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Microsoft’s new Surface Laptops unveiled

Microsoft’s most direct shot at the MacBook yet

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The one Surface product that fans have been clamoring over for years, a straight up Surface Laptop, is finally here. But, in taking design cues from both the Surface Pro and Surface Book lines, Microsoft has set lofty expectations for its first dedicated laptop device.

Priced at $999 (about £770, AU$1,330), the Surface Laptop clearly aims to chip at the MacBook and MacBook Air models that dominate college campuses practically worldwide. In fact, Microsoft claims that its cheaper (and larger) Surface Laptop can last far longer on a charge than Apple’s 12-inch MacBook: 14.5 hours.

However, every Surface Laptop shipped will come with Windows 10 S installed, Microsoft’s new version of Windows 10 that only accepts app installs downloaded from the Windows Store.

With the ability to switch from Windows 10 S to the 100% open Windows 10 Pro for $49 if you miss the chance in 2017 for free, should you need an app outside of the Windows Store that badly (spoiler: you probably will).

Regardless, at that price, can Microsoft garner enough interest from college students (or more likely their parents), who are often already strapped from the cost of an education?

The Surface Laptop in traditional ‘Platinum’

Design

Clearly, part of Microsoft’s plan is to lure those folks in with an incredibly gorgeous, and potentially trendsetting, design. The 13.5-inch Surface Laptop may very well be Microsoft’s most attractive computing product yet.

And, with four colors to choose from – Burgundy, Platinum, Cobalt Blue and Graphite Gold – there’s bound to be one that appeals to you.

A full aluminum lid and base wrap the laptop in much the same way it does a Surface Book, but ditches the aluminum in the keyboard deck for a Alcantara fabric that surrounds every plastic key and meets with the aluminum base in a seemingly airtight seal.

The fabric, according to Microsoft, is imported from Italy and laser cut to fit every Surface Laptop. Now, while many of the design elements are the same, the 13.5-inch (2,256 x 1,504) PixelSense touch display, the smooth glass-coated Precision touchpad, the chrome logo centered on the aluminum lid, we’re told that very few parts from previous parts are found within the Surface Laptop.

That much is obvious in the nature of the felt used for this keyboard deck compared against that which the Type Covers from Microsoft utilize. It’s smoother and more plush than those Type Covers, and we’re told it’s spill resistant.

The Surface Laptop’s keyboard deck is awfully comfortable

Plus, the additional height afforded by this traditional laptop design allowed Microsoft to equip the keyboard with 1.5mm of travel, and the difference in typing between that and the Surface Pro 4 is night and day. Finally, Microsoft devised a speaker system beneath the keyboard that radiates sound through the spaces between the keys and the keyboard deck.

The result isn’t much better audio than you’d find in a MacBook Air, perhaps a bit fuller, but at least it’s consistently in an uninterrupted position. Naturally, the audio gets a bit muffled when typing, but since the sound radiates throughout the laptop base, there isn’t a major loss in audio detail.

That leaves the side of the laptop base to house Microsoft’s proprietary power and docking port found on other Surface devices, as well as a USB 3.0 and Mini DisplayPort, not to mention an audio jack. If you’re already asking, “where’s the USB-C,” we’ve already been there.

Microsoft tells us that it intends for its own port to handle concerns of connectivity expansion via the Surface Connect port and its Surface Dock, while refraining from alienating customers that have yet to completely update to USB-C.

A fine explanation, but that doesn’t tell us why USB 3.0 and not USB 3.1 at least, as you’re missing out on some major data transfer speed improvements there.

Those strange strips of plastic on the base? They’re Wi-Fi antennae

Performance and battery life

Microsoft can pack the Surface Laptop with the latest Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processors (Kaby Lake), up to 512GB of PCIe solid-state storage (SSD) and as much as 16GB of RAM.

That’s a mighty powerful laptop on paper, likely stronger than either the MacBook Air or 12-inch MacBook, while rising above even the latest 13-inch MacBook Pro that still utilizes Skylake processors.

(The $999 model comes packing a 128GB SSD and 4GB of RAM with the Intel Core i5.)

As for how Microsoft fit that kind of power a laptop just 0.57 inches (14.48mm) thin, a brand new, proprietary vapor chamber cooling system helps a whole lot. The system changes the physical state of the heat as it’s taken in through the center of a fan vent in the rear of the laptop base and spits it out of the sides of that same vent.

While we obviously weren’t able to stress-test the Surface Laptop, we were able to test out how it feels to use. For starters, at just 2.76 pounds (1.25kg), this thing is super light, which is all the more impressive considering it’s a 13.5-inch, Gorilla Glass 3 touchscreen you’re looking at.

Note the Surface Connect dock port – Microsoft’s answer to USB-C

Microsoft chalks this up to, in part, the thinnest LCD touch module ever used in a laptop design. This, in turn, helps the lid to lift with just one finger. However, perhaps the hinge design needs refinement.

While you can open the display with just a finger, that slightness in the hinge is felt when the screen bounces with every tap of the touchscreen. It’s the very reason we question the inclusion of touchscreens in traditional laptops to begin with. Unfortunately, it seems Microsoft hasn’t found a better solution here.

That said, typing on the keyboard is the best time we’ve had doing such on a Surface product yet, and the portability of the whole thing is right there with Apple’s best.

As for battery life, Microsoft is, again, claiming 14.5 hours on a single charge. Microsoft later clarified for us that this number was achieved via local video playback with all radios but Wi-Fi disabled.

That testing environment sounds very similar to how TechRadar tests for battery life, so we might see battery life results in a full review fall much closer to this claim. If so, then Surface Laptop will be very tough to beat in longevity and be a potentially major driver for sales.

This is the Surface Laptop in Cobalt Blue

Early verdict

The fact that the Surface Laptop ships with a limited – sorry, “streamlined” – operating system and costs more than some previous Surface systems that come with full fat Windows 10 cannot go unnoticed – regardless of the free upgrade through this year. Unless Microsoft changes its tune come 2018, folks buying one of these with holiday gift money at the turn of the year would be wise to tack 50 bucks on top of whichever configuration they choose to get Windows 10 Pro.

While this switch will be free for any Surface Laptops bought in the education sector, that won’t help the Surface Laptop’s target audience come 2018: late high school and college students.

That said, the Surface Laptop’s incredible, potentially trendsetting design cannot go unnoticed either. Frankly, this is a laptop that appears to outclass the MacBook Air and 12-inch MacBook – and possibly even the 13-inch MacBook Pro – for hundreds less.

Save for a questionable platform versus pricing decision, the Surface Laptop has all the makings of yet another winning piece of hardware from Microsoft.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

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Quick Tips: Flush the ARP cache in Windows 7

Here’s how to clear the Address Resolution Protocol cache and how to manage that cache with a few command switches.

The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) cache is a crucial component of IP networking on any operating system. What ARP does is link Ethernet addressing (IP addressing) to hardware addressing (MAC addressing). Without this system, a machine could not communicate to the outside world as one addressing scheme could not communicate with the other.

The ARP Cache is a collection of ARP entries (mostly dynamic) that are created when a hostname is resolved to an IP address and then an IP address is resolved to a MAC address (so the computer can effectively communicate with the IP address).

