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Consumer Advice How-Tos

How to Make Windows and Mac OS Play Nicely Together All of the PCs in my house run Windows, but I carry a Macbook Air on the road. Here’s how you can integrate the disparate worlds of Microsoft and Apple.
How to Edit Office Documents on Your Tablet You can use your iPad or Android tablet to view and edit office documents instead of having to boot up your bulky laptop.
How to Benchmark Your Android Device Evaluating the performance of Android-based devices is serious business. We show you how to conduct testing in a way that produces consistent, repeatable results.
How to Build an Energy-Efficient and Quiet Gaming PC Building a system that maximizes game performance is easy; doing it while keeping power consumption down is harder. Here's how you can build your own, and make it whisper-quiet to boot.
How to Speed Up Your NAS With iSCSI Want to access your network-attached storage drive a little faster? We explain how to configure and use an iSCSI target on a NAS server with Windows' built-in iSCSI initiator for fast access.

Consumer Advice News

Apple iOS Devices Have Trouble Gaining Confidence of Some IT Security Pros Despite calls for more information about how Apple stores and analyzes the voice data it may be collecting through its Siri feature, Apple hasn't offered much explanation.
Facebook Offer to Let Users Vote on Policies Sparked by Activist The social network's regulations require the company hold a vote whenever more than 7,000 users comment on a proposed change.
STM's Vertical Is a Solid, Though Small, Laptop Bag If you're the type of mobile warrior who needs space in your bag to store random things you pick up during the day, this bag might not be for you.
Facebook Reins In Spammy Auto-Sharing Apps with New Rule Is your newsfeed is packed with dozens of videos and articles shared by apps your friends use? Facebook hears your pain and scales back the sharing.
How to Download and Install the Microsoft Windows 8 Release Preview The latest fine-tuned beta version of Window 8 is now available for your testing pleasure. It's free.

Consumer Advice Playing in PCW Video

3G and 4G Wireless Speed Tests, Windows 8 Editions, and Google Drive on PCWorld Podcast #136 Can Google Drive compete with Dropbox? Which wireless carrier has the best real-world speeds? How many editions of Windows 8 will you really have to choose from?
A Digital Consumer Bill of Rights Online consumers need a legal framework that imposes security responsibilities on internet companies like Facebook and Google that host our personal data.
The Byte: Chrome OS Update, Tablet Race Results, Android 5.0 Jelly Bean Amazon's Kindle Fire is catching up to Apple's iPad. Google hopes to fixed dropped WiFi on its Chromebooks. Researchers think that SSDs have a bleak outlook. Android 5.0 Jelly Bean might be on the horizon.

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Consumer Advice Reviews

Android Phones: Which Companies Do the Best Job With Android Updates? Are you choosing a new Android phone? We evaluate which carriers and manufacturers have the strongest track record for delivering Android updates.
Android Phone Updates: A Comprehensive Guide Is your phone on the list to receive the next major version of Google's Android OS? Consult our handy chart to see which phones get upgraded next.
HTC Evo 4G LTE Review: Gorgeous, but No LTE for Now It supports 3G until Sprint builds out its LTE network, but its display, camera, design, and multimedia features make it the best phone offered by Sprint.
TechHive: Making Sense of Facebook's New App Center The upcoming App Center will feature Web-based Facebook games and apps, as well as mobile apps for iOS and Android devices.
Photoshop CS6 dazzles with technical prowess and artistic inspiration Photoshop CS6's multitude of new technical and artistic features makes this version worth waiting for. Lesa Snider explores the highlights in her review.

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Downloads: Freeware, Shareware and Software to Buy

Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus is a reliable free antivirus solution, that constantly and rapidly scans your computer for malicious programs such as viruses, Trojans, backdoor programs, hoaxes, worms, dialers etc. Monitoring every action executed by the user or by the operating system and being able to react promptly when a malicious program is detected. Actions include repair, delete, block, rename and quarantine programs or files.
AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition Free program protects against viruses and hackers.
3D Desktop This free Windows 7 theme includes dozens of gorgeous 3D images.

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