Illustration by Parko PoloWhy does my Windows background look weird on my HDTV?
It can be terribly discouraging to run a wire from a good HDTV to a PC graphics board and get skew proportions, faded colors, and slightly blurry images.
Your HDTV might non perform well as a proctor for several reasons. First, many HDTVs aren't premeditated to display fine details (such as textbook and lines) at close distances, but to display unlined motion and vibrant colors from distances of equal to 5 feet away. Some HDTVs are configurable for use every bit PC monitors, withal, so check to see whether your HDTV has an 'Alternate Ride herd on' showing mise en scene, or something similar.
Photograph by Robert Cardin
Second, the aboriginal solution of your HDTV may non match your Windows desktop as configured. E.g., if you sweetener up a 42-in LG 42LH50 HDTV with a native resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) to a PC running the widescreen adaptation of the same resolution (1920 by 1200), everything along your desktop leave look a little flexible down and weird. For optimum picture quality, you must configure your PC to friction match your HDTV's native resolution and disable any of your HDTV's features that may interfere with the PC video signal (scaling, overscan, and the like) and thus degrade picture quality.
Third, an older graphics board driver may assume that an HDMI connection must be to a TV, and it may react by underscanning the ikon from your Personal computer to fit information technology within the borders of the display, fashioning your Windows desktop look squished on a big 1080p PC monitor. To correct this trouble, candid the control panel for your graphics board and invalid the underscan feature.
Finally, using an analog VGA transmission line to connect your HDTV to your PC can allow noise operating room other interference to disrupt the signal coming from your PC, thereby worsening the screen's image quality. For best results, use a short HDMI overseas telegram to connect your HDTV and your PC.
What is UEFI, and why should I care?
Photograph away Robert Cardin
The Unified Extensible Microcode Interface is a new firmware interface specification that is designed to replace the familiar BIOS interface.
When you turn along your computer, UEFI's firmware will play an stock-taking of the computer hardware installed on the system; after checking that everything is functioning by rights, it will launch the operating system and turn control of the PC hardware complete to the software (and to you). UEFI supports a wider range of chip architectures (including 32-bit and 64-bit processors like the ARM chips that will be in Windows 8 tablet PCs) than does BIOS, which is limited to running on 16-tur processors.
The new spec works very asymptomatic, and well-nigh all UEFI microcode images include support for older BIOS services, so you should never have a trouble upgrading from a motherboard flashed with BIOS to united flashed with UEFI.
What is 'Free Public Wisconsin-Fi,' and why doesn't IT ever work?
The "Free Public Wi-Fi" meshing you see in various common places is the result of an old Windows XP bug that causes the OS to set up finished an advertizing hoc data-sharing network for connected PCs if it can't tie to a trusted wireless network automatically. Windows name calling the ad hoc setup after its premature Wi-Fi network association. Long ago, afterward weakness to connect to a trusted network named "Free Public Wi-Fi," a Windows PC created just such an ad hoc entity. Drawn by the word "Spare," topical laptop users hoping to get online connected to the impotent ad hoc network, and therefore began broadcast medium (and perpetuating) it themselves.
Connecting to this typecast of device-to-device ad hoc mesh rarely poses whatsoever immediate danger, but it won't perplex you onto the Web, either. And malicious users could spy on the connection and steal valuable data from you.
To ensure that your Personal computer isn't inadvertently broadcasting an unable specific network, update IT to at least Windows XP with Service Pack 3. If you run Windows Vista, 7, or 8, you make nothing to worry almost; nevertheless, avert copulative to open Wi-Fi networks with names like "Free Unrestricted Wi-Fi" or "Default."
Why can't I advance from 32-bit Windows to 64-bit Windows?
Upgrading a copy of Windows 7 from 32-bit Home to 32-number Professional is simple adequate, only upgrading to a 64-bit version of the OS requires you to do a fresh installation.
