows 7 (and a slew of other products; see go.pcworld.com/msftending for the full list) in January 2015. Immediately, a flood of fearmongering headlines and articles implied that Windows 7 is following Windows XP into the grave. It isn’t. The confusion stems from Microsoft’s maddeningly obtuse naming conventions. The end of Windows 7’s mainstream support means only that the operating system will no longer get new features or product tweaks, such as the forthcoming DirectX 12. Once a Windows desktop OS leaves mainstream support, it enters the extended support phase— the same phase that Windows XP resided in from early 2009 until its demise earlier this year. You’ll still receive critical security patches during extended support, so while Windows 7 won’t be in active development beyond next January, Microsoft isn’t tossing it to the wolves of the Web, either. The company will still provide security-related hotfixes, too; businesses can sign up for an extended hotfix support plan to cover nonsecurity hotfixes. The extended support for Windows 7 will last until January 14, 2020. (If you’re still curious about how support works, read Microsoft’s Windows lifecycle fact sheet at go.pcworld.com/winlifecycle.) So don’t panic. Windows 7 isn’t dying for a long, long time.
NEWS
Rumor: Microsoft’s ‘Windows 9’ campaign begins this fall BY MARK HACHMAN ACCORDING TO RUSSIAN LEAKER WZOR, Microsoft plans to launch “Windows 9” this fall and back it with a substantial ad campaign. The Russian blogger also claims that accompanying the release will be a new distribution method keyed to the user’s PC and the online Microsoft Store, rather than an activation key that’s sold and/or distributed to an individual user. Wzor, who went silent in March after allegedly receiving leaked information (go.pcworld.com/msftleak) from former Microsoft employee Alex Kibkalo, resurfaced in early July, posting information to Russian bulletin boards (go.pcworld.com/win9leak). Wzor’s latest post as of this writing spends more time describing the new activation system than the Windows 9 campaign itself—but the activation system
Microsoft may abandon the Start screen in favor of smaller elements.
Welcome to Greenbot, a new website for Android enthusiasts.
We’ve got the ’droid info you’re looking for. Helpful tips, critical reviews, and expert analysis for passionate Android users of every experience level. www.greenbot.com
may very well end up being the more significant announcement. So far, Microsoft hasn’t indicated what its plans are regarding Windows. Following the recent release of Windows 8.1 Update 1, tipsters have pointed toward a second, minor update this fall. After that, reports have claimed, comes “ Threshold” (go.pcworld.com/ burywin8), though whether that release will be a third update or a new, full-fledged Windows is up in the air. At this point, the distinctions are purely marketing—but what important distinctions they are. According to NetMarketShare, the combined market share of Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 is merely 12.54 percent. That’s more than Apple’s Mac OS share, but far less than the 25.31 percent that Windows XP holds, or the 50.55 percent share that Windows 7 enjoys. Microsoft long ago stopped disclosing the number of Windows 8 licenses it has sold. And its product releases have steadily moved away from the bold yet intimidating Start screen toward more friendly elements, such as the shrunken Start menu that will supposedly debut with Threshold.
Windows 8 may soon join Windows Vista in Microsoft’s hall of shame.
NEWS
It’s Microsoft’s prerogative to keep the Windows 8.1 branding if it wishes. But the company has equal reason to jump ahead to Windows 9 and begin a new chapter in its product development. If that turns out to be Microsoft’s strategy, then Windows 8 is indeed the new Vista.
Activation through the Microsoft Store The Wzor post outlining a new, online-centric method of registering a Windows purchase states that registration would be bound to a single PC and activated when the user connects that machine to the Microsoft Store. Users could also back up their key to a special ‘ESD-RETAIL’ format on a flash drive or on another PC. Users who tried to run a single copy of Windows on multiple PCs would be asked to “undock” the other machines, in Wzor’s phrasing, within three days. A translated copy of Wzor’s post describes the Windows 9 marketing campaign as “fantastic.” Microsoft communications chief Frank Shaw essentially dismissed the rumor, tweeting “Was there a ‘crazy rumor day’ declaration that I missed?” without specifically referring to the Wzor report. Whether or not the report is true, the question it raises is an intriguing one. Each Windows 8.1 release that Microsoft ships leaves the company mired in that operating system’s troubled history. With a new chief executive, a revamped management structure, and a fresh “mobile first, cloud first” approach, doesn’t it make sense to turn the page on Windows, as well?
Whether ‘Threshold’ will be an update or a new Windows is up in the air.
Microsoft gives away nearly 300 ebooks BY BRAD CHACOS GET READY TO DRINK deep from the fountain of knowledge. As he has done in years past, Eric Ligman, Microsoft’s senior sales excellence manager, has collected a trove of free Microsoft ebooks and resources (go.pcworld.com/msftebooks), offering up nearly 300 gratis guides for your reading pleasure. To be fair, most of the items (which we first noticed thanks to BetaNews) are basic guides, sales materials, or deeply technical tomes delving into the arcane arts of, say, Azure, Microsoft Dynamics, and SharePoint. Valuable resources, sure, but maybe not consumer-friendly resources. That said, sifting through the bounty reveals some handy reference items that everyday folks will find interesting. The hefty “Windows 7 Power Users Guide” is up for grabs, and so too is “Introducing Windows 8.1 for IT Professionals,” which spans 139 pages. You’ll also find the teen-focused “Own Your Space—Keep Yourself and Your Stuff Safe Online” in the collection. Some of the smaller no-cost ebooks might be worth keeping near your PC. You can grab keyboard-shortcut guides for virtually every Microsoft product—Windows 7, Windows 8, Office,
You can find helpful guides for Windows 7 and other Microsoft products.
NEWS
You can grab keyboardshortcut guides for virtually every Microsoft product.
SharePoint, Outlook, you name it— along with shorter tip-laden articles such as “What to do before you call tech support” and various Officeproduct quick-start guides. IT types will find plenty to peruse, too. Did I mention that all of these Microsoft guides are free? Be sure to check them out. If you’re looking for even more computing advice, wander over to the Here’s How section on page 103. And on PCWorld.com, we have way more than 300 articles that can teach novices and pros alike all sorts of nifty tricks. Our guide to the 17 obscure Windows tricks too powerful to ignore (go.pcworld.com/obscure) and our advice on turning your Windows tablet or old laptop into a PC gaming powerhouse with Steam streaming (go.pcworld.com/ steamstreaming) are just the tip of the iceberg.
The military is studying your Facebook and Twitter habits BY CAITLIN McGARRY IT SHOULD COME as no surprise in the era of Edward Snowden
that the United States military is keeping an eye on your social media habits. But what you might not realize is that the Department of Defense is also funding Facebook-style behavioral experiments. The Guardian reported in early July that DARPA, the Defense Department’s research arm, has given millions of dollars (go. pcworld.com/darpa) to projects that examine activity on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit, Pinterest, and other popular social networks as part of its “Social Media in Strategic
NEWS
Communication” program. According to the newspaper, one of the studies involved sending messages to users to gauge their responses. DARPA even looked at the Twitter accounts of Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber to determine how messages disseminate across that network. The military also examined Kickstarter projects. Why is DARPA interested in what you and Lady Gaga are tweeting about? The SMISC program (go.pcworld.com/ smisc) is designed to “prevent strategic surprise,” according to DARPA, by studying how information spreads through social networks. Armed with those research results, the government can then “develop tools to support the efforts of human operators to counter misinformation or deception campaigns with truthful information.” DARPA claims that it abides by legal and ethical standards for its studies, and that it seeks willing participants for its experiments. Some of the studies, however, didn’t ask for participation, according to the Guardian. One project, called “Who Will Retweet This? Automatically Identifying and Engaging Strangers on Twitter to Spread Information,” sought out Twitter users to pass along facts about public safety and disease. So if a stranger ever messages you on Facebook or Twitter, be careful: It might be a government researcher studying you.
What you post on Facebook and elsewhere is coming under scrutiny.
Grim Fandango remaster confirmed for PC BY HAYDEN DINGMAN
IN EARLY JULY, one month after Sony representatives stood onstage at that company’s E3 press conference (go.pcworld.com/e3sony2014) and announced that Grim Fandango would be available for the first time in almost 15 years, we got confirmation that the beloved adventure game would be on the PC, too. (Oh, thank goodness.) Yes, despite the implication at E3 that the remastered version of the game would be exclusive to Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Vita, Grim Fandango will indeed be coming to its true and rightful PC home (go. pcworld.com/grimpc), as well as to Mac and Linux. This isn’t really a surprise, considering that Grim Fandango creator and Double Fine founder Tim Schafer tweeted about “other platforms” during E3, but still—nostalgic gamers can now heave a sigh of relief. And lest you blame Sony for making you wait on the edge of your seat for this announcement, keep in mind that Sony apparently
NEWS
Disney may be the best thing to happen to classic adventure games from the 1990s.
helped Double Fine in the negotiations to get the rights to Grim Fandango back after LucasArts spent a decade and a half squatting, sticking its fingers in its ears, and shouting “Sell one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time again so people can actually play it? I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you!” while George Lucas ran roughshod over the Star Wars franchise. Ahem—sorry. At any rate, Disney may be the best thing to happen to Star Wars in a long time, and the best thing to happen to classic adventure games from the 1990s. We still have no official release date for the remastered adventures of Manny Calavera, though— the July announcement from Double Fine says “just a BIT longer.”
GO TO STANDUP2CANCER.ORG CANADIAN BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION, CANADIAN CANCER SOCIETY, CANADIAN INSTITUTES OF HEALTH RESEARCH, CANCER RESEARCH INSTITUTE, CANCER STEM CELL CONSORTIUM, FARRAH FAWCETT FOUNDATION, FIFTH THIRD BANK, FOX FAMILY CANCER RESEARCH FUNDING TRUST, GENOME CANADA, LAURA ZISKIN FAMILY TRUST, LUSTGARTEN FOUNDATION, MELANOMA RESEARCH ALLIANCE, NATIONAL OVARIAN CANCER COALITION, ONTARIO INSTITUTE FOR CANCER RESEARCH, OVARIAN CANCER NATIONAL ALLIANCE, OVARIAN CANCER RESEARCH FUND, ROOMKEY.COM, SEAN PARKER FOUNDATION, SIEMENS, ST. BALDRICK’S FOUNDATION
CONSUMER WATCH
I L LU ST R AT I O N BY M AT T H E W F L E M I N G
Make smart purchases, stay safe online.
You’ve fallen for a scam! Now what? What’s done is done. Here’s what you need to do to keep your mistake from costing your further. BY LINCOLN SPECTOR
C
YBERCRIMINALS TRICKED FRED into giving away some sensitive information. Now he wants to know how to mitigate this situation. Don’t feel bad. We all make mistakes. But with these sorts of mistakes, you have to act fast to avoid disaster.
What you need to do depends on how you were tricked. Did you give them your email password? Your bank and/or credit card numbers? Your passwords for Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites? Did they remotely access your PC, or trick you into installing software? If you have reason to believe that criminals can access your financial accounts, call your banks and credit card companies immediately. Explain the situation and follow their instructions. Next, change any passwords that might have fallen into criminal hands. This includes email, social-media, and other passwords. If you’ve been using the same password for multiple accounts, change all of those passwords as well. And stop using the same password for multiple accounts already! If you can’t change a password—or even log on to a site—that means the crook got there first. Check the site for instructions on recovering a hijacked account. Conduct a Web search for hijacked account and the name of the service in question (Facebook, Google, or whatever) and follow the directions given on the service’s website. By the way, if you set up your account with two-step verification (most major services offer this), chances are slim that criminals will be able to access and hijack your account. Next, call the police and ask to make a report. No, the cops will not find the crooks and return what was stolen. But banks, credit card companies, and other institutions may want to see a police report. It makes your claim to victimhood official. Don’t call 911. Unless the criminal is physically inside your home, it’s not an emergency. Were you tricked into allowing someone to remotely control your PC? Or into downloading software? If so, there’s no telling what information they got, or are still getting. In that case, change your Windows login password immediately. And scan your PC for malware (go.pcworld.com/malwarestrikes) using multiple antimalware tools.
