“I’m thinking about getting a new computer, because mine is several years old. My friends seem to love their laptops, but I’m not sure they can fully replace my trusty desktop computer. Can a laptop really do everything, and are they as fast and powerful as desktop computers?”
Do you like the sounds of desktop-replacement notebook performance in an extremely light and thin form factor.
I have been on the road a couple of times this year and for all the talk of the mobile technology wonderment, it’s still considerably harder to get work done than at your desk.
Among Sun Microsystems (now Oracle something or other) founder Scott NcNealy’s favorite potshots at Microsoft was calling Windows a “hairball.” Know what? iTunes is a bigger hairball.
By Bob Rankin
“I’ve had two hard drives die on me since the beginning of the year. Can you share some tips that will help me keep my hard drives running reliably?”
By John Dodge
Is Windows 7 really that much better from previous versions…or that much more reliable?
I am beginning to think not all that much given huge expectations for Win7. After using it for 18 months, my question is a fair one. Microsoft can probably show myriad stats to prove that it is, but there’s no substitute for personal experience over the long term.
Listening to Bob describe his issues was exactly like listening to 90% of the people I talk to these days. It’s not that their computers don’t work, it’s that they don’t work well. Things take too long to open, Internet connections seem slow and as a rule, hard drive space is starting to disappear. This is especially true with systems that are over 3 years old. The older smaller drives of these system fill up quickly when compared to todays systems with large capacity hard drives.
As PC Pitstop began collating the user satisfaction feedback for desktop systems, it became evident that there was a significant number of custom built Desktop systems. Based on system information we were able to segregate these custom built systems into a separate satisfaction report. From this we were able to tabulate what motherboards were in the most loved systems. It is interesting to note that 4 out of the top 10 best loved motherboards are AMD boards.
It’s here, it’s public and it’s time to give it a spin. My Windows 7 64bit download was fast and uneventful. While it was downloading I dropped a new hard drive into my existing work box.The system is a couple of years old now and was built using a MSI P35 neo motherboard, Q6850 Intel Quad core, 2 gigs of memory and a once decent 8800GTX vid. card. A nice box when new, but now showing it’s age. I’ll need to double the memory for this to really be ready for Windows 7 and 64 bit computing, but I can add that later. Here are some PC Pitstop test results. [OVERDRIVE]
When Vista first appeared I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. It didn’t take long before I realized it was not ready for prime time. It lived quietly on my laptop while recovering from its UAC-pendectomy.
Ready for a new and improved 2009? If so, let’s kick off the season with one that bothers everyone using Vista and IE7. It’s all about the icons and it droves us all crazy.
Q. Ron T asks: “I have Vista SP1 and IE7. The icons assigned by websites get switched to the generic box or to another icon. This is after I have the websites icon assigned to my shortcut. When I go to the website the old icon precedes the web address, but I can’t get it to my shortcut to that website. Thank s if you can help.â€
Don’t believe it? Check out this link to see the past winners of PC Pitstop’s Tips and Tricks section. I’m showing some tweaks that I use to give you an idea of what we’re looking for. Jump in and grab an extra $100.00.
Get your name in the hat by heading over to our Forums and posting up your submission or just enter them here and if your tip is chosen you’ll be the lucky winner for that month. We’ve had well over 100 people who have contributed and won prizes for their efforts. Why shouldn’t you be one of them?
It’s the year 2000 and I’m sitting at my brand new computer desk, on my brand new swivel chair, and I’m starting to explore my very first computer. It’s an HP and it has cool jungle sounds coming from it. It’s going to be the best, fastest, most exciting computer in the world. It’s loaded with cool programs (or so I thought) and it’s magical.
Back in February, Steve Hogan made the case for getting a multi-core system. Rob Cheng’s experience shows that dual-core systems aren’t always faster though. It’s possible for a multi-core system to outperform a single-core system, but you’re not likely to see a desktop operating system or many applications that can take advantage of it. There are good reasons for that problem, and they aren’t going away any time soon.
Microsoft – It’s Go Time
Stop Rearranging the Furniture
Internet Speed Test Makeover
Windows 98 Turns 70
Bits from Bill: Windows Episode VII
Cell Phones on a Plane
Vista Impact on Graphics Cards
Survey: Search
Tip: Outlook on the Desktop
Tip: YouTube Quality
Tip: Free Online Classes
Yep, when I plunk down $500.00 to $1200.00 or more, I’d like to think I’m getting the latest and greatest. We all know electronics become outdated faster than potato salad at a Texas picnic, but I would at least expect to get the darned thing out of the box before having to update it. Our recent comparisons found just the opposite.
Is Your PC Feeling Bloated?
The Battle for Hard Drive Freedom: Part II
Contest: I Pimped My PC
Tip: Screen Capture Made Easy
Tip: Opaque Icon Solution
Contest: Pit Sprints
New Survey: Online Video Viewing
Survey Results: Obsolescence
Research: Bloatware on the Rise
There is no doubt that the lines are being drawn for a galactic cyber battle for control over your PC and your desktop. Spyware and adware companies make barrels of money installing their clandestine applications on your PC without your knowledge. Even for an advanced user, typically the most expedient solution is to install an anti spyware product. This article will take an in depth look at the various anti spyware solutions we have seen at PC Pitstop. During this discussion, the reader should refer to our anti spyware graph from our research section.
Search Scout is one of the features of the Gator Advertising Information Network (GAIN). Gator has a partnership with Overture Services to display keyword-based text ads. The GAIN background software monitors the web pages you visit and the information you enter into search forms. If GAIN determines that you are doing a web search, or you are visiting sites that are associated with particular keywords, Search Scout kicks into action and displays Overture advertising or other results that match the keywords.