PC World - August 2014 USA

8/10/2019 PC World - August 2014 USA

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DEPARTMENTS

News

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Reviews & Ratings

Tech Spotlight

COLUMNS

Heres How

FEATURES

Top 10 Fixes for Common PC Problems

AUGUST

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

Five Cool Ways to Use Business Cards in Evernote

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY OHN PATRICK THOM AS

Answer Line

Hassle-Free PC


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SVP/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Jason Snell

EDITOR IN CHIEF Jon PhillipsDESIGN DIRECTOR Rob Schultz

EDITORIAL

SENIOR EDITORS Michael Ansaldo, Michael Brown, Mark Hachman,Melissa Riofrio

SENIOR WRITER Bad Chacos

ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR Sally Zahner

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Alex Campbell, Caitlin McGary

STAFF WRITER Florence IonVIDEO PRODUCER Jamie Lai

SENIOR COPY EDITOR Tacy Yee-Vaught

COPY EDITORS Sushmita Mita, Gail Nelson-Bonebake

ART AND DESIGN

SENIOR DESIGNER Kate Godfrey

DESIGNERS Liz Marken Fiorentino, Yasmin Vahdatpour

SENIOR PRODUCER Zack Stern

VIDEO EDITORS Dan Masaoka, Victor Schwanke

DIGITAL IMAGING SPECIALIST Michael Homnick

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Yardena Aar, Rick Broida, Jon Jacobi, Aoife M. McEvoy, Saah Jacobsson Purewal,Lincoln Spector

PCWORLD LABS

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IDG CONSUMER & SMB

PRESI DENT, IDG CONSUME R & SMB Bob Melk

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT Christine EbangiSVP & COO, IDG COMMUNIC ATIONS, INC. Matthew Smith

SVP & GENERAL MANAGER, ONLINE OPERATIONS Gregg Pinsky

SVP & CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, IDG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. John Gallant

SVP, HUMAN RESOURCES Patricia Chisholm

VP, DIGI TAL ACCOUNT SE RVICES Danielle Thorne

VP, BUSINESS D EVELOPME NT & DIGITAL MEDIA Bill Rigby

ADVERTISING SALES

VP, SALES Neil Dhanowa

COORDINATOR, SALES OPERATIONS Lauren Eckenfelder (415/975-2687)

ACCOUNT DIRECTORS Patrick Motonson (415/243-3664), Brian ORourke (630/785-3063),Amy Singer (201/634-2317), Cody Widdes (415/974-7356)

SALES MANAGER Duane Hampson (415/978-3133)

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Jennifer Lam (415/978-3271),Shari Redan (207/899-2099), Chrissy Schneider (415/978-3269)

MARKETING

MANAGER, MARKETING Saah Donato

CONSUMER MARKETING MANAGER Randall Grilli

RESEARCH MANAGER Miguel Beteta Rodrigo

IDG CREATIVE LAB

SENIOR MANAGER, MARKETING SERVICES Tina Mafori

ASSOCIATE EDITOR, CONTENT MARKETING Matthew OConnell

PROGRAM MANAGER, CLIENT SERVICES Shery Brecher

PRODUCTION

DIRECTOR, PRODUCTION Nancy Jonathans

SENIOR PRODUCTION MANAGER Tamaa Gargus


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TECHNOLOGY

CTO, IDG COMMUNIC ATIONS, INC. Aaron Jones

SENIOR DIRECTOR, SOFTWARE ENGINEERING Thomas Alexander

CHIEF ARCHITECT Jim Hutson

PRINCIPAL SOFTWARE ENGINEER Justin Counts

SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEERS Alexis Barrea, Bill Cappel, Alejandro Germenos,Byron Halbower

QA ENGINEER Eric Pivnik

SENIOR DIRECTOR, IT & WEB OPERATIONS Sean Greathouse

SENIOR WEB OPERATIONS ADMINISTRATOR Andrew Trice

DIRECTOR, DIGITAL PRODUCTS Bandon Mahne

PRODUCT MANAGER Lauren Wakefield

WEB DESIGN

DIRECTOR, ONLINE DESIGN Sky Collins

WEB PRODUCER Ryan Medlin

CONTACT

PHONE 415/243-0500

FAX 415/442-1891MAIL Editorial: 501 Second Street #600, San Fancisco, CA 94107

STAFF ADDRESS To contact any PCWorldstaff member, simply format the address asfollows:[email protected]

PUBLICATION INFORMATION

Volume 32, number 8. PCWorld (ISSN 0737-8939) is published monthly at $24.95 for one year(12 issues) by IDG Consumer & SMB, Inc. Copyright 2014, IDG Consumer & SMB, Inc. All rights

reseved. PC World and Consumer Watch are registered tademarks of International Data Group,

Inc., and used under license by IDG Consumer & SMB, Inc. Published in the United States.

About Us


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NEWS

Microsoft changescourse

Windows 7

mainstreamsuppot is ending,but dont panic

Rumor: MicrosoftsWindows 9campaign beginsthis fall

Microsoft givesaway nearly 300ebooks

The militay isstudying yourFacebook andTwitter habits

Grim Fandangoremaster confirmedfor PC


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Tech and trends that will affect you today and beyond.

Satya Nadellas strategymemo reveals a focuson productivity.

NEWS

N ULY 10, with the release of a Microsoft stategy memo

(go.pcworld.com/nadellamemo), CEO Satya Nadella

chated a new course focused on interconnectivity and

productivityone in which the standard-setting Office

applications and other products and sevices could slowly blur

together, becoming different modes of working with the same data.

Right now, of course, you can still buy Windows, Office, Windows Phone,

and other Microsoft products and sevices. But within the next decade,your inteaction with Microsoft products could be adically different.

Nadellas stategy memo marks an evolution: Following Steve

Ballmers devices and sevices stategy and Nadellas own mobile first,

cloud first concept, the plan now is to make Microsoft the productivity

and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world.

Microsoft has a unique ability to harmonize the worlds devices,

apps, docs, data and social networks in digital work and life

experiences so that people are at the center and are empowered to

O

BY MARK HACHMAN

Microsoftchangescourse


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do more and achieve more with what is becoming an increasingly

scarce commoditytime! Nadella writes.

For Nadella, productivity requires connections, intelligence, andmost of all, ubiquity. He writes at length of the need to reinvent the

companys culture and products to achieve that new reality.

Connections forgedMicrosoft has already spent consideable effot connecting its apps to

one another. For example, Microsofts Business Intelligence platform

can tap into Bing Maps, and Excel can connect to live data sources

stored within the Azure cloud. The Bing search engine has morphed

into a knowledge repositoy powering Cotana and other sevices. And

Microsoft has responded to the collaboative advantages of Google

Apps and other competing sevices by making enhancements in its

Office suite, especially its Web apps(go.pcworld.com/offwebapps).

Microsoft has

used its Web

apps to quickly

launch new

features.


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Nadella also recognizes the potential pitfalls of the so-called

Internet of Thingsthat we could be ovewhelmed by a wave of data

that we simply cant gasp, let alone place in its proper context.

Billions of sensors, screens and devicesin conference rooms,

living rooms, cities, cars, phones, PCsare forming a vast network

and streams of data that simply disappear into the background of

our lives, Nadella writes. This computing power will digitize nearly

eveything around us and will derive insights from all of the data

being geneated by inteactions among people and between people

and machines. We are moving from a world where computing power

was scarce to a place where it now is almost limitless, and where the

true scarce commodity is increasingly human attention.

Its easy to dismiss this notion of reinventing the company as mere

marketing-speak. And Microsofts product potfolio wont change;

Nadella identifies Bing, Dynamics, Excel, OneDrive, OneNote, Outlook,PowerPoint, Skype, and Word as components of the roster.

But Nadella also calls out other Microsoft technologies that arent so

much products as sevicesnamely its Oslo technology, now renamed

Delve(go.pcworld.com/oslodelve), and Cotana, the digital assistant

powering the latest iteation of Windows Phone. Both technologies

inteact in new ways with data that Microsoft has collected elsewhere.

Other sevices, such as Skype Tanslator, will help to surmount language

barriers affecting coworkers who are collaboating across continents.

Microsofts

Delveoutlines

working

relationships

and relevant

information.


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Increasingly, all of these experiences will become more connected

to each other, more contextual and more personal, Nadella writes.

Sofware as services

Microsofts role, as Nadella outlines it, is to facilitate those connections

among devices, people, and data, parsing the data in such a way that

its genuinely useful. All of these apps will be explicitly engineered so

anybody can find, ty and then buy them in friction-free ways, Nadella

writes. They will be built for other ecosystems so as people move

from device to device, so will their content and the richness of their

sevicesits one way we keep people, not devices, at the center.Note his emphasis on people, not devices. Its a hint regarding how

Microsoft will differentiate itself as the company rethinks its stategy.