If you can’t change a password—or even log on to a site—that means the crook got there first.
CONSUMER WATCH
A beginner’s guide to BitLocker, Windows’ built-in encryption tool BY IAN PAUL THE CREATORS OF TRUECRYPT shocked the computer security world recently when they seemingly ended development of the popular open-source encryption tool. Even more surprising, the creators said TrueCrypt could be insecure and that Windows users should migrate to Microsoft’s BitLocker. Theories immediately began to swirl as to what might have prompted the surprise announcement. But in any case, the TrueCrypt incident gives us a chance to explain BitLocker and how to use it.
What is BitLocker? BitLocker is an easy-to-use, proprietary encryption program for Windows that can encrypt your entire drive as well as help protect against unauthorized changes to your system—say, by malware that targets your system’s firmware.
Who can use BitLocker The program is available to anyone with a machine running Windows Vista or 7 Ultimate, Windows Vista or 7 Enterprise, Windows 8.1 Pro, or Windows 8.1 Enterprise. If you’re running an Enterprise edition, chances are your PC belongs to a large company, so you should discuss enabling BitLocker encryption with your company’s IT department. Most of us buy PCs with the standard version of Windows, which
doesn’t include BitLocker encryption. But if you upgraded to Windows 8 during the initial rollout of Microsoft’s dual-interface operating system then you probably have Windows 8 or 8.1 Pro.
System requirements To run BitLocker, you need a Windows PC running one of the OS flavors mentioned above, plus a PC with at least two partitions and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). A TPM is a special chip that runs an authentication check on your hardware, software, and firmware. If the TPM detects an unauthorized change, your PC will boot in a restricted mode to deter potential attackers. BitLocker will run a system check when you start it up to see if your PC can use the program.
Who should use BitLocker? Here’s the thing about BitLocker: It’s a closed-source program. That’s problematic for folks who are extremely privacy conscious, because users have no way of looking at the code to see if, for example, Microsoft was pressured by the U.S. government into putting some kind of backdoor into the program that would allow the government to access it. (The company says there are no backdoors.) So I wouldn’t count on this encryption program defending your data against government actors such as border agents or intelligence services. But if you’re looking to protect your data from petty criminals and nongovernment types, then BitLocker should be just fine.
Don’t count on BitLocker protecting your data against government actors.
Going crypto, Microsoft style Here’s how to got BitLocker running on a Windows 8.1 Pro machine. The first thing you’ll need to do is fire up the Control Panel. When the Control Panel opens, type BitLocker into the search box in the upper-right corner and press
. Next, click
CONSUMER WATCH BitLocker checks that your PC has the required Trusted Platform Module.
Manage BitLocker, and on the next screen click Turn on BitLocker. Now BitLocker will check your PC’s configuration to make sure your device supports Microsoft’s encryption method. If it approves your PC for BitLocker, Windows will show you a message like this one. If your TPM module is turned off, then Windows will turn it on and encrypt your drive.
TPM To activate your TPM security hardware, you must shut down Windows. Then you must manually turn your PC back on. Before you go ahead with this process, make sure to eject any flash drives, CDs, or DVDs from your PC. Then press Shutdown. Once you restart your PC, you may see a warning that your system was changed. In my case I had to press to confirm the change or to cancel. After that, your computer should boot back up. Once you log in again, you’ll see the BitLocker window.
Recovery key and encryption After a few minutes, you should see a window with a green checkmark next to “Turn on the TPM security hardware.” Click Next. Before you encrypt your drive, however, you have to save a recovery key in case you have problems unlocking your PC. Windows 8.1 gives you three choices for saving this key: Save the recovery-key file to your
Microsoft account, save the file to a flash drive, or print the recovery key. You are able to choose as many of these options as you like, and you should choose at least two. In my case, I chose to save the file to a USB drive and print the key code on paper. I decided against saving the file to my Microsoft account, because I don’t know who has access to the company’s servers. That said, saving your key to Microsoft’s servers will make it possible to decrypt your files if you ever lose the flash drive or piece of paper containing your recovery key code. Once you’ve created two different instances of the recovery key and removed any USB drives, click Next. On the following screen, you must decide whether to encrypt only the disk space used so far or to encrypt your PC’s entire drive. If you are encrypting a brand-new PC, without any files, then encrypting only the used disk space is the best choice, since new files will be encrypted as you add them. If you have a PC with a few miles on the hard drive,
To encrypt your drive, choose the option best describes your PC.
Here, the PC has rebooted and the TPM is now active.
CONSUMER WATCH
you should choose to encrypt the entire drive. Then click Next. Make sure the box next to “Run BitLocker system check” is selected so that Windows will run a system check before encrypting your drive. Then click Continue … and you’ll notice that nothing happens. Top: You have to manually reboot your PC to start BitLocker’s Look at the system tray, disk encryption. Above: And now, the encryption begins. and you’ll see an alert telling you that encryption will begin after you restart the PC. Restart your PC. When you log in this final time, you should see another system tray alert telling you that the encryption operation is in progress. You can continue to work on your PC during the encryption phase, but things may run a little slower than usual. Consider waiting to do anything that might tax your system during the initial encryption, such as running graphics-intensive programs. The length of time it takes BitLocker to fully encrypt your files depends on the size of your drive, or, if you’re only encrypting existing data on a new PC, the amount of data.
Locked out? Get back into Windows 8 by resetting your password BY ERIC GEIER
P H OTO G R A P H Y BY M I C H A E L H OM N I C K
FORGOTTEN YOUR WINDOWS password? That’s not the end of the world. You don’t have to trash your computer, or even restore your PC to its factory default settings. There are many ways to remove or reset a Windows password. Password-reset methods for Microsoft accounts differ from the methods used for local Windows accounts. If you aren’t sure which
CONSUMER WATCH type of Windows account you have, turn on your computer and see if an email address is displayed above where you enter your password to log in. If you see an address, it’s a Microsoft account. If you don’t, it’s a local account. Resetting the password for Microsoft accounts is relatively quick and easy. Resetting local accounts, however, requires a hack or a third-party tool. Because computers preloaded with Windows 8 include a new Secure Boot feature and the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) boot method, using a third-party tool complicates the process further.
Resetting a local Windows account requires a hack or a third-party tool.
Resetting the password of a Microsoft account If you have a Microsoft-based Windows 8 account, you can use Microsoft’s online form (go.pcworld.com/passreset) to reset the password. You can complete this from another PC, or even from a smartphone or tablet. Although you can find a phone number for Microsoft support, I was told, when I called, that I must use their online form to reset your password.
The online form shows a partial email address and cell phone number that you must complete in order to continue.
BitLocker checks for the required Trusted Platform Module.
It will be easier to reset your password online if your current email address or cell phone number is saved to your Microsoft account. The online form will show you an incomplete view of the email address and cell number you have on file. You must then confirm the full address or number, and choose which one you’d like them to send the reset code to. If you don’t remember the full email address or cell number that you have on file, or you don’t have access to them anymore, you can fill out a questionnaire that that asks you a variety of account security questions. If your information checks out, the site will help you create a new password. Once you successfully reset your password, you should be able to log in. Your computer must be connected to the Internet to be updated with the new password.
Removing the password of a local account Although it’s not great from a security perspective, there are many ways to reset or remove a Windows password for local accounts
The questionnaire requires you to answer security questions, enter any previous passwords, and respond to other security prompts.
CONSUMER WATCH without having administrative access or passing the security checks from Microsoft’s online form. These methods typically include using a bootable CD, DVD, or USB drive. We discussed this approach— which uses a utility called Trinity—in a previous article (go.pcworld. com/localreset) for Windows 7 and earlier, but that particular utility doesn’t apply to Windows 8. Caution: Resetting a password using these methods means you will lose access both to any encrypted files utilizing the Encrypting File System (EFS) built into Windows and to stored passwords for Internet Explorer and network resources. There are many other bootable password-recovery and rescue tools that work with the latest Windows versions, but most require changing your computer’s boot settings. If you have a genuine Windows 8 disc or flash drive, you should be able to boot from it without having to change the boot settings. If this is the case, you can use it to perform a so-called Sticky Keys hack to reset your local Windows account password.
The new Advanced Startup Options screen that replaces the Advanced Boot Options screen from previous Windows versions.
A previous article describes how to perform the Sticky Keys hack (go.pcworld.com/ stickykeys). The article was written for Windows 7 and earlier versions of the operating system, but it still applies to Windows 8 and later with a couple of tweaks: • Ignore step 4 from the first set of steps and do the following instead: Click Troubleshoot, Advanced options, and then open the Command Prompt. • Resume with step 1 of the second set of steps. If you don’t have a genuine Windows 8 disc or flash drive, you can use a third-party tool or utility. For example, the Offline NT Password & Registry Editor (go.pcworld.com/ ntpassword) is included with other rescue discs like Hiren’s BootCD (www.hirensbootcd.org). Before you can boot up a third-party tool on a computer that came preloaded with Windows 8 or later, you must temporarily disable the new Secure Boot and UEFI features. Start by holding the key down while you restart Windows 8, even from the initial login screen. Once Windows boots into the Advanced Startup Options (ASO) menu, click Troubleshoot, Advanced Options, and UEFI Firmware Settings. The exact settings differ between PC manufacturers, but find and disable the Secure Boot and UEFI features, which may include enabling the Compatibility Support Module (CSM) or legacy boot mode.
You can set up the new alternative login methods with the PC Settings app.
CONSUMER WATCH After you run the bootable third-party tool and clear your Windows password, you should reenable Secure Boot and UEFI. Then you should be able to boot into Windows again and log in.
Prevent future forgotten-password issues Now that you’re back on your Windows account, consider setting up some alternative log-in methods (go.pcworld.com/altlogin), like a PIN and picture password, which you can use if you forget your password. If you’re using a local Windows 8 account, you can create a passwordreset disk using a USB flash drive via the User Account settings in the Control Panel. If you ever forget the password, even if you’ve changed it since you made the reset disk, you can plug in the flash drive to reset your password. You can use a somewhat similar password-reset function for Microsoft accounts. You can generate a Microsoft recovery code and then save it and enter it later if you ever forget your password. The recovery code will work even if you’ve since changed the password. To generate this recovery code, visit the Microsoft security settings webpage (go.pcworld.com/msrecoverycode).
Consider setting up some alternative log-in methods, like a PIN and a picture password.
Summer Sale Enjoy spectacular savings for a limited time! Get the PCWorld Digital All-Access pass and get full access to the Enhanced Editions. You can log in from any device we support at no additional cost, and you’ll also receive access to PCWorld’s Zinio Replica Editions for all other devices.
SAVE 80% $14.97 1-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION
SAVE 85% $24.97 2-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION
Act Now! go.pcworld.com/summersale
REVIEWS & RATINGS CONTENTS 42
Microsoft Surface Pro 3: A work PC in tablet clothing
50
Varidesk: A sit-stand desk with a few ergonomic issues
54
Toshiba Satellite P50t: The first laptop with a 4K display
60
Karma hotspot offers no-nonsense pricing
63
NEC MultiSync EA274WMi’s ‘human sensor’ puts it to sleep
66
Asus PB287Q: A budget-friendly Ultra HD display
REVIEWS & RATINGS
TESTED IN PCWORLD LABS In this section, hardware & software go through rigorous testing.
Microsoft Surface Pro 3: A work PC in tablet clothing With a few small changes, Microsoft has made choosing between a laptop and a Windows tablet far more difficult. BY MARK HACHMAN
T
Despite the larger screen dimensions, the Surface Pro 3 is slimmer than its predecessor.
