PCTips Box

Wireless hotspots are changing the way people work. These wireless local area networks (LANs) provide high speed Internet access in public locations as well as at home and require nothing more than a notebook PC with a wireless card. From coffeeshops to restaurants, airports to hotel lobbies, hotspots are ubiquitous. They are the de facto connection method for travelers and remote workers to access the Internet, their e-mail, and even their corporate networks.

Hotspots range from paid services, such as T-Mobile or Boingo, to free connections at your local coffee shop or library. But they all have one thing in common: These are all open networks that are vulnerable to security breaches. And that means it’s up to you to protect the data on your PC. Here are a few tips to make working in public locations more secure. (more…)

I’ve been catching up on unread items on my feed reader and I probably have skipped this item from ComputerWorld (undoubtedly one of my favorite reads for tech stuff).

I am now a Vista user and I’m still contemplating hard on whether I’d upgrade to XP or just . I’m even using Home Basic and running it on a fairly okay machine. However, I just know that given my notebook’s specs, it’d blow my mind away if I run XP on it. A great many of my friends and acquaintances, however, have not made the jump to Vista at all. Likewise, I wouldn’t have made the jump if this lappie never came with it. (more…)

OEMS ARE RELEASING dual-core machines onto the market without correctly configuring them. According to Notebook Review, Windows XP machines being shipped from the big retail stores with SP2 on board are not configured correctly.

The site names Sager as one OEM which does not configure this hotfix for their Dual Core notebooks. Machines at BestBuy, Fry’s, CircuitCity have also been found unmodified. Apparently Windows XP2 does not automatically sniff out whether or not a dual-core processor is being used and the configuration has to be done manually. Failure to do so results in some games such as Oblivion being tiggered.

Michael Dell could prove that “Dell 2.0″ is more than a marketing throwaway by buying rival Acer, according to a leading Wall Street analyst. Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi today laid out a plan for Dell to revive its fortunes by purchasing Acer - a relatively cheap target with a $4bn market cap.

Such a move would give Dell broader access to Asian and European customers, a stronger notebook line and a massive indirect sales channel. Of course, Dell would have to give up on everything it holds dear by swallowing its pride along with Acer. Dell 1.0 rose to the top of the computer kingdom via the lean, mean “Direct Model.” (more…)