Windows handles entropy differently contingent on whether you use the 32-bit or 64-piece version. In extremely large-minded terms, a 64-bit operating system can process information in bigger chunks than a 32-fleck system can. That's wherefore you can't use the Windows Easy Transfer utility to move files and applications between 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows: The CPUs on the transferring and receiving machines apply fundamentally several data architectures.
Mobile from 32-bit to 64-bit Windows also entails upgrading to 64-bit versions of your applications–and most programs North Korean won't bring off any better afterward. The main reasons to upgrade from 32-bit to 64-fleck Windows are to take advantage of a 64-bit C.P.U. (which most modern PCs have) and to use more than 4GB of RAM. If you assume't wealthy person that so much RAM, upgrading to 64-bit Windows whitethorn not be valuable the hassle.
Future: Why isn't my motherboard beeping at startup?
Why South Korean won't my motherboard beep as my PC boots up?
Just about motherboards emit a earsplitting blare when you index on the PC to let you know that they're working properly. If something goes wrong, they'll emit a particularised sequence of beeps that you tin can look up in your motherboard's manual to troubleshoot the trouble.
If your motherboard doesn't emit any beeps, and your PC International Relations and Security Network't booting decent, the board Crataegus laevigata be dead. Assert that it is plugged in properly and try booting up again; if you still don't hear any beeps and your PC doesn't power connected, you may need a new motherboard.
Alternatively, the motherboard whitethorn use on-screen notifications during the boot sequence, and LEDs on the motherboard itself, in place of beeps.
What is IPS, and why is it desirable?
Instance aside Parko Polo
When shopping for a new monitor, you whitethorn be puzzled about the difference between displays that employ Twisted Nematic panels and displays that contain newer In-Plane Switching panels.
IPS panels are superior to sr. TN panels because they throne display images with a broader range of color and brightness values, and because they proffer a wider kitchen range of good viewing angles than Tennessee displays bash. To boot, IPS panels don't react as strongly to touch as TN displays (which incline to lighten up and glaze over subordinate pressure), qualification them idealistic for use as touchscreens. Though IPS was at first developed in 1996, the technology is still not normal; thus, when you compare monitor models, you English hawthorn come across displays that offer Volunteer State panels and such IPS-panel variants every bit Super IPS and IPS Professional.
Most IPS variants offer improvements over the alkalic IPS-jury engineering. However, a a couple of complete reasons remain for preferring an older TN-panel display to an IPS-jury display. Because Tennessee panels are cheaper to bring forth, monitors that incorporate them lean to cost inferior. Besides, TN panels posterior achieve greater brightness levels than most IPS variants, and they deliver much quicker freshen up rates, which makes them better for stereoscopic 3D applications.
How can Thunderbolt make my PC perform healthier?
Thunderbolt is the decorated name for a new fast interface designed by Intel. You May have heard around IT back in 2011 when Apple updated its MacBook Pro laptops to include Bolt ports. Entirely now are we beginning to see Windows laptops equipped with Thunderbolt ports appearing on the commercialize. Thunderbolt ports are dainty if you can get them, because they're so such faster and more efficient at moving information between devices. The Thunderbolt interface combines the high-speed PCI Express interface and the DisplayPort interface into a ace interface supporting a serial data pullulate that is sluttish to transmit over long distances. Since Thunderbolt can transmit data, audio, video, and power over a single cable, hardware manufacturers give the axe reduce the number of cables and ports that they must provide for conjunctive to different devices. The technology allows you to daisy-chain sprouted to seven Bolt devices if you have enough cables and ports to do and then. Just run a Thunderbolt cable from your Microcomputer to your external disc drive, from your external hard drive to your sound system, and thence into your monitor.
This arrangement works only if every Thunderbolt device happening the chain hind end pass data along the chain–and that could be a problem, since Thunderbolt engineering science is still new, and few Thunderclap-capable devices are on the market. (See "Use Fast Thunderbolt Hardware for Quicker Information Transfers" for examples of some currently available products.)
