Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i PCWorld

Microsoft would really like you to sign up for one of its productivity subscriptions: Office 365, or better yet, the new Microsoft 365. But for those old fogies who prefer standalone software, Microsoft announced Office 2019 on Tuesday. Office 2019 will ship in the second half of 2018, Microsoft said, with a preview version scheduled for mid-2018. The Office 2019 suite will include the standard complement of Office apps: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, plus server apps like Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype for Business. Presumably, Microsoft will offer different versions of Office 2019 (including a version for the Apple Mac), but executives didn’t say. Microsoft calls Office 2019 a suite of “perpetual” apps, because customers will pay for them with a one-time fee, rather than a recurring subscription. (Microsoft did not…

If you had a Yahoo account in 2013, your name and password were stolen. Yahoo expanded the scope of its massive data breach on Monday. In December, the Internet giant announced a hack that affected over a billion accounts, making it by far the largest data breach in history. Now, the company says that every Yahoo account in existence in 2013—more than 3 billion—was breached. The hackers walked away with password hashes that can be easily cracked. If you’re a Yahoo user you should consider your password compromised and should take all the necessary steps to secure your account. You should follow all of Yahoo’s recommendations, such as changing your password and watching for suspicious account activity, but here are a few more advanced tips that you should have in mind.…

With the Pixel 2, Google’s message is clear: For the best Android experience, come to us. Call it the Google stamp of approval. Where the Nexus phones were born of partnerships with the likes of HTC, Huawei, and LG, Google’s name was purposefully absent. They were “pure” Android phones. Even though the Pixel 2 and 2 XL are manufactured by HTC and LG, respectively, the ‘G’ logo on the back is there to remind us that it’s Google through and through. As Mario Queiroz recalled at the October 4 event: “We set out to design a phone ourselves because we believed we could make the smartphone experience better.” Simply put, the Pixel phones are about Google first, Android second. When Google launched the original Pixel, it loaded it with features…

You’ll want the Google Pixel 2 XL if you’re looking for the most elegant Android experience possible in a 6-inch phone. You’ll want the Pixel 2 XL if you’re looking for a stunning display with an 18:9 aspect ratio, amazing portrait photography, and a ton of surpriseand- delight features made possible by Google Lens and the rest of Google’s A.I. tool chest. When the Pixel 2 XL was announced on Oct. 4, Google reminded us that its machine learning engine is watching our every move to improve its A.I. algorithms. So, yes, the Pixel 2 XL’s ever- Googley magic tricks may keep robophobes up at night. But it’s an incredible phone that grafts device experiences to life experience in simple, intuitive, and smile-provoking ways. And you’ll rightfully want one it if…

You may color us surprised any time we receive an SSD such as Crucial’s new BX300 that’s not based on 3D TLC NAND. Actually, you may color us delighted. MLC NAND, even 3D (aka stacked, layered, tiered, etc) like that used in the BX300, can consistently perform near the limit of SATA 6Gbps, where TLC generally can’t. Once you exceed the cache in a TLC drive, performance dips, sometimes drastically. With MLC, you get consistent straight-line performance, generally 450MBps or better. DESIGN AND FEATURES The BX300 is available in 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB flavors that we found on Amazon for $60 (50 cents per GB), $90 (37 cents per GB), and $150 (31 cents per GB) respectively. Competitive, though we’ve seen cheaper TLC drives. The 120GB and 240GB models have…

NEW HARDWARE NEEDS NEW SOFTWARE The best free PC software programs aren’t about the cost (lack thereof), they’re about a fresh opportunity— collections of code that puts the dumb hardware in your computer to smart use, tools that could accomplish anything from balancing your household budget to helping to cure cancer. Stocking your PC is an intensely personal task. Even still, some programs are so helpful, so handy, so useful across the board that we heartily recommend them to everybody. These free PC programs—a mix of must-haves and delightful auxiliary apps—have earned a place on almost any computer. ANOTHER BROWSER Before you roll up your sleeves and start slinging software around, make sure to snag your web browser of choice. Using Windows’ default Internet Explorer or Edge browser when you’re…

When your Microsoft Excel spreadsheet slows to a crawl, you can’t help but notice. It may take longer to open and save your files, longer for Excel to calculate your formulas, and longer for the screen to refresh after entering data, or sorting and formatting the cells. System memory is the other issue that relates to Excel’s slowness. Slow spreadsheets take longer to manage and, as always, time is money. We’ll show you how to tackle this problem. WHEN EXCEL SPREADSHEETS GET TOO BIG Excel is capable of creating a very big spreadsheet, but the bigger it gets, the more memory is needed to keep it open on your PC. In the current version of Excel, each spreadsheet has 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns (A1 through XFD1048576). Each cell can…