HROUGH EVERY ITERATION,
Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet has edged closer to becoming a laptop replacement. The newest model, the Surface Pro 3 (go.pcworld.com/ surfacep3), takes several more small steps in that direction—along with one giant leap. You’ll immediately notice the larger display, which is 12 inches in diagonal width and 38 percent bigger than the screen of the Surface Pro 2. Its 2160-by-1440-pixel resolution, an improvement over the Surface Pro 2’s 1920-by-1080 resolution, is breathtakingly crisp. Just as important, Microsoft’s shift to a 3:2 aspect ratio adds 1.12 inches of vertical real estate to what already is a wider tablet. The result is a more luxurious, useful work space—and that’s critical when you’re multitasking in a desktop environment. Despite the larger screen dimensions, the Surface Pro 3 is slimmer
P H OTO G R A P H Y BY M I C H A E L H OM N I C K
Viewed on edge, the Surface Pro 3 looks and feels like a tablet.
than its predecessor, its designers having trimmed 0.23 inch of width and 0.24 pound from the Surface Pro 2. Yet Microsoft is still offering a full range of Core processors for the lineup, including a Core i7 that somehow manages to live happily in a 0.3-inch-thick slate.
A substantial investment Microsoft is shipping the Surface Pro 3 in five configurations. Our evaluation unit, containing a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage, costs $1300. The low-end Core i3 model costs $800, a price that’s competitive with full-fledged laptops. But a high-end Core i7 model costs more than $2000 after sales tax, and any future 4G connectivity options will boost prices even further. The new Type Cover costs another $130, and it’s a must-have. Microsoft also moved to a new charger, breaking compatibility with earlier models. And if you bought a docking station for the Surface Pro 2, it won’t work with the Surface Pro 3 due to a port reconfiguration.
Compared with the 10.6-inch Surface Pro 2 (left), the 12-inch Surface Pro 3 offers a luxurious amount of space.
REVIEWS & RATINGS Cooling vents surround the upper reaches of the tablet. Under load, the fan vents air with an unobtrusive hiss.
Longtime Surface fans may be disappointed by those drawbacks, especially if they recently spent four figures on a Surface Pro 2. But if you’re in the market for a new laptop, you should seriously consider a Surface Pro 3 as your daily driver for work and play.
Microsoft Surface Pro 3 PROS: • Larger screen offers 38 percent more real estate
• New Type Cover is much more stable • Stated battery life of 8 hours CONS:
• Pricing still gives one pause • No more free OneDrive cloud storage • Stylus holder is awkwardly placed BOTTOM LINE: Microsoft’s Surface lineup keeps getting better, with an improved screen for desktop use and an upgraded Type Cover for the road. $1300 (Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage)
Just like that, it’s up and running The Surface Pro 3 boots fast—so fast that I initially thought I had left it in sleep mode instead of shutting it down. Yes, I’ve been reviewing a clean machine, and improved SSD technology plays a role, but boot-to-password was on the order of 3 to 4 seconds. (Hold the power button a bit longer than normal on first boot, however, as a quick press doesn’t seem to trigger it.) Microsoft claims 8 hours of battery life during casual use, but our in-house battery tests, which entail
a continuous mix of scripted Office use and video playback, brought the Surface Pro 3 to its knees after 4 hours, 18 minutes. (The smaller Surface Pro 2 shut down after 4 hours, 44 minutes.) Our Core i5–based review unit always felt snappy and responsive. Microsoft describes the chip as a “tuned” version of the Core i5-4300U, the upgraded processor that Microsoft adopted midway through the Surface Pro 2 life cycle. The Surface Pro 3’s WorldBench 9 score, however, was just 72, whereas the Surface Pro 2 achieved a score of 74. Microsoft has moved to the faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard, which increases potential wireless throughput. The new tablet also has 5-megapixel cameras front and rear, enough for full 1080p Skype chats. As for ports, the Surface Pro 3 retains the MicroSD slot of previous generations, as well as the single USB 3.0 port and Mini DisplayPort connector. The upcoming docking station will include three USB 3.0 ports and two USB 2.0 connectors, as well as gigabit ethernet.
The new stylus is nice, although a bit awkwardly placed.
REVIEWS & RATINGS Improved digital-ink pen Our test unit included the latest Windows 8.1 Update. When you shut down the tablet, it asks you to “pull down” the window to turn it off, just as Windows Phone does. One serious omission on the software front: Whereas the Surface Pro 2 came with 200GB of free OneDrive storage, the Surface Pro 3 does not. Ditto for the year’s worth of Skype Premium calling and Wi-Fi access that the Pro 2 offered. The Surface Pro 3 ships with a chunky new N-trig pen that features what Microsoft calls decreased parallax; the digital ink “flows” more closely from where the pen touches the screen. And here’s a nifty trick—you can rouse the tablet from sleep by holding the button on the top of the pen, which launches a new OneNote note without requiring a password. Either you like digital ink or you don’t, and the Surface Pro 3 is still too heavy and awkward for long-term one-handed use. Microsoft wants you to use the Surface Pro 3 as a digital legal pad, but doing so requires setting the tablet down on a table. The pen’s storage loop in the new Type Cover also needs work, as it makes removing and stowing the pen too difficult. Securing the pen within the tablet would be a better solution—though perhaps unfeasible, given that the Surface Pro 3’s internals are already packed to capacity with components.
Using the Surface Pro 3 as a digital legal pad requires setting it down on a table.
On a plane, on a train Surface chief Panos Panay has made “lapability”—how a Surface tablet stacks up against a traditional notebook when you’re resting the device on your lap—one of the selling points of the line. In the service of improved lapability, Microsoft has reworked the kickstand and the Type Cover for this model.
The first generation of the Surface lineup included a kickstand that folded back to a 22-degree angle. Later, the Surface Pro 2 added a second, 55-degree angle. With the Surface Pro 3, the limitations effectively disappear. The tablet still clicks back to the 22-degree angle, but beyond that the kickstand and its “friction hinge” can support any angle up to 150 degrees. Microsoft says it has tested the hinge to hold up over repeated use. I used the Surface Pro 3 on a plane from New York to San Francisco, flying in coach. The Surface Pro 3 fit fairly well on the tray table, with a bit hanging off the edge. Typing was no problem. In key travel and spacing, Microsoft claims, the Type Cover 3 is essentially the same as the second-generation model, and the keys are still backlit. I can’t say, however, whether the Surface Pro 3 will remain comfortable to use if the person ahead of you reclines the seat—the passenger in front of me slept with the seat in the upright position. To Microsoft’s credit, I was able to use the Surface Pro 3 with the Type Cover comfortably on my lap, and I typed on it for extended periods. The real key to so-called lapability lies in a tweak that Microsoft made to the Type Cover 3. Click it in, and it resembles the previous
The Type Cover’s redesign gives the Surface Pro 3 greater stability when you rest the tablet on your lap.
REVIEWS & RATINGS generation’s keyboard. You’ll notice, however, a narrow strip on its long, connected edge that uses a second magnetic connection. When you fold it down, this strip raises the keyboard to a slight angle, and it reinforces the Type Cover’s connection across the entire tablet. Earlier Type Cover designs feel flimsy on your lap, but the additional support of the Type Cover 3 stabilizes the whole unit. The Type Cover 3 works with earlier Surface models, too. When I used the Surface Pro 3 on a swaying commuter train in San Francisco, the new tablet-keyboard combination offered enough stability, flexibility, and headroom to make me dismiss the old Surface Pro 2 combo immediately. I did encounter two bugs. First, after I folded up the Surface Pro 3 and then reopened it, the touchpad wouldn’t work and the cursor vanished. Rebooting solved the problem. Second, when I snapped the Type Cover 3 onto my older Surface Pro 2 to check connectivity, it worked fine—but after I reattached the Type Cover 2 to the Surface Pro 2, the Type Cover 2 failed to connect, even after several reboots. Another, older Type Cover failed to work as well. Microsoft says software updates will fix such issues with the covers.
Third time’s the charm? For all of the Surface Pro 3’s attractive qualities, you may be better served by exploring other Windows 8.1 options, be they hybrids or traditional laptops. These competitors may not have the Surface Pro 3’s gorgeous display, but they will likely cost a few hundred dollars less, boast longer battery lives, and maybe face the challenges of the airplane tray table with greater aplomb. That’s not to downplay what Microsoft has accomplished with the Surface Pro 3, however. The new model represents an improvement on all fronts. The original Surface wasn’t much of a tablet. The Surface Pro 3 certainly is.
Varidesk: A sit-stand desk with a few ergonomic issues BY MICHAEL ANSALDO IF YOU HAVEN’T heard yet, sitting will kill you. The posture in which
most of us spend the bulk of our day has been linked to every lifethreatening malady from heart disease to diabetes to cancer. Because most of our sitting is done in the workplace, a popular tool to combat this habit has been the sit-stand desk, which allows you to vary your posture. The problem is they’re expensive, frequently complex, and not every workplace offers one as an option. The Varidesk (varidesk.com) is a compelling alternative: a heightadjustable platform that sits on your “fixed” desk. Unfortunately, some significant design flaws limit its usefulness.
Watch the video at go.pcworld. com/varidesk
REVIEWS & RATINGS Simple setup
The Varidesk lifts with little effort thanks to spring assistance.
The Varidesk comes fully assembled. However, the single-monitor model we reviewed (dual-monitor models are also available) is a cumbersome 41.8 pounds, so that may be a two-person task. There’s no hardware to secure the Varidesk to your current workstation—it’s designed to balance its weight—so once it’s positioned, it’s merely a matter of loading your monitor, keyboard, and any other peripherals you want at hand. The most laborious part of setting up is making sure all your cable lengths will accommodate both sitting and standing positions. The Varidesk Single has a spacious 30-by-23-inch Varidesk Single work surface. To change the height of the Varidesk, PROS: you release levers on either • Sturdy construction side of the platform and • Easy setup manually raise or lower it • Inexpensive to one of 11 preset positions. It lifts with little CONS: effort thanks to spring • Can’t adjust keyboard and monitor assistance, but lowering it independently takes some muscle. Too big for a cubicle desk
• • Must move peripherals each time you change positions
BOTTOM LINE: Varidesk Single is a solid entry-level adjustable desk, but its size and design quirks prevent it from being a long-term sit-stand solution. $275
Rise up Varidesk trumpets that its adjustable height desks can get you from a seated to standing position in three seconds. Technically that’s true, but because the monitor and keyboard can’t be adjusted independently, getting to
P H OTO G R A P H Y BY M I C H A E L H OM N I C K
an ergonomically correct standing position—and back to a seated one— takes considerably longer. It also quickly became clear that Varidesk’s 11 positions aren’t enough to accommodate all statures. At 6 feet tall, I needed to use the Varidesk in its fully extended position—15.5 inches above my regular desk—to get the height that would let me position my elbows at the optimum 90-degree angle. Even then, I had uses two risers to elevate my monitor so that the top of the screen was close to eye level. And because the work platform moves out as it rises up, I had to push the entire Varidesk back from the edge of my desk to get the recommended 20-30 inches between me and my monitor. But when I lowered the Varidesk to sit, I had to remove the risers and move the monitor forward to get the proper viewing height and distance for a seated position. Because the platform comes to midchest level when fully lowered, the keyboard and mouse need to be moved to the Varidesk’s keyboard tray, which slides straight out (but not up or down) with the turn of a couple of thumbscrews. All that shuffling of peripherals gets tiresome, especially if you want to change positions once each hour of the workday, as is commonly
The Varidesk Single sits on top of your existing desk.
REVIEWS & RATINGS recommended. As a result, you’ll probably end up leaving the Varidesk in one position, likely the most comfortable: sitting.
Is it for you?
It’s a fairly risk-free way to find out if you like working on your feet.
The Varidesk Single retails for $275, making it an attractive entry point to workplace wellness. If you’re intrigued by the fad, it’s a fairly risk-free way to find out if you like working on your feet. You’ll get the best results if your desk isn’t boxed into a cubicle and you use a wireless keyboard and mouse. If you’re committed to the idea of a sit-stand desk, however, the Varidesk Single is tough to recommend.
The Varidesk is easy to set up, but it doesn’t offer enough adjustment for proper sitting and standing.
