pc world Archives - The Silicon Underground

Consumer routers are the security vulnerability of the year, so far

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 11:00:38 +0000

Today I found an article in PC World that gives a somber assessment of the state of consumer routers, like the device that probably sits between you and the Internet. I’m glad this is getting attention. There’s a lot more

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What on Earth is a Mainframe?: A review

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 11:00:54 +0000

I’ve been reading David Stephens’ self-published What on Earth is a Mainframe, (also available on Amazon) which is as close to z/OS For Dummies as we’ll ever see. I deal with mainframes at work from time to time. I interacted

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Rest in peace, PC World

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 11:00:08 +0000

The print edition of PC World is no more, and its demise marks the end of the general-interest computer magazine. Former editor Harry McCracken wrote this tribute. Had you asked me 15-20 years ago what my dream job was, editing

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12 PC tasks you should be doing and aren’t

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:00:08 +0000

Here’s a jewel from earlier this month from PC World: 12 easy, crucial PC tasks you should be doing and aren’t. They’re mostly related to performance and security. No wonder I like the article. A couple of the items won’t

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Happy 30th birthday, C-64

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 23:02:59 +0000

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Commodore 64’s release, PC World–a magazine published by the same company that once published RUN, a magazine dedicated to the C-64 and other Commodore 8-bit computers–had someone try to use a 64 for

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Speed up Windows XP, Vista, and 7

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:09:32 +0000

I was looking for something else entirely when I found this PC World article: Speed Up Windows by Stripping it Down. That’s a familiar concept. It includes several tips that apply to XP, Vista, and 7. Some of the optimization

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Macintosh malware continues to evolve

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:19:48 +0000

Security experts have long warned that [Apple’s] delay in delivering Java patches on Mac OS could be used by malware writers to their advantage, and the new Flashback.K malware confirms that they were right. — PC World magazine Last week

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HP has a brilliant idea

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:17:37 +0000

After last year’s flip-flopping on getting rid of its not-quite-as-profitable-as-they’d-like PC business, and the resulting self sabotage, HP needed a good idea to try to undo the damage. Their idea is completely unoriginal, but it’s tried and true and more

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Lessons of the HP Touchpad

Dave Farquhar — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:26:03 +0000

At full price ($499 for the 16 GB model and $599 for the 32 GB model) the HP Touchpad was a colossal flop. Like AT&T’s first PC clones of the mid 1980s, it was a me-too product at a me-too

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Questions to ask when buying a computer

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:16:42 +0000

I had a conversation with someone having computer issues, so he’s thinking about buying a new one. He went to my favorite store, but one thing he said got me thinking about questions to ask when buying a computer. “I’m

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