| Windows Vista : Programming the WshNetwork Object |
| WshNetwork is a generic name for an object that enables you to work with various aspects of the Windows network environment. You can determine the computer name and username, you can enumerate the mapped network drives, you can map new network drives, and more. The next couple of sections show you how to work with this object. |
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| Windows 95 - Recall When It Was First Introduced |
| With the furore surrounding Microsoft’s removal of the Start button in Windows 8, you’d think it had been a staple of every Windows OS since Bill Gates first posed for that dodgy photo set on his desk. However, for the less wrinkly PC enthusiast among you, who have had the good fortune to grow up in a graphically driven world, the Start button and taskbar were new features added to Windows in 1995 – the most significant desktop OS upgrade in the PC’s history. |
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| StarDock Start8 vs. Classic Shell - Head To Head |
| Most power users would be perfectly willing to upgrade to Windows 8 if it weren’t for two things the tile based “Metro’ interface and the missing Start button. While Metro is Like a rash in that you eventually get used to it, we can’t imagine getting used to the lack of a Start button. |
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| Sapphire Pure Platinum A85XT - Sensible Smattering Of Features |
| There are the standard four DIMM slots supporting DDRB up to 1,600MHz at standard settings and faster speeds via overclocking, five PCIe slots of varying speeds, four display outputs, seven SATA 6Gbps ports, a smattering of USB 3.0 ports and a dual BIOS setup, which is accessible via a two-way switch on the board. |
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| Synology DS213+ - Great Features, But Expensive |
| NAS boxes are very hanly when it comes to backing up your data. Synology already offers the best user interface of any NAS box we’ve tested and, it’s recently released a new version, DSM4.1, plus a new range of NAS boxes. The DS213+is its new high-end dual-bay NAS box, which replaces the DS212+ |
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| Thermaltake Level 10m - The BMW Gaming Mice |
| Expense. That's the main thing we've taken away from the collaboration between Thermaltake and BMW-owned DesignworksUSA so far. Well, that and one of the worst PC chassis we've ever had overheating our components. I'm hoping Thermaltake has learned its lessons from the crazily priced Level 10 chassis with this Level 10M mouse. |
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| ZOTAC GTX 650 TI – It’s Time To Play |
| Graphics cards are funny ol'things, somehow translating little bits of code into beautiful vistas full of gun-toting aliens and the like. Funnier still, and probably far more mysterious, are the naming conventions employed for them. I'm trying to get a handle on the way Nvidia has named its latest generation of graphics cards. |
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| Cheap As Chips: Six Of The Best Budget CPUs (Part 3) : INTEL Pentium G2120 |
| If Intel’s Core i3 chips are too expensive, the Pentium G2120 offers the next step down the lvy Bridge ladder. At just $108, it’s the cheapest chip on test, competing with AMD’s A8-5600K, and at first glance, it differs only slightly from its more auspicious brethren. The G2120 boasts two 3.1 GHz lvy Bridge cores but, as with the i3 chips, no Turbo Boost support. |
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| Cheap As Chips: Six Of The Best Budget CPUs (Part 1) : AMD A8-5600K, AMD A10-5700 |
| The A8-5600K has the same pair of Piledriver cores as the A10-5700 and A10-5800K, but clocked at a lower stock frequency of 3.6 GHz, with a Turbo Core speed of up to 3.9 GHz. Its 100WTDP means it has more headroom for Turbo Core to boost to its higher frequency, though, and its unlocked multiplier allows overclocking too. |
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| Mad Catz Strike 7 – Divisive Design |
| That fleshy, thudding noise you hear will be the sound of your jaw hitting the floor on seeing the price at the top of this review. Yes, this is a gaming keyboard that likely costs more than your current graphics card. |
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| MSI A85XA-G65 - Fast Performance But Too Pricey |
| Thankfully, not all A85X chipset motherboards cost nearly twice the price of the two A75 motherboards we’ve tested this month. MSI’s great-looking A85XA-G65 retails for a more reasonable $129, and while this is still $39 more than the cheapest Socket FM2 examples on test, at least it goes some way towards justifying the extra outlay. |
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| Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Retina Display) |
| Apple’s new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display gives the insanely picky visual artist a new, more portable sidekick. It’s pricey to be sure, but it is the most portable machine for those with projects (or egos) that need all those pixels on the screens and the powerful components to back them up. |
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| PC Specialist Optimus IV - Balance Of Power |
| PC Specialist was the worthy winner of our full system group test a couple of months back and fresh from its desktop success, it's looking to woo us once again with this laptop offering. |
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| Razer Blade - A Sharp Looking, Super Slim Gaming Laptop |
| The Blade’s aluminum unibody design makes it resemble a black painted 17-inch Apple MacBook Pro. It has the same slim yet sturdy construction, and the not so gentle hard edge along the edge of the palm rest. The lid has a bright green glowing Razer logo, which stands out sharply against the plain black of the lid. |
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| Scan 3XS Graphite LG5 - Are All Small Things Good? |
| The 3XS Graphite LG5 isn’t looking to make a name for itself with its aesthetics - it's about what's inside that small, if not quite svelte, chassis. Designed from the core up as an 'ultra-portable’ gaming laptop, this packs a punch where it matters the most -the processor and graphics. |
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| AMD FX-8350 - The Piledriver Update (Part 2) |