Watch the video at go.pcworld. com/tosh4k
Toshiba Satellite P50t: The first laptop with a 4K display BY MICHAEL BROWN TOSHIBA’S SATELLITE P50t boasts two important firsts: It’s the first
laptop to feature a 4K display, and it’s the first to be Technicolor Color Certified. You likely have at least a passing familiarity with 4K video, but I would argue that the latter claim to fame—which you might never have heard of—deserves more praise. It’s easy to go gaga over the Satellite P50t’s (go.pcworld.com/ toshibap50t) display, which boasts a resolution of 3840 by 2160 pixels. The laptop is outfitted with a 15.6-inch screen, which means it offers an eye-popping pixel density of 282 ppi. But don’t buy this in anticipation of watching your favorite movies and TV shows in glorious 4K—there is almost no content available in that format right now. The Blu-ray format, meanwhile, will need to be overhauled before it can be used to distribute 4K movies. No one expects that to happen
REVIEWS & RATINGS before the end of 2014. And the P50t is equipped with a DVD burner, not a Blu-ray player, so you can forget about the computer upscaling Blu-ray playback from 1080p to 4K. Even if it could, the P50t’s battery will give up. In our grueling battery-rundown test, Toshiba’s machine crapped out in just 1 hour and 52 minutes.
Color calibration So let’s turn our attention to the Satellite P50t’s other first: The first laptop to be Technicolor Color Certified. You’ve probably seen the Technicolor brand in the credits of many films. The company has provided technical services to the motion-picture Toshiba Satellite industry for decades. P50t-BST2N01 Technicolor developed the Technicolor Color PROS: Certified specification as • 4K display a means to guarantee the • Technicolor Color Certification color you see on a consu• Mostly high-end specs mer computer or mobile display is accurate, withCONS: out needing to whip out • Very little 4K video content a colorimeter or other available pricey hardware. The • HDMI output limited to 30Hz at 4K spec focuses on three resolution use cases: Entertainment, • No Blu-ray drive e-commerce, and conBOTTOM LINE: sumer content creation. This is one beautiful laptop, but with In the entertainment 4K content so hard to come by, you space, Technicolor Color might be paying for more technology Certified guarantees that than you can actually use. the colors you see on your display when you’re $1800 watching a movie are exactly what the director
P H OTO G R A P H Y BY M I C H A E L H OM N I C K
Toshiba’s Satellite P50t-BST2N01 is every bit as beautiful as you’d expect.
and the cinematographer intended. When it comes to e-commerce, the spec ensures that the color of the items you buy from online retailers will match what you saw online when you placed your order. And when you’re producing your own content, you can be certain that the photos and videos you shoot will look the same on your computer as they do in your camera. Technicolor partnered with software developer Portrait Displays to achieve this goal. Portrait’s software talks to the computer’s graphics and display hardware to automatically control color settings and adjust color gamut. You’re not limited to using the Technicolor color space. Using Portrait Displays’ Chroma Tune app, you can switch between Technicolor and a “cool” color space for working with productivity apps, for instance. Put these two technologies together and you get an absolutely gorgeous display. The 4K demo footage Toshiba preloaded on the
REVIEWS & RATINGS
Chroma Tune lets you choose from five color spaces.
machine looks amazing, as do games—when you turn the resolution down to 1920x1080 to get a playable frame rate, that is. At that res, the P50t delivered BioShock Infinite at 37.4 frames per second. There’s just one major shortcoming: Glare. There are times when the Satellite P50t’s screen looks like a 15.6-inch mirror. The problem is particularly acute with nighttime scenes.
Specs and performance Most of the rest of the P50t’s specs are impressive: The machine is powered by Intel’s Core i7-4700HQ processor, augmented by 16GB of DDR3/1600 memory. And it has a discrete graphics processor in the form of an AMD Radeon R9 M265X, which taps 2GB of its own GDDR5 memory. Toshiba includes gigabit ethernet and an Intel Dual-band Intel Wireless-AC 7260 adapter, so you can take full advantage of your 802.11ac router’s excellent streaming capabilities.
Toshiba Satellite P50t Review BioShock Infinite Performance 1920x1080 resolution, medium image quality Toshiba Satellite P50t (Intel Core i7-4700HQ)
37.4
Dell Inspiron 7537 (Intel Core i7-4500U))
39.5
HP Zbook 15 Mobile Workstation (Intel Core i7-4800MQ)
15.4
Dell XPS 15 (Intel Core i7-4702HQ)
44.0
0
10
20
30
40
50
FRAMES PER SECOND. LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE.
Games look great on the Satellite P50t’s display, but don’t try playing AAA titles at its native resolution.
All four of the Satellite P50t’s USB ports are USB 3.0, and there’s an SD memory card reader in front. Although its key travel is very short, the backlit island-style keyboard felt great under my fingers In terms of overall performance, The Satellite P50t trailed HP’s workoriented ZBook 15 Mobile Workstation and Dell’s entertainmentfocused XPS 15. But the Toshiba clobbered Dell’s Inspiron 7537. While all four machines are outfitted with Core i7 processors, the Dell’s Core i7-4500U is only a dual core and that PC is equipped with a 5400 rpm mechanical hard drive. The Toshiba is equipped with a 1TB hybrid hard drive (a 1TB 5400 rpm hard drive augmented by 8GB of solid-state memory). The HP has a mechanical drive, too, but it spins its platters
REVIEWS & RATINGS
Toshiba Satellite P50t Review Laptop WorldBench 9 Performance Toshiba Satellite P50t (Intel Core i7-4700HQ)
87
Dell Inspiron 7537 (Intel Core i7-4500U))
65
HP Zbook 15 Mobile Workstation (Intel Core i7-4800MQ)
96
Dell XPS 15 (Intel Core i7-4702HQ)
100
0
20
40
60
80
100
LAPTOP WORLDBENCH 9 SCORE. LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE.
The Toshiba’s WorldBench score would be even higher if it had an SSD instead of a hybrid hard drive.
at 7200 rpm. The XPS 15, meanwhile, comes with a 512GB SSD, and SSDs have an outsized impact on our benchmarks.
Is it just too early for 4K? The Toshiba Satellite P50t delivers the highest resolution of any laptop you can buy today. But you won’t want to play games at its native resolution, and there’s almost no entertainment content to watch on its beautiful screen. The day will come when 4K movies are as common as 1080p video is today. Until then, dropping $1800 for a Toshiba Satellite P50t buys bragging rights and a color-accurate display more than anything else.
Karma is a Wi-Fi hotspot that provides a shareable 4G connection to the Internet.
Karma hotspot offers no-nonsense pricing BY JOHN P. MELLO JR. THE TERM “PAYASYOUGO” seems to mean one thing to mobile carriers and something else to the rest of the human race. For instance, with my Verizon Pay As You Go mobile service, I have to pay for more data every month whether I need it or not. Sure, I’m not stuck in a contract, but if I fail to buy minutes in any given month, the company will disconnect my phone and wipe my accumulated minutes clean.
REVIEWS & RATINGS
The hotspot can handle up to eight users without any performance issues.
True pay-as-you-go service would allow you to pay a flat amount and only buy more data when you need it—whether that’s next month or next year. That’s exactly the model Karma (yourkarma. com) uses. To get started with the service, you must buy a mobile hotspot from Karma for $99. You can buy data at the same time, or purchase it later ($14 for 1GB, $59 for 5GB, or $99 for 10GB). Once you buy it, it’s yours until you use it—free of any time restrictions. You can also earn free Karma data: When your hotspot is on, anyone with a Karma PROS: account can connect to • True pay-as-you-go pricing the Internet with it, and so • 100MB of data awarded when can others without an someone uses your hotspot to sign account. These new up for a Karma account customers can set up an CONS: account on the fly, and • Coverage limited to WiMax in when they do so, they 80 cities receive 100MB of data for • Data more expensive than what’s free—and so do you. available with some carriers’ monthly plans BOTTOM LINE: Karma’s mobile hotspot and pay-asyou-go service is worthwhile for anyone with intermittent cellular data needs. You pay more for data than with some other plans, but it never expires. $99 plus data charges
The more, the merrier
The device itself is 2.25 inches square and a quarter inch thick, with LEDs on the edge that display information about power, Wi-Fi connectivity, and 4G coverage. According to Karma, the hotspot can handle up to
eight users without suffering performance degradation. When someone connects to the Internet through your hotspot, Karma charges data usage to that person’s account. This is useful for families; each member can have a Karma account, but you only need to buy one hotspot.
Near-LTE speeds Karma relies on the Clearwire network, which Sprint owns. That limits Karma’s coverage to about 80 U.S. cities. However, Karma plans to expand to the full Sprint network sometime this summer, which will give it nationwide coverage and access to LTE speeds. According to Karma, its hotspot delivers download speeds between 3 and 6 megabits per second, and upload speeds of about 1.5 Mbps. Those are near-LTE numbers. Speed tests performed with Ookla Speedtest and SpeedOf.me backed up those claims. For common Internet tasks, such as Web surfing and email, Karma’s hotspot provided excellent coverage with no noticeable latency. Karma offers options for both Android and Video clips and streaming audio also iOS, but all you really need is a browser. played smoothly. Karma is designed for people who occasionally need Internet access on the go and who don’t stray too far from major metropolitan areas—although that will change once Karma gains access to the full Sprint network. At $14 per gigabyte, its data prices are more expensive than those of many alternative services, but less expensive than purchasing access in hotels and airports. What’s most appealing about Karma is its flexible “buy it and keep it” model, which allows you to pay for data only as you need it.
REVIEWS & RATINGS
NEC MultiSync EA274WMi’s ‘human sensor’ puts it to sleep BY JAMES GALBRAITH THE NEC MULTISYNC EA274WMi (go.pcworld.com/necea274) is a 27-inch widescreen monitor with a special talent: It can sense when no one is nearby and then dim the display accordingly. But even aside from that power-saving feature, this monitor is impressive, with high-quality IPS panels, LED backlights, and an antiglare screen.
The specs The 2560-by-1440-pixel monitor connects to your Mac or PC via DisplayPort, HDMI, DVD-D, or VGA, and offers a four-port USB hub for peripherals. You can also connect two sources to the display and use NEC’s Picture By Picture feature to view both simultaneously. The monitor has built-in speakers, as well as a port for plugging in headphones—handy features, especially for people using the display with tower computers. One thing the EA274WMi doesn’t offer is a DisplayPort Out connection, which is a nice-to-have but rare feature that allows you to daisy-chain monitors. The all-black EA274WMi has an ergonomically flexible stand that makes it easy to adjust to a comfortable computing position. It can pivot between portrait and landscape modes, swivel left to right, and tilt forward and back, plus it offers a generous five inches of height adjustment. The on-screen menus offer lots of customization options, with five colortemperature presets and native, programmable color settings, and DICOM simulation for medical imaging use.
The sensor The EA274WMi’s aforementioned ability to know when a person is nearby is due what NEC dubs the Human Sensor, which resides along the bottom edge of the bezel. When it senses that no one is Among its many adjustments, the stand lets you pivot from landscape to portrait.
REVIEWS & RATINGS
You can move side to side from the center of the screen and see no obvious color shifts.
present, the screen dims. When it thinks that someone is in front of it, the display returns to its previous brightness settings. You can opt to have the sensor activate in anywhere from 1 to 255 seconds, you can specify how close someone should be to the sensor to activate and deactivate the power reduction, and you can set the level of dimming to either 51 percent (Light) or 78 percent (Deep). The feature worked well, but it’s really a motion sensor, not a human sensor. Waving a stick in front of the screen will trigger the feature just as effectively. The EA274WMi’s screen looked great in all our tests. You can move from side to side or up and down from the center of the screen without seeing any obvious color shifts, thanks to the IPS panel. Grays were neutral and whites looked a little warm NEC EA274WMi compared to other displays I’ve recently PROS: tested, but I find that • Highly adjustable stand preferable to the overly • Wide viewing angles cool screens I often see. • Power-saving features Skin tones looked natural, CONS: and text was easy to read, • No DisplayPort Out connection even at small point sizes. I for daisy-chaining monitors found no dead or stuck BOTTOM LINE: pixels in our full-screen solid-color tests and I saw If you’re looking for a large, highno issues with screen quality, IPS-based monitor with an uniformity or light environmentally friendly disposition, leakage. the NEC MultiSync EA274WMi is a great choice. $799
Asus PB287Q: A budgetfriendly Ultra HD display BY JAMES GALBRAITH UNTIL RECENTLY, SHARP’S $3500 PN-K321 was about as affordable as 4K desktop monitors got. With the $649 PB287Q (go.pcworld.com/ pb287q), Asus joins Dell and Samsung in making Ultra HD desktop monitors affordable for consumers. Are today’s applications, hardware, and operating systems ready to make the leap? Our
REVIEWS & RATINGS tests of the PB287Q revealed mixed results. The 28-inch PB287Q has an impressive list of features, including 3840-by-2160-pixel resolution, LED backlighting, two HDMI 1.4 ports, a single DisplayPort 1.2 connection, a bright 330 cd/m2 luminance rating, and a 1-millisecond gray-to-gray response time. It offers picture-in-picture as well as pictureby-picture support, MHL support, and decent built-in 2W speakers. The highly flexible stand has height adjustment, pivot, swivel, and tilt capabilities.
