Inhaltsverzeichnis für October 2017 in PCWorld

Credit monitoring agency Equifax revealed shocking news late September 7: A data breach of the company’s servers from mid-May through July 2017 resulted in the theft of the personal information of up to 143 million U.S. consumers—a huge chunk of the country’s 324 million population. Equifax says the breach leaked highly sensitive information, too, including “names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers.” That’s everything crooks need to open up credit lines in your name, or worse. And now it’s in nefarious hands. EQUIFAX HACK: WAS I AFFECTED? Shamefully, Equifax won’t be contacting most of the 143 million victims directly to let them know they’ve fallen prey to data hackers. The hackers also swiped credit card numbers for 209,000 people, and “certain dispute documents…

Google is taking aim at one of the biggest scourges of the modern web. Starting in January 2018, the Chrome browser will automatically block noisy autoplay video on webpages. “One of the most frequent user concerns is unexpected media playback, which can use data, consume power, and make unwanted noise while browsing,” Google wrote in a blog post. “To address this, Chrome will be making autoplay more consistent with user expectations and will give users more control over audio.” In Chrome 64, autoplaying videos will be blocked by default unless they’re muted, or if “the user has indicated an interest in the media.” That means autoplay will be allowed for a site if you’ve frequently played a video on it or added the site to your mobile homepage. You won’t…

After months of teases and delays, the wait for Vega is finally over. First, AMD launched its flagship Radeon RX 64 lineup: the $499 Radeon RX Vega 64 and the $699 liquidcooled Radeon RX Vega 64, which is only available as part of a convoluted “Radeon Aqua Pack” bundle. (After the initial wave of availability, virtually all available air-cooled Radeon RX Vega 64 cards are only available in $599 Radeon Packs as well.) Then on August 28, the $399 Radeon RX Vega 56 hit the streets. And for the first time in a long time—over a year, in fact— the Red Team is fielding high-end graphics cards capable of challenging Nvidia’s enthusiast-class hardware. These are the first high-end Radeon chips built using the 14nm technology process, following in the footsteps of AMD’s…

The Logitech Craft keyboard is what happens when a keyboard engineer glimpses Microsoft’s Surface Dial hockey-puck peripheral and decides: We can do that, too. Pairing a small, Dial-like keyboard knob with software templates preconfigured for popular apps makes the Craft a useful tool for almost any application. When it ships in October, however, it’ll come with a hefty $200 price tag attached. Nevertheless, as a productivity tool, the Craft (for both Macs and Windows PCs) is worth serious consideration. Logitech dubs its version of the Dial the Crown, and you can tap it, spin it, or push-and-turn it to perform various functions on an app-by-app basis. Logitech’s approach feels much more like something everyone could use, while the Surface Dial still feels like a specialized instrument for digital illustrators and…

Whether you’re an emerging Twitch broadcaster or simply a gamer who wants to share your epic gaming highlights with pals, recording your video gameplay is all the rage these days. But which recording software should you use if you’re just dipping your toes into capturing gaming videos? There’s no shortage of free video recording tools out there vying for your attention, many with unique hooks or features. We played with five of the most popular freeware gameplay capture tools around— Open Broadcast Software Studio, Nvidia ShadowPlay, AMD ReLive, MSI Afterburner, and Plays.tv—to answer that question. Each serves a different purpose, such as recording and sharing highlight clips, broadcasting your gameplay to the world, or creating a complete archive of your favorite game. This guide will point you to the best…

Say you have a nice collection of media on your PC in one room, but you’d like to be able to view it on your nice big TV in another room. Windows offers a simple way to do that over Wi-Fi. There’s actually an open standard for sharing media files across a home network. It’s called the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), and you probably already have everything you need to use it. There’s also a second, and newer, standard called Miracast that will be of particular note to Windows 10 users. First, some definitions for DLNA: The device that sends the stream—such as a PC—is the DLNA server. The device that receives the stream—such as an HDTV or something connected to the TV—is the DLNA renderer (I really hate…

  Microsoft’s bid to bring Windows mixed reality to the masses is taking shape with a raft of affordable PCs and headsets, Acer’s headset, for instance, will be available for $299 without the controllers, undercutting the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. The Dell Visor, will ship for $350 for just the headset, $100 for the controllers, and $450 for a bundle of all of them. You can also watch this video here. …

Google Drive for both the PC and Mac will begin to die on December 11, Google said in early September. Depending on whether you’re a business user or a strict consumer, it will be reborn as one of two new apps: Backup and Sync, for consumers, or Drive File Stream, for businesses. Here’s what to expect during the transition. WHEN GOOGLE DRIVE IS GOING AWAY, AND HOW Note that Google doesn’t appear to be making any changes to the Drive service itself, just the apps. Google currently offers 15GB of online storage with Drive, and those files are accessible with any device with a Drive app installed. Those devices include Android devices, iPhones, and iPads—whose Drive mobile apps are apparently being left untouched. Google said it will stop supporting the…

One thing is certain about Google’s fall event: A Pixel will steal the show. It might not be the one that fits in your pocket. A rumor published by Android Police says Google is working on a follow-up to its discontinued second-generation Chromebook Pixel, which hasn’t been available for purchase since mid-2016. A new model would be a pleasant surprise for fans of the Google laptop, which was hailed at the time as the best Chromebook ever made. The third model could be the charm that brings premium Chrome devices mainstream. The story behind the story: When a new Chromebook Pixel didn’t arrive last year, some speculated Google would retire the premium laptop as it focused on building its own smartphone. That assumption seemed correct when senior vice president for hardware…