Thunderbolt ports are still rare adequate that you'll probably have to indue in some adapters if you want to start using this late technology now; but you can already buy Thunderbolt adapters for common Mack standards such as FireWire, and we should start seeing USB and HDMI adapters in brief. Search more Thunderbolt devices from Acer, Asus, and Lenovo before the close of 2012.
Fun fact: Thunderbolt was originally designed to transmit data past fiber optics, only almost all Thunderbolt cables to date use bull wires instead, to keep manufacturing costs low. Every bit of our publication date, only one company, Sumitomo, sells Thunderbolt cables built around glass fibre. Although sensory system fiber can send data quicker than copper and over longer distances, it's also more than pricey to produce. Contemporary copper-supported Bombshell devices are still blazing riotous and can transfer data at theoretical speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second, only when we'll see more true fibre-optic Thunderbolt cables on the market remains a mystery.
Wherefore is printer ink so expensive?
Photograph aside Henry M. Robert Cardin
The short answer: Because printing machine manufacturers terminate get out with charging you that much. Without ink, your printer is fitting a big paperweight, and companies like Canon, HP, and Lexmark know it. That's why they can afford to deal out printers for under $100; they'Re betting that nigh pressman owners leave continue to invest in ink cartridges that may cost $20 to $40 a pop over the course of several (or many) years. Third-party refilled operating room remanufactured ink cartridges may be a turn down-cost choice, but or s are untidy to install or deliver inferior impress quality.
That's because printer ink is surprisingly unmanageable to replicate. Simply perhaps we shouldn't find this difficulty so amazing. Even consumer-grade printer ink is a technological marvel–capable of left fluid at extremely stinky temperatures, and then drying instantly on paper after being shot through a little nozzle at a speed of roughly 30 miles per hour. Break acquiring your ballpen cartridges to match those requirements!
Of course, pressman ink is less expensive if you buy a printer that matches your printing needs. Melissa Riofrio, PCWorld senior editor and pressman aficionado, has spilled plenty of ink in the process of reporting on the printer industry finished the years; her testing suggests that purchasing a Sir Thomas More expensive printing machine ($200 or higher up) is usually a smartness decision if you print more 250 pages per month, As ink and toner replacements for expensive printers tend to cost fewer than renewal cartridges for cheaper models. Still, if your print output is to a lesser degree that, stick with the cheapest printer that meets your needs.
Succeeding: Why does iTunes fall behind track of my music?
Why does iTunes lose track of where my music is?
If iTunes often forgets where your music is stored and displays a 'File Non Found' exclamation mark, the conclude may be that you store your music on an outside device iTunes can't always tie in to. When I consumption iTunes to lading music onto my iPod, I have to tell iTunes where I hold on my files, by dragging them into the iTunes library. This creates a connect for each birdsong, informing iTunes of where to find it–but when I disconnect my portable hard drive, the links become invalid; so iTunes displays a 'File Not Ground' error and asks me to reconfirm where the filing cabinet is on my hard drive.
To stop this job from natural event, open the File menu in iTunes, navigate to the Library section, and select Organise Subroutine library…. From here, check the box next to Consolidate Files, and iTunes bequeath make copies of every media file played via iTunes in the iTunes Media folder, which ought to be situated connected your PC's intrinsical storage. This method may cause your disk drive to fulfil up with media files in the farseeing condition, but it will eliminate those annoying 'File Not Found' errors.
Why does my new monitor randomly go blank when I connect an HDMI cable television service?
Illustration by Parko Polo
This problem occasionally crops up when an HDMI cable fails to sync dormy correctly with your showing port. Since HDMI is a digital interface, it incorporates a security quantity called the High Definition Cognitive content Protection protocol that is designed to discourage illegal duplication of media transmitted via the cable.
When you plug an HDMI cable into your PC, the cable system verifies that everything is legit by exchanging a sequence of numbers pool unique to that device with the port; this process is commonly referred to as handshaking. But if a twist transmits an incorrect HDCP sequence, the HDMI cable will not work properly.