No USB hub On the downside, the PB287Q lacks a USB hub for connecting peripherals. Its on-screen menu system is clunky, as well: Six dots and a power icon near the lower-right corner are meant to guide you when you’re using the physical buttons on the back. I found myself hitting the wrong button Asus PB287Q more often than not. PROS: Frequently the menu timed out as I fiddled • Inexpensive around trying to press the • Ultrahigh resolution right combination of keys. CONS: You use those menus to • Limited viewing angles access the brightness, • Muted colors color, and speaker-volume BOTTOM LINE: settings; as well as eight If you require an Ultra HD display, SplendidPlus display the PB287Q is an affordable, modes, including Reading, serviceable option. Theater, sRGB, Game, and Standard modes. The $649 Standard mode proved to
The Asus PB287Q 4K display includes two HDMI 1.4 ports and one DisplayPort 1.2, but it lacks a USB hub.
be the best option for our tests. Providing four times as many pixels as 1080p high-definition displays, 4K monitors require serious graphics horsepower to run at full resolution and standard refresh rates. The PB287Q can run at 60Hz when connected to a compatible graphics card via DisplayPort 1.2. Refresh rates are limited to 30Hz over HDMI 1.4. When it’s running at 30Hz, you can almost feel the cursor drag across the screen. Playing games at 60Hz over DisplayPort 1.2 seemed smooth enough, however, and I’ll attribute any lag I saw to the graphics card’s struggles to support the high resolution.
Early days for 4K Apple’s 4K support extends only to recent MacBook Pros and to the new Mac Pros. OS X 10.9.3 dramatically improves the look of Ultra HD monitors in both native and scaled resolution modes, but many applications are not optimized for Ultra HD—at full resolution, icons and menu text are tiny. You can increase text and icon size easily enough, but many times I found my aging eyes squinting at itty-bitty text. On PC graphics cards, 4K support is more common. Windows 8.1 does a good job of displaying its icons, menus, and other screen elements at reasonable sizes regardless of the resolution setting. I wasn’t able to get my hands on the affordable Dell P2815Q or
The PB287Q can pivot into portrait mode.
REVIEWS & RATINGS
Make sure your existing hardware is compatible with DisplayPort 1.2.
Samsung U28D590D, so I had to compare the Asus with the much more expensive Sharp PN-K321 (go.pcworld.com/sharppnk321). Next to the Sharp and its IGZO screen, the PB287Q has a limited angle of view: Colors shift as you move left, right, up, or down from center. Text on the Asus had a grainy, slightly broken appearance, as if some pixels were missing; it looked better from a bit of a distance, but it was never as clean as the text on the Sharp. The 31.5-inch Sharp has a pixel density of 140 ppi; the Asus, 157 ppi. That increased pixel density makes icons and screen elements appear smaller, which is more of a problem at very high resolutions. In test photos, the colors on the Asus were a little muted compared to those on the Sharp, but again, the PB287Q costs one-fifth as much as the PN-K321. If you need an Ultra HD display to view large images or to work on 4K video, you’ll find the Asus PB287Q to be a serviceable choice. It works best with DisplayPort 1.2, so make sure that your existing hardware is compatible.
TOP 10 for
FIXES
COMMON PC PROBLEMS THE BEST OF PCWORLD’S ANSWER LINE BY LINCOLN SPECTOR ILLUSTRATION BY MARIO WAGNER
TOP 10 ANSWER LINE FIXES
I’ve
been answering questions from PCWorld readers since 1997, and I think I’ve read about every problem that Windows and PC hardware can provide. But some questions pop up over and over again. Others rarely come up, but nevertheless involve important issues that every user needs to know about. Still, others are unanswerable, and the only advice I can give is to have a professional look at the PC.
Attack of the Blue Screen of Death
Recover deleted files
Back up your data files
PAGE 75
PAGE 77
PAGE 73
Protect your privacy while browsing PAGE 79
Here are Speed up a slow PC without buying new hardware
10 ANSWER LINE FIXES every Windows user needs.
PAGE 81
A slow Internet connection when you’re paying for a fast one PAGE 83
Archive files so they’ll stay around for years
One antivirus program is better than two
Securely wipe sensitive files— or your entire hard drive
Actually, you do need to share your passwords
PAGE 85
PAGE 87
PAGE 89
PAGE 91
1}
Attack of the Blue Screen of Death PROBLEM: You’re working on an important project, and suddenly your screen displays nothing but white text against a blue background. If it happens once, you curse, reboot, and hope for the best. But if you’re getting these screens frequently, you’ve got a problem that needs fixing. FIX: Microsoft calls these stop errors, but everyone else prefers a more descriptive label: The Blue Screen of Death (BSoD). They’re not as common as they used to be, but BSoDs still happen (I experienced one two days ago). If you get one, curse, reboot, and hope for the best. But if you’re getting them frequently, you’ve got a problem that needs fixing. The trick is to find information about your particular BSoD, and
You’ll find useful data below the first paragraph and under ‘Technical information’.
TOP 10 ANSWER LINE FIXES
You can also get info on the BSoD after rebooting.
then—since that information usually comes in an obtuse form—search the Internet for more practical advice. What should you look for when the BSoD is in front of you? You’ll find useful data immediately below the first paragraph, and under the “Technical information” label near the bottom of the screen. Since you can’t use Windows’ Snipping Tool to capture a BSoD screen, you’ll need to write down the important information on paper. Or you can use a camera or phone to photograph the screen. Just don’t expect a great-looking photo—or even an easily readable one. You can also get information on the BSoD after you’ve rebooted: If you get a “Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown” message, you’re in luck. Click View problem details for information. You can also click Check for solution, but don’t expect much help there. You can also get information, after rebooting, via the free program BlueScreenView (go.pcworld.com/bluescreen). Whichever way you get the info, intelligent use of a search engine can probably bring up something useful. If it doesn’t, here are some other tests you might try: Check the health of your RAM with Memtest86+ (memtest.org). Update your drivers with SlimDrivers (slimwareutilities.com). Diagnose your hard drive with HD Tune (hdtune.com).
> > >
2}
Recover deleted files PROBLEM: Now you see them, now you don’t. Files are like that sometimes. So where are they? Are you sure you don’t have a backup somewhere?
FIX: Lost files can usually be recovered—if you discover the loss soon enough. But every time you write to the hard drive, you lower the likelihood of a successful recovery. So use that computer as little as possible until the files are recovered or you’ve given up hope. Try these solutions, in this order: Check the Recycle Bin Windows stores “deleted” files here as a safety measure. You’ll find the icon in the upper-left corner of your screen. if you
File Recovery programs such as Recuva are easy to use.
TOP 10 ANSWER LINE FIXES
IF YOU BACKUP your hard drive—or at least your libraries— regularly, then your files are probably preserved there.
find the files there, select them, right-click them, and choose Restore.
Use your backup If you back up your hard drive—or at least your libraries—on a regular basis, your files are probably preserved there. I don’t know which backup program you use, so I can’t tell you exactly how to search for and recover the files. It’s generally a pretty intuitive process. And if you don’t back up, maybe it’s time to get into the habit. It won’t help you this time, but it could the next. Try file recovery software Even a file that’s no longer in the Recycle Bin may still exist. Windows doesn’t overwrite the actual ones and zeros until another file needs the drive space. That’s why I told you to avoid using the PC as much as possible. There are several good file recovery programs available. I recommend Recuva Portable (piriform.com). It’s easy to use and has a very good track record. And it sometimes shows you the images that it can recover. (I’ve seen it recover images that it could not preview.) It’s also free. And, since it’s portable, which means that you don’t have to install it, you can use it on your PC without writing to the hard drive. Download the program on another computer, and unzip it to a folder on a flash drive. Then plug the flash drive into the PC with the missing files, and run it from there. Hire a professional This is the last resort, if none of the above suggestions work. There are many data recovery services available, and if your drive is still working, you probably don’t need one of the more expensive ones. I’ve never used one of these services, so I can’t recommend a particular company. Ask friends for a recommendation, or find someone local on Yelp.
3}
Back up your data files PROBLEM: Not backing up is like not wearing a seatbelt. You can go months or even years without a problem, then disaster strikes and you’re in serious trouble.
FIX: It’s a simple rule: Never have only one copy of anything. You absolutely must backup your data files every day. And no, you don’t have to copy each of those files every day. Any decent file backup program can do an incremental backup—copying only the files that have been created or changed since the last backup. By data files, I mean your documents, photos, spreadsheets, songs, and so on. If you back up all of your Libraries, or everything in the Users folder, you should get all of these. You might also consider backing up your system—Windows and your applications—although this isn’t essential. Should some disaster render Windows unusable, you can always go through the long process
Use a program capable of both file and image backups.
TOP 10 ANSWER LINE FIXES
of reinstalling the operating system, personalizing the settings, and reinstalling all of your programs. But if you have a system backup, you can restore that in much less time and with much less effort. The only way to reliably backup Windows is with an image backup — which creates a record of everything on the drive or the partition. You don’t have to do this regularly. I back up the system four times a year. Windows 7 and 8 both come with decent backup programs capable of both file and image backups. I prefer the free version of Easeus ToDo Backup (todo-backup.com), which is more versatile and also does both.
Backup options What do you back up to? External hard drives are reasonably cheap and fast, and are clearly the best options for the two programs I just recommended. But you might want to consider online services that will back your files up to the cloud. Online backup puts a great deal of physical distance between your computer and the backup--the same fire, flood, or burglar won’t deprive you of both. But it’s slower and, in the long run, more expensive. I’ve been using MozyHome (mozy.com) for cloud backup for years. I can’t say it’s better than its competitors, but it works reliably.
Online services can back up your files to the cloud.
Most browsers offer a privacy mode that allows you to visit sites without being tracked.
4}
Protect your privacy while browsing PROBLEM: It once sounded like paranoia; now it’s more like common sense. Are there some safe and secure ways to access the Internet without being tracked by crooks, corporations, and governments?
FIX: There’s no such thing as complete, 100-percent perfect privacy or security. But you can lock down your Internet access, making a security breach much less likely. Your browser’s privacy mode Most browsers have a mode that allows you to visit sites without being tracked. There’s no history, and no cookies. But you need to know these modes’ limits. The sites you visit will still see your router’s IP address. And your ISP still knows who you’re visiting. And what your ISP knows, the government can find out. Here’s how to enter privacy modes: Internet Explorer: Select Safety uInPrivate Browsing.
TOP 10 ANSWER LINE FIXES
Chrome: Click the menu icon in upper-right corner and select New incognito window. Firefox: Press to bring up the browser’s menu. Then select FileuNew Private Window.
Browser add-ins The right tools can add layers of protection to your browser. Here are two free ones I recommend. With MaskMe (abine.com/maskme) in Firefox or Chrome, you can click an email address field and have it provide a disposable address. Mail sent to that address will be forwarded to your real address. If you pay $5 a month or $45 a year, MaskMe can also provide temporary credit card numbers. Another add-in, Ghostery (ghostery.com) protects you from commercial spies. When you load a webpage, it displays all the tracking services using that site. You can block services you don’t want. However, Ghostery’s parent company, Evidon, takes money from advertisers, creating a possible conflict of interest.
More complete disguises These solutions still allow websites to see your IP address and allow your ISP to track your surfing habits. You can use a virtual private network (VPN) to hide your IP address. Or you can use the Tor Browser (torproject.org), which runs in privacy mode and routes its signal through a series of servers to hide where you’re coming from. It’s about as safe as you can get on the Web.