Not too long ago, Google regarded offerings such as Google Drive

and Gmail as sevices that belonged on their own platforms. But thats

less true today. While email can low across

platforms, its the intelligence on top of your

emailreading a message to learn about an

upcoming light, say, and determining how soonyou need to leave for the airpot, factoring in

tafficthats increasingly becoming platform-

specific. I can open my Gmail account on my

Windows Phone, but Google Now will ping me

only if I have my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 handy.

Its conceivable, then, that what we currently think of as Microsoft

products may evolve into sevices as our data lows freely in and out.In this arangement, users are invited to patake of the sevices that

Microsoft, Google, and Apple each offerbut those respective

sevices never venture outside their corpoate walls. (Compare this

approach with the way Wolfam Research handles data in its latest

Mathematica release; see go.pcworld.com/mathematica.)

You can see this idea in action already. You can open a spreadsheet in

Excel, or in Word. You can also manipulate that data via a Web app, if

you like. Or to use Nadellas example, you can take languagewhich is

NEWS

Microsofs role is toacilitate connectionsamong devices,people, and data.


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just another form of dataand inteact with it through Skype, Word,

or Outlook, tanslating it and correlating it to your contacts. Its that

last bit, however, where Microsofts own software is required.In other words, Excel can run on an iPad, but Excel runs best on a

Windows PC or a Suface tabletnot because of any hardware

limitations, but because Microsoft reseves its digital intelligence for

users who choose Microsoft platforms. In a way, a Windows PC or

tablet authenticates the user, allowing that person access throughout

Microsofts ecosystem.

And thats the direction Microsoft is heading these days. Instead of

encouaging you to purchase a Microsoft Office DVD, the companynow promotes Office 365 and asks you to treat the productivity suite

as a subscription, with the promise of new capabilities and features

added over time. Youre simply buying a bundle of sevices.

Five or ten years from now, Nadella suggests, we may still open

Word, or Excel, or Internet Explorer to do our work. But we may

increasingly regard those apps as remnants of a bygone age.

Office for iPad

looks great, but

it lacks the

smats of Office

on Windows.


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Windows 7mainstreamsuppot isending, but

IN EARLY ULY,Microsoft reminded the world that

it will stop providing mainstream suppot for Windows 7

(and a slew of other products; see go.pcworld.com/msftendingfor the full

list) in Januay 2015. Immediately, a lood of fearmongering headlines and

aticles implied that Windows 7 is following Windows XP into the gave.

It isnt.

The confusion stems from Microsofts maddeningly obtuse naming

conventions. The end of Windows 7s mainstream suppot means only

that the opeating system will no longer get new features or product

tweaks, such as the fothcoming DirectX 12. Once a Windows desktop

OS leaves mainstream suppot, it enters the extended suppot phase

the same phase that Windows XP resided in from early 2009 until its

demise earlier this year.

Youll still receive critical security patches during extended suppot, sowhile Windows 7 wont be in active development beyond next Januay,

Microsoft isnt tossing it to the wolves of the Web, either. The company

will still provide security-related hotfixes, too; businesses can sign up for

an extended hotfix suppot plan to cover nonsecurity hotfixes. The

extended suppot for Windows 7 will last until Januay 14, 2020. (If youre

still curious about how suppot works, read Microsofts Windows lifecycle

fact sheet at go.pcworld.com/winlifecycle.)

So dont panic. Windows 7 isnt dying for a long, long time.

NEWS

BY BRAD CHACOS


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ACCORDING TO RUSSIAN LEAKERWZOR,Microsoft plans to launch

Windows 9 this fall and back it with a substantial ad campaign.

The Russian blogger also claims that accompanying the release

will be a new distribution method keyed to the users PC and theonline Microsoft Store, ather than an activation key thats sold

and/or distributed to an individual user.

Wzor, who went silent in March after allegedly receiving leaked

information (go.pcworld.com/msftleak) from former Microsoft

employee Alex Kibkalo, resufaced in early July, posting information to

Russian bulletin boards(go.pcworld.com/win9leak). Wzors latest post

as of this writing spends more time describing the new activation

system than the Windows 9 campaign itselfbut the activation system

NEWS

Rumor: Microsofts Windows9 campaign begins this fallBY MARK HACHMAN

Microsoft may

abandon the

Stat screen in

favor of smaller

elements.


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Welcome to Greenbot,

a new website forAndroid enthusiasts.

Weve got the droid info youre looking for.

Helpful tips, critical reviews, and expert

analysis for passionate Android users

of every experience level.

www.greenbot.com


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may vey well end up being the more significant announcement.

So far, Microsoft hasnt indicated what its plans are regarding

Windows. Following the recent release of Windows 8.1 Update 1,tipsters have pointed toward a second, minor update this fall. After

that, repots have claimed, comes Threshold (go.pcworld.com/

buywin8), though whether that release will be a third update or a

new, full-ledged Windows is up in the air.

At this point, the distinctions are purely marketingbut what

impotant distinctions they are. According to NetMarketShare, the

combined market share of Windows 8.1 and Windows 8 is merely

12.54 percent. Thats more than Apples Mac OS share, but far lessthan the 25.31 percent that Windows XP holds, or the 50.55 percent

share that Windows 7 enjoys.

Microsoft long ago stopped disclosing the number of Windows 8

licenses it has sold. And its product releases have steadily moved

away from the bold yet intimidating Stat screen toward more

friendly elements, such as the shrunken Stat menu that will

supposedly debut with Threshold.

Windows 8

may soon join

Windows Vista

in Microsofts

hall of shame.


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Its Microsofts prerogative to keep the Windows 8.1 banding if it

wishes. But the company has equal reason to jump ahead to Windows

9 and begin a new chapter in its product development. If that turnsout to be Microsofts stategy, then Windows 8 is indeed the new Vista.

Activation through the Microsof StoreThe Wzor post outlining a new, online-centric method of registering

a Windows purchase states that registation would be bound to a

single PC and activated when the user connects that machine to

the Microsoft Store. Users could also back up their key to a special

ESD-RETAIL format on a lash drive or onanother PC. Users who tried to run a single

copy of Windows on multiple PCs would be

asked to undock the other machines, in Wzors

phasing, within three days.

A tanslated copy of Wzors post describes the

Windows 9 marketing campaign as fantastic.

Microsoft communications chief Fank Shaw essentially dismissed

the rumor, tweeting Was there a cazy rumor day declaation that

I missed? without specifically referring to the Wzor repot.

Whether or not the repot is true, the question it aises is an

intriguing one. Each Windows 8.1 release that Microsoft ships

leaves the company mired in that opeating systems troubled

histoy. With a new chief executive, a revamped management

structure, and a fresh mobile first, cloud first approach, doesnt

it make sense to turn the page on Windows, as well?

NEWS

Whether Thresholdwill be an update ora new Windows isup in the air.


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GET READY TO DRINKdeep from

the fountain of knowledge. As he

has done in years past, Eric Ligman,

Microsofts senior sales excellence

manager, has collected a trove of

free Microsoft ebooks and resources

(go.pcworld.com/msftebooks),

offering up nearly 300 gatis guides

for your reading pleasure.

To be fair, most of the items (which we first noticed thanks to

BetaNews) are basic guides, sales materials, or deeply technical

tomes delving into the arcane ats of, say, Azure, Microsoft

Dynamics, and SharePoint. Valuable resources, sure, but maybe

not consumer-friendly resources.

That said, sifting through the bounty reveals some handyreference items that eveyday folks will find interesting. The

hefty Windows 7 Power Users Guide is up for gabs, and so too is

Introducing Windows 8.1 for IT Professionals, which spans 139

pages. Youll also find the teen-focused Own Your SpaceKeep

Yourself and Your Stuff Safe Online in the collection.

Some of the smaller no-cost ebooks might be woth keeping

near your PC. You can gab keyboard-shotcut guides for vitually

evey Microsoft productWindows 7, Windows 8, Office,

BY BRAD CHACOS

Microsoftgives awaynearly 300ebooks

You can find

helpful guides

for Windows 7

and other

Microsoft

products.


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SharePoint, Outlook, you name it

along with shoter tip-laden aticles

such as What to do before you calltech suppot and various Office-

product quick-stat guides. IT types

will find plenty to peruse, too.

Did I mention that all of these Microsoft guides are free? Be sure

to check them out.

If youre looking for even more computing advice, wander over

to the Heres Howsection on page 103. And on PCWorld.com, we

have waymore than 300 aticles that can teach novices and prosalike all sots of nifty tricks. Our guide to the 17 obscure Windows

tricks too poweful to ignore (go.pcworld.com/obscure) and our

advice on turning your Windows tablet or old laptop into a PC

gaming powerhouse with Steam streaming (go.pcworld.com/

steamstreaming) are just the tip of the iceberg.