When this happens, the PC will store that newly mapped address in the ARP cache, and it will stay there until the ARP cache entry timeout expires. This isn’t usually a problem, but sometimes a bad ARP entry can cause issues with Internet connections and Web page loading. When this occurs, one step that can be taken toward resolution is to clear the ARP cache. Yes, this means the ARP cache has to be rebuilt, which means a little more work for the PC, but that cache will rebuild fairly quickly.

Clearing the ARP cache is done completely through the command line, so stretch out those fingers and get ready to type. After we show you how to clear the ARP cache, we will show you how to manage that cache with a few command switches.

Flush the cache

Step 1: Open the command prompt

Click Start and then type “cmd” (no quotes) in the search dialog box, but don’t hit Enter yet. Right-click the cmd.exe icon and select Run as Administrator (Figure A). After answering the UAC, the terminal window will open offering up the command prompt.

Figure A

If the icon is already pinned in the Start menu, entering cmd is not necessary.

Step 2: Run the commands

The first command to run is

arp -a

This command will display all your ARP entries (Figure B). Naturally the -a option is not the only option available. The arp command also allows for the following switches:

-d Delete an IP address (arp -d 192.168.100.10)
-d -a Delete all entries in the ARP table
-s Add an entry to the ARP table (arp -s ADDRESS MAC_ADDRESS – Where ADDRESS is the address to be added and MAC_ADDRESS is the MAC address of the machine)

Figure B

Here you see the arp cache for two different interfaces on a single machine.

To flush the entire cache, issue the following command:

netsh interface ip delete arpcache

The above command will flush the entire ARP cache on your system. Now as soon as network connections are made, the ARP cache will begin to repopulate.

Verify the flush

Once you have flushed the ARP cache, make sure to issue the command arp -a to see if the cache has, in fact, been flushed. If it does not flush, it could be the system is a victim of a Windows bug caused when Routing and Remote Services is enabled. This is a simple bug to fix:

1.           Click Start | Control Panel.

2.           Click Administrative Tools.

3.           Click Computer Management.

4.           Double-click Services and Applications.

5.           Double-click Services.

6.           Scroll down to Routing and Remote Services.

7.           Double-click Routing and Remote Services.

8.           Set the Startup Type to Disable.

9.           Make sure the service is stopped.

Now try flushing the ARP cache again. It should work this time.

Troubleshooting

It is also possible to troubleshoot network connections using the ARP cache. For example, it is important to look out for invalid ARP entries that go to a MAC address of 00-00-00-00-00-00. If one such entry shows up, make sure to delete it from the cache using the -d switch. Say you have an ARP entry that looks like:

224.0.0.24           00-00-00-00-00-00 static

In order to delete this entry, use the arp command like so:

arp -d 224.0.0.24

And that invalid entry will be gone.

Final thoughts

There are so many ways to troubleshoot networking connections. Flushing the ARP cache is just one of those methods that is rarely thought of, but when all else fails this might be the last-gasp effort that makes you the hero of the day.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

To read this article in its entirety click here.

49% of businesses fell victim to cyber ransom attacks in 2016

Ransom is the top motivation behind cyber attacks, according to a report from Radware, and IT professionals are most concerned about data loss. Here’s what you need to know.

Nearly half of businesses report that they were the subject of a cyber-ransom campaign in 2016, according to Radware’s, Global Application and Network Security Report 2016-2017.

Data loss topped the list of IT professionals’ cyber attack concerns, the report found, with 27% of tech leaders reporting this as their greatest worry. It was followed by service outage (19%), reputation loss (16%), and customer or partner loss (9%).

Malware or bot attacks hit half of all organizations surveyed in the last year. One reason for the pervasive attacks? The Internet of Things (IoT). Some 55% of respondents reported that IoT ecosystems had complicated their cybersecurity detection measures, as they create more vulnerabilities.

Ransomware attacks in particular continue to increase rapidly: 41% of respondents reported that ransom was the top motivator behind the cyber attacks they experienced in 2016. Meanwhile, 27% of respondents cited insider threats, 26% said political hacktivism, and 26% said competition.

While large-scale DDoS attacks dominated the headlines of 2016, this report found that only 4% of all attacks were more than 50 Gbps, while more than 83% of DDoS attacks reported were under 1 Gbps.

“One thing is clear: Money is the top motivator in the threat landscape today,” said Carl Herberger, vice president of security solutions at Radware, in a press release. “Attackers employ an ever-increasing number of tactics to steal valuable information, from ransom attacks that can lock up a company’s data, to DDoS attacks that act as a smoke screen for information theft, to direct brute force or injection attacks that grant direct access to internal data.”

Despite the growth in attacks, some 40% of organizations reported that they do not have an incident response plan in place, the survey found.

The report listed five cybersecurity predictions for 2017:

1. IoT will become an even larger risk. The Mirai IoT Botnet code is available to the public, making it more likely that cyber criminals of all experience levels are already strengthening their capabilities. “In 2017, exponentially more devices are expected to become targeted and enslaved into IoT botnets,” the press release stated. “IoT device manufacturers will have to face the issue of securing their devices before they are brought to market, as botnet attacks from these devices can generate large-scale attacks that easily exceed 1 Tbps.”

2. Ransomware attacks will continue to grow. These attacks will target phones, laptops, and company computers, and will likely take aim at healthcare devices such as defibrillators in the future, the press release stated.

3. Permanent Denial of Service (PDoS) attacks on data centers and IoT operations will rise. PDoS attacks, sometimes called “phlashing,” damage a system to the degree that it requires hardware replacement or reinstallation. These attacks are not new, but Radware predicts they are likely to become more pervasive in 2017 with the plethora of personal devices on the market.

4. Telephony DoS (TDoS) will become more sophisticated. These attacks, which cut off communications in a crisis, “could impede first responders’ situational awareness, exacerbate suffering and pain, and potentially increase loss of life,” the press release stated.

5. Public transportation system attacks will rise. As cars, trains, and planes become more automated, they also become more vulnerable to hackers, Radware stated.

You help your business avoid ransomware attacks and other cyber threats by keeping software up to date, backing up all information every day to a secure, offsite location, segmenting your network, performing penetration testing, and training staff on cyber security practices.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

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What did Microsoft get right in 2016?

2016 was a very good year for Microsoft in terms of decision making. Here is a  list of five things the company got right.

Since its inception way back in the ancient epoch known as the 1970s, Microsoft has often been ridiculed for making mistakes. Whether it was for bad business strategies, poor products, or unscrupulous practices, Microsoft seemed to bring out the passionate ire in many people.

But what often gets overlooked is what Microsoft does right each year. And by just about any measurement, 2016 was a remarkable year for the company. Under the leadership of Satya Nadella, Microsoft has changed its business strategy to reflect what it describes as a mobile-first, cloud-first business world. And in 2016, that strategy began show results.

Here, in no particular order, are five things Microsoft got right in 2016.

1. Windows 10 Anniversary Update

To mark the one-year anniversary of Windows 10, Microsoft released a large patch it dubbed the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. Okay, so Microsoft is not very clever in naming things. But the patch itself was well received. It included new security measures, new program features, Microsoft Edge browser extensions, and advanced support for digital pens, among many other enhancements. If you were already using Windows 10, the Anniversary Update was a must.

2. Surface Studio

While not its primary business, Microsoft has been developing some noteworthy pieces of hardware the past few years and in 2016, the company generated a large amount of buzz with the release of the Surface Studio. This elegant computer combines the best of the desktop, laptop, and tablet to create a unique and innovative platform perfect for artists, designers, and other creative people. With data visualization becoming ever more important, Microsoft may have invented the perfect tool for the big data generation.