The Tor Browser hides where you’re really coming from.
Use Windows Task Manager to locate the processes that are hogging up resources.
5}
Speed up a slow PC without buying new hardware PROBLEM: If a once-fast computer has slowed to a crawl, you can’t really blame the hardware. Sure, you may be able to improve speed by adding RAM, upgrading the CPU, or replacing the hard drive with an SSD. But none of those solutions address the underlying problem. Your hardware isn’t underpowered. It’s overloaded.
FIX: Cleaning out Windows will very likely speed up a PC. And no, I’m not suggesting reinstalling the operating system. There are less drastic fixes. Look for hog processes Your computer may be running a poorly-written process that’s hogging a lot of resources. To find out, right-click the taskbar and select Start Task Manager. Click the Processes tab, then the CPU column header. The top items will be the ones hogging the CPU. If you see an obvious culprit, close the program that’s running the process. If that doesn’t work, click the End Process button and confirm that you really want to kill this process. Should that fix the problem, avoid using that program in the future. Or find a better-written replacement.
TOP 10 ANSWER LINE FIXES
Otherwise, back on the Process tab, click the Memory column header and see if you can find the culprit there. Clean out autoloaders When Windows boots, it automatically loads additional programs. These can slow the PC down. The trick is to bring up Windows’ list of autoloaders, and by disabling and re-enabling them, and rebooting, figure out which ones are causing the problem. In Windows XP, Vista, or 7, click Start, type PVFRQÀJ, and press . Once System Configuration comes up, click the Startup tab. You can disable items by unchecking them. If you’re using Windows 8, right-click the taskbar and select Start Task Manager. If you see a Startup tab, click it. If you don’t, click More details, then Startup. To disable an item, right-click it and select Disable. Check for malware I doubt an infection causes such a problem. But just to be on the safe side, scan for it, anyway. Do less multitasking The more programs you run, the slower they will all get. Try changing your working habits to have less programs up at the same time. Turn off Aero Windows 7 and Vista use a technology called Aero to improve the aesthetic look of the screen. It’s not necessary, and it slows down the PC a bit.
In Windows 7, Vista, or XP, you can disable autoloaders by unchecking items in the Startup tab.
In Windows 8, you can rightclick the items in the Startup tab and select ‘Disable’.
Malware scanners are a good addition to antivirus programs.
6}
One antivirus program is better than two PROBLEM: Running two antivirus programs is a bit like mixing a fine, vintage Cabernet with breakfast cereal. Each is good in its own right, but the combination may have unpleasant side effects.
FIX: Before I explain why, let’s get some definitions out of the way. The term antivirus has come to mean a program that launches when you boot your PC and stays running in memory, protecting you in real time not just from viruses (which are, technically speaking, passé), but trojans, rootkits, and all other forms of malware. Two antivirus programs, loaded and running simultaneously, will be, at the very least, redundant. And in this case, you don’t want redundancy.
TOP 10 ANSWER LINE FIXES
Keep in mind that every program running uses RAM and clock cycles, potentially slowing down every other running program. A well-made antivirus program has a very small footprint, and doesn’t slow things down significantly. But two such programs running together will slow it down twice as much. And it could be worse. The two programs may conflict with each other—remember that every time you download a file, both will try to scan it. Conflicts could result in other programs failing to work and Windows becoming less stable. If you’re worried that one antivirus program isn’t enough, you can augment it with an on-demand malware scanner. Unlike antivirus programs, they don’t hang around. You load one, update its database, scan your hard drive with it, and close it when you’re done. I use two of these programs—the free versions of SuperAntiSpyware (superantispyware.com) and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (malwarebytes. org). Once a week, I scan my hard drive with one or the other.
On-demand malware scanners don’t run constantly like antivirus programs.
The free Eraser program integrates with Windows Explorer.
7}
Eraser also offers the option to erase files the next time you boot.
Securely wipe sensitive files —or your entire hard drive PROBLEM: When you delete a file, the data doesn’t actually go away—even after you’ve emptied the Recycle Bin. The actual bits remain written on the drive until some other disk activity writes over them. Even when you format a drive, the files are still there for those who want and know how to read them.
FIX: If you want to truly and securely delete a file, or the contents of an entire drive, you need software that will overwrite the space where the file once sat. Fortunately, several free programs can do this. First, I recommend Eraser (eraser.heidi.ie) which integrates with Windows Explorer. Once it’s installed, you can just right-click a file or folder and select Eraser. There’s even an option to erase the file the next time you boot—handy if Windows won’t let you erase it now. Another option: Delete the files the conventional way, empty the recycle bin, then use CCleaner (piriform.com)to overwrite your drive’s free space. This extremely useful tool can do all sorts of Windows
TOP 10 ANSWER LINE FIXES
TO SECURELY delete a file, you need software that will overwrite the space where the file once sat.
scrubbing chores. You’ll find CCleaner’s Drive Wiper tool in the Tools tab. Both of these programs offer various wiping techniques that overwrite the drive space multiple times. The implication, of course, is that overwriting a file 35 times is more secure than overwriting it only once. But according to Russell Chozick of Flashback Data (a company that does forensic data recovery for law enforcement organizations as well as conventional data recovery), one pass is enough with today’s drives. Chozick told me that it “used to be possible to see what was overwritten, but now data is too dense, [making] a single-pass overwrite sufficient.”
8}
A slow Internet connection when you’re paying for a fast one PROBLEM: Almost no one gets the Internet performance that their ISP advertises, but the difference between advertised and real speed should be reasonably close.
FIX: Almost no one gets the Internet performance that his or her ISP advertises. Variables make Internet speeds impossible to predict, and the providers advertise the best possible theoretical speed. But the difference between the advertised speed and the real one should be reasonably close. If you’re regularly getting less than 70 percent of what you were promised, and the price you’re paying isn’t amazingly low, you’ve got a serious bottleneck. (If you don’t know how to test your Internet connection, visit speedtest.net and click the big BEGIN TEST button.)
Test your Internet speed as the first step.
TOP 10 ANSWER LINE FIXES
THE BOTTLENECK may be on the ISP’s end, but it may also be on yours. A few diagnostics may tell you who to blame.
That bottleneck may be on the ISP’s end, but it may also be on yours. A few diagnostics may tell you who to blame: First, try another computer. If you’re getting acceptable performance on one computer but not on another, you can’t blame the ISP. Next, consider and test the way your computer connects to the router. If you’re using WiFi, try ethernet. If you’re using ethernet, try another ethernet port on the router, or try another cable. Try replacing some other cables, such as the one connecting the modem to the router. If that doesn’t work, try the one connecting the modem to the wall (and I don’t mean the AC power). Try updating the firmware for the router and, if that doesn’t work, the modem. Check the manufacturers’ websites for firmware updates. If none of these tests solve the problem, try plugging the PC directly into the modem. You may need to change some operating system settings to make this work. Check with your ISP about them. If this solves the problem, you need a new router. Also, consider replacing your modem. Your ISP may provide you one, or you may have to buy one on your own. If none of these solve the problem, you’re now allowed to blame your ISP. If they can’t or won’t fix it, consider taking your business elsewhere.
9}
Archive files so they’ll stay around for years PROBLEM: People worry a lot about archiving digital files for long periods of time. The concern is legitimate.
FIX: A few precautions and educated guesses will improve the likelihood that your great-grandchildren will enjoy your wedding photos. Let’s consider software first. Stick with popular file formats that everyone uses and that aren’t controlled by one company. And just to be safe, if it’s possible, save the same files in more than one format. Save and store documents in .docx, .doc, .pdf, and .html. For photos,
M-Discs are much more stable than other burnable discs.
TOP 10 ANSWER LINE FIXES
YOU NEED A special drive to burn M-Discs. But once burned, they can be read on any DVD drive.
go with .jpg and .png. For music, use .mp3 and .wav. formats. Video is a real problem, because the format standards aren’t real standards. A device that can play one .avi file may not be able to play another. Your best bet is to burn the files to video DVDs or Blu-ray discs. Which brings us to the next question: On what media should you save these files? First, keep them on your main internal storage—a hard drive, SSD, or cloud service. And make sure the files are included in your regular daily backup routine. Then, for added protection, burn them to special, archival optical discs. Your best bet here are probably M-Discs (mdisc.com). Burning an M-Disc is a bit like carving the bits in granite, and the company claims that they’ll last for 1,000 years. Is that claim accurate? I can’t tell you for another 999 years. But I’ve seen government test reports suggesting that M-Discs are far more stable than other burnable discs. You need a special drive to burn M-Discs. But once burned, they can be read on any DVD drive (Blu-ray M-Discs are on the way). I can’t say for sure whether optical drives will be available in the future, but I suspect that they will be—even if no longer common—for a very long time. If enough people have discs to read, there will be profits in making drives.
10}
Actually, you do need to share your passwords PROBLEM: In our password-protected digital world, how do you prepare for that inevitable day when you die or otherwise become incapacitated? This is no small problem. When you’re gone, or have otherwise lost the ability to remember or communicate, loved ones will need access to your email, contacts, bank accounts, and more. Without your pre-planned help, this can be quite a challenge.
FIX: If you don’t believe me, check out Google’s page for Accessing a deceased person’s mail. You have to gather up and snail-mail several items, including the death certificate (each official copy of which comes with a price).
Accessing email without a password requires a lot of paperwork.
TOP 10 ANSWER LINE FIXES
YOU’LL NEED A password manager —a program on your PC that stores passwords in an encrypted database.
Part 2 of the process “will require you to get additional legal documents, including an order from a U.S. court and/or additional materials.” It would be a lot easier if someone you trust had your Google password—and other important passwords, as well. One solution is to print out a hard copy of your passwords and store it in a safe deposit box. But you’d have to repeat the process every time you change a password. Not so good.
The better option Pick someone who you really trust. Your spouse is an obvious choice. Or a very close friend or relative. It could even be your lawyer or accountant. For brevity’s sake, I’ll refer to this person as your executor. You’ll need a password manager—a program on your PC that allows you to store your passwords in an encrypted database. Your executor will need a password manager, as well, although it doesn’t have to be the same one. Give your executor a few key passwords—those for your Windows and mobile logons, your email account, and, of course, your password manager. Make sure they store these passwords safely in their own encrypted password manager. If your relationship with the executor is personal rather than professional, add their key passwords to your manager, as well. And, of course, when you change these few key passwords, make sure to put the new ones in the other person’s password manager. Want to get more Answer Line help? Read this issue’s Answer Line column, “on page 124.
News, tips, and reviews covering phones, tablets, apps, and all the other tech in your life.
TechHive helps you find your tech sweet spot. We steer you to products you’ll love and show you how to get the most out of them. www.techhive.com | Follow us
5 cool ways
to use business cards in EVERNOTE BY MICHAEL ANSALDO
ILLUSTRATION BY REBECCA MOCK
BUSINESS CARDS IN EVERNOTE
get started
B
usiness cards get a bum rap. They create more clutter than connections, haters say, having been made obsolete by sophisticated contact management Web services and apps (go. pcworld.com/digitizecards). But Evernote disagrees. Its addition of a business-card camera to its iOS app and its recent partnership with LinkedIn (go.pcworld.com/ everlink) suggest that the company is determined to restore some of the business card’s former glory and transform the way we use it. Here are five cool ways you can leverage Evernote’s features to make business cards work for you.
BUSINESS CARDS IN EVERNOTE
Evernote pulls in your contact’s LinkedIn info.
link to LinkedIn
1
LinkedIn’s network comprises more than 300 million professionals, and odds are that the people you’re doing business with are among them. As soon as you scan a business card, Evernote captures all the owner’s LinkedIn contact info, including their photo and, most importantly, a link to their LinkedIn profile. Now you can easily see the person’s industry experience, skills and expertise, recommendations, and other professional details. Don’t forget to add them to your network.