| Like the K Series Intel chips, the entire FX range is unlocked, so overclocking is definitely on the menu. Well, so long as you've got a decent, OC friendly motherboard backing it up. We did struggle a little going through the BIOS of our Asus RoG board, but with the Windows-based AMD Overdrive software we were able to hit 4.7GHz stably. |
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| AMD FX-8350 - The Piledriver Update (Part 1) |
| When AMD was throwing around the specs of its first Bulldozer chips we all sat up and took notice. After all, it was AMD’s first new CPU technology redesign for an absolute age, and what it was planning on doing with the new Bulldozer microarchitecture looked pretty darned revolutionary. |
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| CM Storm Scout 2 - Hello Scout 2 |
| The first CM Storm Scout was a dependable, surprisingly roomy case that didn't take up much space and was still easy on the eye all for under $160. CM Storm has obviously seen room for improvement though - hello Scout 2. |
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| Brother DCP-7055W - A Reasonable All-Round Performer |
| The Brother DCP-7055W is an all-in-one device that combines an A4 flatbed scanner with a mono laser printer. It's slightly smaller at the base than the top, as it expands, through a height of 268mm, from 370 x 358mm (W x D) to 407 x 398.8mm, with the extra space being used to accommodate the flatbed scanner. The overall appearance is quite pleasant and will suit a home/office environment. |
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| How To Back Up All Your Devices (Part 2) |
| The simplest way to set this up is by sharing a drive across your network. Home editions of Windows 7 don’t allow you back up to a network location, but there are plenty of third-party packages that will. If you’re moving up to Windows 8, its File History feature makes it easy to set a shared drive as a backup location for your entire HomeGroup. |
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| How To Back Up All Your Devices (Part 1) |
| It’s perhaps the most often-repeated advice in computing “back up your data!” Yet many of us simply don’t do it, or don’t do it as often as we should. That’s understandable, as duplicating and archiving your data is a chore – and, most of the time, a pointless one at that. |
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| How To Choose An External Drive (Part 2) |
| The connection type is the most immediate bottleneck for an external hard drive, so it’s probably one of the first things you should consider once you know what capacity you’re looking for. The most common way to connect to your drive is over a USB cable. |
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| How To Choose An External Drive (Part 1) |
| Something odd is happening to computer storage. After years of growing and growing, it’s suddenly started to shrink, and this at a time when high-definition media requires more space than ever, and games are being shipped on multiple DVDs to accommodate the most amazing visuals. |
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| Undelete 10 - Fairly Easy To Use |
| Mistakes can and do happen. When the mistake involves a file that has been accidentally deleted then a product developed by Condusiv Technologies could help rectify the situation. |
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| Guide To Upgrades With The Greatest Effects (Part 2) |
| Still one of the best chips on the market in terms of pound-for-performance, the Intel Core i5-2500k is a Sandy Bridge quad-core which runs at 3.3GHz out of the box. At around $240, it’s far from cheap in absolute terms, but there’s no doubt that you’re getting every drop of performance out of that money. |
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| Guide To Upgrades With The Greatest Effects (Part 1) |
| A bargain isn’t always about paying the lowest prices - it’s also about getting the best performance out of the money you spend. Upgrading computers can be a confusing and sometimes costly business, but spend your money in the right place and you’ll find that there are ways to make big improvements to a system without having to spend huge amounts on multiple upgrades. |
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| Buying Guide: Memory For Your New PC |
| Whatever type of system you’re building, you’re going to need lots of memory. If you’re building a system just for browsing the internet, you’ll need lots of memory for storing multiple browser tabs and all of the embedded content. |
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| Buying Guide: Storage For Your New PC |
| When building a PC, it’s important to find the right storage method for your needs. It isn’t just a question of cost, but of speed, capacity, security, portability and maybe even more specific requirements like size and power. In this guide, we’ll help you find out which storage method is right for you and recommend some products for buyers with any size budgets! |
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| SilverStone Sugo SG08 - A Tiny Case With Great Cooling |
| In many ways, the SilverStone Sugo SG08 is actually identical to its predecessor, the SG07, but the redesigned exterior is a welcome change. It's nice to see the two USB 3.0 ports are still there, and the 1cm thick brushed aluminium front panel with its minimalist design looks lovely. |
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| HP Pavilion G7 - Affordable Desktop Replacement |
| Pick up the Pavilion G7 in one hand and you’ll think twice about taking this laptop anywhere further than the garden table. The HP’s huge 17.3in display makes for a laptop with a sizeable footprint, although at 2.72kg, you might be surprised to discover it’s actually lighter than the 15.6in Dell Inspiron 15R. |
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| Lenovo IdeaPad Z580 - Cracking Budget Laptop |
| The specification is unusually potent. Under that attractive exterior lies an Ivy Bridge-class Core i5 CPU and 8GB of RAM, and this helped the Lenovo to power past the Core i3 and AMD powered models in this Labs. With an overall score of 0.73 in our Real World Benchmarks, it’s beaten by only Toshiba’s models. |
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