Understanding tech language: The difference between malware and a virus

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: auto; min-height: auto; width: 320px;"><img src="http://zapt1.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/0919-thumb-100053021-large.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px;" /></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow: hidden;"><em style="color: #25a7d7; display: inline!important; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.7em; margin-right: 5px; text-transform: uppercase;"><em style="display: inline!important; line-height: 1.7em; margin-right: 5px;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.7em;">Depending on how technically correct you want to be, viruses are a subset of malware, or the two words mean the same thing.</span></em></em><br /><a name="more"></a></div><br /><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">The word <em>malware</em> (malicious software) describes any piece of code designed to infect your computer (or mobile device) and make it do things that you don't want it to do, such as mass-mail spam or steal your banking passwords. Trojans, worms, and rootkits are all types of malware.</div><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">And so is a <em>virus</em>, in its most technically-correct meaning. A virus is malicious code that spreads by infecting existing files, similar to the way a biological virus spreads by infecting living cells.</div><br /><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">Once common, true computer viruses have become quite rare. Criminals have found better ways to spread malicious code.</div><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">So if viruses are rare, why do people still talk about them? And why do we still run antivirus programs?</div><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">Viruses were the dominant form of malware in the 1980s and 90s, when personal computers were first becoming common. At that time, there was no commonly-used umbrella term such as <em>malware</em>, so people called any malicious program a<em> virus</em>.</div><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">And the word has stuck. Although that program you keep running in the background protects you (hopefully) from all forms of malware, it's called<em>antivirus </em>because that type of program has always been called <em>antivirus.</em></div></div>

Understanding tech language: The difference between malware and a virus

Depending on how technically correct you want to be, viruses are a subset of malware, or the two words mean the same thing. The word  malwar...

Read more »

Understanding tech language: The difference between malware and a virus

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="clear: both; color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin: auto; min-height: auto; width: 320px;"><img src="http://zapt1.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/0919-thumb-100053021-large.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 320px;" /></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; overflow: hidden;"><em style="color: #25a7d7; display: inline!important; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.7em; margin-right: 5px; text-transform: uppercase;"><em style="display: inline!important; line-height: 1.7em; margin-right: 5px;"><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 1.7em;">Depending on how technically correct you want to be, viruses are a subset of malware, or the two words mean the same thing.</span></em></em><br /><a name="more"></a></div><br /><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">The word <em>malware</em> (malicious software) describes any piece of code designed to infect your computer (or mobile device) and make it do things that you don't want it to do, such as mass-mail spam or steal your banking passwords. Trojans, worms, and rootkits are all types of malware.</div><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">And so is a <em>virus</em>, in its most technically-correct meaning. A virus is malicious code that spreads by infecting existing files, similar to the way a biological virus spreads by infecting living cells.</div><br /><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">Once common, true computer viruses have become quite rare. Criminals have found better ways to spread malicious code.</div><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">So if viruses are rare, why do people still talk about them? And why do we still run antivirus programs?</div><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">Viruses were the dominant form of malware in the 1980s and 90s, when personal computers were first becoming common. At that time, there was no commonly-used umbrella term such as <em>malware</em>, so people called any malicious program a<em> virus</em>.</div><div style="line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 0.7em;">And the word has stuck. Although that program you keep running in the background protects you (hopefully) from all forms of malware, it's called<em>antivirus </em>because that type of program has always been called <em>antivirus.</em></div></div>

Understanding tech language: The difference between malware and a virus

Depending on how technically correct you want to be, viruses are a subset of malware, or the two words mean the same thing. The word  malwar...

Read more »