NEWS

You can grab keyboard-shortcut guides orvirtually everyMicrosof product.


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IT SHOULD COMEas no surprise in the ea of Edward Snowden

that the United States militay is keeping an eye on your social

media habits. But what you might not realize is that the

Depatment of Defense is also funding Facebook-style

behavioal experiments.

The Guardianrepoted in early July that DARPA, the Defense

Depatments research arm, has given millions of dollars(go.

pcworld.com/darpa) to projects that examine activity on

Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit, Pinterest, and other popular

social networks as pat of its Social Media in Stategic

BY CAITLIN McGARRY

The militay is studying your

Facebook and Twitter habits


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NEWS

Communication progam.

According to the newspaper,

one of the studies involvedsending messages to users to

gauge their responses. DARPA

even looked at the Twitter

accounts of Lady Gaga and

Justin Bieber to determine how

messages disseminate across

that network. The militay also

examined Kickstater projects.Why is DARPA interested in

what you and Lady Gaga are

tweeting about? The SMISC

progam (go.pcworld.com/

smisc) is designed to prevent

stategic surprise, according to DARPA, by studying how information

spreads through social networks. Armed with those research results,

the government can then develop tools to suppot the effots of

human opeators to counter misinformation or deception

campaigns with truthful information.

DARPA claims that it abides by legal and ethical standards for its

studies, and that it seeks willing paticipants for its experiments.

Some of the studies, however, didnt ask for paticipation, according

to the Guardian. One project, called Who Will Retweet This?

Automatically Identifying and Engaging Stangers on Twitter toSpread Information, sought out Twitter users to pass along facts

about public safety and disease.

So if a stanger ever messages you on Facebook or Twitter, be

careful: It might be a government researcher studying you.

What youpost

on Facebook

and elsewhere

is coming

under scrutiny.


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IN EARLY ULY, one month after Sony representatives stood onstage

at that companys E3 press conference (go.pcworld.com/e3sony2014)

and announced that Grim Fandangowould be available for the first

time in almost 15 years, we got confirmation that the beloved

adventure game would be on the PC, too. (Oh, thank goodness.)

Yes, despite the implication at E3 that the remastered version ofthe game would be exclusive to Sonys PlayStation 4 and Vita, Grim

Fandangowill indeed be coming to its true and rightful PC home(go.

pcworld.com/grimpc), as well as to Mac and Linux. This isnt really a

surprise, considering that Grim Fandangocreator and Double Fine

founder Tim Schafer tweeted about other platforms during E3,

but stillnostalgic gamers can now heave a sigh of relief.

And lest you blame Sony for making you wait on the edge of your

seat for this announcement, keep in mind that Sony apparently

BY HAYDEN DINGMAN

Grim Fandango remasterconfirmed for PC


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helped Double Fine in the

negotiations to get the rights to

Grim Fandangoback after LucasAtsspent a decade and a half squatting,

sticking its fingers in its ears, and

shouting Sell one of the most

critically acclaimed games of all time again so people can actually

play it? I cant hear you! I cant hear you! while George Lucas an

roughshod over the Star Warsfanchise.

Ahemsory. At any ate, Disney may be the best thing to happen

to Star Warsin a long time, and the best thing to happen to classicadventure games from the 1990s. We still have no official release

date for the remastered adventures of Manny Calavea, though

the July announcement from Double Fine says just a BIT longer.

NEWS

Disney may be the bestthing to happen toclassic adventuregames from the 1990s.


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GO TO STANDUP2CANCER.ORG


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C

YBERCRIMINALS TRICKED FRED into giving away some

sensitive information. Now he wants to know how to mitigate

this situation.

Dont feel bad. We all make mistakes. But with these sots

of mistakes, you have to act fast to avoid disaster.

Youve fallen for a scam!

Now what?Whats done is done. Heres what you need to do to keep yourmistake from costing your further. BY LINCOLN SPECTOR

CONSUMERWATCH

Make smart purchases,stay safe online.


28/128

What you need to do depends on how

you were tricked. Did you give them your

email password? Your bank and/or creditcard numbers? Your passwords for

Facebook, Twitter, or other social media

sites? Did they remotely access your PC,

or trick you into installing software?

If you have reason to believe that criminals can access your financial

accounts, call your banks and credit card companies immediately.

Explain the situation and follow their instructions.

Next, change any passwords that might have fallen into criminalhands. This includes email, social-media, and other passwords.

If youve been using the same password for multiple accounts,

change all of those passwords as well. And stop using the same

password for multiple accounts already!

If you cant change a passwordor even log on to a sitethat means

the crook got there first. Check the site for instructions on recovering a

hijacked account. Conduct a Web search forhijacked accountand the

name of the sevice in question (Facebook, Google, or whatever) and

follow the directions given on the sevices website.

By the way, if you set up your account with two-step verification

(most major sevices offer this), chances are slim that criminals will be

able to access and hijack your account.

Next, call the police and ask to make a repot. No, the cops will not

find the crooks and return what was stolen. But banks, credit card

companies, and other institutions may want to see a police repot. Itmakes your claim to victimhood official. Dont call 911. Unless the

criminal is physically inside your home, its not an emergency.

Were you tricked into allowing someone to remotely control your

PC? Or into downloading software? If so, theres no telling what

information they got, or are still getting.

In that case, change your Windows login password immediately. And

scan your PC for malware (go.pcworld.com/malwarestrikes) using

multiple antimalware tools.

If you cant change a

passwordor even logon to a sitethat meansthe crook got there first.


29/128

CONSUMERWATCH

THE CREATORS OF TRUECRYPT shocked the computer security world

recently when they seemingly ended development of the popularopen-source encyption tool. Even more surprising, the creators said

TrueCypt could be insecure and that Windows users should migate

to Microsofts BitLocker. Theories immediately began to swirl as to

what might have prompted the surprise announcement.

But in any case, the TrueCypt incident gives us a chance to explain

BitLocker and how to use it.

What is BitLocker?BitLocker is an easy-to-use, proprietay encyption progam for

Windows that can encypt your entire drive as well as help protect

against unauthorized changes to your systemsay, by malware

that targets your systems firmware.

Who can use BitLocker

The progam is available to anyone

with a machine running Windows Vista

or 7 Ultimate, Windows Vista or 7

Enterprise, Windows 8.1 Pro, or Windows

8.1 Enterprise. If youre running an Enterprise

edition, chances are your PC belongs to a large company, so

you should discuss enabling BitLocker encyption with your

companys IT depatment.

Most of us buy PCs with the standard version of Windows, which

A beginners guide toBitLocker, Windowsbuilt-in encyption toolBY IAN PAUL


30/128

doesnt include BitLocker encyption. But if you upgaded to Windows

8 during the initial rollout of Microsofts dual-inteface opeating

system then you probably have Windows 8 or 8.1 Pro.

System requirementsTo run BitLocker, you need a Windows PC running one of the OS

lavors mentioned above, plus a PC with at least two patitions and a

Trusted Platform Module (TPM). A TPM is a special chip that runs an

authentication check on your hardware, software, and firmware. If the

TPM detects an unauthorized change, your PC will boot in a restricted

mode to deter potential attackers. BitLocker will run a system checkwhen you stat it up to see if your PC can use the progam.

Who should use BitLocker?Heres the thing about BitLocker: Its a closed-source progam. Thats

problematic for folks who are extremely privacy conscious, because

users have no way of looking at the code

to see if, for example, Microsoft was

pressured by the U.S. government into

putting some kind of backdoor into the

progam that would allow the

government to access it. (The company

says there are no backdoors.)

So I wouldnt count on this encyption

progam defending your data against government actors such as

border agents or intelligence sevices. But if youre looking to protectyour data from petty criminals and nongovernment types, then

BitLocker should be just fine.

Going crypto, Microsof styleHeres how to got BitLocker running on a Windows 8.1 Pro machine.

The first thing youll need to do is fire up the Control Panel.

When the Control Panel opens, type BitLockerinto the search

box in the upper-right corner and press . Next, click

Dont count onBitLocker protectingyour data againstgovernment actors.


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Manage BitLocker, and on the next screen click Turn on BitLocker.

Now BitLocker will check your PCs configuation to make sure your

device suppots Microsofts encyption method.

If it approves your PC for BitLocker, Windows will show you a

message like this one. If your TPM module is turned off, then Windows

will turn it on and encypt your drive.

TPMTo activate your TPM security hardware, you must shut down

Windows. Then you must manually turn your PC back on. Before you

go ahead with this process, make sure to eject any lash drives, CDs, or

DVDs from your PC. Then press Shutdown.

