Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2024 i PCWorld

AMD announced the Ryzen 8040 series of laptop processors at the company’s AI-themed event, reframing what has been a conversation about CPU speed, power, and battery life into one that prioritizes AI. In January, AMD launched the Ryzen 7000 family, of which the Ryzen 7040 included the first use of what AMD then called its XDNA architecture, powering Ryzen AI. (When rival Intel disclosed its Meteor Lake processor this past summer, Intel began referring to the AI accelerator as an NPU, and the name stuck.) More than 50 laptop models already ship with Ryzen AI, executives said. Now, it’s on to AMD’s next NPU, Hawk Point, inside the Ryzen 8040. In AMD’s case, the XDNA NPU assists the Zen CPU, with the Radeon RDNA architecture of the GPU powering graphics. But…

There’s no question about it: LAI is the new hotness in personal computers. An intriguing new report claims Microsoft will push the pedal to the metal even harder with a revolutionary new version of Windows 11 (or 12?) in 2024, one that’s designed to make AI helpful at deeply practical levels. Microsoft just put AI front and center with Windows 11’s massive 2023 Update, which added the Windows Copilot AI assistant and awesome AI Cocreator features to Paint. Copilot is coming to Windows 10, too. And Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm have been busy integrating AI-boosting NPUs (neural processing units) to the PC chips destined to hit the streets next year, aiming to enhance tasks with local AI that runs on your computer’s hardware rather than hitting up servers in the…

Veteran Windows developer Raymond Chen has revealed in a video with Dave’s Garage how Microsoft tested Windows 98 to see how well it could cope when assaulted with a barrage of plugged-in USB devices. USB was something new at the time, so the Windows 98 developers needed to gain experience with it. Enter the “USB Cart of Death.” It didn’t kill people, but it did endless Windows builds. Using the USB Cart of Death often led to a blue screen on the Windows computer being checked. This meant that the Windows build running on the PC was finished and needed to be improved. There were 64 USB devices on the USB Cart of Death, the maximum number of USB devices that could be connected to a Windows computer at the time (the…

For the right generation of gamers, this console is resurrected right out of their most beloved core memories. The Atari 2600 Plus is everything the original was, but in a slightly smaller format and with modern ports. You’re getting the slightly bulky game cartridges, the great feel of all the controls and buttons, and the legendary CX40 joystick to play with. The games look simple compared to modern titles, but in many cases, they require both patience and timing. The console landed right in my living room and was tested by both young and old in the family. This new edition with HDMI and USB-C ports lets you play both new and original 2600 and 7800 titles. If you own the original controllers, you can plug them in and use them.…

I’m a big fan of hybrid power banks—you’re covered whether you’re near or far from an outlet. While I like lighter pocketable models when roaming close to home, I prefer a beefier version for traveling with a laptop. I can keep a phone topped up as I’m on the go and then charge the laptop at my destination. The Anker 521 PowerCore Fusion handles both jobs well while taking up minimal space. SPECS AND DESIGN Like Anker’s other power banks, the 521 has a straightforward design. Shaped like a (mostly) square brick, it has two USB-C ports at the front and a set of charging prongs at the back. On the left side is a circular button with four indicator lights. Each light represents 25 percent of the battery life; when…

A freshly installed system starts up quickly and responds swiftly. A few updates and new software installations later, however, Windows seems to become slower and slower. There are several ways to find out whether this is just a subjective impression. Use suitable tools to determine the start times and remove system brakes. Carry out the measurements before and after you make changes to the system. You can then see how successful the measures have been. Even if Windows already shows the desktop, the startup process is usually not yet complete. The system is often not yet ready for user input, does not react to mouse clicks, or only reacts with a significant delay. How quickly Windows is ready depends on the programs that Windows starts automatically after login. To speed…