Control how Windows locks down and saves power when you're not using it

<div style="width:320px;min-height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img src="http://zapt5.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/0923-thumb-100053071-large.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:320px;max-width:100%"><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/windows" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px;display:inline!important" target="_blank"><em style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;line-height:1.45em;font-size:14px">What happens when you get up and walk away from your PC? I answer a reader's question about setting Windows to secure itself and save power when not in use.</em></a></div> <span><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">For purposes of security and energy conservation, Windows can automatically shut down in several different ways when no one has touched the keyboard or mouse for a set period of time. Here are three particularly useful ways to suspend Windows. All of them, by default, require you to reenter your logon password to regain access.</p> <h3 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Lock</h3><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">When locked, Windows doesn't power down. Instead, it displays the logon screen--or the screen saver of your choice. This is strictly a security option; it doesn't save power.</p> <a href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0923-lock-100053072-ipad-index.jpg" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="325" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0923-lock-100053072-medium.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="300"></a><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> You set up Windows to lock itself in the Screen Saver dialog box. To get there in Windows 7, click <em style="line-height:1.45em">Start, </em>type <strong style="line-height:1.45em">screen saver</strong>, and select <em style="line-height:1.45em">Change screen saver</em>. In Windows 8's Home screen, type<strong style="line-height:1.45em">screen saver</strong>, click or tap <em style="line-height:1.45em">Settings, </em>and select <em style="line-height:1.45em">Change screen saver</em>.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">When locked, Windows doesn't power down. Instead, it displays the logon screen--or the screen saver of your choice. This is strictly a security option; it doesn't save power.When locked, Windows doesn't power down. Instead, it displays the logon screen--or the screen saver of your choice. This is strictly a security option; it doesn't save power.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">To lock the screen automatically, check the <em>On resume </em>option and set the Wait option to an appropriate number of minutes. The default, one minute, is decidedly too short.</p> <h3 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Sleep</h3><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">When it sleeps, Windows goes into a suspended, low-energy mode which requires only a trickle of electricity. When you press the power button, it wakes up almost immediately, asks for your password, then takes you back to where you left it.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">To set this up in Windows 7, click <em>Start,</em>type <strong>sleep</strong>, and select <em>Change when the computer sleeps</em>. In Windows 8's Start screen, type <strong>sleep</strong>, click or tap <em>Settings,</em>then<em> Change when the computer sleeps.</em></p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Once the appropriate applet is up, everything is pretty simple. If you've got a laptop, you'll probably have separate On Battery and Plugged In options.</p><img alt="" border="0" height="524" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0923-sleep-100053073-orig.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="809"><h3 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Hibernation</h3><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Physically, a hibernating PC is a turned-off PC, effectively using no power at all. Windows copies everything in RAM to the hard drive, then shuts the PC off entirely. When you reboot, everything is loaded back into RAM and the PC wakes up.</p> <img alt="" border="0" height="322" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0923-hibernate-100053070-medium.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="300"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> You'll have to do a little more work to set your PC to automatically hibernate. In the same applet where you set up Sleep, click the <em>Change Advanced power settings </em>link. In the resulting dialog box, expand the <em>Sleep </em>section, then expand <em>Hibernate after, </em>and set the minutes.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">By the way, you don't have to pick between these three. You can, for instance, set up Windows to lock itself after five minutes, sleep after 20, and hibernate after 120</p> </span>

Control how Windows locks down and saves power when you're not using it

What happens when you get up and walk away from your PC? I answer a reader's question about setting Windows to secure itself and save po...

Read more »

How to get an extra 10GB of Google Drive space for free

<div style="width:320px;min-height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img alt="google drive logo" src="http://zapt4.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/03/google-drive-logo-100029577-large.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:320px;max-width:100%"></div> <div style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/storage" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px" target="_blank"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">Google gives all comers 15 gigabytes' worth of free storage across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Plus Photos. Not a bad chunk of space just for having a heartbeat.</span><br> </a></div><span><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Of course, more is always better, especially when you don't have to pay for it. And Google is now offering exactly that, though there are a couple small catches.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">From now through Sept. 26, you have the opportunity to score an extra 10GB of Google Drive space, no extra charge.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The requirement: Install the new<a href="http://googledrive.blogspot.com/2013/09/freeing-quickoffice-for-everyone.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">Quickoffice app for Android or iOS</a>--which, incidentally, is also now free. Then sign into your Google account via that app. Presto! You get another 10GB of gratis storage.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">What's the catch? First, it won't appear right away; Google says to look for the space increase "in the next few weeks." Second, this isn't a permanent bump, though it is a lengthy one: you get the freebie for the next two years.</p> </span>

How to get an extra 10GB of Google Drive space for free

Google gives all comers 15 gigabytes' worth of free storage across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Plus Photos. Not a bad chunk of s...