3. Microsoft Office 365

I have been wondering aloud if it is a bit too much, but there can be no doubt that with the dozens of program and feature updates released in 2016, Microsoft Office 365 is the alpha and omega of productivity software. Rather than trying to name all of the new features, it would be best to concentrate on the underlying theme: collaboration. Whether it is Yammer, Skype for Business, or the intelligent cloud, Microsoft is concentrating on features necessary for success in a collaborative environment.

4. LinkedIn

In 2016, Microsoft made several acquisitions of both companies and their technologies. Perhaps the most high-profile of these acquisitions was LinkedIn. Despite all of its efforts to create a collaboration platform with Office 365, the one thing Microsoft needed was a social networking component. LinkedIn gives the company a jump start toward establishing a social networking presence that can compete with the likes of Twitter and Facebook. It will be interesting to see what Microsoft does with this acquisition.

5. IoT, AI, and machine learning

While we may live in a mobile-first, cloud-first world right now, the future may very well revolve around the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, and machine learning. To its credit, Microsoft sees the potential of these technologies and has taken steps to get ahead of the curve. In terms of recent history, getting ahead of the curve is not something Microsoft has done very well, so it is difficult to know where the research will lead, but it should prove to be worth watching closely.

Despite what some people may tell you, Microsoft does do some things right. In fact, for the most part, the company does more things right than it does wrong. In 2016, Microsoft did many things right and consumers and businesses have been the beneficiaries. Let’s hope Microsoft can continue the trend in 2017.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

To read this article in its entirety click here.

How to take control of your privacy in Windows 10

Where do you draw the line on personal privacy? The right options are different for everyone. This guide shows the privacy settings that will help you to create the right balance of privacy and convenience in Windows 10.

windows-10-privacy-blinds

Over the past year, We’ve read countless “privacy guides” for Windows 10. Most are well-intentioned, but they invariably take a simplistic approach to privacy: Just turn off every switch in the Privacy section of the Settings app.

If you do that, you’re not understanding the privacy landscape, which encompasses far more than just those settings. You’re also missing some important additional steps.

Windows 10 is a mix of software and services. With every session, a Windows 10 device exchanges a great deal of information with Microsoft’s servers. That’s neither unusual nor alarming. Microsoft’s chief rivals, Google and Apple, are also blending services into their software, with the goal of making your life easier and making that software more reliable.

So are other tech companies that you don’t think of as software companies: Amazon, with the Echo. Tesla, with its self-updating, software-driven cars. Your thermostat and your home security system.

There’s something profoundly satisfying about a service that anticipates your every move, reminding you when to leave for an appointment to arrive on time, or to pick up flowers for your anniversary tomorrow. Your digital personal assistant, whether it’s Siri or Cortana or Alexa or Google, needs to be able to see your calendar and contacts to make that magic happen.

But when that sort of personal attention goes too far, it “crosses the creepy line,” to use a phrase that Eric Schmidt probably regrets uttering when he was Google’s CEO.

The thing about that line is that it’s drawn in a different place for everyone. There are people who are thrilled at the idea that their PC or mobile device is so familiar with their actions that it can anticipate what they’ll do next. I know others who would like to build a virtual Faraday cage around their computing hardware so that none of their personal details can escape.

Both of those viewpoints, and everything in between, are perfectly valid. That’s why the software and services we use are loaded with switches and dials designed to help you take control of their potential privacy impact.

In this post, We’ll walk you through the big privacy questions for Windows 10, with enough context to help you decide which settings are right for you.

Note that this guide assumes you are using Windows 10 on a personal PC or one in your small business. If you are in an enterprise setting, or if you are in a regulated industry, you should seek professional assistance to ensure that you’re meeting proper standards.

Let’s start with the part of your PC that has the biggest impact on your personal privacy.

THE NETWORK

No one knows more about your online identity than your Internet service provider. Every packet you send or receive from anywhere online goes through their servers. When you travel and connect to Wi-Fi networks that are under the control of others, the owners of those networks can see every connection you make and can intercept their contents.

Regardless of the platform you use, that’s why it’s important you use encrypted connections for any kind of sensitive communications. Using a virtual private network whenever possible is an excellent best practice.

Windows 10 does offer one obscure option that can help protect third parties from tracking your movements based on your connections to Wi-Fi networks. (Note that this feature requires support from your Wi-Fi adapter, so if you don’t see this option, the most likely explanation is that your hardware doesn’t support it.) Under Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi, turn the Use random hardware addresses setting to On.

windowsprivacy02

That step keeps third parties from matching your Wi-Fi adapter’s hardware address with your personal information, making it more difficult to track your location.

THE BROWSER

Countless third-party ad networks and analytics companies use cookies and other tracking technology to record your movements around the web and to correlate your online activities with your offline identity.

The result is a digital fingerprint that can be extraordinarily detailed and, unfortunately, outside of your ability to change.

To limit the amount of information that those ad and analytics companies know about you from your web browsing, consider third-party anti-tracking software such as Abine’s Blur, which is available for every web browser except Microsoft Edge. (That lack of solid support for add-ons is one reason I can’t yet recommend Edge as a full-time browser for most Windows 10 users.)

Another privacy product worth considering is Ghostery, although some are suspicious of this browser extension because of its uncomfortably close ties to the online advertising industry.

Ad-blocking software can also provide some privacy protection as a side-effect of performing its basic function. Here, too, watch out for close ties between some ad-blocking add-ins and the third-party trackers they supposedly protect you from.

Note that none of these steps is unique to Windows 10. Anti-tracking software is typically a browser add-in and works with most popular browsers.

THE OPERATING SYSTEM

With those two big, platform-independent factors out of the way, we can now turn to Windows 10 itself. When you use a Windows 10 device, it is capable of sharing the following types of information with Microsoft’s servers:

Your location

Windows 10 can determine your location to help with actions like automatically setting your current time zone. It can also record a location history on a per-device basis. Go to Settings > Privacy > Location to control the following:

  • Location on/off?Use the master switch at the top of this page to disable all location features for all users of the current device.
  • Location service on/off?If location is on for Windows, you can still turn it off for your user account here.
  • General location?This allows you to set a city, zip code, or region so that apps can deliver relevant content.
  • Default location?Click Set default to open the Maps app and specify the location you want Windows to use when a more precise location is not available.
  • Location history?Click Clear to erase the saved history for a Windows 10 device.

If location is on, a list at the bottom of the Settings > Privacy > Location page allows you to disable access to that data on a per-app basis.

Your input

If you enable Cortana, Windows 10 uploads some info from your devices, such as your calendar, contacts, and location and browsing history, so that Cortana can make personalized recommendations. If you don’t want any accounts on your PC to use Cortana, follow the steps in this article to disable the feature completely: Turn off Cortana completely.

Windows 10 uses some feedback from the way you type, write, and speak to improve performance for you and as a way to improve the overall platform. This isn’t keystroke logging; rather, the operating system uses a very small amount of information. A separate feature uses your speech and writing history to make better suggestions in Windows and Cortana.

You can control this collection with two sets of controls:

Under Settings > Privacy > General, click Info about how I write and turn it off so that your typos aren’t used to improve things like the built-in spell checker.

Under Settings > Privacy > Speech, inking, & typing, under the Getting to know you heading, click Stop getting to know me to turn off personalization.