There are three things you should immediately know about Acer’s Predator 21 X laptop. First, it’s hands down the fastest laptop we’ve ever seen. Period. Second, it’s the widest laptop we’ve ever seen: 22.4 inches wide, 12.4 inches deep, and 2.71 inches to 3.28 inches high, front to back. And third: It’s the most expensive laptop we’ve seen in a long time. Sure, at $9,000, you’d think it would be the priciest ever in PCWorld history, but a 1990-era 286 laptop that cost $6,000 adjusted for inflation would be $11,367 today. So, the Predator 21 X is almost a deal, right? But seriously, Acer’s Predator 21 X isn’t meant to be a mainstream product. Hell, it’s not even meant to be a high-end product. It’s the very definition of a…

The V30 isn’t the typical fall flagship from LG. While the V20 was a bountiful bag of tricks for hardcore Android nerds, the V30 is more subtle and refined—LG’s bid to make a premium Android phone that appeals to a wider audience. The philosophy shift starts with ditching two novel features that were unique to the previous V phones: the removable battery and the second screen. While their usefulness was debatable, they definitely gave the earlier V phones some identity, and there will certainly be a faction of LG fans who ragetweet about the loss. But for everyone else, the V30 could be the best phone of the year. The competition is fierce with the Note 8 and Pixel 2, not to mention the iPhone 8 if we’re talking about the entire…

Get your phones ready because Android Oreo is finally here. (That’s right, it’s called Oreo, not Orangina.) After months of betas, an eclipse-themed countdown, and the usual rampant naming speculation, Google has lifted the veil of secrecy from Android O’s full name, and we can start looking ahead to what confectionery Android P will adopt. (My money’s on Petit Four.) But its name isn’t the only thing that’s sweet about Android 8. While it might not be as jam-packed with features as other Android releases, Android Oreo has plenty of features that make it a must-download, from picture-inpicture to notification changes that will help you keep annoying alerts at bay. So bring your sweet tooth because there’s a lot to chew on. ANDROID 8 OREO UPDATE FAQ Can I install…

The Galaxy S8 and S8+ are two of the best Android smartphones available, but if you’re going to get any use out of features like Bixby Voice and Samsung’s stellar camera, you’ll want to implement a few powersaving strategies. Fortunately, Samsung bundled in a helpful power-saving mode to keep the Galaxy S8’s battery steadily pumping throughout the day. We’ll teach you how to set it up, as well as how to implement some best practices for prolonging the life of your shiny Samsung phone. The best part is that you don’t need to download anything to improve the health of your Galaxy S8’s battery. All you have to do is read on. GET RID OF BATTERYSUCKING APPS If you notice your battery has been draining more quickly lately, you can…

Acer’s Switch 7 Black Edition is big, black, and ready to stomp on the Surface Pro and MacBook Pro 13. Sporting the latest quad-core CPU from Intel plus discrete graphics, it offers serious horsepower in a surprisingly slim package. Acer says the Switch 7 Black Edition will be available in North America in December with prices starting at $1,699. Specs are still sparse, but so far we know that the 2-in-1 device with detachable keyboard (which Acer describes as a “laptop” rather than a tablet) features a 13.5-inch IPS touch screen with a resolution of 2256x1504. It uses a Wacom EMR digitizer with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity using the pen. The Switch 7 also features a new take on Windows Hello, with a fingerprint reader that’s tied to the power…

Comcast is the fastest broadband ISP in the United States, according to Ookla, the developer behind the popular speedtest.net website. Ookla also named T-Mobile as the fastest wireless carrier in the U.S. Ookla found that Comcast Xfinity narrowly topped Verizon’s FiOS service as the fastest broadband ISP, while T-Mobile just edged out Verizon Wireless as the fastest wireless carrier. The data reflected 26 million unique broadband users, performing over 111 million tests across Ookla’s service. In the mobile space, about 3 million unique devices were used to generate 14 million tests, generating a comprehensive look at how each service performed both nationwide and over time. In both wired and wireless tests, Ookla generated its own “speed score” to measure such factors as latency, and how the networks in question varied…

No one would have blamed Samsung if the Note 8 were never released. After a global recall halted sales of the Note 7 in their tracks, some execs at Samsung probably floated the idea of retiring the Note brand altogether. It’s good they didn’t. The Note 8 isn’t just a return to form, it’s the best phone Samsung has ever made, bar none. And until the iPhone 8 and Pixel 2 make their appearances—and maybe even after—it’s simply the best phone money can buy. Mind you, the best phone money can buy doesn’t come cheap. At $930, it’s $100 more expensive than last year’s model and inches ever closer to that psychological $1,000 barrier. But if you don’t have any qualms about dropping a small fortune on something with such a high probability…

We are terrible at passwords. We suck at creating them (the top two most popular remain “123456” and “password”), we share them way too freely, and we forget them all the time. Indeed, the very thing that can ensure our online security has become out biggest obstacle to it. This is what makes a good password manager essential. A password manager relieves the burden of thinking up and memorizing unique, complex logins—the hallmark of a secure password. It allows you to safely share those logins with others when necessary. And because these tools encrypt your login info in a virtual vault—either locally or in the cloud— and lock it with a single master password, they protect the passwords themselves. But password managers vary widely in their capabilities and cost, so we…

The world of Linux is ready to welcome you, with a shower of free open-source software you can use on any PC: hundreds of active Linux distributions, and dozens of different desktop environments you could run on them. It’s a far cry from the one-size-fits-all, this-is-just-what-comes-with-your-PC vision of Windows. Everything from software installation to hardware drivers works differently on Linux, though, which can be daunting. Take heart—you don’t even need to install Linux on your PC to get started. Here’s everything you need to know. CHOOSE AND DOWNLOAD A LINUX DISTRO The first step is choosing the Linux distribution you’ll want to use. Unlike Windows 10, there’s no single version of Linux. Linux distributions take the Linux kernel and combine it with other software like the GNU core utilities, X.org…