Read more »

Control how Windows locks down and saves power when you're not using it

<div style="width:320px;min-height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img src="http://zapt5.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/0923-thumb-100053071-large.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:320px;max-width:100%"><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/windows" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px;display:inline!important" target="_blank"><em style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;line-height:1.45em;font-size:14px">What happens when you get up and walk away from your PC? I answer a reader's question about setting Windows to secure itself and save power when not in use.</em></a></div> <span><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">For purposes of security and energy conservation, Windows can automatically shut down in several different ways when no one has touched the keyboard or mouse for a set period of time. Here are three particularly useful ways to suspend Windows. All of them, by default, require you to reenter your logon password to regain access.</p> <h3 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Lock</h3><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">When locked, Windows doesn't power down. Instead, it displays the logon screen--or the screen saver of your choice. This is strictly a security option; it doesn't save power.</p> <a href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0923-lock-100053072-ipad-index.jpg" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="325" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0923-lock-100053072-medium.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="300"></a><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> You set up Windows to lock itself in the Screen Saver dialog box. To get there in Windows 7, click <em style="line-height:1.45em">Start, </em>type <strong style="line-height:1.45em">screen saver</strong>, and select <em style="line-height:1.45em">Change screen saver</em>. In Windows 8's Home screen, type<strong style="line-height:1.45em">screen saver</strong>, click or tap <em style="line-height:1.45em">Settings, </em>and select <em style="line-height:1.45em">Change screen saver</em>.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">When locked, Windows doesn't power down. Instead, it displays the logon screen--or the screen saver of your choice. This is strictly a security option; it doesn't save power.When locked, Windows doesn't power down. Instead, it displays the logon screen--or the screen saver of your choice. This is strictly a security option; it doesn't save power.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">To lock the screen automatically, check the <em>On resume </em>option and set the Wait option to an appropriate number of minutes. The default, one minute, is decidedly too short.</p> <h3 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em">Sleep</h3><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">When it sleeps, Windows goes into a suspended, low-energy mode which requires only a trickle of electricity. When you press the power button, it wakes up almost immediately, asks for your password, then takes you back to where you left it.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">To set this up in Windows 7, click <em>Start,</em>type <strong>sleep</strong>, and select <em>Change when the computer sleeps</em>. In Windows 8's Start screen, type <strong>sleep</strong>, click or tap <em>Settings,</em>then<em> Change when the computer sleeps.</em></p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Once the appropriate applet is up, everything is pretty simple. If you've got a laptop, you'll probably have separate On Battery and Plugged In options.</p><img alt="" border="0" height="524" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0923-sleep-100053073-orig.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="809"><h3 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:0.25em"> Hibernation</h3><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Physically, a hibernating PC is a turned-off PC, effectively using no power at all. Windows copies everything in RAM to the hard drive, then shuts the PC off entirely. When you reboot, everything is loaded back into RAM and the PC wakes up.</p> <img alt="" border="0" height="322" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0923-hibernate-100053070-medium.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="300"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> You'll have to do a little more work to set your PC to automatically hibernate. In the same applet where you set up Sleep, click the <em>Change Advanced power settings </em>link. In the resulting dialog box, expand the <em>Sleep </em>section, then expand <em>Hibernate after, </em>and set the minutes.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">By the way, you don't have to pick between these three. You can, for instance, set up Windows to lock itself after five minutes, sleep after 20, and hibernate after 120</p> </span>

Control how Windows locks down and saves power when you're not using it

What happens when you get up and walk away from your PC? I answer a reader's question about setting Windows to secure itself and save po...

Read more »

How to get an extra 10GB of Google Drive space for free

<div style="width:320px;min-height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img alt="google drive logo" src="http://zapt4.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/03/google-drive-logo-100029577-large.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:320px;max-width:100%"></div> <div style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/storage" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px" target="_blank"><span style="line-height:1.7em;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:15px">Google gives all comers 15 gigabytes' worth of free storage across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Plus Photos. Not a bad chunk of space just for having a heartbeat.</span><br> </a></div><span><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Of course, more is always better, especially when you don't have to pay for it. And Google is now offering exactly that, though there are a couple small catches.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">From now through Sept. 26, you have the opportunity to score an extra 10GB of Google Drive space, no extra charge.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">The requirement: Install the new<a href="http://googledrive.blogspot.com/2013/09/freeing-quickoffice-for-everyone.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">Quickoffice app for Android or iOS</a>--which, incidentally, is also now free. Then sign into your Google account via that app. Presto! You get another 10GB of gratis storage.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">What's the catch? First, it won't appear right away; Google says to look for the space increase "in the next few weeks." Second, this isn't a permanent bump, though it is a lengthy one: you get the freebie for the next two years.</p> </span>

How to get an extra 10GB of Google Drive space for free

Google gives all comers 15 gigabytes' worth of free storage across Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Plus Photos. Not a bad chunk of s...

