pc

Staying safe is simple with Online Armor

Windows Firewall and other free firewalls do a pretty good job of keeping threats away from your computer, but many users prefer the extra security and support of a premium firewall. Emsisoft's Online Armor is a shareware firewall suite that offers strong protection against malicious programs, hacker attacks, and other privacy and security threats, but it's also designed to be as unobtrusive as possible while doing it. Its real-time protection means no lengthy scans; instead, Online Armor evaluates each program as it runs. The program has plenty of configuration options, especially in its Advanced Mode. For instance, you … Read more

Give trick-or-treaters a free copy of Plants vs. Zombies (PC/Mac)

Let's face it: Zombies have the worst oral hygiene. I mean, have you ever seen one floss?

Alas, kids run them a close second, especially around Halloween, when the candy piles up like zombies on a cheerleader pyramid.

To help thwart the totally made-up condition known as "Zombie Mouth," PopCap Games has teamed up with the American Dental Association for a seriously cool promotion: Halloween-night coupons for a free copy of Plants vs. Zombies (PC/Mac).

Just print as many copies of the coupon page (PDF) as you like, then cut each one into eight individual coupons … Read more

The technology behind NBA 2K13

2K Sports' critically acclaimed NBA 2K franchise is no stranger to best sports video game lists. The CNET TV team recently went behind the scenes at 2K Sports' headquarters in Novato, Calif., just days before NBA 2K13 hits store shelves. The goal: to find out what's in their secret sauce.

I had the opportunity to jump into the company's motion capture studio, and suited up with markers placed strategically on my body. Lights surrounding the perimeter of the studio hit the markers, and the reflections allow them to be identified and processed by computers to capture wireframe animations … Read more

Maingear introduces first boutique gaming all-in-one PC

Mainstream vendors, Lenovo in particular, have attempted gaming-oriented all-in-one desktops. Maingear's Alpha 24 Super stock is the first from a true boutique PC vendor.

For starters, here are the highlights of the Alpha's spec sheet:

Intel Core i3 3240 3.4GHz, upgradeable to Intel Core i7 3770K Up to 256GB Crucial M4 mSATA SSD Up to 3TB mechanical HDD Full-size, Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Graphics, up to GeForce GTX 680 Expansion slots that include two mini PCIe slots and one PCIe x 16 slot Starting at $1,349

You don't normally find full-size graphics cards, and PCI-Express … Read more

HP exec: We're in the post-PC era? Ha!

Although some claim the rapid adoption of tablets has ushered in a so-called post-PC era, one HP executive begs to differ.

HP printing and personal systems group executive vice president Todd Bradley said in an interview with PC World that the notion PCs are declining as tablets take over is plain nonsense.

"Look, it's just wrong. Just think of the decision when your child is going off to college," Bradley said. "What's a requirement? A PC. Or you run a business and need your employees to be productive. You need a PC. The size of … Read more

You'll shoot and loot yourself silly in Borderlands 2

It's been nearly three years since the team at Gearbox Software released a new open-world RPG franchise with a unique art style and curiously addictive gameplay. Borderlands went from a sleeper hit to blockbuster seemingly overnight; since its release, it has seen sales in the range of 5 million copies.

Borderlands' looting-focused formula encouraged and rewarded exploration, which helped ease the otherwise intimidating undertaking that some RPG titles can endure.

With Borderlands 2, Gearbox Software has tweaked and refined the genre -- mind you, a hybrid that it seems to have invented -- and has unquestionably topped itself.… Read more

The PC is not dead yet, say readers

Don't dismiss the PC, is the tenor of a lot of the responses to a Saturday post where I addressed the coverage of Apple and the iPhone 5 last week.

"For a working man like me, the PC is a serious piece of machine. It puts food on my table. As for the smartphone, the phone is important. No doubt about it. What makes it smart also turns it into a toy. But a toy is still just a toy," -- that's a pretty typical comment I got.

And another: "Actually, the technology in the … Read more

Apple, and the media, bury the PC

You would think the PC was six feet under by reading tech coverage this week.

With every aspect of the iPhone 5 dissected ad nauseam by legions of tech journalists worldwide, coverage of the ultrabook at the concurrent Intel event didn't stand a chance.

Problem is, there's just too much cool tech that Apple -- and the Android guys too, by the way -- pack into a handheld device. PCs, as they stand now, are a bit boring by comparison.

Here are a few of the most prominent technologies that ultrabooks -- the standard for cutting-edge PC design … Read more

Clean, repair, and optimize your Registry with ARO 2012

ARO 2012 is the latest version of a longstanding Registry cleaner and optimizer. The look is familiar, but ARO 2012 offers several upgrades over previous versions, such as improved browser cleaning and user-friendlier settings as well as new tweaks that can yield better NTFS performance, faster startups, and improved CPU utilization. ARO 2012 also backs up and optimizes the Registry. You can schedule automatic cleanings, too.

ARO 2012's installer informed us that it would scan our PC as soon as it closed. The first scan is always important with software like ARO since it establishes a baseline, and ours … Read more