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A fix for the multifile-selection glitch in Windows 7 and 8

Sometimes you wish Microsoft would let customers decide when to delete a feature. Reader Dan Baechlin depends on Windows Explorer's ability to retain the selection of multiple files after changing the sort order. The feature has been removed from the version of Explorer in Windows 7 and 8. As Dan explains:

My job requires the ability to highlight multiple files or folders in a directory, and to retain that highlighting while re-sorting them by different fields (modification dates, thematically-based titles, etc.) Windows provided that feature -- until version 7. My work unit indexes, manages, and compares policy documents that … Read more

How Dish's deal could improve Sprint

CNET Update dishes the details:

Dish has made a $25.5 billion unsolicited bid to merge with Sprint. Today's video explains what this deal means for consumers and how it might improve Sprint's network.

Also in this tech roundup:

- Microsoft reportedly is considering making a smartwatch

- Windows 8 apps for news and maps get updates

- Electronic Arts will shut down Sims games on Facebook

- This 55-inch Panasonic plasma is the first television to get a 5-star rating from CNET

Watch CNET Update in the video above, and subscribe to the podcast via the links … Read more

Nokia's next flagship to have 41-megapixel camera, quad-core?

Nokia could at long last migrate the gigantic lens from its 808 PureView Symbian smartphone over to a more modern smartphone design.

According to the latest Nokia smartphone rumor, obtained from a source by My Nokia Blog, the company's forthcoming "Eos" is intended to feature a 41-megapixel camera sensor. On the 808 PureView, this lens captures incredible detail and provides lossless cropping.

The Eos could also possess a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, though after testing, My Nokia Blog posits that Nokia could release it as a dual-core device after all.

Other rumored features include a 1,280x768-pixel … Read more

Nokia Lumia 520 review: One of the best budget phones around

When Nokia first unveiled its Nokia Lumia 520 this past February, the Windows Phone proved that Nokia could achieve new lows.

That's only when it comes to price, though, not features. As CNET UK discovered while fully reviewing the Lumia 520, Nokia has managed to create a very inexpensive handset that will sell in the U.K. for about 100 pounds at full retail price.

In U.S. currency, that translates to just under $200 without a contract. Luckily for us Yankees, a variant of this 520 is coming to T-Mobile in May, off-contract, as the Nokia Lumia 521.… Read more

Microsoft updates Windows 8 News, Maps, other apps

Microsoft has updated its various Bing apps for Windows 8 in a move designed to make them quicker to use and easier to customize.

The News app now lets you manage the different news categories that appear in the app. You can add or remove categories for world news, technology, politics, business, and entertainment, and sort the order in which they appear. You can also add a particular news source or RSS feed to your featured sources and to the Windows Start screen so that you can more quickly access their stories.

The News app's app bar has also … Read more

As PC sales tank, what's Microsoft's Plan B?

When market analyst IDC last week noted the sharp 13.9 percent quarterly drop in worldwide PC sales, it placed much of the blame on the "radical" user interface changes of Microsoft's new Windows 8 operating system.

"Microsoft will have to make some very tough decisions moving forward if it wants to help reinvigorate the PC market," Bob O'Donnell, IDC's program vice president for clients and displays, said in a statement.

Therein lies a core challenge for Microsoft. The software giant doesn't really have a plan B.

Microsoft can't undo the … Read more

Windows 8.1 'boot to desktop' rumor: Wishful thinking?

A Windows 8.1 option to boot to desktop? That seductive rumor has been making the rounds over the weekend.

What could be a reflection of wishful thinking, a post at WinBeta (via Neowin), cites a Russian-language Web site as the source.

Apparently, there is Windows 8.1 code that disables the Metro Start Screen and sends you "to the desktop automatically."

That is a feature that more than a few Windows 8 users would undoubtedly take advantage of since the tiled Metro screen is of questionable utility for some.

Market researcher IDC, among others, has been making the case over the past month or so … Read more

Intel factories signal Windows 8, PC doldrums

Intel isn't churning out chips at the usual rate, reflecting the PC market's downturn and the slow uptake of Windows 8, according to an analyst.

Intel's factory utilization is down around 60 percent, well below normal, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst for Phoenix based Tirias Research, in a phone interview. The news was first reported at ITWorld.

"A lot of this started in September when holiday shipments of PCs didn't go the way they expected," McGregor said. "That [60 percent utilization rate] is increasing as they burn off inventory. But they're still … Read more

Hardware vs. software: Playing the PC sales blame game

By now, anyone interested in the PC business has heard about the poor showing for global computer shipments in the first quarter of 2013. As noted here:

First-quarter global computer shipments dropped 14 percent from the previous year, said International Data Corp., much worse than its forecast for a 7.7 percent decline. The pullback marked the worst-ever quarter since IDC began tracking quarterly PC shipments in 1994, and it's the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year shipment declines.

Some were quick to blame Windows 8, which launched in October 2012, while others pointed to everything from the increasing popularity … Read more