When it comes to preserving any type of document in a format that anyone can later open and be sure it looks right, it’s hard to beat the PDF format. PDF, or portable document format, was developed by Adobe in the early 1990s to make it easy to share formatted documents regardless of the sender’s and receiver’s systems. The format was based on and is essentially a simplification of postscript, a programming language developed by Adobe 10 years earlier to describe documents for printing in a technology-neutral way. PDF and postscript use code to describe where text, images, and graphic elements should be placed on a page. A rasterizer turns the code into either pixels on a screen or dots in a printout. PDF files are extremely common and are…

If you’re loath to give up Windows 10 when support expires in about two years, there’s some good news and bad news: Microsoft is extending your support options—but you’ll be forced to pay an additional fee. Microsoft’s Windows 10 will reach the end of support on October 14, 2025. That will still mean, as it usually does, that Microsoft will release no new features after that date. What it usually also means is that Microsoft won’t release any new security patches after a product exits its support window. That typically translates to an end-of-life scenario: Without security updates, your use of Windows 10 or another product is subject to any bugs or vulnerabilities that are discovered. You use it at your own risk, basically. Microsoft sometimes offers an escape hatch.…

For people who use Apple devices in Windows-run work environments, Microsoft is developing a new way to access Windows resources with its new Windows App. With Windows App, users can connect to Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows 365, Microsoft Dev Box, Remote Desktop Services, and remote PCs. Microsoft announced that Windows App is available in a special preview run that is available for iPhones, iPads, and Macs through Apple’s TestFlight program and app, but TestFlight limits the number of users. The preview is open to anyone, but users will not be allowed to try it if the capacity limit has been met. Windows App can also be used through a browser or Windows PC. Windows App lets users access Windows across multiple different services and remote PCs. The customizable home screen…

When the day inevitably comes that I hang up my PC toolkit for good, I’m buying a Falcon Northwest FragBox. That’s high praise coming from a lifelong PC builder. But Falcon Northwest absolutely nails every aspect of the Core i7-14700K FragBox I was sent to review, both large and small. This diminutive desktop PC features a fully custom chassis—and even custom fans—along with impeccable attention to detail to deliver a delightfully portable, ferociously powerful, and damned quiet PC that’s easy to lug around, and it absolutely chews through everything that you throw at it. It doesn’t stop there. The FragBox is fully customizable, and Falcon Northwest performs intensive burn-in testing on every system it ships. The preinstalled Windows 11 image is wonderfully clean, with none of the bloatware and crap…

FBackup 9 is a surprisingly capable backup client given that it doesn’t cost you a dime. It backs up to and from local storage including old-school optical discs—a real rarity these days. It even backs up to Google Drive and Dropbox and will back up to network locations, though not from them. While FBackup 9 is free, it’s also meant as a calling card for its paid-for sibling, Backup4All, which supports a host of other online storage services and will also back up from network locations. Not surprisingly, there are some ads in FBackup 9, though they’re generally kept well out of the way. Hey, we all have to eat, right? FEATURES FBackup 9 will perform full backups and file mirroring to zip files, but omits Backup4All’s Smart (culled incremental/differential), Incremental…

The endless, drawn-out pandemic years are definitely over for the PC. Just a couple of years back, lockdowns and chip shortages caused PC components (even webcams!) to plunge out of stock and products to be delayed for ages. Not in 2023. Fresh new gear flew out the doors fast and furious this year, causing an avalanche of releases seemingly every time you blinked. PCWorld’s staff reviewed more PC hardware and software in 2023 than we have anytime in recent memory. With such a gluttony of choice, it became harder than ever for PC hardware and software to impress us. Few products earned our rare Editors’ Choice award. And only the very best of the best grace this list. Without further ado, this is the Best PC Hardware and Software of…

Of all the tech products Amazon offers, Kindle is the only one that I’d seriously miss if it went away. I was never much of a book person, but that’s changed as I’ve tried to divert more time away from social media. Kindle—not just the e-reader, but the mobile apps—are where a lot of that spare screen time has ended up. As such, I’ve been digging deeper into the Kindle software to make the most of it, and using it not just for e-books, but as a hub for all kinds of reading. Here’s what I’ve come up with: 1. USE THE APP If you haven’t read a book on a smartphone lately, you might be surprised at how pleasant it’s become as mobile displays have grown larger and more…