BUSINESS CARDS IN EVERNOTE
Geotag where you met your new contact for easy recall.
add context
2
Names, faces, and places can quickly get hazy after a whirlwind conference or networking event. To help you make sense of all your collected contacts once you’re back at the office, use Evernote’s location and tagging features as soon as you scan that business card. The first allows you to geotag the location of your meeting by dropping a pin anywhere on a global map. The second feature gives you deeper context and is limited only by your imagination: Tag all job candidates with the name of the position you’re interviewing for, or tag all the contacts you met at a meet-and-greet with the name of the event. Doing this will also make sorting your contacts later a breeze.
BUSINESS CARDS IN EVERNOTE
Set yourself a reminder to follow up.
set reminders
3
The whole point of a business card is to provide contact information. To make sure you follow up with your new contact, turn their business card into an action item by setting a reminder (go.pcworld.com/ enreminder). If you end up working with that person in some capacity, you can add reminders to relevant notes to help you manage deadlines, stay apprised of meetings, and keep timesensitive tasks on track, or just to remind yourself that it’s time to reach out again.
BUSINESS CARDS IN EVERNOTE
Use the notes field to record important information about your new contact.
make notes
4
Scanning business cards into Evernote is about more than creating a digital Rolodex. Because each scanned card becomes a “note,” you can add content to it. Take advantage of this capability to jot impressions of your new contact, record notes from subsequent meetings, log your communications, or capture any other important information. And if your company uses Evernote for Business (go.pcworld.com/ evernotebiz), you can create a business notebook around your new content-rich contact with your colleagues.
BUSINESS CARDS IN EVERNOTE
Build a content-rich notebook around your contact to collect emails, articles, and other relevant documents.
build a notebook
5
Adding notes to a business card is a great way to capture ad-hoc information. But as your relationship with your contact deepens, you’ll probably need something more robust. To accommodate your increasing collaboration, build a notebook in Evernote around your business card. In it you can corral all email correspondence with that person, create more-detailed notes, and add relevant articles and information from the Web with Evernote Web Clipper (go.pcworld.com/webclipper). Now you’ve centralized all your material about that contact, with their business card as the visual cue.
BUSINESS CARDS IN EVERNOTE
better business cards
T
hese are just a few of the many ways to put your contacts to good use. With Evernote’s wealth of productivity and contact-management features—and the company is adding more of them all the time—you can power your business card collection in ways your old Rolodex never dreamed of. You’ll be able to build truly productive working relationships with your business contacts—not just a dusty collection of business cards.
Join The Nature Conservancy to plant a billion trees, one tree at a time, in the fight to end climate change at plantabillion.org
HERE’S HOW CONTENTS 104
Passing on an old PC? Make sure your data is truly gone
111
Create 3D worksheets in Excel 2013
118
121
Hassle-Free PC Turn any browser tab into a basic text editor
124
Answer Line Don’t use the same external drive for both backup and storage
Use an Xbox One controller for your PC games
HERE’S HOW
How to build, maintain, and fix your tech gear.
I L LU ST R AT I O N BY DA N I E L D OW N E Y
Passing on an old PC? Make sure your data is truly gone Deleted files may still be lurking in the shadows on your old hardware. Take steps to get rid of them for good. BY CHRIS HOFFMAN
I
T’S OFTEN POSSIBLE to recover deleted files from a PC or drive,
and that’s a problem when you’re passing your tech along to someone else. You don’t want people getting their hands on your private stuff, whether it’s sensitive financial data, business documents, or scandalous photos.
Fortunately, you can take steps to protect your data, whether you’re disposing of a PC, an external hard drive, or a USB stick, or even getting rid of a mobile device (go.pcworld.com/selltech).
Mechanical hard drives, internal solid-state drives, external drives You can recover deleted files from some, but not all, types of drives. Mechanical hard drive: If your PC doesn’t have an SSD, it has an old-school mechanical hard drive with a spinning magnetic platter. When you delete files from these drives, that simply marks the data as deleted. Until new data overwrites the relevant sector, snoops can scan the drive and recover the files. Internal solid-state drives: Solid-state drives (go.pcworld.com/ssd), or SSDs, use a feature called TRIM. When you delete a file from an SSD, the operating system informs the drive, which then erases the file’s data from its memory. Doing so speeds the drive up— it’s faster to write data to empty memory than to overwrite old data—and ensures that deleted files are unrecoverable. External solid-state drives and other removable media: Only internal SSDs use TRIM. If you connect an external SSD to your computer via USB, TRIM won’t erase any files you delete, so they remain recoverable. Deleted files can also be recovered from USB flash drives, SD cards, and other types of removable media. If you have a PC with an SSD, just reinstall your operating system to erase your data. For a PC with a mechanical drive, make sure you’ve completely wiped your drive before reinstalling your OS. You’ll need to wipe any external drives as well. Here’s how you do it.
You can take steps to protect your data, whatever device you’re disposing of.
Reset your PC with Windows 8 For many years, geeks had to turn to third-party tools to wipe mechanical drives before disposing of them. Windows 8 includes a
Select the ‘Fully clean the drive’ option.
feature that makes wiping deleted files and restoring your operating system much easier. Use the Reset Your PC feature in Windows 8 or 8.1 to reset your PC to its factory state (go.pcworld.com/cleanslate). Choose the Fully clean the drive option, and Windows will overwrite the drive with junk data and then reinstall the Windows operating system. You’ll have a likenew system absent of any recoverable files.
Wipe your drive and reinstall Windows 7 For a PC running Windows 7, which doesn’t have this feature built in, you’ll want to use a disk-wiping tool (go.pcworld.com/erasedrive) such DBAN’s scary warning isn’t lying: ‘Nuke’ is in the name for a reason.
HERE’S HOW
After wiping your drive, you can reinstall Windows.
as Darik’s Boot and Nuke (dban.org) before you reinstall Windows. This free tool wipes your computer’s hard drive by overwriting it with junk data. If you’re disposing of the PC or internal drive, you’re done—you can leave the PC in this state. If you’re passing it along, you can reinstall Windows (go.pcworld.com/reinstall). Check out PCWorld’s guide to securely erasing your hard drive (go. pcworld.com/secureerase). Be careful—these tools will overwrite the entire drive, including any recovery partitions, so back up any data (go.pcworld.com/backupguide) you want to keep before proceeding.
Clean external drives Perform a full format of an external drive to wipe deleted files. Connect the drive to your computer, right-click it in Windows Explorer or File Explorer, and select Format. Uncheck the Quick Format box, as that won’t fully erase the deleted files. Repeat this process for each drive you want to wipe. In Windows XP, it was possible to recover data from a drive even after a full format. In Windows Vista and later, according to Microsoft, a full format will overwrite drive data. You can’t perform a full format from Windows 7’s installer— that’s why you have to use a tool like DBAN instead of the Format option when reinstalling Windows.
Wipe free space If you’ve already reinstalled Windows and don’t want to backtrack, you can try using a tool that wipes a drive’s free space, obliterating any leftover data—the Drive Wiper tool in Piriform’s CCleaner (piriform. com), for instance. Just wiping a drive’s free space isn’t an ideal solution, however. A full drive wipe is more foolproof because it ensures that you’ve eliminated everything.
Check your work: Try to recover deleted files yourself Use a file-recovery program like Recuva, also from Piriform, to test whether you can recover any deleted files from a drive (go.pcworld.com/ recover). Recuva scans your internal or external drives for deleted files,
CCleaner has an option that securely deletes leftover information lurking in your PC’s free space.
HERE’S HOW
displays information about them, and allows you to recover them. Perform a deep scan when prompted—it’s slower but will find more bits of deleted files. If you’ve wiped the drives properly, Recuva should not find any recoverable files. Recuva relies on the same tricks a wannabe snoop would use to recover your data. Of course, some attackers—particularly criminal organizations that target businesses—may have access to more advanced disk forensics tools.
Use encryption to protect all your files Encryption (go.pcworld.com/encryptany) secures all your files, including current and deleted ones. You can enable encryption with
If you can recover your data with Recuva, so can someone else.
the BitLocker (go.pcworld.com/bitlocker) feature built into Professional versions of Windows or the free TrueCrypt, which works in all Windows versions. (But be sure to read our story about BitLocker, on page 29, in this issue’s Consumer Watch.) TrueCrypt (go.pcworld.com/ usetruecrypt) can create encrypted containers or encrypt entire drives. You’ll have to provide an encryption passphrase to access your files. If you delete encrypted files, the deleted files will appear as meaningless gibberish to anyone who attempts to recover them but lacks that encryption key.
There’s another, more extreme option for protecting data— destroy the drive.
Destroy drives There’s another, more extreme option for protecting your data. When military organizations get rid of a hard drive (containing, say, nuclear launch codes), they destroy it—they may even melt it down or crush it into powder. You can pay to have a magnetic drive degaussed (go. pcworld.com/destroydrive)—this eliminates the magnetic field and thus all the data. Or you could just smash the drive with a hammer and a railroad spike if you want to save cash. Destroying drives is a waste of still-usable hardware. On the other hand, if you’re running a business and you have an old hard drive containing customers’ financial information, you don’t want to run the risk that such data might fall into the wrong hands.
HERE’S HOW
Create 3D worksheets in Excel 2013 BY JULIE SARTAIN
ONE OF EXCEL’S greatest tricks is the dimensional or 3D reference. This feature, which allows you to create formulas that refer to the same cell or range on multiple worksheets, simplifies the creation of complicated documents such as monthly inventories and sales reports. In Excel 2013, Microsoft beefed it up with enhanced options and formulas.
To illustrate the power and flexibility of 3D worksheets, we’ll create a year-to-date (YTD) project that calculates the utility bills for a small business for each month, with the YTD totals on the first sheet. This workbook, which contains of all the worksheets in this project, calculates the columns, rows, and multiple spreadsheets three-dimensionally. Because retyping the same data is counterproductive, we’ll create the month of January first, add the formulas for the columns and rows, and then copy this sheet 12 times (one for each month, plus the YTD sheet). Start by selecting Blank workbook from the Home menu page.
Sheet title and custom date In cell A1, type January 2014. Excel changes the format to Jan-14. Right-click that cell and choose Format Cells from the drop-down list. Choose Date from the format options; you’ll notice that there is no format listed for the month spelled out with a four-digit year. Choose
In Excel 2013’s Home Menu, select ‘Blank workbook’.
HERE’S HOW
Custom. In the Type field above the list, enter mmmm yyyy, and then click OK. Now your title says January 2014. This sample small business has four designers who rent space. They divide the rent equally, but calculate the utilities and other fees by percentage of actual use. Use the percent sign when you enter these numbers.
Enter data and format cells In cells A4 through G4, enter this data: Total, Monthly, Carrie C, Marilyn H, Pat B, Donna A, and Percent Total. In cells A5 through G5, enter this data: Utilities, Totals, 28%, 32%, 17%, 23%, and 9HULÀHG. Select cells A4 through G5 and click Center from the Ribbon bar on the Home menu tab. Note that you can center cell input both horizontally and vertically. In cells A6 through A15, enter this information: Electricity, Gas, Water, Garbage, Shop Phone, Internet, Alarm Service, Maintenance, Cleaning Services, and TOTALS. Adjust column widths to fit the data entered. In B6 through B14, enter these numbers: 646, 510, 211, 56, 165, 98, 55, 335, and 400. Select cells B6 through G15. On the Home menu tab, click Center, and then click Increase Decimal (two times) to format the numbers to two decimal places.
Enter worksheet data and format the cells.
Add and copy formulas to worksheet.
Add formulas This part should go fast if you copy all the formulas. In cell C6, enter =sum(B6*C5) and click . With your cursor on C6, press F2 to edit the formula. Position the cursor before the B in B6 (between the left parenthesis and the B). Press F4 three times, until you see a dollar sign in front of the letter B. Still in edit mode, move the cursor to the left of the letter C in C5 and press F4 twice (until you see a dollar sign in front of the number 5). Press . Your formula in C6 should look like this: =sum($B6*C$5). This little trick, called an absolute reference, locks the pieces of the formula you don’t want to change (column B and row 5).