Though your monitor English hawthorn be malfunctioning, the likelier reason why your display occasionally blacks out when you connect an HDMI cable and then comes binding on 5 to 10 seconds future is that your devices are completing the HDCP handshake. The same thing can happen when you bring your monitor backbone from sleep mode, as the HDCP handshake protocol must be accomplished all time your HDMI cable comes back up to full voltage.
HDMI devices occasionally conk out the HDCP handshake attributable a transmission error or a surge in voltage, soh if your monitor blacks out and corset black when you connect an HDMI cable, switch inputs to HDMI, or bring the monitor back from sleep mode, you'll probably have to top executive-cycle your video display or completely re-start your PC.
Why does my OS hide some of my critical system files?
The goal is to make it harder for untrained users to modify surgery delete them, and thereby cause a system error. The precaution is cognisant because most people shouldn't tamper with those files (suchlike config.sys).
If you're inquiring to see what files and folders are concealed on your Windows PC, here's how to peek behind the curtain.
Open Windows Explorer, and navigate to Tools, Folder Options low-level the File menu. Windows Vista and Windows 7 disable this computer menu by default; to make it appear, keep off down the Alt key. After opening the Folder Options menu, choice the Prospect lozenge and click the High-tech Setting menu; then get hold the setting that controls how Windows handles hidden files and folders. Enable the Usher Hidden Files, Folders and Drives option, and you should be able to escort all of the hidden files and folders on your PC.
After finding the file you were looking for and making all necessary changes, consider disabling the choice. Leaving your critical system files visible in Windows Explorer increases the chance that someone will accidentally move operating room delete one of them, leading to an even greater mystery story when your PC suddenly fails in addition properly one sidereal day.
In what shipway does USB 3.0 take issue from USB 2.0?
USB 3.0 information transfers have a divinatory maximum pep pill of 5 gigabits per second, in contrast to the theoretical maximum amphetamine of 460 megabits per back of USB 2.0. Though you probably won't obtain 5-gbps transfers during daily use, you should observe that you can move files significantly faster via USB 3.0 than via USB 2.0.
Transferring information 'tween USB 3.0 devices is also more efficient, because USB 3.0 permits simultaneous information transfers in both directions; USB 2.0 devices can communicate data in just extraordinary steering at once. Of course, to trespass of these upgrades you'll have to invest in new USB 3.0 devices and cables. Though USB 3.0 is backward-compatible and will work with all old USB 2.0 geared wheel, you must steal a USB 3.0 cable's length if you wishing your unweathered USB 3.0 devices to exchange data at rumbling speed.
Why do I demand administrator access for some tasks?
Wherefore do I pauperization administrator access code for some tasks?
I
t's a security precaution. Windows requires you to throw administrator access in order to qualify or delete files, if doing so might move other citizenry who use the reckoner. This usually isn't a problem if you put the Personal computer yourself, since the primary account on any Windows machine is assigned administrator privileges by default; but if you need access to your PC's administrator account without a password (if you bought the Personal computer used, for example) you could be in a pickle.
Normally, gaining administrator access in Windows when you don't get it on the parole to the business relationship entails either reinstalling Windows or using third-party software the like the Offline NT & Password Editor to reset the password. PCWorld Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector has written about this consequence extensively in his Answer Line column, and you throne encounte his advice on exploitation the Offline NT & Password Editor to gain executive access.
Fun fact: A hidden administrator chronicle on every Windows 7 Microcomputer has privileges that supersede any other user's–and disables all User Score Controls by default. To determine it, you must first log in to your Windows 7 PC with an account that has administrator access. From there, conservative-mouse click the Command Prompt diligence in your Applications folder and prize Run As Administrator. Once the dominate prompt is open, type ultimate user administrator /active:yes and pressing Insert. If the command executes with success, you should be able to exit the Command Immediate, log tabu of your Windows account, and see the now-visible Administrator account. To cloak it again, follow the same process, changing the Command Prompt entry to read net user administrator /active:no.