Read more »

Search files in a flash with SwiftSearch

<div style="width:320px;min-height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img src="http://zapt0.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/swiftsearch-100055238-large.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:320px;max-width:100%"></div> <div style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/software-utilities" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px" target="_blank"><span style="line-height:1.7em;font-size:15px;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Windows 8 has pretty decent file-search capabilities built in, especially if you learn a few </span><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2040595/how-to-do-smarter-file-searches-in-windows-8.html" style="line-height:1.7em;font-size:15px;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">tricks for smarter searches</a><span style="line-height:1.7em;font-size:15px;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">.</span><br> </a></div><span> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Of course, not everyone has (or wants) Windows 8, and even those who do may find Microsoft's search engine lacking.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Check out <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/swiftsearch/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">SwiftSearch, a free, portable search utility</a> that's remarkably small and remarkably fast. With it you can find just about any file, on any drive, in about the time it takes to read this sentence. In fact, forget sentence; the time it takes to read this word!</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">SwiftSearch has nothing to install; it's a fully self-contained executable, which explains its "portable" nature: You can run it from your hard drive or keep it on a flash drive if you're looking to build out your portable toolset.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Either way, it loads in seconds. All you do is type your search parameters and then click <em>Search</em>. I'm not sure how the program returns results so quickly giving that it doesn't index your drive (which is how Windows Search operates), but it does.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">SwiftSearch also supports a variety of expressions you can use to perform more exacting searches, though these will definitely take a bit of study if you're not accustomed to searching this way. Click <em>Help, Regular expressions</em> for a cheat-sheet of the expressions you can use.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Once you've got your results, you can right-click any item for a menu of options, including <em>Open</em> and <em>Open Containing Folder</em>.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Much as I'm loving SwiftSearch, the program isn't perfect. Although you can sort your search results by clicking any of the column headers (Name, Directory, etc.), there's no file-type option. I want that for grouping things like Word documents and JPEG images.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Also, it would be nice if you could focus searches on a specific folder, but SwiftSearch works only with entire drives.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> That said, if you find that it's meeting your search needs, you could even consider turning off Windows' search indexing, which may make your PC run faster.</p></span>

Search files in a flash with SwiftSearch

Windows 8 has pretty decent file-search capabilities built in, especially if you learn a few  tricks for smarter searches . Of cours...

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Search files in a flash with SwiftSearch

<div style="width:320px;min-height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img src="http://zapt0.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/swiftsearch-100055238-large.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:320px;max-width:100%"></div> <div style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/category/software-utilities" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px" target="_blank"><span style="line-height:1.7em;font-size:15px;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Windows 8 has pretty decent file-search capabilities built in, especially if you learn a few </span><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2040595/how-to-do-smarter-file-searches-in-windows-8.html" style="line-height:1.7em;font-size:15px;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">tricks for smarter searches</a><span style="line-height:1.7em;font-size:15px;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">.</span><br> </a></div><span> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Of course, not everyone has (or wants) Windows 8, and even those who do may find Microsoft's search engine lacking.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Check out <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/swiftsearch/" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">SwiftSearch, a free, portable search utility</a> that's remarkably small and remarkably fast. With it you can find just about any file, on any drive, in about the time it takes to read this sentence. In fact, forget sentence; the time it takes to read this word!</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">SwiftSearch has nothing to install; it's a fully self-contained executable, which explains its "portable" nature: You can run it from your hard drive or keep it on a flash drive if you're looking to build out your portable toolset.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Either way, it loads in seconds. All you do is type your search parameters and then click <em>Search</em>. I'm not sure how the program returns results so quickly giving that it doesn't index your drive (which is how Windows Search operates), but it does.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">SwiftSearch also supports a variety of expressions you can use to perform more exacting searches, though these will definitely take a bit of study if you're not accustomed to searching this way. Click <em>Help, Regular expressions</em> for a cheat-sheet of the expressions you can use.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Once you've got your results, you can right-click any item for a menu of options, including <em>Open</em> and <em>Open Containing Folder</em>.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Much as I'm loving SwiftSearch, the program isn't perfect. Although you can sort your search results by clicking any of the column headers (Name, Directory, etc.), there's no file-type option. I want that for grouping things like Word documents and JPEG images.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Also, it would be nice if you could focus searches on a specific folder, but SwiftSearch works only with entire drives.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> That said, if you find that it's meeting your search needs, you could even consider turning off Windows' search indexing, which may make your PC run faster.</p></span>

Search files in a flash with SwiftSearch

Windows 8 has pretty decent file-search capabilities built in, especially if you learn a few  tricks for smarter searches . Of cours...

