4peeps.com Forums: IPB Portal

In the previous System Builder Marathon (SBM), we lowered our mid-range budget from $1500 to $1000. In order to compete with the preceding $1500 build on the graphics front, we opted for a Radeon HD 5830 CrossFire configuration. The $1000 limit forced us to make some compromises in the rest of the system, and we gambled on an OEM Phenom II X3 720—the risk paid off, and the CPU successfully unlocked with four fully-functioning processor cores.

tomshardware

In previous OS News articles, I've claimed that mature computers up to ten years old can be refurbished and made useful. My last article identified and evaluated different ways to refurbish these computers. One approach is to keep the existing Windows install and clean it up. This has the advantage of retaining the Windows license and software, the installed applications, and the existing drivers. But it takes some work. In this article we'll see what this entails.

osnews

If your computer's running slowly and you've tried everything else, it might be time for a fresh install of your operating system. Here are some tips, tricks, and best practices to get through the process quickly and easily.

lifehacker

PC Crashed and you can't afford to take it to the repair shop? Save some time and money by using PCSTATS' extensive knowledge to put your PC back into top running condition! Dig into a pile of handy Beginners Guides, sweep the performance sucking dust bunnies out of that old computer for good, and get more out of the PC you already have!



pcstats

According to the company, more than two billion add-ons have been downloaded since Firefox’s started tracking statistics back in August of 2007. There are currently 125 million add-ons in use as of this article’s writing, with more than 890,000 registered users attached to Mozilla’s official add-ons directory. I won’t bore you with any more statistics; suffice, there’s a lot of neat stuff you can install into your browser. And it appears that many are indeed doing so.

maximumpc

After buying that brand new HDTV you just want to get home and enjoy your new gear. But don’t forget the sound system. Hopefully I’ve convinced you not to buy a home theater in a box system, but if not, read my last post.


Let’s take a quick look at the centerpiece to any home theater audio system, the receiver.

gizmocafe

September 2, 2010

** NOTE **
This must be installed today to get it for free
EASEUS Partition Master Professional Edition is an ALL-IN-ONE partition solution and disk management utility. It allows you to extend partition, especially for system drive, settle low disk space problem, manage disk space easily on MBR and GUID partition table (GPT) disk under Windows 2000/ XP/ Vista/ Windows 7 (both x32 and x64). The most popular hard disk management functions are brought together with powerful data protection including: Partition Manager, Disk & Partition Copy Wizard and Partition Recovery Wizard. Moreover, you can create bootable CD/DVD in case of system boot failure.

giveawayoftheday

COMMENT Ubuntu may be one of the best operating systems around, but that does not put it beyond criticism, says Jack Wallen.

I must confess that having eulogised Ubuntu 10.04, I consequently found it challenging to identify anything I didn't like about it. But 'like' is such a relative term and, as we all know, no operating system is perfect. So after much reflection, I did come up with 10 things to address in one of the best operating systems on the market.

zdnet.co.uk

So you've been computing for quite a few years now, and you've built a nice collection of hard drives, internal or external, collecting dust in the corner. Here's how to put them to good use.

lifehacker

Forget the real Service Pack 1, here's the tweaks you need.

Windows 7 is a great operating system, but it's not yet fantastic. Like us, you'll probably have come up against some of its most irritating shortcomings in the time since you installed it on your PC.



techradar

Computerworld - Hard on the heels of a report that a USB drive was used to compromise U.S. military networks in 2008, a security company today claimed that 25% of all new worms are designed to spread through the portable storage devices.

"Much of the malware in circulation has been designed to distribute through these devices," said Luis Corrons, the technical director of PandaLabs, the research arm of Panda Security, in a statement Thursday. "Not only does it copy itself to these gadgets, but it also runs automatically when a USB device is connected to a computer, infecting the system practically transparently to the user."

computerworld

There might be times when you need to access your Windows computer at home or the office, but all you have is your iOS device. Here we take a look at RDP Lite which provides access to your Windows PC.

