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Apple's Up-to-Date Program for issuing qualified users free copies of its latest version of OS X has been a bit of a rocky road.

For those who purchased Mac systems after June 10, Apple is offering a free upgrade to OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, which requires submitting a serial number and purchase information to Apple's Up-to-Date Web site followed by receiving a redemption code for Mountain Lion in the Mac App Store. Unfortunately this process has hit a few snags.

Apple's Up-to-Date Program prematurely went live on Monday, two days before it was scheduled to … Read more

Heads up, Google. Apple may be eyeing its own "portable heads-up display" that could one day give Google Glass devices some competition.

Outlined in a filing published by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office yesterday, Apple's patent application refers to a technology that increases the resolution on a display without increasing the number of pixels. Such technology could be used in a portable heads-up display, Apple explained, where limiting the number of pixels is especially useful.

"In particular, a portable heads-up display may be size and weight constrained such that addition of physical pixels may … Read more

A number of people who have qualified for a free upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion through Apple's up-to-date program have found that after applying and receiving their code, they cannot use it to download the new software. When they enter their code in the store, an error pops up that claims the code was already used.

This error is rooted in the problem in which Apple prematurely opened its up-to-date program earlier this week. The up-to-date program was live for a few hours before Apple took it down, and during that time the program issued a number of … Read more

Those of you who picked up a Mac on or after June 11 can soon pounce on a free upgrade to Mountain Lion.

Courtesy of Apple's OS X Mountain Lion Up-to-Date Program, consumers who bought a Mac from Apple or from an Apple authorized reseller between June 11 and the date when Mountain Lion debuts will have 30 days to request their free upgrade. The program allows qualifying buyers to download Mountain Lion for free directly from the Mac App Store.

As detailed by MacRumors, customers have to launch the Up-to-Date Program page, where an online form asks them … Read more

This morning Apple's Up-to-Date program for OS X Mountain Lion appeared to be activated for a short while, allowing a number of people to submit applications for their free copies of Apple's new OS; however, this appears to have been an error on Apple's part and the Up-to-Date Program has been taken offline.

For people who have purchased a new Mac on or after June 11, Apple is offering a free upgrade to OS X 10.8, which is due out any day now. When the OS is released, users can go to the Up-to-Date Web page … Read more

We're back from San Diego Comic-Con 2012 with a wrap-up show of everything we saw at the show. This being our first year, it quickly became obvious that we missed the first rule of Comic-Con: leave your civilian clothes at home!… Read more

Condusiv's Diskeeper 12 Professional is the latest iteration of a premium file fragmentation utility that is suitable for home, enterprise, and server applications. It actively prevents file fragmentation and can defragment your drives regularly.

It doesn't defragment your SSDs, which shouldn't be defragmented, but they're not left out; a feature called Hyperfast optimizes I/O to maximize SSD performance and lifespan. Diskeeper also places our most frequently accessed files in the fastest area of the volume. Among the other new features in Diskeeper 12 are improved Alerting and Reporting mechanisms, a Disk Health feature that monitors … Read more

The bottom line: Bitdefender Total Security 2013 remains one of the best high-end security suites around. This update gives you a fully isolated Web browser for secure financial transactions.

Review: Bitdefender Total Security 2013 presents a convincing alternative to its better-known competitors. It's a strong program, with all the major tools that users expect, and some additional useful tricks in its arsenal. When it comes to efficacy, Bitdefender isn't the best in every area, but it's definitely competitive.

Editors' note: Portions of this review are based on CNET's review of Bitdefender Total Security 2012.

Installation Bitdefender … Read more

It can be hard to keep your software up to date, even programs that check for updates themselves. HQ's AutoUP is a free utility that scans your system to identify your installed and update-capable programs and then searches online for the latest updates. AutoUP can also download and save updates, too. You can set it to run when Windows starts as a one-stop check for all your software. It also accesses and checks Windows Update, too. Handy color-coding tells you at a glance which updates are available and if any are beta versions.

AutoUP's dialog-size interface is colorful … Read more