Once you restat your PC, you may see a warning that your system

was changed. In my case I had to press to confirm the change

or to cancel. After that, your computer should boot back up.Once you log in again, youll see the BitLocker window.

Recovery key and encryptionAfter a few minutes, you should see a window with a green checkmark

next to Turn on the TPM security hardware. Click Next.

Before you encypt your drive, however, you have to save a recovey

key in case you have problems unlocking your PC. Windows 8.1 gives

you three choices for saving this key: Save the recovey-key file to your

CONSUMERWATCH

BitLocker

checks that

your PC has

the required

Trusted

Platform

Module.


32/128

Microsoft account, save the file

to a lash drive, or print the

recovey key. You are able tochoose as many of these options

as you like, and you should

choose at least two.

In my case, I chose to save the

file to a USB drive and print the

key code on paper. I decided against saving the file to my Microsoft

account, because I dont know who has access to the companys

severs. That said, saving your key to Microsofts severs will make itpossible to decypt your files if you ever lose the lash drive or piece of

paper containing your recovey key code.

Once youve created two different instances of the recovey key and

removed any USB drives, click Next.

On the following screen, you must decide whether to encypt only

the disk space used so far or to encypt your PCs entire drive. If you

are encypting a band-new PC, without any files, then encypting only

the used disk space is the best choice, since new files will be encypted

as you add them. If you have a PC with a few miles on the hard drive,

Here, the PC

has rebooted

and the TPM isnow active.

To encyptyour drive, choose the option best describes your PC.


33/128

you should choose to

encypt the entire drive.

Then click Next.

Make sure the box next to

Run BitLocker system

check is selected so that

Windows will run a system

check before encypting

your drive. Then click

Continue and youll notice

that nothing happens.Look at the system tay,

and youll see an alet telling

you that encyption will begin after you restat the PC. Restat your PC.

When you log in this final time, you should see another system tay

alet telling you that the encyption opeation is in progress.

You can continue to work on your PC during the encyption phase,

but things may run a little slower than usual. Consider waiting to do

anything that might tax your system during the initial encyption,such as running gaphics-intensive progams.

The length of time it takes BitLocker to fully encypt your files

depends on the size of your drive, or, if youre only encypting existing

data on a new PC, the amount of data.

CONSUMER

WATCH

Top:You have to manually reboot your PC to stat BitLockers

disk encyption.Above:And now, the encyption begins.


34/128

FORGOTTEN YOUR WINDOWS password? Thats not the end of the

world. You dont have to tash your computer, or even restore your PC

to its factoy default settings. There are many ways to remove or reset

a Windows password.

Password-reset methods for Microsoft accounts differ from the

methods used for local Windows accounts. If you arent sure which

Locked out? Get back intoWindows 8 by resettingyour passwordBY ERIC GEIER


35/128

type of Windows account you have, turn

on your computer and see if an email

address is displayed above where youenter your password to log in. If you see

an address, its a Microsoft account. If you

dont, its a local account.

Resetting the password for Microsoft

accounts is relatively quick and easy. Resetting local accounts,

however, requires a hack or a third-paty tool. Because computers

preloaded with Windows 8 include a new Secure Boot feature and the

Unified Extensible Firmware Inteface (UEFI) boot method, using athird-paty tool complicates the process futher.

Reseting he password o a Microsof accounIf you have a Microsoft-based Windows 8 account, you can use

Microsofts online form(go.pcworld.com/passreset)to reset the

password. You can complete this from another PC, or even from a

smatphone or tablet. Although you can find a phone number for

Microsoft suppot, I was told, when I called, that I must use their

online form to reset your password.

CONSUMERWATCH

The online

formshows a

patial email

address and cell

phone number

that you must

complete inorder to

continue.

Reseting a local

Windows accounrequires a hack or ahird-pary ool.


36/128

It will be easier to reset your password online if your current email

address or cell phone number is saved to your Microsoft account.

The online form will show you an incomplete view of the email

address and cell number you have on file. You must then confirm

the full address or number, and choose which one youd like them to

send the reset code to.

If you dont remember the full email address or cell number that

you have on file, or you dont have access to them anymore, you

can fill out a questionnaire that that asks you a variety of account

security questions. If your information checks out, the site will helpyou create a new password.

Once you successfully reset your password, you should be able to log

in. Your computer must be connected to the Internet to be updated

with the new password.

Removing the password of a local accountAlthough its not great from a security perspective, there are many

ways to reset or remove a Windows password for local accounts

BitLocker

checks for the

required

Trusted

Platform

Module.

The questionnaire

requires you to

answer securityquestions, enter

any previous

passwords, and

respond to other

security prompts.


37/128

without having administative access or passing the security checks

from Microsofts online form. These methods typically include using

a bootable CD, DVD, or USB drive. We discussed this approachwhich uses a utility called Trinityin a previous aticle (go.pcworld.

com/localreset) for Windows 7 and earlier, but that paticular utility

doesnt apply to Windows 8.

Caution: Resetting a password using these methods means you will

lose access both to any encypted files utilizing the Encypting File

System (EFS) built into Windows and to stored passwords for Internet

Explorer and network resources.

There are many other bootable password-recovey and rescue toolsthat work with the latest Windows versions, but most require

changing your computers boot settings.

If you have a genuine Windows 8 disc or lash drive, you should be

able to boot from it without having to change the boot settings. If

this is the case, you can use it to peform a so-called Sticky Keys

hack to reset your local Windows account password.

CONSUMER

WATCH

The new Advanced Statup Options screen that replaces the Advanced Boot

Options screen from previous Windows versions.


38/128

A previous aticle describes

how to peform the Sticky

Keys hack (go.pcworld.com/stickykeys). The aticle was

written for Windows 7 and

earlier versions of the

opeating system, but it still

applies to Windows 8 and

later with a couple of tweaks:

Ignore step 4 from the

first set of steps and dothe following instead:

Click Troubleshoot,

Advanced options, and

then open the Command

Prompt.

Resume with step 1 of

the second set of steps.

If you dont have a

genuine Windows 8 disc or

lash drive, you can use a third-paty tool or utility. For example,

the Oline NT Password & Registy Editor (go.pcworld.com/

ntpassword) is included with other rescue discs like Hirens BootCD

(www.hirensbootcd.org).

Before you can boot up a third-paty tool on a computer that

came preloaded with Windows 8 or later, you must tempoarilydisable the new Secure Boot and UEFI features. Stat by holding

the key down while you restat Windows 8, even from the

initial login screen.

Once Windows boots into the Advanced Statup Options (ASO) menu,

click Troubleshoot, Advanced Options, and UEFI Firmware Settings. The

exact settings differ between PC manufacturers, but find and disable

the Secure Boot and UEFI features, which may include enabling the

Compatibility Suppot Module (CSM) or legacy boot mode.

You can set up

the new

alternative

login methods

with the PC

Settings app.


39/128

After you run the bootable third-paty tool and clear your Windows

password, you should reenable Secure Boot and UEFI. Then you should

be able to boot into Windows again and log in.

Preven fuure forgoten-password issuesNow that youre back on your Windows account, consider setting up

some alternative log-in methods (go.pcworld.com/altlogin), like a PIN

and picture password, which you can use if you forget your password.

If youre using a local Windows 8

account, you can create a password-

reset disk using a USB lash drive via theUser Account settings in the Control

Panel. If you ever forget the password,

even if youve changed it since you made

the reset disk, you can plug in the lash

drive to reset your password.

You can use a somewhat similar password-reset function for

Microsoft accounts. You can geneate a Microsoft recovey code and

then save it and enter it later if you ever forget your password. The

recovey code will work even if youve since changed the password.

To geneate this recovey code, visit the Microsoft security settings

webpage (go.pcworld.com/msrecoveycode).

CONSUMERWATCH

Consider seting upsome alernaive log-inmehods, like a PIN anda picure password.


40/128

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41/128

Microsoft SufacePro 3: A work PC intablet clothing

Varidesk: A sit-standdesk with a few

ergonomic issues

Toshiba SatelliteP50t: The first laptopwith a 4K display

Karma hotspot offersno-nonsense pricing

NEC MultiSyncEA274WMishuman sensor

puts it to sleep

Asus PB287Q: Abudget-friendlyUlta HD display

REVIEWS

& RATINGSONTENTS


42/128

Microsoft Suface Pro 3:A work PC in tablet clothingWith a ew small changes, Microsof has made choosing between a laptopand a Windows tablet ar more difficult. BY MARK HACHMAN

TESTED IN PCWORLD LABS

In this section, hardware & softwarego through rigorous testing.

REVIEWS

& RATINGS


43/128

T

HROUGH EVERY ITERATION,

Microsofts Suface Pro tablet

has edged closer to becoming alaptop replacement. The newest

model, the Suface Pro 3 (go.pcworld.com/

sufacep3), takes seveal more small steps in

that directionalong with one giant leap.

