We all know what bloatware and crapware are, even if we’re not fully aware of it. They’re the programs we love to hate- the digital garbage packed on to pre-built PCs that their users neither want nor need. Usually, they accomplish nothing, aside from slowing down your system to a crawl. In the worst cases, PCs which might otherwise boot up in...

Another quickie for you guys today. Here’s a rather fascinating infographic I saw just the other day. Ironically…it’s about the reason infographics are so bloody popular. Time and again, we’ve proven – particularly as our age moves from more abstract forms of entertainment to more concrete ones – that human beings are, in...

It’s bound to happen, eventually- keyboards are like anything else, and subject to the same wear and tear as any piece of hardware. If you use one enough, eventually, you’re going to have to do a bit of repair work. After all, cleaning your keyboard doesn’t really help when half the keys are missing, does it? Truth be told, it’s not...

One of the coolest things about Star Trek: The Next Generation was the holodeck. Utilizing space-age computing that even our modern society can only dream of, the crew could easily transport themselves to any time and place, without even having to leave the ship. It made for some downright awesome adventures, and must’ve been a great (and dangerously...

We all know it’s quite possibly- and actually fairly easy – to use an Xbox 360 controller with your PC. It’s really just a matter of plugging it in, and downloading a few drivers from Microsoft. What many of you might not know is that you can actually take things a step further- you can use your controller as a mouse and keyboard array, as...

Facebook’s not exactly the poster child of productivity. Quite the contrary, it’s one of the biggest time-wasters in the world, with hundreds of pieces of content and a whole plethora of time-wasting social games. What some people might not know is exactly how distracting it (and many other social media websites) really are – and just how much...

Old game cartridges have an irritating tendency to accumulate grime when they’re not being used, particularly in the area where they connect to the console. It’s tough to say why- perhaps the electrical transfer that occurs there when they’re plugged in makes them uniquely suited to gathering up dust. Usually, blowing on them will be more than...

With today’s issue of Layman’s Terms, we’re going to have a look at a few more graphically-inclined terms. Let’s get right into it, shall we? LCD:  “LCD” stands for “Liquid Crystal Display.” Basically, it utilizes a unique type of matter which exists somewhere between a solid and a liquid in terms of state. The...

Every new release of Microsoft office has had its irritating little quirks, and 2010 is no exception. This time around, the issue lies in Word, in the default template. See, as far as I know, most people need their word documents to be formatted in one of two ways, at their core – they need them to be either double spaced or single spaced. Microsoft...

Hey there, folks. Today we’re taking a look at a few more common terms in the world of computing – both software and hardware related. Let’s get started. Native Mode: Basically, native mode is the default operating state of any given computer system. Sort of. For example – let’s say you’ve got a Windows PC, with Windows 7...

So, if you haven’t heard already…OUYA. For those of you who don’t want to read through the Kickstarter page, I’ll summarize what the console is, as well as what it represents. OUYA is, at its core, an attempt to blow open the last closed market in gaming. That is to say, they’re trying to make console gaming- and console games...

One of the biggest stumbling blocks for Solid State Drives, when compared against traditional HDDS was the price point. More advanced technology and more expensive materials translated easily to a much, much pricier piece of hardware. As many have predicted, that price gap is very rapidly closing- and very soon, we might be seeing HDDS phased out for faster,...

There’s a pretty good chance that you’re reading this article on either an LCD screen or an LED screen. We’re not here to discuss the differences between the two (LED is basically LCD’s prettier, slightly more expensive younger sister). Instead, we’re going to take a look at how your monitor works. How does an image go from an...

I’ve written my fair share of articles with my laptop propped up by my legs, and I’m sure most of us who have portable PCs have held them in that general area. As it just so happens…that’s a very, very, very bad idea- particularly if you’re pregnant. See, the thing about laptops is that the complex circuitry within emits a fairly...

Laptops have an issue with them that isn’t shared by their larger, desk-bound brethren. Given the close proximity of their components to one another, they’re actually fairly difficult to keep cool. While some systems don’t seem to have much of an issue, others seem to overheat at the drop of a hat. Cooling trays aren’t so much a luxury...