Workers' Edge

How to start Windows 7 faster

High-performance PC hardware doesn't always deliver the speed users expect. But you probably shouldn't blame the hardware. The slowdown may be due to a software conflict.

A reader named Abe Ibrahim contacted me last week to ask about his slow Windows 7 PC:

My system: Asus Rampage III Extreme MB, Intel i7 980x CPU, 12GB Tri-Bus Memory, 128GB SSD (OS), and 9TB RAID-5 storage. One would think no matter what you ran, the system would scream through it. That is not the case with my system: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit boots in 51 seconds... [When] I use it … Read more

Four free must-have iPad apps for road warriors

Nobody who uses an iPad will ever confuse it for a full-feature notebook PC (especially once they've tried to enter data via the device's built-in keyboard). But anyone who computes on the road knows there's more to business travel than keyboarding.

These four free iPad apps transform the tablet into a clock radio, weather reporter, file manager, and multi-talented notepad.

Free file manager simplifies transfers to PCs via Wi-Fi, USB If you store Word, Excel, and other Office documents online, you may not need to keep copies of the files on your iPad. But many iPad users … Read more

How to prevent iTunes Match from exceeding your iPad cell-data limits

Apple's iTunes Match service is running up cell-data charges for some unsuspecting iPad users.

For $25 a year, iTunes Match stores your iTunes library on Apple's iCloud servers and makes them available on any PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and other iOS devices. CNET blogger Lance Whitney describes the iTunes Match service in a December 28, 2011, post; Apple provides an iTunes Match FAQ.

When I signed up for the iTunes Match service, it took several hours to upload via a cable-modem connection about 5,500 MP3s that were stored in the iTunes Library on a Windows … Read more

How to see the same view in all Windows 7 folders

I will go out on a limb and say that in the history of humankind no product has caused more irritation to more people than Windows. At least not since the invention of the pop-top can (and with the possible exception of the Ford Escort).

Terry from Moncton, New Brunswick, agrees:

"Probably a bad way to start, but I think Windows [stinks]. However, I have to use it vis-a-vis my business. Just bought a Windoze 7 machine and its idiotic permissions, among other things, are even more irritating than previous incarnations.... All I want is for the default for … Read more

Five free voice-recording iPad apps compared

People have been looking for ways to improve on the iPad's onscreen keyboard since day one. The constant screen-shifting and other shortcomings of the iPad key layout have led many people to use apps that let you communicate with minimum typing. Say "hello" to voice-recording apps.

Of the five free voice-recording iPad apps I tried, only two--Audio Memos Free and Smart Recorder Lite--let you record short sound bites and attach the resulting sound files to an e-mail or transfer them via Wi-Fi, ftp, or an online file-storage service. Dragon Dictation coverts the words you speak into text … Read more

How to master the art of passwords

Passwords are a way of life for nearly everybody who uses any kind of software. No viable alternative is imminent: fingerprint readers, retina scanners, voice identification, and USB tokens all have limitations. Nothing is as simple and inexpensive as an old-fashioned string of keystrokes.

Web services and network managers nearly always require a minimum degree of password difficulty to prevent standard password-cracking techniques from guessing them quickly. We're also cautioned not to reuse the same passphrases on different sites and are routinely blocked from recycling the passwords we've used previously.

Considering the number of times PC users sign … Read more

How to complain about online-purchase problems

It's a booming holiday sales season for online merchants. As CNET contributor Don Reisinger reports, U.S. consumers spent $32 billion online from November 1 to December 18, according to research firm ComScore.

That's 18 percent more than they spent in the same period of 2010. While most online sales go smoothly, there's always a risk of a product you ordered from a Web site not arriving on time, or a product other than the one you purchased being shipped, among other possible problems.

A reader contacted me yesterday about an order he placed on Cyber Monday (… Read more

Firefox add-ons automatically back up whatever you type

If you've ever filled in a Web form, chances are you have experienced having the text you just entered get wiped out when the page freezes, unexpectedly reloads, or otherwise causes the form to reset. Here are three Firefox add-ons that let you replace this lost text with just a few clicks.

Of course, some of what you enter on Web sites shouldn't be retrievable. The Clear Form History add-on deletes all entries saved in a search box, sign-in field, or other text field. And to see at a glance the country hosting the current site's server … Read more

How to avoid sites selling counterfeit items

It's getting to be a Cyber Monday tradition: as the biggest online-shopping day of the year approaches, the U.S. government seizes Web domains it suspects are selling counterfeit products. CNET's Edward Moyer explains in a post that this year's takedown netted more than 130 such sites.

That's nearly double the number of domains seized by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security on the eve of 2010's Cyber Monday. Still, determining just how prevalent counterfeit product sales are online is not easy.… Read more