Youll immediately notice the larger display,

which is 12 inches in diagonal width and 38 percent bigger than the

screen of the Suface Pro 2. Its 2160-by-1440-pixel resolution, an

improvement over the Suface Pro 2s 1920-by-1080 resolution, isbreathtakingly crisp. Just as impotant, Microsofts shift to a 3:2

aspect atio adds 1.12 inches of vetical real estate to what already is

a wider tablet. The result is a more luxurious, useful work spaceand

thats critical when youre multitasking in a desktop environment.

Despite the larger screen dimensions, the Suface Pro 3 is slimmer

Despite the larger

screen dimensions,the Surface Pro 3is slimmer than itspredecessor.

Viewed on edge,

the Suface Pro 3

looks and feels

like a tablet.


44/128

than its predecessor, its designers having trimmed 0.23 inch of width

and 0.24 pound from the Suface Pro 2. Yet Microsoft is still offering a

full ange of Core processors for the lineup, including a Core i7 thatsomehow manages to live happily in a 0.3-inch-thick slate.

A substantial investment

Microsoft is shipping the Suface Pro 3 in five configuations. Our

evaluation unit, containing a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and

256GB of stoage, costs $1300. The low-end Core i3 model costs $800,

a price thats competitive with full-ledged laptops. But a high-end

Core i7 model costs more than $2000 after sales tax, and any future4G connectivity options will boost prices even futher. The new Type

Cover costs another $130, and its a must-have. Microsoft also moved

to a new charger, breaking compatibility with earlier models. And if

you bought a docking station for the Suface Pro 2, it wont work with

the Suface Pro 3 due to a pot reconfiguation.

Compared withthe 10.6-inch

Suface Pro 2

(left), the 12-inch

Suface Pro 3

offers a luxurious

amount of space.


45/128

REVIEWS& RATINGS

Longtime Suface fans may be disappointed by those dawbacks,

especially if they recently spent four figures on a Suface Pro 2. But if

youre in the market for a new laptop, you should seriously consider aSuface Pro 3 as your daily driver for work and play.

Just like that, itsup and runningThe Suface Pro 3 boots

fastso fast that I initially

thought I had left it insleep mode instead of

shutting it down. Yes, Ive

been reviewing a clean

machine, and improved

SSD technology plays a

role, but boot-to-password

was on the order of 3 to 4

seconds. (Hold the powerbutton a bit longer than

normal on first boot,

however, as a quick press

doesnt seem to trigger it.)

Microsoft claims 8 hours

of battey life during casual

use, but our in-house

battey tests, which entail

Cooling vents surround

the upper reaches of the tablet.

Under load, the fan vents air with

an unobtrusive hiss.

Microsof Surace Pro 3

PROS:

Larger screen offers 38 percent more

real estate New Type Cover is much more stable Stated battey life of 8 hours

CONS:

Pricing still gives one pause No more free OneDrive cloud stoage Stylus holder is awkwardly placed

BOTTOM LINE:

Microsofts Suface lineup keeps

getting better, with an improved

screen for desktop use and an

upgaded Type Cover for the road.

$1300 (Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM,

256GB stoage)


46/128

a continuous mix of scripted Office use and video playback, brought

the Suface Pro 3 to its knees after 4 hours, 18 minutes. (The smaller

Suface Pro 2 shut down after 4 hours, 44 minutes.)Our Core i5based review unit always felt snappy and responsive.

Microsoft describes the chip as a tuned version of the Core i5-4300U,

the upgaded processor that Microsoft adopted midway through the

Suface Pro 2 life cycle. The Suface Pro 3s WorldBench 9 score,

however, was just 72, whereas the Suface Pro 2 achieved a score of 74.

Microsoft has moved to the faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard, which

increases potential wireless throughput. The new tablet also has

5-megapixel cameas front and rear, enough for full 1080p Skype chats.As for pots, the Suface Pro 3 retains the MicroSD slot of previous

geneations, as well as the single USB 3.0 pot and Mini DisplayPot

connector. The upcoming docking station will include three USB 3.0

pots and two USB 2.0 connectors, as well as gigabit ethernet.

The new stylus is

nice, although a bit

awkwardly placed.


47/128

REVIEWS& RATINGS

Improved digital-ink penOur test unit included the latest Windows 8.1

Update. When you shut down the tablet, itasks you to pull down the window to turn it

off, just as Windows Phone does. One serious

omission on the software front: Whereas the

Suface Pro 2 came with 200GB of free

OneDrive stoage, the Suface Pro 3 does not.

Ditto for the years woth of Skype Premium

calling and Wi-Fi access that the Pro 2 offered.

The Suface Pro 3 ships with a chunky new

N-trig pen that features what Microsoft calls

decreased paallax;the digital ink lows more

closely from where the pen touches the

screen. And heres a nifty trickyou can rouse

the tablet from sleep by holding the button

on the top of the pen, which launches a new OneNote note without

requiring a password.

Either you like digital ink or you dont, and the Suface Pro 3 is still too

heavy and awkward for long-term one-handed use. Microsoft wants

you to use the Suface Pro 3 as a digital legal pad, but doing so requires

setting the tablet down on a table.

The pens stoage loop in the new Type Cover also needs work, as it

makes removing and stowing the pen too difficult. Securing the pen

within the tablet would be a better solutionthough perhaps

unfeasible, given that the Suface Pro 3s internals are already packedto capacity with components.

On a plane, on a trainSuface chief Panos Panay has made lapabilityhow a Suface tablet

stacks up against a taditional notebook when youre resting the

device on your lapone of the selling points of the line. In the sevice

of improved lapability, Microsoft has reworked the kickstand and the

Type Cover for this model.

Using he SurfacePro 3 as a digial legalpad requires seting idown on a able.


48/128

The first geneation of the Suface lineup included a kickstand that

folded back to a 22-degree angle. Later, the Suface Pro 2 added a

second, 55-degree angle. With the Suface Pro 3, the limitations

effectively disappear. The tablet still clicks back to the 22-degree

angle, but beyond that the kickstand and its friction hinge can

suppot any angle up to 150 degrees. Microsoft says it has tested

the hinge to hold up over repeated use.

I used the Suface Pro 3 on a plane from New York to San Fancisco,

lying in coach. The Suface Pro 3 fit fairly well on the tay table, with

a bit hanging off the edge. Typing was no problem. In key tavel and

spacing, Microsoft claims, the Type Cover 3 is essentially the same asthe second-geneation model, and the keys are still backlit.

I cant say, however, whether the Suface Pro 3 will remain

comfotable to use if the person ahead of you reclines the seatthe

passenger in front of me slept with the seat in the upright position. To

Microsofts credit, I was able to use the Suface Pro 3 with the Type

Cover comfotably on my lap, and I typed on it for extended periods.

The real key to so-called lapability lies in a tweak that Microsoft

made to the Type Cover 3. Click it in, and it resembles the previous

The Type Covers

redesign gives the

Suface Pro 3

greater stability

when you rest the

tablet on your lap.


49/128

REVIEWS& RATINGS

geneations keyboard. Youll notice, however, a narrow strip on its

long, connected edge that uses a second magnetic connection. When

you fold it down, this strip aises the keyboard to a slight angle, and itreinforces the Type Covers connection across the entire tablet. Earlier

Type Cover designs feel limsy on your lap, but the additional suppot

of the Type Cover 3 stabilizes the whole unit. The Type Cover 3 works

with earlier Suface models, too.

When I used the Suface Pro 3 on a swaying commuter tain in San

Fancisco, the new tablet-keyboard combination offered enough

stability, lexibility, and headroom to make me dismiss the old Suface

Pro 2 combo immediately.I did encounter two bugs. First, after I folded up the Suface Pro 3

and then reopened it, the touchpad wouldnt work and the cursor

vanished. Rebooting solved the problem. Second, when I snapped the

Type Cover 3 onto my older Suface Pro 2 to check connectivity, it

worked finebut after I reattached the Type Cover 2 to the Suface

Pro 2, the Type Cover 2 failed to connect, even after seveal reboots.

Another, older Type Cover failed to work as well. Microsoft says

software updates will fix such issues with the covers.

Third times the charm?

For all of the Suface Pro 3s attactive qualities, you may be better

seved by exploring other Windows 8.1 options, be they hybrids or

taditional laptops. These competitors may not have the Suface Pro

3s gorgeous display, but they will likely cost a few hundred dollars

less, boast longer battey lives, and maybe face the challenges of theairplane tay table with greater aplomb.

Thats not to downplay what Microsoft has accomplished with the

Suface Pro 3, however. The new model represents an improvement

on all fronts. The original Suface wasnt much of a tablet. The Suface

Pro 3 cetainly is.


