How to Use Windows

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a security patch issued by Microsoft on November 10 is causing some PCs to crash . Not a simple blue screen of death, mind you, but a black screen of death. Operating systems affected include Windows 7, Vista, and XP; probably so that no Windows user will be denied this blessed experience. Jeremy Kirk, of the IDG News Services , reports the problem to be linked to Microsoft’s monkeying about with the Access Control List (ACL). The ACL is a list of permissions for the logged-in user.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

Death, taxes, and the Google phone are all certainties, with the latter being added to the list by Gizmodo . According to Gizmodo a “trusted” but unnamed source has actually seen a Google phone. Gizmodo adds the phone won’t just be a run-of-the-mill Android device, but something special: Google-branded and running a new or different version of Android.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

One day we’re going to see a tablet PC. But that day just got pushed back with the official demise of the CrunchPad. In a tale of intrigue and woe, Michael Arrington, the man behind the machine, tells us investors have unceremoniously pulled the plug on the project–as far as his involvement is concerned–and have left the fate of this particular tablet device dangling in the wind.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

Tired of watching your printer ink and paper getting wasted because of unnecessary or unwanted areas on a webpage? Now you can start saving that printer ink and paper with the Printliminator Bookmarklet. Setup To add Printliminator to your browser of choice go to the Printliminator homepage. Once there drag the bookmarklet to the position that best suits your personal needs in the “Bookmarks Toolbar”.

The full story can be found on How To Geek

Who’d have thought that simple pond scum may be the future of battery technology? Demand for portable power sources is increasing–especially for something longer lasting in a small package. Being environmentally friendly wouldn’t hurt. A group of scientists from the Angstrom Laboratory, Uppsala University, Sweden, are reporting a breakthrough in the development of a “redox polymer-based electrodes and batteries with high-capacities and very good cycling performances.”  And yes, they’re made from algae–the environmentally repugnant Cladophora, to be precise. Well, not really algae, but the cellulose from this algae.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

For those of us who download applications, programs, extensions, or really anything off the Internet in great frequency, what’s the best way to keep a computer completely protected from external threats? I’m talking about locking down your system tighter than a Supermax prison–not impacting your ability to carry out your everyday tasks, rather, making sure that you’re protected from attack at your PC’s primary entry points. That’s exactly what I’ll be exploring in this week’s freeware roundup: The five best free applications for keeping your computer as secure as can be. If you aren’t running some combination of these freeware and open-source apps, well, you only have yourself to blame if your system gets infected with something unpleasant! Microsoft Security Essentials Here’s the big one. Microsoft Security Essentials is a comprehensive antivirus and antimalware scanner that’s one of the top free offerings you can get for your system.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

You gotta tip your hat to the clever folks in the U.S. Air Force. Rather than laying out the big bucks for a traditional supercomputing set-up, they’re cobbling together one on the cheap, using Sony Playstation 3s –over 2,500 of them.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

Have you ever seen a picture with great colors and wanted a color scheme based on that image? Now you can get those color schemes easily with the ColorSuckr extension for Firefox. Note: For those using browsers other than Firefox, you can directly access the ColorSuckr website (link at bottom of article). ColorSuckr in Action Once you have the extension installed you are ready to go. There are no options or settings to worry with…just click and go goodness

The full story can be found on How To Geek

Being on Twitter is tough. If you post with a decent amount of frequency and do your best to jump into the crowd discussions when possible, then you’ll often find yourself facing down a sea of “so and so has followed you!” messages in your Inbox. Deciding whether or not you want to follow said Twitter users back becomes a huge process in itself. You have to open the email, check out their Twitter handle, click on the link to their account, read the last few Tweets, make a decision, and repeat this process for every person that wants to be your online buddy. Unless, of course, you adopt the firehose approach to Twitter and just befriend everyone regardless of who they are–shame on you

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

Forget about dealing with pushy crowds and getting up in the wee morning hours during a holiday vacation only to have to wait in line for that one item everyone else is after as well. According to comScore, an increasing number of consumers opted to plant their rumps on the couch or home office chair and shop the Black Friday deals online rather than venture out into the real world. For the holiday season to date, some $10.57 billion has been spent online, which is 3 percent more than the same time period one year ago.

For the full story, go to Maximum PC