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Connect your PC to your HDTV, and control it from across the room

<div style="width:320px;min-height:auto;clear:both;margin:auto;color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:19px"><img src="http://zapt4.staticworld.net/images/article/2013/09/0926-thumb-100053123-large.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:320px;max-width:100%"></div> <div style="margin:0px 0px 10px;overflow:hidden"><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048281/connect-your-pc-to-your-hdtv-and-control-it-from-across-the-room.html" style="color:rgb(172,31,43);float:left;font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;font-size:16px;font-weight:700;text-transform:uppercase;margin-right:5px" target="_blank"></a></div> <h1 style="font-family:facitweb,sans-serif;margin:0px 0px 12px;line-height:1.13;font-size:25px;font-weight:500"><em style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif;line-height:1.45em;font-size:14px">Rao asked me for the best way to connect a PC to an HDTV, and, once connected, how best to use it.</em><br> </h1><span><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">Even in these days of Internet-capable HDTVs and set-top boxes, you still occasionally need to connect a PC to your television. You may have an Internet-capapble smart TV, a connected Blu-ray player or game console, and a dedicated streaming machine like a Roku, Chromecast, or Apple TV. But inevitably, at some point, you're going to want to watch streaming content from a Web site that none of your devices support. And you will want to watch it kicked back in an easy chair or with friends. That calls for a real television.</p> <p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em">So eventually, you'l need a way to connect your PC to your HDTV--and a way to control the PC from across the room.</p><img alt="" border="0" height="94" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/08/google_chromecast-100047361-large-100049191-small.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="140"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> And yes, I know that a Chromecast can send virtually any Web-based video stream from a Windows PC to an HDTV. But in my experience--assuming you're not using a Chromecast-supported service like Netflix or Youtube--the experience is well below that of connecting your PC directly to the television as described below.</p> <br><img alt="" border="0" height="55" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0926-hdmi-100053122-small.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="140"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> If your PC has an HDMI port, you're in luck. The modern default in HDTV connectivity, HDMI sends the best possible picture and sound from your computer to your television in one convenient cable.</p><img alt="" border="0" height="42" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0926-displayport-100053121-orig.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="100"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> If your PC lacks an HDMI port, perhaps it has a DisplayPort. Like HDMI, DisplayPort carries high-quality images and sound. To my knowledge, no HDTVs come with DisplayPorts, but you can buy a DisplayPort-HDMI adapter for about $20.</p> <a href="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0926-dvi-100053119-orig.jpg" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="63" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0926-dvi-100053119-small.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="140"></a><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> But what if your PC has neither? Then, look for a DVI port (arguably the silliest-looking port ever designed). As with DisplayPort, you can buy a cheap adapter that will still send over a very good video signal.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> The problem is that it only sends a video signal. You have to find another way to handle the audio. If your HDTV has an HDMI port with an analog audio feed associated with it, you're in luck. Otherwise, you'll need to find another way to play the audio. This could be through your surround sound receiver, or with a pair of cheap computer speakers.</p> <img alt="" border="0" height="51" src="http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/09/0926-vga-100053120-small.jpg" style="border-width:0px;vertical-align:middle;width:auto;min-height:auto;max-width:100%;float:left" width="140"><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Finally, if your PC only offers old-fashioned VGA, your HDTV probably does, too. Check your TV's manual to see what resolution your computer should be set to for best results.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> Like DVI, VGA is video-only. The same solutions apply here as above, although you're more likely to find an analog audio input associated with your VGA connection than with HDMI.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> So how do you control your computer from across the room? You could buy a PC remote control, but frankly, I just use a wireless mouse. They're cheaper, and you already know how to control Windows with it.</p><p style="line-height:1.7em;margin:0px 0px 0.7em"> If you want to stream HD video from a PC, Blu-ray player, or other source from one room to another room in your house—and be able to control that source from the other room—check out this TechHive review of IOGear's new <a href="http://www.techhive.com/article/2048780/iogear-wireless-5x2-hd-matrix-review-a-great-way-to-stream-hd-video-without-wires.html" style="color:rgb(37,167,215)" target="_blank">Wireless 5x2 HD Matrix</a>.</p> </span>

Connect your PC to your HDTV, and control it from across the room

Rao asked me for the best way to connect a PC to an HDTV, and, once connected, how best to use it. Even in these days of Interne...

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