50/128

Varidesk: A sit-stand desk

with a few ergonomic issuesBY MICHAEL ANSALDO

IF YOU HAVENT heard yet, sitting will kill you. The posture in which

most of us spend the bulk of our day has been linked to evey life-

threatening malady from heat disease to diabetes to cancer. Because

most of our sitting is done in the workplace, a popular tool to combat

this habit has been the sit-stand desk, which allows you to vay your

posture. The problem is theyre expensive, frequently complex, and

not evey workplace offers one as an option.

The Varidesk (varidesk.com) is a compelling alternative: a height-

adjustable platform that sits on your fixed desk. Unfotunately,

some significant design laws limit its usefulness.

Watch thevideo at

go.pcworld.com/varidesk


51/128

REVIEWS& RATINGS

Simple setupThe Varidesk comes fully assembled. However, the

single-monitor model we reviewed (dual-monitormodels are also available) is a cumbersome 41.8

pounds, so that may be a two-person task. Theres no

hardware to secure the Varidesk to your current

workstationits designed to balance its weightso

once its positioned, its merely a matter of loading your monitor,

keyboard, and any other peripheals you want at hand. The most

laborious pat of setting up is making sure all your cable lengths will

accommodate both sitting and standing positions.The Varidesk Single has

a spacious 30-by-23-inch

work suface. To change

the height of the Varidesk,

you release levers on either

side of the platform and

manually aise or lower it

to one of 11 preset

positions. It lifts with little

effot thanks to spring

assistance, but lowering it

takes some muscle.

Rise up

Varidesk trumpets that itsadjustable height desks

can get you from a seated

to standing position in

three seconds. Technically

thats true, but because

the monitor and keyboard

cant be adjusted

independently, getting to

Varidesk Single

PROS:

Sturdy construction Easy setup

InexpensiveCONS:

Cant adjust keyboard and monitorindependently

Too big for a cubicle desk Must move peripheals each time

you change positions

BOTTOM LINE:

Varidesk Single is a solid enty-level

adjustable desk, but its size and

design quirks prevent it from being

a long-term sit-stand solution.

$275

The Varidesk lifswih litle efforhanks o springassisance.


52/128

an ergonomically correct

standing positionand

back to a seated onetakes consideably longer.

It also quickly became

clear that Varidesks 11

positions arent enough

to accommodate all

statures. At 6 feet tall, I

needed to use the

Varidesk in its fullyextended position15.5

inches above my regular

deskto get the height

that would let me

position my elbows at the

optimum 90-degree

angle. Even then, I had

uses two risers to elevate

my monitor so that the

top of the screen was

close to eye level. And

because the work

platform moves out as it rises up, I had to push the entire Varidesk

back from the edge of my desk to get the recommended 20-30

inches between me and my monitor.But when I lowered the Varidesk to sit, I had to remove the risers and

move the monitor foward to get the proper viewing height and

distance for a seated position. Because the platform comes to mid-

chest level when fully lowered, the keyboard and mouse need to be

moved to the Varidesks keyboard tay, which slides staight out (but

not up or down) with the turn of a couple of thumbscrews.

All that shuling of peripheals gets tiresome, especially if you want

to change positions once each hour of the workday, as is commonly

The Varidesk

Singlesits on

top of yourexisting desk.


53/128

REVIEWS& RATINGS

recommended. As a result, youll probably end up

leaving the Varidesk in one position, likely the

most comfotable: sitting.

Is it for you?The Varidesk Single retails for $275, making it an

attactive enty point to workplace wellness. If

youre intrigued by the fad, its a fairly risk-free way to find out if you

like working on your feet. Youll get the best results if your desk isnt

boxed into a cubicle and you use a wireless keyboard and mouse. If

youre committed to the idea of a sit-stand desk, however, theVaridesk Single is tough to recommend.

Its a fairly risk-freeway to find out ifyou like workingon your feet.

The Varidesk is easy

to set up, but it

doesnt offer enough

adjustment for proper

sitting and standing.


54/128

Toshiba Satellite P50t: The

first laptop with a 4K displayBY MICHAEL BROWNTOSHIBAS SATELLITE P50t boasts two impotant firsts: Its the first

laptop to feature a 4K display, and its the first to be Technicolor Color

Cetified. You likely have at least a passing familiarity with 4K video,

but I would argue that the latter claim to famewhich you might

never have heard ofdeseves more paise.Its easy to go gaga over the Satellite P50ts (go.pcworld.com/

toshibap50t) display, which boasts a resolution of 3840 by 2160 pixels.

The laptop is outfitted with a 15.6-inch screen, which means it offers

an eye-popping pixel density of 282 ppi. But dont buy this in anti-

cipation of watching your favorite movies and TV shows in glorious

4Kthere is almost no content available in that format right now.

The Blu-ay format, meanwhile, will need to be overhauled before it

can be used to distribute 4K movies. No one expects that to happen

Watch thevideo at

go.pcworld.com/tosh4k
http://go.pcworld.com/toshibap50thttp://go.pcworld.com/toshibap50thttp://go.pcworld.com/tosh4khttp://go.pcworld.com/tosh4khttp://go.pcworld.com/tosh4khttp://go.pcworld.com/tosh4khttp://go.pcworld.com/tosh4khttp://go.pcworld.com/toshibap50t


55/128

REVIEWS& RATINGS

before the end of 2014. And the P50t is equipped with a DVD burner,

not a Blu-ay player, so you can forget about the computer upscaling

Blu-ay playback from 1080p to 4K. Even if it could, the P50ts batteywill give up. In our grueling battey-rundown test, Toshibas machine

capped out in just 1 hour and 52 minutes.

Color calibrationSo lets turn our attention to the Satellite P50ts other first: The

first laptop to be Technicolor Color Cetified. Youve probably seen

the Technicolor band in the credits of many films. The company has

provided technical sevicesto the motion-picture

industy for decades.

Technicolor developed

the Technicolor Color

Cetified specification as

a means to guaantee the

color you see on a consu-

mer computer or mobile

display is accuate, with-

out needing to whip out

a colorimeter or other

pricey hardware. The

spec focuses on three

use cases: Entetainment,

e-commerce, and con-sumer content creation.

In the entetainment

space, Technicolor Color

Cetified guaantees that

the colors you see on your

display when youre

watching a movie are

exactly what the director

Toshiba Satellite

P50t-BST2N01

PROS:

4K display Technicolor Color Cetification

Mostly high-end specsCONS:

Vey little 4K video contentavailable

HDMI output limited to 30Hz at 4Kresolution

No Blu-ay drive

BOTTOM LINE:

This is one beautiful laptop, but with

4K content so hard to come by, you

might be paying for more technology

than you can actually use.

$1800


56/128

and the cinematogapher intended. When it comes to e-commerce,

the spec ensures that the color of the items you buy from online

retailers will match what you saw online when you placed your order.

And when youre producing your own content, you can be cetain that

the photos and videos you shoot will look the same on your computer

as they do in your camea.

Technicolor patnered with software developer Potait Displays to

achieve this goal. Potaits software talks to the computers gaphicsand display hardware to automatically control color settings and

adjust color gamut.

Youre not limited to using the Technicolor color space. Using

Potait Displays Chroma Tune app, you can switch between

Technicolor and a cool color space for working with productivity

apps, for instance.

Put these two technologies together and you get an absolutely

gorgeous display. The 4K demo footage Toshiba preloaded on the

Toshibas Satellite P50t-BST2N01 is

evey bit as beautiful as youd expect.


57/128

REVIEWS& RATINGS

machine looks amazing, as do gameswhen you turn the resolution

down to 1920x1080 to get a playable fame ate, that is. At that res,

the P50t delivered BioShock Infinite at 37.4 fames per second.

Theres just one major shotcoming: Glare. There are times when the

Satellite P50ts screen looks like a 15.6-inch mirror. The problem is

paticularly acute with nighttime scenes.

Specs and performanceMost of the rest of the P50ts specs are impressive: The machine is

powered by Intels Core i7-4700HQ processor, augmented by 16GB of

DDR3/1600 memoy. And it has a discrete gaphics processor in the

form of an AMD Radeon R9 M265X, which taps 2GB of its own GDDR5

memoy. Toshiba includes gigabit ethernet and an Intel Dual-band

Intel Wireless-AC 7260 adapter, so you can take full advantage of your

802.11ac routers excellent streaming capabilities.

Chroma Tune

lets you choose

from five color

spaces.