The question rattled around the Twitterverse: Now that Microsoft has unexpectedly shuttered Groove Music Pass, can it be trusted to sustain other consumer products and services? It’s not an idle question. Every cancelled consumer product—the Zune music player, Windows phones, the Microsoft Band— resurfaces the same angry protest: Doesn’t Microsoft care about consumers? If “care” means app development, yes: Both the Zune and Groove Music Pass evolved into reasonably good services, even if few used them. If “care” refers to marketing, though, you already know the answer: In general, no. And if you follow the money— which in this case, comes mostly from Microsoft’s enterprise businesses—that’s most likely the real reason why no Microsoft consumer service can feel completely safe. WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE, ENTERPRISE WINS OUT While Microsoft’s…

The he HP Spectre x360 13 is already one of the most popular 360-degree convertible laptops, and it’s about to get faster and cooler, thanks in part to Intel’s latest 8th-generation Core CPUs. Announced Wednesday, the refreshed Spectre x360 13 also offers greatly improved thermals and other nice tweaks. PRICES, FEATURES AND SPECIFICATIONS The Spectre x360 13 will ship on October 29 with a starting price of $1,150, including a color-matched pen. Best Buy will begin taking pre-orders October 4. Multiple configurations will be available, but we’re listing below the specs we were given for the higher-end model ae013dx: CPU: Intel 8th-generation Core i7-8550U, a quad-core CPU with a 1.8GHz base clock and turbo boost up to 4GHz. Core i5 CPUs will also be available. RAM: 16GB LPDDR3 SDRAM Storage:…

Supply Crates. Battlepacks. Nitro Crates. War Chests. Prize Crates. Card Packs. Pioneer Crates. Treasure Chests. Loot Boxes. Whatever you call them, they’re the latest controversy to hit gaming. Not a new controversy by any means— these so-called “gacha mechanics" have cropped up in mobile games for almost a decade, been banned by a number of countries, and even made appearances on desktop. Valve’s Team Fortress 2 has featured them since 2010, for instance. But the discussion around loot boxes has become frenzied this past month, thanks to three games in particular: Forza Motorsport 7, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, and Star Wars Battlefront II. Let’s recount their sins. WOLF IN WOLF CLOTHING Forza Motorsport 7 ($60 on Amazon) used to feature a difficulty-based reward system. The more “Assists” you turned off (i.e.…

Intel’s 6-core 8th generation Core i7-8700K CPU is the reality check to high-performance, high-priced CPUs like the $2,000 Core i9 and $1,000 AMD Ryzen Threadripper. The real battle for the desktop and consumer’s wallets is with this amazingly affordable (for Intel anyway) $359 CPU, code-named Coffee Lake. In fact, the Core i7-8700K is Intel’s first real response to AMD’s breakthrough series of Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 CPUs, and a viable alternative to the Zen-based CPUs. But just how fast is it, and which CPU should you buy? Read on to find out. WHAT IS COFFEE LAKE? Moore’s Law isn’t dead, but the ability to shrink CPU circuits and increase density has drastically slowed down. Coffee Lake, for example, is based on the same 14nm process the company introduced with its Broadwell…

“Kill the warmbloods!” The cry resounds over the battlefield, no doubt instilling fear in the hordes of rats who face me. Still they march on, pouring out of desolate ruins towards my scaly soldiers. To the left, a division of spear-wielding chameleons. To the right, a massive tyrannosaurus rex waits with opening jaws. And behind? Well, that’s where my cavalry await—dinosaurs riding other dinosaurs. Total War: Warhammer II is truly bizarre. SKAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH It’s been approximately a year and a half since the release of Total War: Warhammer—the first Total War game to abandon history for more fantastical fields of glory. Do I wish we’d gotten another history-centric Total War by now? Sure. But we didn’t, and instead Creative Assembly has released the second part of…

Online backup is an essential hedge against physical data disaster. Whether it’s an act of theft or an act of God (earthquakes, floods, hard-drive devouring locusts), you never know what could hit your PC or phone, and when. This is especially important for mobile-centric users, who stand to lose a lot of digital stuff if their device disappears. Uploading your data to an online service covers a lot of the bases. Some people call these “cloud” services, but in reality, your data is stored on servers at the other end of the connection—that is, someone else’s hard drives. But that’s part of the plan! The backup Rule of Three says you should maintain three copies of your data: the original, a copy, and a copy of the copy. One copy…

