Use Genymotion to continue enjoying your mobile apps on a desktop PC or laptop. There are various methods of running Android apps on a PC, but these can be tricky to set up and vary greatly in the levels of performance and compatibility provided.Genymotion is relatively simple to install and provides pre-packaged Android installations which … Read more
MSI A88XM-E45 59 Euro MSI A88XM-E45 – by Binh Phan Duc 5/ 6stars I had mixed experiences with the MSI A88XM-E45. It’s a good looking Micro-ATX design that uses a classic MSI colour scheme of blue and black with a chunky heatsink on the power regulation hardware that is screwed in place. The smaller heatsink … Read more
Microsoft was due to stop all security updates for Windows XP on 8 April, but the company has now muddied the waters. We explain what this means for you. With the clock ticking down on Windows XP, Microsoft Seemingly handed users a lifeline when it recently announced it would continue some support for the operating … Read more
A new CEO, rumours of Windows 9 conning in 2015 and signs of change within Microsoft. David Crookes grabs his crystal ball he paint has barely dried on Windows 8, and already excitement is building for what Microsoft will do next. Almost as soon as 8.1 was released last October, people began to talk about … Read more
What happened? Mozilla has said it plans to run advertisements in Firefox for the first time, in a bid to raise funds. The ads will appear in the “directory tiles” – the nine boxes that appear in the Firefox window each time you open a new tab (see screengrab, above). At the moment, they start … Read more
Make pop-up notifications less annoying Avast (www.avast.com) is our favourite free antivirus (See our cover feature, Issue 415) but every time you launch it, a pop-up will ask you to upgrade to the paid-for version. You can adjust the duration of this pop-up by changing Avast’s settings. Click Settings, Appearance and scroll down to Sounds. … Read more
Two months from now Microsoft will withdraw all support for Windows XP. We explain how to keep XP running safely beyond that point W indows XP is a fast, dependable operating system (os) that runs on a third of the world’s PCs and is the most popular operating system after Windows 7. We know many … Read more
You’ll need this windows Any version of Windows from the last decade will have the features used in this article. Utility bills are always on the rise, and we’re all becoming more aware of the power used by our devices in and around the home. Indeed, many utility providers now give away monitors that enable … Read more
AFTER THREE DECADES, THE AGING BIOS HAS FINALLY BEEN USURPED BY EFI, BUT IT WASN’T AN EASY JOURNEY. GARETH HALFACREE CATCHES UP WITH UEFI FORUM PRESIDENT MARK DORAN, TO FIND OUT WHAT WAS INVOLVED. Replacing a widely deployed, decades-old lump of legacy code with a system suitable for the modern era is no small task, … Read more
Matthew Lambert investigates the performance of AMD’s new graphics API in Battlefield 4 and Star Swarm. Marred by delays since its announcement in September 2013, AMD’s Mantle API has finally made its debut. It’s available to try now in Battlefield 4 and a demo called Star Swarm, which is freely available on Steam. It was … Read more
W e’ve been following Valve’s first foray into the operating system business via its Steam Machine initiative with interest. Chances are good that you have been, too, whether you’re a staunch card-carrying member of the PC Master Race or just a fan of games regardless of the platform on which they’re played. We first covered … Read more
DESKTOP WHO? WINDOWS what? The classic Windows-based PC remains Intel’s bread and butter, but it has needed to diversify its diet for a long time. At an event at the Mobile World Congress in February, the company announced two new Atom chips, code-named Merrifield and Moorefield, that could be its first truly competitive mobile solutions—and … Read more