58/128

All four of the Satellite P50ts USB pots are USB 3.0, and theres an

SD memoy card reader in front. Although its key tavel is vey shot,

the backlit island-style keyboard felt great under my fingersIn terms of oveall peformance, The Satellite P50t tailed HPs work-

oriented ZBook 15 Mobile Workstation and Dells entetainment-

focused XPS 15. But the Toshiba clobbered Dells Inspiron 7537. While

all four machines are outfitted with Core i7 processors, the Dells Core

i7-4500U is only a dual core and that PC is equipped with a 5400 rpm

mechanical hard drive. The Toshiba is equipped with a 1TB hybrid hard

drive (a 1TB 5400 rpm hard drive augmented by 8GB of solid-state

memoy). The HP has a mechanical drive, too, but it spins its platters

Games look greaton the Satellite P50ts display, but dont ty playing AAA titles at

its native resolution.

Toshiba Satellite P50t Review

BioShock Infinite Performance1920x1080 resolution, medium image quality

FRAMES PER SECOND. LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTE R PERFORMANCE.

0 10 3020 40 50

37.4

Toshiba Satellite P50t(Intel Core i7-4700HQ)

39.5

Dell Inspiron 7537(Intel Core i7-4500U))

15.4

HP Zbook 15 MobileWorkstation(Intel Core i7-4800MQ)

44.0Dell XPS 15(Intel Core i7-4702HQ)


59/128

REVIEWS& RATINGS

at 7200 rpm. The XPS 15, meanwhile, comes with a 512GB SSD, and

SSDs have an outsized impact on our benchmarks.

Is it just too early for 4K?The Toshiba Satellite P50t delivers the highest resolution of any

laptop you can buy today. But you wont want to play games at its

native resolution, and theres almost no entetainment content to

watch on its beautiful screen. The day will come when 4K movies are

as common as 1080p video is today. Until then, dropping $1800 for a

Toshiba Satellite P50t buys bagging rights and a color-accuate

display more than anything else.

The Toshibas WorldBench scorewould be even higher if it had an SSD instead of

a hybrid hard drive.

Toshiba Satellite P50t Review

Laptop WorldBench 9 Performance

LAPTOP WORLDBENC H 9 SCORE. LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANC E.

0 20 6040 80 100

87

Toshiba Satellite P50t(Intel Core i7-4700HQ)

65

Dell Inspiron 7537(Intel Core i7-4500U))

96

HP Zbook 15 MobileWorkstation(Intel Core i7-4800MQ)

100Dell XPS 15(Intel Core i7-4702HQ)


60/128

Karma hotspot ofersno-nonsense pricingBY JOHN P. MELLO JR.

THE TERM PAYASYOUGO seems to mean one thing to mobile

carriers and something else to the rest of the human ace.

For instance, with my Verizon Pay As You Go mobile sevice, I have

to pay for more data evey month whether I need it or not. Sure,

Im not stuck in a contact, but if I fail to buy minutes in any given

month, the company will disconnect my phone and wipe my

accumulated minutes clean.

Karma is a Wi-Fi

hotspotthat

provides a

shareable 4G

connection to

the Internet.


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REVIEWS& RATINGS

True pay-as-you-go sevice would allow

you to pay a lat amount and only buy more

data when you need itwhether thats nextmonth or next year.

Thats exactly the model Karma (yourkarma.

com) uses. To get stated with the sevice, you

must buy a mobile hotspot from Karma for $99. You can buy data at

the same time, or purchase it later ($14 for 1GB, $59 for 5GB, or $99

for 10GB). Once you buy it, its yours until you use itfree of any

time restrictions.

You can also earn freedata: When your hotspot is

on, anyone with a Karma

account can connect to

the Internet with it, and so

can others without an

account. These new

customers can set up an

account on the ly, and

when they do so, they

receive 100MB of data for

freeand so do you.

The more,

the merrier

The device itself is 2.25inches square and a

quater inch thick, with

LEDs on the edge that

display information about

power, Wi-Fi connectivity,

and 4G coveage.

According to Karma, the

hotspot can handle up to

Karma

PROS:

True pay-as-you-go pricing 100MB of data awarded when

someone uses your hotspot to sign

up for a Karma account

CONS: Coveage limited to WiMax in

80 cities

Data more expensive than whatsavailable with some carriers

monthly plans

BOTTOM LINE:

Karmas mobile hotspot and pay-as-you-go sevice is wothwhile for

anyone with intermittent cellular

data needs. You pay more for data

than with some other plans, but it

never expires.

$99 plus data charges

The hotspot canhandle up to eightusers without anyperformance issues.


62/128

eight users without suffering pefor-

mance degadation.

When someone connects to the Internetthrough your hotspot, Karma charges data

usage to that persons account. This is useful

for families; each member can have a Karma

account, but you only need to buy one hotspot.

Near-LTE speedsKarma relies on the Cleawire network, which

Sprint owns. That limits Karmas coveage toabout 80 U.S. cities. However, Karma plans to

expand to the full Sprint network sometime

this summer, which will give it nationwide

coveage and access to LTE speeds.

According to Karma, its hotspot delivers

download speeds between 3 and 6 megabits

per second, and upload speeds of about 1.5

Mbps. Those are near-LTE numbers. Speed

tests peformed with Ookla Speedtest and

SpeedOf.me backed up those claims.

For common Internet tasks, such as Web

sufing and email, Karmas hotspot provided

excellent coveage with no noticeable latency.

Video clips and streaming audio also

played smoothly.Karma is designed for people who

occasionally need Internet access on the go and who dont stay too

far from major metropolitan areasalthough that will change once

Karma gains access to the full Sprint network. At $14 per gigabyte, its

data prices are more expensive than those of many alternative

sevices, but less expensive than purchasing access in hotels and

airpots. Whats most appealing about Karma is its lexible buy it and

keep it model, which allows you to pay for data only as you need it.

Karma offers optionsfor both Android and

iOS, but all you really need is a browser.


63/128

THE NEC MULTISYNC EA274WMi (go.pcworld.com/necea274) is a

27-inch widescreen monitor with a special talent: It can sense when no

one is nearby and then dim the display accordingly. But even aside from

that power-saving feature, this monitor is impressive, with high-quality

IPS panels, LED backlights, and an antiglare screen.

REVIEWS& RATINGS

NEC MultiSync EA274WMis

human sensor puts it to sleepBY JAMES GALBRAITH


64/128

The specsThe 2560-by-1440-pixel monitor connects to your Mac or PC via

DisplayPot, HDMI, DVD-D, or VGA, and offers a four-pot USBhub for peripheals. You can also connect two sources to the

display and use NECs Picture By Picture feature to view both

simultaneously. The monitor has built-in speakers, as well as a pot

for plugging in headphoneshandy features, especially for

people using the display with tower computers. One thing the

EA274WMi doesnt offer is a DisplayPot Out connection,

which is a nice-to-have but are feature that allows

you to daisy-chain monitors.

The all-black EA274WMi has an ergonom-

ically lexible stand that makes it easy to

adjust to a comfotable computing

position. It can pivot between potait

and landscape modes, swivel left

to right, and tilt foward and back,

plus it offers a generous five inches ofheight adjustment.

The on-screen menus offer lots of

customization options, with five color-

tempeature presets and native,

progammable color settings, and DICOM

simulation for medical imaging use.

The sensorThe EA274WMis aforementioned ability

to know when a person is nearby is due

what NEC dubs the Human Sensor, which

resides along the bottom edge of the

bezel. When it senses that no one is

Among its many adjustments, the stand lets

you pivot from landscape to potait.


65/128

present, the screen dims. When it thinks that

someone is in front of it, the display returns to

its previous brightness settings. You can opt tohave the sensor activate in anywhere from 1

to 255 seconds, you can specify how close

someone should be to the sensor to activate

and deactivate the power reduction, and you

can set the level of dimming to either 51 percent (Light) or 78 percent

(Deep). The feature worked well, but its really a motion sensor, not a

human sensor. Waving a stick in front of the screen will trigger the

feature just as effectively.The EA274WMis screen looked great in all our tests. You can move

from side to side or up and down from the center of the screen

without seeing any obvious color shifts, thanks to the IPS panel. Gays

were neutal and whites

looked a little warm

compared to other

displays Ive recently

tested, but I find that

prefeable to the overly

cool screens I often see.

Skin tones looked natual,

and text was easy to read,

even at small point sizes. I

found no dead or stuck

pixels in our full-screensolid-color tests and I saw

no issues with screen

uniformity or light

leakage.

NEC EA274WMi

PROS: Highly adjustable stand

Wide viewing angles

Power-saving features

CONS:

No DisplayPot Out connection

for daisy-chaining monitors

BOTTOM LINE:If youre looking for a large, high-

quality, IPS-based monitor with an

environmentally friendly disposition,

the NEC MultiSync EA274WMi is a

great choice.

$799

REVIEWS& RATINGS

You can move side to

side rom the center o

the screen and see no

obvious color shifs.