To clear previously saved information associated with your Microsoft account, click the first link under the Manage cloud info heading. That takes you to this Bing Personalization page, which includes this prominent button:

windows-privacy01

Click Clear to remove that saved information from the cloud.

Files and settings

When you sign in with a Microsoft account, you have the option to save files to the cloud using OneDrive. Windows 10 also syncs some settings to OneDrive, allowing you to have the same desktop background, saved passwords, and other personalized settings when you sign in with that account on multiple PCs.

If you use a local account, of course, none of your settings are synced. If you use a Microsoft account, you can turn off syncing completely or remove certain settings from the sync list by going to Settings > Accounts > Sync Your Settings.

OneDrive is an opt-in service. If you don’t sign in, it does nothing. You can’t save files to OneDrive accidentally, and no files are uploaded without your explicit permission, which you can revoke any time. To disable OneDrive for all users on your PC, follow these instructions: Shut down OneDrive completely.

Telemetry

Microsoft, like all modern software companies, uses feedback from its installed base to identify problems and improve performance. In Windows 10, this feedback mechanism produces diagnostics data (aka telemetry) that is uploaded to Microsoft at regular intervals. The data is anonymized and is not used to create a profile of you.

The default telemetry setting for all consumer and small business versions of Windows 10 is Full, which means that the uploaded data also includes details (also anonymized) about app usage. If you are concerned about possible inadvertent leakage of personal information, I recommend that you go to Settings > Privacy > Feedback & diagnostics and change the Diagnostic and usage data setting to Basic.

THE APPS

Although the number of subcategories under the Privacy heading in Settings seems daunting, most of them govern access to your information by Windows Store apps. That set of apps includes those that are preinstalled (Mail, Calendar, Groove Music, Photos, and so on) as well as those you acquire from the Store.

Most of the categories offer a single on-off switch at the top, which you can use to disable all access to that feature by all apps. If you leave the feature enabled, you can use a list of apps at the bottom of the page to enable or disable access on a per-app basis.

This capability works the same with the following categories: Camera, Microphone, Notifications, Account Info, Call History, and Radios. The Other Devices category lets apps automatically share and sync info with wireless devices that aren’t explicitly paired with your PC. Use the Background Apps category to specify which apps are allowed to work in the background.

If Location is enabled, you have the option to disable location access on a per-app basis and to disable Geofencing.

The Contacts, Calendar, Email, and Messaging categories allow you to control which apps can have access to these features. If you want to share content from an app using email or messaging, this option has to be on for that app. Note that Mail and Calendar, People, and Phone always have access to your contacts; Mail and Calendar are always allowed to access and send email and always have access to your calendar.

Finally, one horribly misunderstood setting is available under Settings > Privacy > General. Advertising ID controls whether Microsoft serves personalized ads to ad-supported apps. If you turn this option off, you still get ads, but they’re not personalized. In any case, your information is not shared with advertisers.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

To read this article in its entirety click here.

Everything Microsoft revealed: Surface Studio, Windows 10 Creators Update and more

Microsoft announced a slew of new goodies at its Windows event in New York. Catch up on everything from the Surface Studio all-in-one to the Windows 10 Creators Update here.

microsoft1
One Windows

Microsoft’s big event in New York on Tuesday included plenty of new Surface hardware, but nevertheless, it’s easy to see why the company called this a Windows event rather than a Surface shindig.

Windows and devices chief Terry Myerson kicked things off with a tantalizing glimpse of the features that will debut with the new Windows 10 Creators Update, scheduled to release in the spring. The rest of event was dedicated to new Surface gear designed specifically to marry powerful, thoughtful hardware with the best of those new software features. But don’t take my word for it! Here’s everything Microsoft announced at its October 26 Windows event.

 

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Windows 10 Creators Update

As I said, the freshly revealed Windows 10 Creators Update, scheduled to arrive in early 2017, kicked off the show. The update’s built around three key pillars: the creation and manipulation of 3D content, sharing your Xbox Live gaming experiences, and easily communicating with others—hence the name.

 

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Surface Studio

Microsoft’s first-ever desktop PC is the paragon for all those Windows ideals. The Surface Studio all-in-one mixes stunning physical design and impressive internal hardware, focused on creating the best experience possible for professionals and content creators. From an ultra-slim 4,500×3,000-resolution screen with “True Scale” 1:1 image recreation, to the ability to lay at a 20-degree angle for natural positioning while sketching, to the 6th-gen (Skylake) Core i7 CPU and Nvidia GPU powering it all, the Surface Studio is laser-focused on helping you get things done. (And showing off Windows in the best possible light, naturally.)

These tidbits are just the tip of the iceberg. If you like what you see, the Surface Studio starts at $3,000 and is available for preorder now.

 

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Surface Dial

The Surface Studio’s content-friendly design and Windows 10’s new content creation tools are amplified by the Surface Dial, a radical puck that can control Microsoft’s new PC. It’s primarily designed to work in conjunction with Microsoft’s Surface Pen. Priced at $100, you can preorder it now.

The Surface Dial doesn’t have any buttons of its own. Instead, using it reveals an interface wheel customized for specific applications, with selections occurring as you twist the device back and forth. You may cycle through tool-tip brushes in an image editing app, for instance, or rewind and fast-forward through written notes in Office. A virtual version of the Dial appears even if you don’t place the puck directly onscreen, letting you zoom, scroll, and adjust various options like screen brightness and volume. Mark Hachman’s Surface Dial hands-on explains it all.

Support for the Surface Dial will be baked right into Windows 10, and the accessory will be compatible with the existing Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4, and Surface Book.

 

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Surface Book i7

Handily enough, Microsoft also revealed a newer, more powerful version of the Surface Book, the aptly named Surface Book i7. The Surface Book i7 swaps in a sixth-gen Skylake Intel Core i7 processor and an Nvidia GTX 965M GPU to deliver twice the power of the most potent original Surface Book, and (Microsoft claims) three times the power of the beefiest 13-inch MacBook Pro—though Apple’s expected to roll out new Macs tomorrow.

Microsoft also managed to up the Surface Book i7’s battery life to a claimed 15 hours, despite the additional firepower, thanks to a redesigned cooling system and, well, more batteries. The Surface Book i7 starts at $2,400 and is available to preorder now.

 

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Paint 3D

Windows’ venerable Paint app is being dragged into the 21st century. The Windows 10 Creators Update adds Paint 3D, a Windows Store app designed from the ground up to create 3D images even out of 2D pictures.

Paint 3D includes numerous tools for editing three-dimensional images. It also integrates with a new Windows 10 3D-scanning app dubbed Windows Capture 3D, which allows you to digitize real-world objects. Microsoft plans to introduce a “community” hub on Remix3D.com for shared 3D images, plus it’ll let you drag your creations out of Minecraft. Microsoft Office applications will also support 3D images after the Windows 10 Creators Update rolls out.

You have to wonder how many non-professionals are interested in 3D image creation, but there’s no doubting that Paint 3D looks mighty nifty—and like a perfect match for the Surface Studio and Surface Dial’s capabilities.

 

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Windows Holographic VR headsets

You’ll be able to view those 3D creations through Microsoft’s own HoloLens, or via an onslaught of Windows Holographic-compatible VR headsets apparently coming from Dell, HP, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer.