No matter whether you treat your computer as the centerpiece of your home office or just stuff it under your desk, buying the right PC case matters. At a minimum, you want to pick a PC case that’s the right size for your needs and has room for all your hardware and USB devices. But some PC cases offer much, much more. Spacious innards, lower temperatures, muffled sound, extensive water-cooling support, and fancy-schmancy tempered glass panels or RGB lighting are just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s a guide to buying a PC case that’s perfect for you. This is just the first step in your DIY journey; be sure to check out PCWorld’s guide to building a PC, too. BUY A PC CASE: SIZE MATTERS Before anything else, decide…

It seems that CCleaner, one of PCWorld’s recommendations for the best free software for new PCs, might not have been keeping your PC so clean after all. In an in-depth probe of the popular optimization and scrubbing software, Cisco Talos has discovered a malicious bit of code injected by hackers that could have affected more than 2 million users who downloaded the most recent update. On Sept. 13, Cisco Talos found that the official download of the free versions of CCleaner 5.33 and CCleaner Cloud 1.07.3191 also contained “a malicious payload that featured a Domain Generation Algorithm as well as hardcoded Command and Control functionality.” What that means is that a hacker infiltrated Avast Piriform’s official build somewhere in the development process build to plant malware designed to steal users’ data.…

It’s the end of an era that realistically ended a decade ago. On Friday, AOL announced that AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) will shut down permanently on December 15, 2017. When I heard the news, my mind flashed back to the boxes full of America Online CDs in every store, to the dubstep-like beeps and boops of a 28.8K modem connecting to the Internet, and AIM chat rooms providing a real-time connection with people around the world long before social networks accomplished the same task. But the rise of social networks like Facebook and Whatsapp were the final nail in AIM’s coffin. The company acknowledges that the times aren’t just a-changing now that we’re in the smartphone era—they’ve already been altered forever. “AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural…

Microsoft’s Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is what every sequel shoots for: bigger, better, more ambitious than the original. As it rolls out in phases (see Microsoft’s blog post for details), our review focuses on Windows’ big, risky bet on mixed reality, plus smarter investments in the pen, creative 3D apps, Edge, and even speech. A ton of practical, everyday additions won us over, including OneDrive placeholders and much longer battery life while watching movies. Taking a page from Apple’s playbook, Microsoft has also chosen to synchronize the Fall Creators Update with new hardware introductions. The upcoming Surface Book 2, mixedreality devices from a handful of partners, the Harman/Kardon Invoke, and the Xbox One X populate a hardware/ software ecosystem that’s a cohesive whole. If Microsoft wins its big bet on mixed…

Seagate’s Barracuda Pro 12TB reminds us why at least some hard drives can remain relevant despite the swift encroachment of SSDs. Until we reviewed its predecessor the Barracuda Pro 10TB last year and tasted its 250MBps read performance, we hadn’t given hard drives much thought for a while. To be blunt, year after year of 120MBps - 150MBps transfer rates had became boring in a world of blindingly fast SSDs—even with the steady and enormous increases in capacity. The Barracuda Pro 12TB reviewed here is just a hair faster than the 10TB version, but the additional 2TB of capacity is truly a fantastic thing. We can remember $800 4GB hard drives, so color us intrigued to see just how far Seagate and the industry can take things. SPECS AND DESIGN The…

Divinity: Original Sin II is the highly anticipated sequel to an unanticipated hit. Divinity: Original Sin took me by surprise in 2014. For the most part, the revival isometric RPG revival focused on reviving the classics of old—Pillars of Eternity in particular, with its Infinity Engine stylings, but Wasteland 2, Tyranny, and Torment: Tides of Numenera didn’t stray too far from the template. But then there was Divinity, which I once wrote felt like what you’d get “if, instead of dying in the early 2000s, the isometric CRPG genre had kept evolving that whole time.” Built from layer upon layer of systems, Original Sin added dynamism to the stodgy Infinity Engine formula. Flexible skills and classes allowed for manifold character builds, quests presented half a dozen or more approaches, and a deep combat…

Samsung has come back from last year’s Note 7 disaster with the Galaxy Note 8, a phone so jam-packed with features, you might still be learning things about it when the time comes for your next upgrade. The Note 8 includes all the cool stuff Samsung bakes into all its phones, and then adds all the S Pen stuff. So why not accelerate your learning process? Here are 10 tips that will guide you to the very best features the Note 8 offers. 1. NOTE 8 DISPLAY ADJUSTMENTS The Galaxy Note 8 has one of the best displays available on a smartphone, and you can make a few adjustments to tweak it just right for your eyes. Head into settings and find Display > Screen mode. There are four different…

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/okEKbDIOoUQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe> The iPhone 7 is officially out of beta, and it’s called the iPhone 8. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus make substantial improvements over last year’s iPhone 7, which Macworld’s Susie Ochs said felt “like a beta version of what’s to come.” Our friends at Macworld reviewed both, and iPhone expert Leah Yamshon goes over the best features.…