One of the best things about backing up your files to an online service is that they’re, well, backed up. So it’s understandable that a lot of Google Drive users are upset after finding out that this may not be the case. An error with a recent version of the desktop client for Google Drive has resulted in missing files for some users—a lot of missing files, going back several months in a few cases. An ongoing support thread on Google Drive Help, spotted by The Register, is full of dozens of replies from users who’ve found their remote backups empty. The initial complaint comes from a Windows user who says that their Drive files going back to May of this year have suddenly disappeared, apparently from both the local folder…

Nowadays, many people tend to regard optical drives as obsolete in PCs. Modern desktops and laptops generally come without one. But there are still convincing reasons why it makes sense to have an optical drive on hand. One of the main reasons is the use of rescue boot CDs. Although USB drives can be made bootable, creating a bootable optical disc is often easier and more reliable. USB sticks are also somewhat more convenient to use, but they are not always the most durable solution. This leads us to the next point: the longevity of optical drives as a storage medium. CDs and DVDs are not only inexpensive storage media, they are also surprisingly durable if you store them properly. Some specialized DVDs can even last an entire century. This…

Though PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots are still relatively rare, if you have one, a premium SSD such as the Corsair MP700 Pro will provide a nice bump in overall performance. When I say premium, I’m talking about performance that’s right there with the best NVMe SSDs we’ve tested. And yes, I also mean it’s priced like a top-tier performer. FEATURES As intimated, the MP700 Pro is a PCIe 5.0 x4, NVMe SSD in the 2280 (22mm wide, 80mm long) form factor. The controller is a Phison PS5026-E26 and the NAND is 232-layer TLC (Triple-Level Cell/3-bit). There’s a whopping 2GB of DRAM primary cache for every 1TB of capacity—double the norm. Nice. The 2280 MP700 Pro is available with or without a rather hefty and tall fan-cooled heatsink (shown above with…

Buying a 34-inch ultrawide monitor requires some understanding of the nuances that separate seemingly identical monitors. Most 34-inch ultrawides provide the same 3440×1440 resolution and a refresh rate between 120Hz and 165Hz, and many even look similar with black plastic casings and large standards. The Gigabyte GS34WQC doesn’t buck this formula, but it executes well enough on each point to earn an easy recommendation. SPECS AND FEATURES The Gigabyte GS34WQC’s specifications are boilerplate for a 34-inch ultrawide monitor. It provides 3440×1440 resolution, by far the most common among monitors of this size, and a 120Hz refresh rate with 135Hz overclock mode. Adaptive Sync is provided through AMD’s FreeSync. Display size: 34-inch ultrawide Native resolution: 3440×1440 Panel type: Vertical Alignment (VA) Curved: Yes, 1500R Refresh rate: 120Hz with 135Hz overclock Adaptive Sync:…

Antivirus has become these days a catch-all term. It doesn’t just mean blocking literal computer viruses, trojans, and other bits of malicious code meant to attack your PC. When you opt to go beyond Microsoft’s built-in protections, an antivirus software subscription can provide a light step up from Windows Defender or a set of intensely comprehensive safeguards that extend to your financial accounts. So what level of defense do you need, especially when you’re concerned about all angles of online security? Here are the general levels of protection you can choose from, as well as what you should consider when considering each. FREE ANTIVIRUS Free antivirus isn’t worse than paid—not when it comes to catching viruses and malware, anyway. For example, AVG (a highly popular free antivirus program) is scored…

Microsoft is significantly expanding the functions of Paint in Windows 11. The app is also getting a new version. The outdated program is to become a modern image editor that also contains AI functions. In the future, you will be able to use the OpenAI-LLM Dall-E directly in Windows 11 and in Paint. The new functions are also available after installing the Microsoft Paint app from the App Store. Updating the Paint app usually also works via the Store app in Windows 11 and selecting Library > Get updates. If the Paint update can be found in the window, you can install it here. Microsoft is also constantly expanding the functions of Paint. If you already have the new version, you may receive additional new functions through an update. However,…