Copy formulas Reposition your cursor to C6. Click Copy in the Ribbon bar (or press -C). Move your cursor to C7, select cells C7 through C14, and
HERE’S HOW
press . With C7 through C14 still selected, click Copy again, move your cursor to D7, select D7 through F14, and press . All the cells will perform the calculations. To verify that all the calculations are correct (in case there’s a typo somewhere), position the cursor in G6 and enter this formula: =sum(C6:F6). Then press (you can also highlight these ranges and let Excel fill in the cell locations). With your cursor in G6, click Copy, select cells G7 through G14, and press . If the numbers in column G match the numbers in column B exactly, then all your formulas are correct. Next, select cell B15 and enter this formula: =sum(B6:B14). Press . With your cursor in B15, click Copy, select cells C15 through G15, and press .
Copy and rename spreadsheets Copy this spreadsheet 12 times for a full year’s worth of data. Click inside the Sheet1 tab at the bottom of the Excel window. Right-click and select Move or Copy from the drop-down list. Check the Create a Copy box, select (move to end), and then click OK. Repeat this process. Double-click the Sheet1 tab and rename it YTD. Double-click the remaining sheet tabs, Sheet1 (2) through Sheet1 (13), and rename them with the months: Jan, Feb, and so forth, through Dec. Next, change the title of each sheet to match its tab (type over January 2014 with the correct title). Note: Keep spreadsheet tab titles as short as possible for easier dimensional calculating.
Copy the spreadsheet 12 times.
Access spreadsheets Feb through Dec and enter some random numbers in the Monthly Totals column—cells B6 through B14 (not B15, which is a formula). In our example, we have included only Jan to May.
Add 3D worksheet formulas On the YTD spreadsheet, position the cursor in B6 and enter this formula: =sum(Jan:Dec!B6). Copy this formula from B6 down to B7 through B14 (not B15, because this formula totals this column). Again, our example includes only Jan through May in the formulas. Next, select cells B6 through B14, select Copy, highlight C6 through F14, and press . The YTD spreadsheet now has the totals from the entire year. Every time you make a change in column B (Monthly Totals) on spreadsheets Jan through Dec—that is, every time you make an adjustment to the individual utility fees—the entire spreadsheet recalculates to reflect those new numbers.
Copy dimensional formulas from column B to remaining columns in YTD spreadsheet.
HERE’S HOW
In 2015, delete the numbers in column B from B6 thru B14 on all spreadsheets from Jan through Dec, and then enter the correct utility fees each month as the bills arrive. Watch the YTD spreadsheet totals change as it adds each month’s totals. Once you’ve created these spreadsheets with the formulas, you’ll never have to repeat this process.
Future edits are easy If you have to add or remove a utility from a 3D worksheet, stay inside the calculated area. For example, say you discontinue the alarm service in June 2015: Don’t change anything. Just enter a zero in that cell for July through Dec. Then, in January 2016, place your cursor on that row (on each spreadshezet, Jan through Dec, including the YTD spreadsheet) and select Delete Sheet Row (from the Home menu tab). To add a new utility, place your cursor anywhere between cells B6 and B14 and select Insert Sheet Row. Then copy the formulas for that row from the row above it. Inserting new rows inside the matrix ensures that the project-wide formulas include the new row’s numbers and formulas. If you insert rows outside the matrix, none of your calculations will include the numbers and formulas on this row unless you adjust all your formulas to include the new range. Note that when you insert a new row between B6 and B14, the TOTALS row moves down to B16, and the formula in that cell (which totals column B) changes from =sum(B6:B14) to =sum(B6:B15). Stay inside the original matrix range, and everything will calculate accurately throughout the entire project.
Once you’ve created these spreadsheets, you’ll never have to repeat the process.
Use an XBox One controller for your PC games BY JARED NEWMAN
The Xbox One can now act as a wired PC gaming controller.
MICROSOFT HAS FINALLY released Windows drivers (go.pcworld.com/ xboxwin) for its Xbox One controller, allowing the device to pull double duty as a wired controller for PC gaming. Unlike the Xbox 360 wireless controller, which required a separate dongle for PC use, all the Xbox One controller requires on a PC is a standard Micro-USB cable. The wired connection provides the power, so you don’t even need batteries. (Unfortunately, you can’t use the Xbox One controller wirelessly on a PC at this time.)
HERE’S HOW
Driver installation To set up the controller, head to Major Nelson’s blog (go.pcworld.com/ majornelson) and download the driver for either a 32-bit (x86) or a 64-bit (x64) machine. (If you’re unsure which file to grab, open Control Panel, type About in the search bar, and click System. Look under System Type to see what type of machine you’re dealing with.) Open the file you just downloaded. Amusingly enough, Windows will show an “Unknown Publisher” warning, even though the drivers are coming from Microsoft. Click Run in the box that pops up. You don’t have to plug in the controller to install the drivers. A setup wizard should appear. Read and accept the license agreement, wait for the installation to finish, and then click Finish. Now plug in your Xbox One controller. It may vibrate briefly, and
Even though the drivers come from Microsoft, they will appear with a warning message.
you should see a “driver software installed successfully” message on the System Tray. At this point, you should be ready to play. Games that support Microsoft’s Xbox 360 controller should automatically recognize the Xbox One controller without any additional setup (with some exceptions as described below).
Potential issues The biggest problem I encountered was that several of the games I tested, including Dark Souls II, Transistor, and Eldritch, would not recognize the controller. Other games, including Dishonored, Super Meat Boy, and Trials Evolution, worked fine. Uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers didn’t help, so hopefully this is just a temporary issue that Microsoft and game developers can resolve through updates. Also, the first time I installed the driver, Windows 7 showed a runtime error after I plugged in the controller, followed by an “XboxStat.exe has stopped working” error message. The controller still worked, but the messages were a nuisance. They went away after I reinstalled the driver. Finally, keep in mind that plugging the controller into a PC will break its wireless connection to the Xbox One. You’ll have to plug the controller back into the console via USB to pair them again.
The System Tray pop-up menu will let you know that your Xbox One controller is ready to use.
HASSLE-FREE PC
HERE’S HOW
BY IAN PAUL
Your Web browser has a hidden talent: it’s a fine text editor.
P H OTO G R A P H Y BY M I C H A E L H OM N I C K
Turn any browser tab into a basic text editor IF YOU’RE LOOKING for a quick-and-dirty way to take notes on your PC, you can’t beat using your browser. No, I’m not talking about online tools like Google Keep, Word Online, or any other textediting Web app. An easier way to turn your browser into a note-taking machine is to use a little snippet of HTML code that creates an offline notepad in your browser. Coding, you might ask with a shiver? Don’t worry: It’s beyond simple to use. This notepad trick works because of HTML’s “contenteditable” attribute, which can turn any part of a webpage into an interactive
Bookmark this handy little HTML notepad in your browser.
area for editing text. You can use this attribute in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera. Sorry, Internet Explorer fans, your browser of choice won’t play nice with this aspect of HTML.
Editable tabs First open a blank tab in any of the three browsers mentioned above. Then copy the HTML code below. You can find many HTML notepads online, but this is one of the most nicely formatted I’ve seen. The HTML comes courtesy of Mike Francis, a London-based Web designer and developer, who posted it to Twitter in late May: data:text/html,
After you’ve copied the code, paste it into the address bar of your open browser tab and press . That’s it. You now have a quick notepad ready to use. You can also bookmark the open tab so your notepad will be ready to go anytime you need it.
Saving your notes Here’s the catch: Every time you shut down your browser or close the notepad browser tab, your notes will disappear. As a result, this
HERE’S HOW
notepad is easiest to use for taking notes that don’t need to stick around. I’ve been using it, for example, to create daily task lists that I don’t feel the need to archive. If you want to save your notes, however, you have a few options. All three browsers can save your notes as an HTML document. To do this in Chrome, click the menu icon in the upper-right corner (it looks like three horizontal stacked bars) and choose Save page as. Give the file a name and save it wherever you like. You can open your notes later in any browser. Even Internet Explorer will open notes saved as HTML, and you’ll also be able to edit them in Microsoft’s browser at that point. Alternatively, you could just save your notes by copying and pasting them into a regular text-editing app.
Firefox is all about text Firefox, however, has the best option for Windows users, since it lets you save an open browser tab as text. In Windows 8.1 using Firefox 29.0.1, just click Firefox’s menu icon and choose the Save Page option. In the File Explorer window that opens, click Save as type and, from the drop-down menu, choose Text Files. Name the file and click Save, and you’ll then be able to open the file in any regular text editor. There are many powerful note-taking apps around, but if you just need a bare-bones, easy way to quickly jot down information, it’s hard to beat a simple browser tab.
You can save your notes as HTML documents.
ANSWER LINE
HERE’S HOW
BY LINCOLN SPECTOR
Don’t use the same external drive for both backup and storage
Q:
I STORE my media files on a 1TB external hard drive. Is it safe to use the same drive for backup? —Marios Papadopoulos
A:
Technically speaking, there’s no reason why you couldn’t use the same hard drive for backing up your internal drive and storing overflow data that doesn’t fit on your internal drive. But in reality, doing so is a really bad idea. First of all, if there are files you’re storing exclusively on the external hard drive, you need to back up those files. Remember the two primary rules of backup: One, you should never have just one copy of anything. Two, you should never keep the original and the copy on the same drive—or even the same computer.
You should never keep the original and the copy of a file on the same drive.
There’s another issue: You should only plug in a backup drive when you’re backing up or restoring from a backup. Why? Because the same fire, flood, burglary, or malware that destroys your main internal storage could also take out the backup. Ideally, your internal storage should be large enough for all of your files. If it isn’t, consider one of these options: Install a second internal drive: Once it’s installed, copy the overflow files that are now on the external drive to their new home. Use the external drive exclusively to back up both internal drives. You’ll find this considerably faster and more convenient than storing files externally. But you’ll need a PC with a spare drive bay. That’s common in desktops, but rare in laptops. Replace your internal drive with a bigger one: This is a fast and convenient option, and it solves the drive bay problem—but it takes more work to set up. Luckily, I’ve already provided instructions (go.pcworld.com/biggerdrive). Use two external hard drives: Use one external drive for overflow files and the other for backup. This is the best option if you’re nervous about installing internal drives, or if your Windows 8 tablet won’t allow you to upgrade them. To achieve better speeds, I strongly recommend a USB 3.0 connection for the overflow drive. Also, make sure the backup drive is large enough to back up the data on both your internal and your external drives. Send your questions to [email protected]. Want to get more Answer Line help? Read this issue’s feature, “Top 10 Fixes for Common PC Problems,” on page 70.
Tech Spotlight A video showcase of the latest trends
Watch the video at go.pcworld. com/faceoff.
Tablet face-off: Surface Pro 3 vs. circa-2004 slate
» PCWorld’s Jon Phillips
unearths a ten-year-old HP Compaq TC1100 and compares it to Microsoft’s state-of-the-art Surface Pro 3. It’s hardly a fair fight. The Surface Pro weighs half as much as HP’s tablet, yet offers a screen resolution that’s twice as sharp. And the TC1100 lacks a touch display. The two tablets do have one thing in common, though: Each runs a proper Windows desktop.
The PCWorld Superguide Series Get PCWorld’s thorough reference guides to help you learn more about your tech gear. These books are packed with practical how-to advice, in-depth features, tips and tricks, and much more.
GET STARTED with Windows 8. Follow step-by-step instructions to install the new operating system.
MASTER WINDOWS 7 with these 50 essential tips and secret utilities. Master Windows Update, and more.
EXTEND BATTERY LIFE in your laptop, phone, and camera with these useful hints and tricks.
ICE CREAM SANDWICH is the most delicious Android OS yet. Get the scoop on Google’s latest mobile OS.
GET THINGS DONE while you wait for a flight. Find out which airports are the best for tech travelers.
BECOME AN ANDROID authority with this comprehensive guide to the Android Honeycomb OS.
SPEED UP YOUR TECH gear that has lost its pep. These fixes will get you back into the fast lane.
DISCOVER EVERYTHING about Windows 7. Uncover its most useful features with this hands-on guide.
PCWorld Superguides are available in a variety of formats, so they’re easy to read on nearly any device.
Get Yours Today: pcworld.com/superguide