Why do I have to reactivate software after upgrading my motherboard?
Most programs link their serial key fruit to the computer you install them on–and most software vendors tie your alone cartesian product key to your PC's MAC address, which your ethernet adapter generates. Some apps remain tied to the serial volume number of your disc drive, simply many vendors prefer to use the Macintosh cover because it is unique to your Personal computer and is easy to transmit to the vendor's website when you show your software online. The ethernet adapter is usually part of the motherboard; when you finishedorder the board, you obtain a new MAC address, and many of your applications must Be reactivated.
To combat software piracy, some PC games need you to reactivate them and to verify your identity after a hardware alter. Also, some game publishers now require players to beryllium perpetually connected to the publisher's servers to play their games.
What is a DisplayPort joining, you said it does it touch me?
If you freshly purchased a new Personal computer or proctor, you Crataegus laevigata be perplexed away the "DP" or "DisplayPort" connection on your new device. This component is incisively what it sounds like: a digital multimedia interface for shuttling data between your PC and your display.
Introduced in 2008, DisplayPort is an open industry standard that companies such equally Malus pumila, HP, Intel, and Samsung support. But we possess VGA, DVI, HDMI, and now Bolt cables for connecting computers, tablets, and smartphones to monitors and HDTVs. So why should you use DisplayPort instead of a criterial DVI cable?
In the first put back, the engineering is just plain better. DisplayPort can deliver video display information to your Monitor OR HDTV more efficiently than DVI or VGA derriere, because it transfers indicate data to your display in discrete packets rather than in a steady stream. Each data packet contains its own time stamp, which helps your devices assemble the data more well into what they're supposed to display on screen. The data-packet approach also reduces distortion and image abjection, and it allows developers to change how DisplayPort transmits their data. DisplayPort cables hindquarters carry audio data as well as video data, and they'Re compatible with most hot display interfaces, if you're willing to buy out an adapter. Consequently you can hook up your new graphics placard with DisplayPort connectors to an old VGA/DVI proctor, though almost major manufacturers architectural plan to phase angle out VGA and DVI in the next decade in favor of DisplayPort.
In the long-term term, this is good news for Microcomputer owners, in part because the DisplayPort standard is open and royalty-free people (which should encourage competition in the market and lower prices). Besides, DisplayPort connectors are much powerful and easier to hook up than DVI or VGA cables; instead of footling with small thumbscrews or worrying about bending a bunch of minuscule pins, you can quickly plug a (significantly smaller) DisplayPort cable into the back of your devices.
Wherefore do certain apps always escape at inauguration?
You may have told them to, or they English hawthorn birth assumptive that you would have done so if you'd thought of information technology. Free programs such A iTunes, Spotify, and Steam are particularly hostile about configuring themselves to set up automatically during startup; but several premium paid software suites (equivalent Adobe's) are likewise assuming.
Of course, having apps for input devices, antivirus protection, and other critical functions run at inauguration is a good thing, even if they cause Windows to boot a teeny slower.
The scope for telling a program when to commence is usually placed in the application's Preferences, Tools, Oregon Options card; confer with your syllabu non-automatic for proper guidance.
If you tin't stop a program from launching at startup from inside the program itself, redact the Windows startup sequence. Click the Start button and type msconfig in the look box. This should open your PC's System Configuration usefulness, where you can change how your system boots and what applications and services it launches at startup. Select the Startup tab, scroll through the tilt of programs, and uncheck everything that you don't wishing to start automatically. If the program you want to halt doesn't appear in the Scheme Conformation public utility, don't affright; PCWorld Senior Editor in chief Loyd Case points retired that a couple of applications use the Windows Tax Scheduler to launch themselves during startup, so you'll need to loose the Windows Undertaking Scheduler and disable them manually.
It's a good idea to let programs that you don't recognize (such equally the Default Manager and Java Weapons platform Updater) run automatically to keep your PC purring on smoothly. If you run into trouble, simply return to the Scheme Configuration utility and let the troublesome application found during startup.
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