“These headsets will be the first and only to ship with inside-out, six-degree-of-freedom sensors,” said Microsoft’s Terry Myerson. “Unlike every other VR headset on the market today, this means there will be zero need for a separate room. Zero need for a complicated setup.”

 

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My People

Microsoft wants to make your friends the center of your Windows experience with My People, a feature that borrows from Android and iOS. In the Creators Update, five important contacts will appear as profile images in your taskbar. You’ll be able to drop files onto these contacts to immediately share items, or click the contact to interact in a specific app like Mail, Skype, SMS, or Xbox Live. Handy!

 

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Live PC game streaming

Microsoft’s muscling in on Twitch. The Windows 10 Creators Update adds the ability to easily start broadcasting your Xbox Live games via the operating system’s Game DVR toolbar, sending notifications out to your pals and fellow club members to let them know when you’re online. Once they hop into your stream they’ll be able to chat with you, as with every other streaming service out there.

The service is powered by Microsoft’s recent Beam acquisition and looks dead-simple to use. It’s easy to envision Windows 10 Game DVR livestreaming becoming popular on consoles, but Microsoft faces an uphill battle on PCs, where Twitch and tools like Nvidia Shadowplay and OBS already enjoy massive, entrenched user bases.

 

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Custom tournaments and fancy audio

Microsoft’s tying console and PC users closer together with custom tournaments powered by Xbox Live’s Arena platform. Next year, you’ll be able to create your own custom gaming tournaments, controlling everything from the games, to the rules, to the players, to the start times. Previously, Area tournaments were only created by Microsoft and its official partners.

The Xbox One S, which is itself powered by Windows 10, is adding support for bitstreaming Blu-ray audio pass-through and Dolby Atmos. Soon, those 4K videos and games will sound just as glorious as they look.

 

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Surface Mouse and keyboards

The niche Surface Dial isn’t the only Studio peripheral Microsoft announced today, though none of the others made it onto the stage during the big event. Microsoft quietly launched a Surface Mouse and a pair of desktop Surface keyboards—one standard, the other ergonomic—to complement its premium all-in-one PC. All three match the gray aesthetic of Microsoft first-ever desktop PC. The Surface Studio includes a Surface Mouse and basic Surface Keyboard, however.

You can preorder all three on Microsoft’s Surface accessories page, with shipments scheduled for early November.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

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99% of business machines have not upgraded to Windows 10, according to study

According to a new study released by Softchoice, less than 1% of business machines have upgraded to Windows 10, opting instead for Windows 7.

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Windows 10 has been one of the more controversial OS releases of recent memory, bringing privacy concerns, bugs that disable certain hardware, and other nasty surprises. And the enterprise, it seems, is avoiding it altogether.

According to a recent study by IT services firm Softchoice, less than 1% of Windows machines were actually running Windows 10. That means that, one year after the release of the latest Microsoft OS, more than 99% of machines haven’t yet made the switch.

The study was performed as part of a TechCheck analysis by Softchoice, which looked at more than 402,814 Windows devices operating among 169 organizations. So, what were these firms choosing instead of Windows 10? Overwhelmingly, they were running Windows 7.

“It appears businesses are hesitant to take advantage of the various Windows 10 upgrades and, at least for now, are satisfied with Windows 7,” Softchoice’s David Brisbois wrote in a press release. “Historically, OS upgrades have been viewed as major time and resource-consuming undertakings, and this may be influencing the decision today to hold off on Windows 10.”

The Softchoice looked at these Windows machines in both US and Canadian firms from January 1, 2016 through May 31, 2016. At the time, only 2,999 devices were running Windows 10, which accounted for a grand total of 0.75% of the whole.

In terms of business break down, 42 of the 169 businesses (25%) had no trace of Windows 10 in their environment. Additionally, 73 of the 169 (43%) had fewer than 10 devices running Windows 10 present in their environment.

In contrast, 91% of the machines were operating with Windows 7, which marked an 18% increase over the same period of time in 2015. The next largest group were the Windows XP holdouts, which counted for 5% of the devices. Devices running Windows 8 were at 4%, which is double from the 2% measured the year prior.

“It seems businesses don’t see an urgent need to move operating systems, so long as their cloud-based applications are still running fine on Windows 7,” Softchoice’s Microsoft director Craig McQueen wrote in a press release. “In addition to the security benefits, I think once organizations grasp the user benefits—such as touch and Cortana—we will start to see a boost in adoption.”

Although, some of those features may not be enough to sway some users. Cortana, for example, has proven very difficult to get rid of, and other updates have led to frozen machines. The most recent Windows 10 Anniversary Update actually broke some third-party webcams, without a workaround or fix until September. That’s bad news for a business that relies heavily on video conferencing.

Still, there are a host of new features and tools that could make it easier to get work done.

The 3 big takeaways for Readers

  • 1. A recent study by Softchoice has shown that less than 1% of enterprise organizations have upgraded their Windows devices to Windows 10, even a full year after the OS was released.
  • 2. Most business were still running Windows 7, according to the study, as Windows 8 also saw poor adoption rates after its release.
  • 3. A plethora of concerns over privacy and functionality, combined with the effort it takes to upgrade a whole organization, likely led to the low adoption numbers for Windows 10.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

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The 16 most pivotal events in Windows history

Thirty years of Windows is a lifetime.

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Thirty years of Windows

For better or for worse, Windows has defined the modern era of personal computing. Microsoft’s signature OS runs on the vast majority of PCs worldwide, and it has also worked its way into servers, tablets, phones, game consoles, ATMs, and more.

Windows’ 30 years or so of existence has spanned generations of computing and entire lifetimes of companies and their products. Understandably, choosing the most noteworthy moments of Windows’ long life has been a challenging task, but we went for it. On the following slides we present our our list of the obvious, and not-so-obvious, milestones in Windows history.

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Windows 1.0

On Nov. 20, 1985, Microsoft launched the first iteration of Windows, essentially a graphical shell that overlaid Microsoft’s well-known MS-DOS. Requiring a couple of floppy drives, 192KB of RAM, and, most importantly, a mouse, Windows wasn’t actually that well-received. But Bill Gates told InfoWorld that “only applications that run Windows will be competitive in the long run.” He was right—for a time.

Featuring tiled windows that could be minimized or extended to cover the full screen, plus “apps” like Calendar and Write, Windows was the precursor to what the majority of PC users run today. Oh, and it was sold by Microsoft’s eventual CEO, Steve Ballmer, in perhaps the best computer commercial (Apple’s “1984” ad notwithstanding) ever shown.

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Windows 3.x

Windows puttered along until May 1990, when the first iconic Windows release, Windows 3.0, was released. It’s difficult to decide whether Windows 3.0 or its immediate successor, Windows 3.1, was more important; Windows 3.0 introduced sound to the Windows platform, but Windows 3.1 added TrueType fonts.

Yes, Windows 3.1 included File Manager (drag and drop!) and Program Manager, but the real innovations were more fun: support for MIDI sound and AVI files.  More importantly, Windows 3.x introduced screensavers (a staple of shovelware for years) and the ultimate timewasters: Solitaire (Windows 3.0) and Minesweeper (Windows 3.1). An entire generation learned how to place digital playing cards, one on top of the other, all for the glory of seeing all the cards bounce when a game was completed.

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Windows 95

Early iterations of Microsoft’s Windows operating system catered more toward the business user than anyone else. That changed on August 24, 1995 with the launch of Windows 95.

