What is 802.11ac? It’s the wireless networking standard that will, hopefully, allow high throughput in the 5GHz band; this is a notable improvement over 802.11n-2009 (a.k.a. Wireless N), because while N does have a 5GHz mode, most people have had only a "fair" experience with that standard. More often than not, most people are only able to...

This is not another one of those "use ‘safe’ DNS to protect yourself" type of articles but rather one that concentrates on the technical advantages and disadvantages of using an alternate DNS. What does DNS actually do? DNS is Domain Name System which, simply put, is what translates web server address numbers into names. PCMech.com’s...

When you have a hard drive connected to your PC, that’s a local hard drive. It doesn’t matter if it’s internal or external connected via wire. It’s local. Not cloud. And if you decide to share that device out to the internet and access it that way, I’m sorry but I don’t qualify that as cloud storage. Well, Western Digital...

Here’s the deal: You’re looking to get a new computer. But you don’t just want any computer. You want one that’s perfectly crafted to your exact specifications, be it a media hub, a super-powered gaming rig, or a web-server. Unfortunately, the price tag on most top of the line pre-built systems is…well, rather obscenely steep. If...

A lot of people consider the FCC some type of evil organization (I personally never did), but this is one of those instances where you’ll love them. Some HOAs, as in Homeowners Associations, list rules that you can’t put any kind of antenna on the roof of your home. As the FCC states, since October 1996 it has "banned restrictions that impair...

As far as format wars go concerning digital cameras, SD was the winner. There were a few others in the mix for a while (like the ill-fated xD format), but now just about any digital camera you’d buy will use SD as its primary storage. The problem afterward is deciding which SD speed class rating to go with. Fortunately it’s fairly easy to figure out...

The way I’ve got things set up, my Wii is hooked up to one TV, with my current-gen consoles hooked up to another. The latter is in my computer room. The other day, I was loafing on my couch and felt like I wanted to watch a DVD. I didn’t really care to get up and move to my computer room in order to watch it there, so I figured I’d pop a DVD...

For the longest time – and I mean a really long time – 1024×768 was the most used display resolution on monitors, both in business and in the home. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the new most used res is 1366×768. The first (and pretty much only) thing you’ll notice is that 1024×768 is a 4:3 aspect ratio while...

Fasik writes: I Boot up my PC (Windows 7 OS) and all i hear is a humming and whirring of the PC and the screen is completely black, this first started when i was playing a Game, i exited the game and didn’t see any problems, after a few minutes i could smell something weird it was between the smell of something burning and PLASTIC burning, and i...

Andrew writes: I have been in and out of the repair/networking business as a solo tech for 5 years or so. I realize trends are changing and I e-mailed some of my favorite sources to ask your opinion. I saw an article you wrote on repairing laser printers instead of doing laptops or desk tops and I have also looked into InfoSec as a potential career but, its a...