FireWire origins date back to the mid-1980's when Apple Computer devised a high-speed data transfer technology for Macintosh internal hard drives. In 1995, the IEEE announced the IEEE 1394 spec which is sometimes called the FireWire400. In 2002, the IEEE came out with a updated standard called IEEE 1394b which allowed for a theoretical maximum transfer rate of 3.2 Gbps. Apple soon released a subset of the new standard under the title of FireWire 800. In December 2007, the 1394 Trade Association announced the FireWire S3200 that will soon be available and that will support the full 3.2 Gbps transfer rate. Read the rest of this entry...

PC Pitstop Research took a look at the display, media (sound card) and network drivers for the PCs that ran our on line tests during the month of October 2007. Based on our observations, these hardware classes include devices that are likely to have the most frequent driver updates. When we compared a PC's installed driver date to the newest driver date for a given device in our database, we were able to determine the percentage of PCs that were not using the newest driver for their hardware component. Read the rest of this entry...

The results of our October 2007 Driver Survey are in. Our initial analysis of the survey data is found below.

Over 7,500 respondents participated in this survey. 72% have updated a driver before and 78% have resolved a problem they were having by installing a different driver.

Run our free Driver Scan to check if your computers have the latest drivers. Read the rest of this entry...

Microsoft has now posted a hotfix package to its Web site that corrects this flaw in Excel 2007 and Excel Services 2007. The fix will be offered soon through Microsoft Update so that users can get the patch automatically without having to go to Microsoft's site. Read the rest of this entry…

Our September 2007 survey polled the folks visiting the PC Pitstop web site to determine just how intimate people are with their PCs. Nine out of ten people surveyed indicated that they knew the manufacturer of their PC, the size of their hard drives and how much RAM is installed. Almost as many indicated that they remember the model number of their PC and who manufactured the CPU. No surprises there. These are the common attributes that PC marketers highlight in their ads and that most people look for when buying a PC. Read the rest of this entry...

How does your state rank in general PC technology? We analyzed several technology metrics for folks running the PC Pitstop online tests and ranked the states based on our findings. Surprisingly, no one state or region clearly dominated all the metrics we reviewed. Delaware appears to have surfaced towards the top of the rankings while the states of Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas and Ohio generally ranked lowest. Read the rest of this entry…

Pitstop users face a blizzard of spam - mostly aimed at the crotch.

The PC Pitstop users report they face more of a storm of spam than they did two years ago, with most of it aimed at sex, drugs and the theory that "bigger is better."

The survey found that anyone who suffers from erectile dysfunction or is interested in increased penis size (including women) seems to have plenty of spam-delivered options. Pitstop users also reported a deluge of spam for software sales, Web greeting cards and excited emails from lawyers claiming the recipients have inherited money from strangers. Read the rest of this entry…

The PC Pitstop July 2007 survey took a look at how people make use of the Windows accessory tools, services and applications. These accessories are generally included as part of the Windows operating system with each providing some specific functionality for PC users. Read the rest of this entry…

Microsoft launched Vista Business in late 2006 and Vista Home in early 2007. Our research shows that in July 2007, Vista was found on 12% of the PCs running the PC Pitstop online tests. Our research also shows that Vista is significantly lagging the historical XP launch ramp by almost 57%. In the six months following the XP launch in 2001, the operating system had grown to be found on over 28% of all PCs. Vista's prevalence, after six months from its consumer Vista Home launch, sits at 12%. Read the rest of this entry…

The PC has provided the ability for users to make, edit and copy of all types of digital information. PC Pitstop Research took a look at the prevalence of DVD decryption and ripping software found on the PCs running the analytical tests on our website. This type of software makes it possible for a PC user to decrypt and rip a DVD movie onto their hard drive or other digital media. A search of the Internet for DVD coping software reveals a variety of both freeware and commercial applications that a user can use to create backups of their DVD movies. Approximately 15% of the PCs visiting our web site have at least one of the DVD decryption and ripping applications installed. Read the rest of this entry...