Here is an excerpt from the Developer’s description:

“It enables you to have full, secure access to your work computer through Wi-Fi or the phones network (EDGE). Using your iPhone, you can connect to your Windows Computer and see the files, programs, and resources exactly as you would if you were sitting at your desk, just on a smaller screen.”
howtogeek

BEIJING (AFP) – Thousands of vehicles were bogged down Monday in a more than 100-kilometre (62-mile) traffic jam leading to Beijing that has lasted nine days and highlights China's growing road congestion woes.

The Beijing-Tibet expressway slowed to a crawl on August 14 due to a spike in traffic by cargo-bearing heavy trucks heading to the capital, and compounded by road maintenance work that began five days later, the Global Times said.

The state-run newspaper said the jam between Beijing and Jining city had given birth to a mini-economy with local merchants capitalising on the stranded drivers' predicament by selling them water and food at inflated prices.

That stretch of highway linking Beijing with the northern province of Hebei and the Inner Mongolia region has become increasingly prone to massive jams as the capital of more than 20 million people sucks in huge shipments of goods.

Yahoo

Apple is apparently ramping up its battle to prevent iPhone and iPod owners from jailbreaking their devices.

The company has applied for a patent, titled "Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device," that covers a series of security measures to automatically protect devices from thieves and other "unauthorized users." Unauthorized users apparently applies to those who engage in jailbreaking, which allows devices to run apps not approved by the company producing the operating system--such as Apple, the main target of such bypasses.

The application, which was filed in February 2009 and published Thursday, describes measures to identify "particular activities that may indicate suspicious behavior," so that "safety measures" can be taken to restrict the device's functions. Those activities include the "hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking, or removal of a SIM card," according to the application. Apple also intends to send warnings to owners via e-mail or text message when such activity is detected.

CNET

Do you have an older PC or laptop laying around just collecting dust and not sure what to do with it? You could sell it, but not get much for it. Here we bring you a guide on how to bring it back to life.

howtogeek

Viruses, worms, fake AV programs - they are the bane of every network administrator's life, and they can cost companies dearly in terms of network downtime, reduced productivity, wasted IT staff hours and even lost data.

But where does all this malware come from, who is responsible for it, and what is the motivation for creating this malicious code in the first place?

enterprisenetworkingplanet

Find out which of the leading browsers is the perfect balance of features, speed, innovation, and flexibility for you

Not too long ago the job of a Web browser was simple: Get the text from the Internet and pour it into the window. If a tag like <strong> comes along, change the font. Now the challenges are greater because the browser is becoming the home for almost everything we do. Do you have documents to edit? There's a website for that. Did you miss a television show? There's a website for that. Do you want to announce your engagement? There's a website for that too. The Web browser handles all of that and more.

infoworld

Detailed graphics card specifications and reviews are great—that is, if you have the time to do the research. But at the end of the day, what a gamer needs is the best graphics card within a certain budget.

So, if you don’t have the time to research the benchmarks, or if you don’t feel confident enough in your ability to pick the right card, then fear not. We at Tom’s Hardware have come to your aid with a simple list of the best gaming cards offered for the money.

tomshardware

Your data is your life, and if you're not backing it up regularly, you're flirting with disaster. Performing Backup of critical data should be a routine activity for a computer user. Unfortunately, it does not happen this way and usually people don’t care about it until something goes wrong. There are many reasons which can harm user’s vital data. Backup is build to make a copy of data which can be restored in case of any disaster. Finding an easy and perfect backup tool can be one of the main reasons for which users do not care about backing up data. There are some features which should be supported in an excellent backup tool. Read on for a closer look at the five best Windows 7 backup tools, then give your comments to the application you like best.

thesofthelp

This case mod looks both a little cool and a little creepy at the same time.

Magnus Persson, the creator behind the Pentagram mod, used a Via EPIA EX1500G motherboard, 1 GB of Corsair Dominator PC2-8500 memory, a 250 GB Seagate hard drive, a 120 W power supply, and a Matrix Orbital GX display mounted in the center of the neon star.

tomshardware