Computers and hardware

Windows automatic updates are a good thing. They keep your system patched, so you should probably leave the updater on. However, they can be annoying. The updater is always prompting you, or even automatically rebooting your system when you walk away for a moment. I'll show you how to turn off the automatic updates, only if you promise to manually keep up with the patches! We don't need another zombie-Windows-machine botnet out there.

Go to Windows Update by clicking the start button, choosing all programs, and then clicking Windows Update.

On the left side of the panel, click … Read more

Get the most out of your computer's LCD monitor with some simple adjustments. In this video, CNET editor Eric Franklin walks you through the process.

One of the most essential tech products at home is also probably the one you hate the most: your wireless router.

Setting up a home network can be for some an excruciating experience, one that can leave even tech-savvy folks wringing their hands while switching off between calling the router's customer service line and their Internet service provider.

Cisco Systems says it's designed a new line of routers specifically to avoid this. The Valet and Valet Plus, will be available at retailers like Best Buy, Staples, and Target and online at Amazon.com starting Wednesday for $99 and $… Read more

Few people do all their work on a single computer. Fewer still don't occasionally need access to files on another PC, whether their own or someone else's. The free Gbridge program lets you access and synchronize files and folders on any Internet-connected PCs quickly and simply.

Gbridge uses Google Talk to create a VPN connection for the secure transfer of files between your own PCs and the machines of family, friends, and coworkers. The service requires a Gmail account, but if you'd rather not use your primary Gmail account, you can create one for free specifically for … Read more

In this video, CNET editor Donald Bell shows how to gather up all the ignored songs from the darkest corners of your iTunes music library.

In this video, CNET editor Natali Del Conte shows you how to use QR codes to send or read links, contact information, or just about any other information.

Did you somehow miss our feature from earlier this month on how to share ridiculously large files? Does reading make you sleepy? My CNET colleague Tom Merritt has taken it upon himself to present some of the highlights from that how-to guide in video form, so you can absorb its knowledge through moving images instead.

And, hey--if you do like reading (which is probably why you've made it this far), the sites mentioned in the video are: Dropbox, Glide, SendThisFile, WeTransfer, and FileDropper.

You can create a disk image in the Enterprise, Business, and Ultimate versions of Windows Vista, but if you use Vista Home Premium, you need a third-party app to image a disk or partition. I was delighted to find a disk-imaging component added to the Backup and Restore applet in the Home Premium version of Windows 7.

Why it took Microsoft so long to include disk imaging in a nonbusiness version of Windows is a mystery. Even more puzzling is why the company didn't try harder to make Win7's disk-imaging tool as fast and simple to use as … Read more

Samsung will be the latest to jump on the tablet PC bandwagon.

The Korean electronics company said at a technology forum in Singapore Monday that it will sell a slate-like device starting in the second half of this year, according to a report in APC Magazine. Samsung's slate will be intended for the consumer market, though details like size, operating system, and other tech specifications were not revealed.

The company did say that its slate will be faster and more powerful than that other tablet everyone is talking about, the iPad, which a Samsung executive called "a glorified MID (mobile Internet device).&… Read more