It featured a few key technical upgrades: Windows 95 was Microsoft’s first “mass-market” 32-bit OS. It was the also first to add the Start button that we use today. The first integrated web browser, Internet Explorer, just missed the launch and shipped later.

With a promotional budget of hundreds of millions of dollars, much of what we remember about Windows 95, though, was tied up in the marketing: a midnight launch, an ad campaign built around the The Rolling Stones hit “Start Me Up,” a partnership with Brian Eno that produced the iconic boot melody.

Oh, and Windows 95 also allowed users to pay $19.95 to try out a time-limited beta of the OS, which expired at the launch. Good times.

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Microsoft Bob

Windows 3.1, however, also gave us Microsoft Bob, a March 1995 release that remodeled Windows as a series of “rooms.” Each was populated by virtual objects that might have a purpose—but you wouldn’t know until you clicked on them. Bob also featured a series of “assistants” that offered to help you perform all sorts of tasks, whether you wanted to or not.

Bob bombed. But Microsoft never quite gave up on trying to humanize Windows, a noble if slightly pathetic effort that would later produce the unfortunately iconic Clippy assistant.

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Windows NT

Though PCWorld tends to focus on the PC (natch), we’d be remiss to neglect Windows NT, the precursor to Windows’ expansion into the server and workstation space. Windows NT was Microsoft’s first 32-bit OS designed (and priced) for both the server and workstation market, with specific versions optimized for the X86, DEC Alpha, and MIPS series of microprocessors. It eventually was combined with the standard Windows architecture to form Windows XP.

Today, Microsoft has built a sizeable portion of its business upon Windows Server, SQL Server, and Windows Center, among others, plus its investments in the Azure cloud. All of this originated with Microsoft’s desire to take on UNIX in the server space.

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Windows XP

Whether it’s due to nostalgia, good design, or the famous “Bliss” backdrop featuring an emerald-green hillside in California’s wine country, 2001’s Windows XP remains one of the more beloved Windows operating systems. Shoot, it managed to erase the memory of Windows ME, one of Microsoft’s biggest blunders.

Windows XP shipped in two editions: one for professionals, the other for home users, with features stripped out of the “pro” version, such as domain join. But Windows XP also shipped with a Media Center edition that transformed a PC equipped with a TV tuner into a powerful DVR. (Media Center remains one of the more popular, and mourned, features of Windows today—it’s one reason users cite for refusing to upgrade to Windows 10.)

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Windows Genuine Advantage

Maybe you thought every pivotal Windows moment was a product release. Not so. As good as it was, Windows XP also unleashed Windows Genuine Advantage—or what we now refer to as “activation”—upon an unsuspecting world. It was the first step in evolving Windows from a “hobby” to what some would refer to as “Micro$oft.”

This attitude was nothing new. In 1976, Bill Gates penned “An Open Letter to Hobbyists,” where he complained that the amount of royalties paid by customers using its BASIC software amounted to about $2 per hour. “Most directly, the thing you do is theft,” Gates wrote, essentially equating sharing code with outright stealing.

Microsoft sought to curtail this activity with the release of Windows Genuine Advantage, which stealthily installed itself onto millions of PCs by way of a high-priority “update.” (Sound familiar?) Windows Genuine Advantage consisted of two parts, one to actually validate the OS and another to inform users whether they had an illegal installation: In 2006, Microsoft said it had found about 60 million illegal installations that failed validation.

Now? Virtually every standalone product Microsoft sells comes with its own software protections and licenses. If you want a “hobby” OS, you run Linux—which Microsoftalso spent millions trying to discredit, to no avail.

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United States v. Microsoft

In May of 1998, following government concerns that bundling Internet Explorer within its operating system gave Microsoft an unfair advantage, the Department of Justice and several states filed a landmark antitrust suit against the company.

The trial lasted 76 days. Cofounder and chief executive Bill Gates appeared on videotape, seemingly dismissing questions put to him by government lawyers. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ultimately ruled that Microsoft had acted as a monopoly and should be broken up into two companies, though that ruling was later overturned by an appeals court.

Years later, an integrated browser is generally viewed as part and parcel of an OS, though consumers are free to select any browser they choose. Today, Microsoft and IE still power most older PCs, but consumers selecting new browsers are turning to Chrome.

Judge Penfield argued that consumers would have benefitted from a breakup of Microsoft. But we’ve argued before that Microsoft would have, too.

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Browser-choice screen

In 2009, Microsoft struck a deal with the European Commission, ending the EU’s own antitrust investigation. That agreement created what became known as the “browser-choice screen,” encouraging European consumers to pick a browser besides Internet Explorer.

The browser-choice screen didn’t kill Internet Explorer; in fact, IE remained the most popular downloaded browser until March 2016, when Windows 10 helped push it out of the top spot. But the browser-choice screen certainly reminded consumers that other browsers existed, and that they could pick and choose whichever they preferred, rather than accepting what Microsoft provided to them.

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Windows 7

For many, Windows reached its apex with Windows 7, which continues to be the dominant OS in Windows’ history: It reached a high of almost 61 percent market share in June 2015, and still commands about 47 percent of the market today.

Why? Any number of reasons, not the least of which is familiarity: Windows’ UI remained relatively static for almost 11 years, from the 2001 launch of Windows XP on up to the dramatic tiled revamp of 2012’s Windows 8. Windows 7 also added several elements that we take for granted in Windows today: the taskbar, a more evolved Snap function, and support for multiple graphics cards. It’s also important to note that Windows 7 supports DirectX 11.1, which is arguably still the dominant graphics API today. Until DirectX12 supersedes it, gamers won’t have a reason to leave.

Windows 7 also eliminated many of the annoying UAC popups that its predecessor, Windows Vista, had put in place. And (as our commenters have repeatedly pointed out) it lacks the frustratingly frequent updates of the current Windows 10, allowing users to essentially “set it and forget it.”

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Laptop Hunters ads

Microsoft ran a series of “Laptop Hunters” ads during 2009, featuring real people buying real laptops from real stores—and consistently picking Windows PCs over the more expensive Apple options. For about three years, Microsoft had been stung by the barrage of “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” ads portraying PCs as clunky and out of touch, and “Laptop Hunters” effectively skewered that message as pretentious and expensive.

The campaign followed a $300 million “I’m a PC” push a year earlier, which lacked the real-world punch of Lauren and other real-world customers. Both campaigns illustrated Microsoft’s pivot to being the face of the PC. The “Dude, you’re getting a Dell!” days are long gone.

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Windows 8.1

I vividly remember the first time I saw a Windows 7 user try out Windows 8: He stabbed at tile after tile, unable to figure out what to do with Microsoft’s new OS. Most of the public did the same. Today, we barely even talk about Windows 8.

Instead, we talk about Windows 8.1: the “service pack” update that undid at least some of the flaws that plagued Windows 8. In my opinion, the most notable thing about Windows 8.1 was that it showed Microsoft was listening to its customers again, even adding a hidden “boot to desktop” command to remedy one of its users’ biggest complaints. (It also was the last time SkyDrive, later renamed OneDrive, actually acted like the cloud backup we wanted.)

By itself, Windows 8.1 is a relatively minor release. But it stands as an important admission of guilt, and an apology, for the sins of its predecessor.