66/128

Asus PB287Q: A budget-friendly Ulta HD displayBY JAMES GALBRAITH

UNTIL RECENTLY, SHARPS $3500 PN-K321 was about as affordable as

4K desktop monitors got. With the $649 PB287Q (go.pcworld.com/

pb287q), Asus joins Dell and Samsung in making Ulta HD desktop

monitors affordable for consumers. Are todays applications,hardware, and opeating systems ready to

make the leap? Our


67/128

REVIEWS& RATINGS

tests of the PB287Q revealed mixed results.

The 28-inch PB287Q has an impressive list

of features, including 3840-by-2160-pixelresolution, LED backlighting, two HDMI 1.4

pots, a single DisplayPot 1.2 connection, a

bright 330 cd/m2 luminance ating, and a

1-millisecond gay-to-gay response time. It

offers picture-in-picture as well as picture-

by-picture suppot, MHL suppot, and decent

built-in 2W speakers. The highly lexible

stand has height adjustment, pivot, swivel,and tilt capabilities.

No USB hubOn the downside, the PB287Q lacks a USB hub

for connecting peripheals. Its on-screen menu system is clunky, as

well: Six dots and a power icon near the lower-right corner are

meant to guide you when youre using the physical buttons on the

back. I found myself

hitting the wrong button

more often than not.

Frequently the menu

timed out as I fiddled

around tying to press the

right combination of keys.

You use those menus toaccess the brightness,

color, and speaker-volume

settings; as well as eight

SplendidPlus display

modes, including Reading,

Theater, sRGB, Game, and

Standard modes. The

Standard mode proved to

Asus PB287Q

PROS:

Inexpensive Ultahigh resolution

CONS:

Limited viewing angles Muted colors

BOTTOM LINE:

If you require an Ulta HD display,

the PB287Q is an affordable,

seviceable option.

$649

The Asus PB287Q

4K display includes

two HDMI 1.4 pots

and one DisplayPot

1.2, but it lacks a

USB hub.


68/128


69/128

REVIEWS

& RATINGS

Samsung U28D590D, so I had to compare the

Asus with the much more expensive Sharp

PN-K321 (go.pcworld.com/sharppnk321). Nextto the Sharp and its IGZO screen, the PB287Q

has a limited angle of view: Colors shift as you

move left, right, up, or down from center. Text

on the Asus had a gainy, slightly broken appeaance, as if some

pixels were missing; it looked better from a bit of a distance, but it

was never as clean as the text on the Sharp.

The 31.5-inch Sharp has a pixel density of 140 ppi; the Asus, 157 ppi.

That increased pixel density makes icons and screen elements appearsmaller, which is more of a problem at vey high resolutions.

In test photos, the colors on the Asus were a little muted compared

to those on the Sharp, but again, the PB287Q costs one-fifth as much

as the PN-K321.

If you need an Ulta HD display to view large images or to work

on 4K video, youll find the Asus PB287Q to be a seviceable choice.

It works best with DisplayPot 1.2, so make sure that your existing

hardware is compatible.

Make sure yourexisting hardware iscompatible withDisplayPort 1.2.


70/128

TOP FIXESfor

COMMONPC PROBLEMS

THE BEST OF PCWORLDS ANSWER LINE

BY LINCOLN SPECTOR

ILLUSTRATION BY MARIO WAGNER


71/128


72/128

been answering questions from PCWorld readers

since 1997, and I think Ive read about evey

problem that Windows and PC hardware can provide.

But some questions pop up over and over again. Others arely come up,

but nevetheless involve impotant issues that evey user needs to know

about. Still, others are unansweable, and the only advice I can give is to

have a professional look at the PC.

Ive

TOP10ANSWER LINE FIXES

Attack of theBlue Screen

of DeathPAGE 73

Recoverdeleted files

PAGE 75

Back upyour data files

PAGE 77

Protect yourprivacy while

browsingPAGE 79

Speed up a slowPC withoutbuying new

hardwarePAGE 81

One antivirusprogam isbetter

than twoPAGE 87

Securely wipesensitive filesor your entire

hard drivePAGE 89

A slow Internetconnection whenyoure paying for

a fast onePAGE 83

Archive filesso theyllstay around

for yearsPAGE 85

Actually, youdo need toshare yourpasswords

PAGE 91

Here are

ANSWERLINE FIXES

evey Windows user needs.


73/128

Youll find useful

data below the

first paagaph

and under

Technical

information.

PROBLEM:Youre working on an impotant project, andsuddenly your screen displays nothing but white text against a

blue background. If it happens once, you curse, reboot, and hope

for the best. But if youre getting these screens frequently, youve

got a problem that needs fixing.

FIX:Microsoft calls these stop errors, but eveyone else prefers amore descriptive label: The Blue Screen of Death (BSoD).

Theyre not as common as they used to be, but BSoDs still

happen (I experienced one two days ago). If you get one, curse,

reboot, and hope for the best. But if youre getting them

frequently, youve got a problem that needs fixing.

The trick is to find information about your paticular BSoD, and

}Atack of he Blue

Screen of Deah


74/128

thensince that information usually comes in an obtuse formsearch

the Internet for more pactical advice.

What should you look for when the BSoD is in front of you? Youll find

useful data immediately below the first paagaph, and under the

Technical information label near the bottom of the screen.

Since you cant use Windows Snipping Tool to capture a BSoD screen,

youll need to write down the impotant information on paper. Or you

can use a camea or phone to photogaph the screen. Just dont expect a

great-looking photoor even an easily readable one.

You can also get information on the BSoD after youve rebooted:

If you get a Windows has recovered from an unexpected

shutdown message, youre in luck. Click Viewproblem details

for information. You can also click Check for solution,but dont expect

much help there.

You can also get information, after rebooting, via the free progamBlueScreenView(go.pcworld.com/bluescreen).

Whichever way you get the info, intelligent use of a search engine can

probably bring up something useful. If it doesnt, here are some other

tests you might ty:

> Check the health of your RAM with Memtest86+ (memtest.org).

> Update your drivers with SlimDrivers (slimwareutilities.com).

> Diagnose your hard drive with HD Tune (hdtune.com).


You can

also get

nfo on the

BSoD after

rebooting.


75/128

File Recovey

progams such

as Recuva are

easy to use.

} PROBLEM:Now you see them, now you dont. Files are likethat sometimes. So where are they? Are you sure you dont have abackup somewhere?

FIX:Lost files can usually be recoveredif you discover the loss soonenough. But evey time you write to the hard drive, you lower the

likelihood of a successful recovey. So use that computer as little as

possible until the files are recovered or youve given up hope.

Ty these solutions, in this order:

Check the Recycle Bin Windows stores deleted files here as a safety

measure. Youll find the icon in the upper-left corner of your screen. if you

Recover deleted files


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find the files there, select them,

right-click them, and choose

Restore.

Use your backup If you back

up your hard driveor at least

your libarieson a regular

basis, your files are probably

preseved there. I dont know which backup progam you use, so I cant tell

you exactly how to search for and recover the files. Its geneally a prettyintuitive process.

And if you dont back up, maybe its time to get into the habit. It wont

help you this time, but it could the next.

Ty file recovey software Even a file thats no longer in the Recycle Bin

may still exist. Windows doesnt ovewrite the actual ones and zeros until

another file needs the drive space. Thats why I told you to avoid using the

PC as much as possible.There are seveal good file recovey progams available. I recommend

Recuva Potable (piriform.com). Its easy to use and has a vey good tack

record. And it sometimes shows you the images that it can recover. (Ive

seen it recover images that it could not preview.) Its also free.

And, since its potable, which means that you dont have to install it, you

can use it on your PC without writing to the hard drive. Download the

progam on another computer, and unzip it to a folder on a lash drive. Then

plug the lash drive into the PC with the missing files, and run it from there.

Hire a professional This is the last resot, if none of the above

suggestions work. There are many data recovey sevices available,

and if your drive is still working, you probably dont need one of

the more expensive ones.

Ive never used one of these sevices, so I cant recommend a paticular

company. Ask friends for a recommendation, or find someone local on Yelp.

IF YOU BACKUPyourhard driveor at

least your libariesregularly, then yourfiles are probablypreseved there.



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Use a progam

capable of

both file

and image

backups.

PROBLEM:Not backing up is like not wearing a seatbelt. Youcan go months or even years without a problem, then disaster

strikes and youre in serious trouble.

FIX:Its a simple rule: Never have only one copy of anything.You absolutely must backup your data files evey day. And no, you

dont have to copy each of those files evey day. Any decent file backup

progam can do an incremental backupcopying only the files that

have been created or changed since the last backup.

By data files, I mean your documents, photos, spreadsheets, songs,

and so on. If you back up all of your Libaries, or eveything in the Users

folder, you should get all of these.

You might also consider backing up your systemWindows and your

applicat

PC World - August 2014 USA

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Transcript of PC World - August 2014 USA