Does your laptop feel sluggish? Do you have to wait five minutes after rebooting the laptop before it responds? Does it struggle to switch between browser tabs even when you have less than half a dozen open?A slow, frustrating laptop may have you shopping for a new model, but you should try these tips before you give up. Improving the performance of your aging laptop can extend its life by several years and keep it out of the landfill. Restart your PC Have you tried turning it off and on agai
In 2010, Microsoft’s Kinect smart camera recognized you and logged you in to your Xbox. Now Microsoft is applying the same principles to meetings, announcing support for a future lineup of intelligent cameras that will zoom in and highlight you in hybrid meetings.Support for intelligent cameras in Microsoft Teams is just part of several announcements Microsoft made Thursday regarding the future of so-called hybrid work, where employees navigate between working at home and in the office. New f
There’s a scary new attack targeting Microsoft Office—and worse, it’s not patched yet. But you can keep your computer safe if you don’t click on risky files from untrusted sources. And even if you do by accident, Office’s Protected View feature can save your bacon.Unfortunately, we all still click on Office documents emailed from “trusted” contacts, so the next line of defense is to make sure Protected View—the prompt that warns you a file originated from someone potentially insecure, requiri
Windows 11 sure looks different, but under-the-hood performance improvements may make it feel different, too—specifically in how the operating system handles multiple apps, as well as how your PC resumes from sleep.Microsoft detailed the new changes in a company video, where Steve Dispensa, vice president of enterprise management at Microsoft, explained how Windows 11 will deliver more performance in three different scenarios.[ Further reading: Our best Windows 10 tricks, tips and tweaks ] Ru
The Acer Swift X packs impressive power inside an ultraportable case and is a great pick if you want a high-performance, highly portable laptop. Where most ultraportables prize efficiency and rely on integrated graphics, the Swift X serves up Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU for an added punch. With the RTX graphics and a powerful AMD CPU, the Swift X is able to handle content-creation tasks and some gaming in addition to the basic office chores for which most ultraportables are built.The Swi
When Google announced it would guarantee Pixel phones three years of security updates, the news reports were largely positive. At the time, the reaction made sense. For years and years, Google left it up to smartphone makers to decide update releases—and they chose to do so very erratically. Setting a standard of three years seemed like a big step.Well, my Pixel 3 is coming up on its three year mark, and instead of feeling gratitude for that time, I’m extremely annoyed about the end of its se
Microsoft is warning of a new Office vulnerability that can probably be avoided by continuing to use smart Internet practices. Namely, don’t open untrusted documents.Researcher EXPMON reported a new vulnerability to Microsoft on Sunday, the company said, and Microsoft confirmed the vulnerability in a security update on Monday. Microsoft has yet to issue a patch, though Microsoft said it will “take the appropriate action to help protect our customers.”The vulnerability takes advantage of the
The Command Prompt app has been around since December 1987, providing Windows users with a command-line interface from which to execute operating systems tasks, many of which are very useful. Due to its popularity, Microsoft has made the app easily accessible on Windows 10, in more ways than one.Here are 11 ways to open Command Prompt.[ Further reading: Our best Windows 10 tricks, tips and tweaks ] Open Command Prompt from the search bar You can search for any app using the Windows search bar
Major changes to the PC’s RAM subsystem typically occur once in blue moon, but mere years after DDR4’s delayed rollout, that time is upon us yet again.With the imminent release of DDR5 support in Intel’s Alder Lake CPUs next month (and potentially AMD’s Zen 4 chips next year), we’ll soon be entering a junction where you’ll need to decide what memory is right for you—DDR4 or DDR5.How fast is DDR5? What will I need to run what? What even is DDR5? By the end of this guide, you’ll know everything
At PCWorld, we’ve been covering the PC ecosystem literally from the very beginning of PC history. Hardware, software, all of it. The PCWorld name has a storied past, but perhaps even a brighter future—because we’re looking to add new blood to our editorial staff with the additions of a Staff Writer and Associate Editor.Think you have what it takes to kick-start your career in tech journalism? You can read more about (and apply for) the two jobs here: Staff Writer, PCWorld Associate Editor, PC