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The rise of Android, the fall of Windows Mobile

In February 2007, Microsoft debuted Windows Mobile 6, its first mobile operating system for true smartphones and arguably one of the company’s most successful. In November 2007, however, the free Android OS debuted. A year later, HTC launched the first Android smartphone: the HTC Dream, seen here. It was all downhill from there for Microsoft.

Yes, you could make a strong argument that Microsoft’s massive $7.8 billion acquisition of Nokia’s devices business in 2013—which, by now, has been almost completely written off—was actually the last gasp of Microsoft’s mobile vision. But the launch of the Dream, and the hundreds of millions of Android phones that followed it, lured away third-party developers Microsoft needed for its mobile aspirations to thrive.

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Windows 10: The ‘last Windows’

With Windows 10, Microsoft made the gutsy call to bring beta testers in as partners rather than as guinea pigs. The Windows Insider program lets users try out and evaluate builds almost as quickly as Microsoft can churn them out, fostering an air of camaraderie between users and Microsoft.

Windows 10 also introduced a number of features: a revamped Start menu, better notifications, virtual desktops, and more. It launched Cortana, a digital assistant that Microsoft hoped would eliminate the grunt work of setting reminders and sending quick texts and email.

But Cortana’s privacy-intruding nature and Microsoft’s aggressive upgrade practiceswashed away some of the goodwill Windows 10 originally engendered. Today, Windows 10 is one of the more polarizing operating systems in recent memory, with many Windows 7 fans loudly criticizing it, and others supporting the direction Microsoft has taken.

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The evolution of the digital assistant

 Of course, Microsoft has a long, controversial history with digital assistants, beginning way back in 1995 with the debut of Microsoft Bob. That program was meant to help familiarize Windows users with various applications by anticipating the users’ needs. While universally derided, Bob introduced the concept of ostensibly helpful characters, from a superhero dog to a clone of Albert Einstein to the infamous Office assistant  “Clippit,” aka “Clippy.”

You can make the case that Clippy and its ilk evolved, over time and behind the scenes, into the far more sophisticated digital assistant that’s built into Windows 10: Cortana. The difference, of course, is that Cortana is part of a larger trend, joined by Google Now and Siri, digital assistants in their own rights for the Android and iOS platforms, respectively. Indeed, Microsoft is pushing its Bot Framework, which enables the creation of intelligent digital helpers, into all sorts of new applications beyond the OS, such as Skype and Bing.

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Patches, good and bad

Windows has bugs. Windows requires patches. And while there have been many, many updates over the years to fix bugs, slowdowns, and other incompatibilities, there have also been many, many screwups, too. InfoWorld has an entire list of them.

My favorite? A patch that put a mysterious black bar on one side of Internet Explorer—and if you clicked it—CRASH!—down came your machine with a BSOD. For a time, Microsoft allowed you to refuse Windows patches. Windows 10, unfortunately, did away with all that.

That concludes our list of Windows’ most pivotal moments. We could have spent dozens upon dozens of slides diving deep into Windows’ history, but we had to stop somewhere. Is there anything we missed? Tell us below.

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

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10 killer PC upgrades that are shockingly cheap

Looking to put more pep in your PC’s step? These surprisingly cheap PC upgrades and accessories do the trick without breaking the bank.

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No need to break the bank

Sure, swanky new Surface Pros and $1,200 graphics cards may capture all the headlines, but on a practical level, the real story is that PCs aren’t cheap. But if your computer’s starting to feel pokey, there’s fortunately no reason to rush out a spend hundreds on a new one.

Investing small amounts in key new PC hardware can keep your computer running strong for years to come. These upgrades—most costing well under $100—breathe new life into slow machines. You just have to be strategic and make sure you’re putting your money in the best place for your particular system.

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Speed up your PC with an SSD

Let’s start in the most obvious place. If your PC still runs with a mechanical hard drive, swapping it out with an SSD will make it feel like a whole new computer. SSDs inject face-melting speed into a PC, drastically improving boot times, file transfers, and overall system responsiveness.

A lot of PCs don’t have SSDs, for two reasons: Solid-state drives use to be extravagantly expensive, and computer makers often charge hefty mark-ups for upgrading to an SSD. Fortunately, SSD prices have plummeted in recent years. Superb models like theSamsung 850 EVO ($89.39 for 250GB on Amazon) and the OCZ Trion 150 ($45 for 120GB on Amazon) can be found for well under $100 online. If you find the storage capacities a bit too tight, you can always install the SSD as a boot drive alongside your current hard drive.

A word of warning about SSDs, and all the hardware discussed in this article: You can often find lower prices if you sift through Amazon or Newegg for no-name or lesser-known brands. But you’re gambling on reliability and support when you move away from established PC hardware makers. Stick with name brand gear unless you absolutely, positively can’t afford it.

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Mass storage is dirt cheap

Good news if your available storage space is filled to the brim: Traditional hard drives are even cheaper than SSDs these days. A 1TB Western Digital Blue hard drive spinning at a speedy 7,200rpm will only set you back $50 on Amazon, while a 3TB WD Blue drive is just $90 on Amazon (albeit at a slower 5,400rpm).

Hybrid drives blend the best of both worlds, combining a large amount of traditional storage with a small, speedy flash storage cache. The drive monitors your oft-used files and keeps them on the cache, where they benefit from SSD-esque speeds. A Seagate 1TB hybrid drive goes for $85 on Amazon with an 8GB SSD cache, or $114 on Amazonwith a 32GB cache.

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Add RAM for more multitasking

If your computer’s having trouble running multiple tasks simultaneously, low memory is a likely culprit. Two gigabytes of RAM is the absolute minimum modern Windows systems need to run smoothly, and even PCs with 4GB of memory can start to feel pokey if you’re running several programs, keep a dozen Chrome tabs open, or game with some background processes still running.

Fortunately, memory is dirt cheap. Picking up an 8GB memory kit from Corsair ($36 for 2x4GB kit on Amazon) or Kingston ($36 for 2x4GB kit on Amazon)—two reliable brands I’ve had nothing but success with personally—will set you back less than $5 per gigabyte.

Just be sure to get the right type of memory for your PC! RAM comes in all sorts of different packages. The easiest way to tell what type of RAM resides in your PC is to download the free, superb CPU-Z software, then open the Memory tab and look for the “type” option.

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MAYBE upgrade your CPU

A pokey PC may be the result of an outdated processor. Unfortunately, replacing your CPU often means replacing your motherboard too, making the endeavor pretty pricey. But not always—especially if you have an AMD-powered system.

AMD’s AM3+ and FM2 motherboards have been powering AMD’s CPUs and APUs, respectively, since mid-2012. Since many prebuilt AMD systems sport modest processors, upgrading to a modern CPU can give your PC a shot in the arm. If you’re on FM3+, the new Athlon X4 860K ($75 on Amazon) is a solid entry-level quad-core processor for gaming, while the 8-core FX-8320E ($130 on Amazon) is a great step-up option and price-to-performance champion. If you have an FM2-based system with an AMD APU, the A10-7860K ($110 on Amazon) could be a solid upgrade, complete withintegrated graphics that let you get into e-sports games at modest frame rates.

Intel switches out its motherboards and socket types much more often, and its chips tend to be much more expensive. Replacing Intel chips aren’t really an affordable upgrade in most cases.

It’s important to make sure your new chip is compatible with your existing motherboard! Before you buy, fire up CPU-Z and search for the “Package” entry in the main CPU tab to see what sort of socket your motherboard packs.

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Gaming doesn’t have to be expensive

Want to dip your toes into PC gaming? Despite what fearmongers may tell you, gaming doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.

AMD’s Radeon RX 460 ($110 and up on Newegg) delivers great performance in e-sports games like League of Legends and Overwatch. It also lets you play modern games at a console-esque 30 frames per second with High graphics settings at 1080p, or up to 60fps at Medium settings. That’s damned good for a hair over $100. Even better: Many models pull their power directly from your motherboard, with no need for additional power connectors. That makes AMD’s budget card a great option for adding gaming capabilities to prebuilt “big box” PCs from the likes of HP and Dell, as they often pack modest power supplies that lack extra connectors.

Be careful though: Some of the more potent Radeon RX 460 models require extra 6-pin power connectors. You don’t want that if you don’t have one available—unless you want to buy a power supply, too. A 500 watt power supply from a reputable company doesn’t cost much, as evidenced by the EVGA 500 W1, which only costs $35 on Amazon.

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Buy some canned air

No, seriously. If you haven’t cleaned out your PC in a year or more, mounds of dust and debris can be collected inside. Clogged fans and exhaust ports lead to overheating, which leads to your PC throttling back performance. Single containers of canned air can be relatively pricey; grab a four pack ($16.22 on Amazon) for a lower price and enough air to clean out your PC for years to come.

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Improve your cooling, improve your performance

If your PC’s still running hot after blowing out the dust, the thermal paste coating the area where your CPU or GPU touches its cooler could be old, dry, and ineffective, especially if you’ve had the equipment for several years.

First, install SpeedFan and double check that your CPU or GPU is indeed overheating. If one (or both!) is, grab a syringe of thermal paste—Arctic Silver 5 ($7.43 on Amazon)—then use guides to installing a CPU cooler and refreshing your graphics card to help you apply new thermal paste after scraping off the old stuff.

Still running hot overall? Try adding a case fan or two. Case fans from reputable vendors are shockingly cheap ($7.91 from Cooler Master on Amazon, or $9 from NZXT on Amazon) and can be installed in mere minutes.

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A better monitor

You spend most of your time interacting with your computer’s input and output devices, so it’s definitely worth investing in decent peripherals if you spend considerable time at your PC.

Start with your monitor. If you’re still using a lower-resolution display or (shudder) a fat CRT display, embracing a high-definition 1080p monitor will provide a huge step up in usability. It won’t break the bank either: You can buy a 1080p HP with a 21.5-inch IPS screen for just $100 on Amazon. IPS screens provide a much more vibrant image than the twisted-nematic panels found in most budget monitors.

Alternatively, if you’re a gamer with a Radeon graphics card, consider buying a monitor that supports AMD’s FreeSync technology. FreeSync synchronizes the refresh rate of your graphics card and display to eliminate stutter and screen tearing in games. While monitors with Nvidia’s competing G-Sync technology fetch steep price premiums, FreeSync adds minimal cost to a display. A 22-inch 1080p FreeSync display by ViewSonic costs just $110 on Amazon, for example.

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Aural bliss

Treat your ears, too. The speakers that come bundled with prebuilt PCs tend to be utter garbage. While audio gear pricing can escalate to frightening levels, some of our favorite headsets will set you back less than a Benjamin.

If you’re a gamer, our favorite all-around gaming headset is the Kingston HyperX Cloud($67.93 on Amazon). The sound quality is second to none in this bracket, the build quality is superb, and it’s extremely comfortable—though its microphone is merely average.

Don’t need a mic? Music lovers will find a lot to love in the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro ($99.95 on Amazon), which I’ve personally been using for years now. The comfortably snug cans lack the extreme bass kick of, say, Beats or Monster headphones, but make up for it by delivering rich, accurate, and dynamic audio across the full sound spectrum. They’re beloved among Amazon buyers for a reason.

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Enhance the parts you physically touch

If you’re used to crappy bundled PC keyboards, or laptop keyboards, upgrading to a mechanical keyboard will change your life. The well-reviewed Logitech G610 Orion withCherry MX Brown or Red switches only costs $90 on Amazon.That’s probably more than most people have spent on a keyboard before, but it’s cheap by mechanical standards. Once you’ve tried it, you won’t be able to go back to a rubber-dome board.

Likewise, investing in a decent mouse makes interacting with your PC that much more pleasant. The Razer DeathAdder ($42.69 on Amazon) is ostensibly a gaming mouse, but its ergonomic design and high DPI sensor help it feel good in your palm and generate nice, smooth cursor movements. I’ve been using one for more than five years now, and grimace whenever i’m forced to use a cheap mouse bundled with a prebuilt PC.

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But first…

Speeding up your well-loved PC doesn’t actually have to cost any money. You’ll find a few tips repeated from here—seriously, buy an SSD—but for the most part, it focuses on no-cost software solutions for potentially boosting your computer’s performance. Try those before dropping dough on new gear!

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

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Mozilla Joins Google and Facebook in Phasing Out Adobe Flash

Web browsers don’t like the security and stability problems that come with Flash.

Another popular web browser has had it with Adobe Flash.

Mozilla said this week that it plans to gradually wean its Firefox web browser from Adobe’s ADBE -1.07% multimedia player. In August, Firefox will no longer support “certain Flash content” that it deems “not essential to the user experience,” although Mozilla did not specify what type of Flash content it was referring to.

Mozilla will still support “legacy Flash content” for an unspecified time, but the company urged websites that use Flash or Microsoft MSFT -0.25% Silverlight, another multimedia web player similar to Flash, for their videos or online games to adopt newer “HTML technologies as soon as possible.”

In May, Google GOOG -0.59% detailed its plans to end support of Flash for its Chrome web browser, and it hopes to completely rid itself of Flash advertisements by the beginning of 2017.

Google, like Adobe, is urging website operators to switch to the HTML5 coding language to display multimedia like video on their sites.

Flash is notoriously buggy and prone to many security vulnerabilities. Firefox believes that by ending support for Flash, its users will see “enhanced security, improved battery life, faster page load, and better browser responsiveness.”

Still, Mozilla is not totally cutting ties with Adobe. Mozilla said it would “continue to work closely with Adobe to deliver the best possible Flash experience for our users” as it phases the multimedia player out, and said that an engineering partnership between the two companies has improved some performance and stability in Firefox when it displays Flash content.

Last summer, Facebook’s FB -0.27% chief security officer Alex Stamos urged Adobe via Twitter to disable Flash because of its security vulnerabilities.

In April, Adobe issued an emergency update to Flash after security researchers found a flaw that allowed hackers to distribute so-called ransomware to owners of Microsoft Windows personal computers. Ransomware is basically a form of malware that lets hackers block people from accessing their computer or related computer networks so that a hacker can demand payment in return for access.

In 2010, legendary Apple AAPL -1.32% CEO Steve Jobs wrote a 1,700 word essay on Flash and why Apple’s problems with the multimedia player, which he claimed hurt the “reliability and security of our iPhones, iPods and iPads.”

Have questions?

Get answers from Microsofts Cloud Solutions Partner!
Call us at: 856-745-9990 or visit: https://southjerseytechies.net/

South Jersey Techies, LL C is a full Managed Web and Technology Services Company providing IT Services, Website Design Services, Server Support, Network Consulting, Internet Phones, Cloud Solutions Provider and much more. Contact for More Information.

To read this article in its entirety click here.

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