The firm also revealed a range of new virtual reality headsets to encourage users to interact with their creations. Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37779983

This can happen on Windows 7, 8, or 10, but it’s become especially common with Windows 7. Sometimes updates will error out, or sometimes Windows Update may just get stuck “searching for updates” forever. Here are a few ways to give it a kick start. Read more: http://www.howtogeek.com/247380/how-to-fix-windows-update-when-it-gets-stuck/

The Windows Search feature provides fast file searches by building an index. This index is used by the Start menu, the search box in File Explorer and Windows Explorer, and even the Cortana assistant on Windows 10. Where to Find Windows’ Indexing Options The Windows Search indexer is controlled from the Indexing Options dialog, which is buried on the […]

Snatching the login credentials of a locked computer just got easier and faster, thanks to a technique that requires only $50 worth of hardware and takes less than 30 seconds to carry out. Rob Fuller, a principal security engineer at R5 Industries, said the hack works reliably on Windows devices and has also succeeded on […]

Windows 10 is supposed to automatically update itself. But it might take weeks or longer for a big update like the Anniversary Update to reach your PC. Here’s why that happens–and how to skip the wait. You Recently Upgraded to Windows 10 or the November Update If you just recently upgraded your PC to Windows 10–or upgraded […]

They’ve been a fixture of the computing industry for 60 years, but in 2018, hard drives will be pushed aside by storage systems using memory chips in PCs, an analyst firm predicts. Hard drives revolutionised computing when IBM commercialised the first, RAMAC, in 1956. They read and write ones and zeros as tiny patches of […]

There’s always a lot of chatter about computer graphics cards, thanks to bigger and better models every few months. It’s not always clear who actually needs one, though. Let’s take a look at what they are, and whether or not they’re a good fit for your PC. The Difference Between Integrated and Dedicated GPUs The […]

Windows can turn your PC into a wireless hotspot, allowing it to share its wired or wireless Internet connection with other wireless devices. But how you set it up that depends on what version of Windows you’re running. Here’s how it all works. Share a Wired or Wireless Internet Connection in Windows 10 If you’re […]

Which of your hard drives is the fastest, and is it really as fast as the manufacturer promised? Whether you have a desktop PC or a server, Microsoft’s free Diskspd utility will stress test and benchmark your hard drives. NOTE: A previous version of this guide explained using Microsoft’s old “SQLIO” utility. However, Microsoft now […]

Sometimes you need to get stuff from your computer to your phone—pictures, files, links, text, etc. And most of the time, that’s way more of a pain than it should be. If you’re tired of uploading files to Dropbox or Drive, emailing links to yourself, or—worst of all—plugging your phone into your computer just to […]

Can you transfer your Windows license between PCs? It depends–the answer isn’t so cut and dried. Microsoft makes this stuff confusing on purpose. Windows Activation has unclear rules to make piracy harder, while the System Builder license agreement forbids things real users do every day. Why You Might Want to Move a License Transferring a Windows license (aka […]

PCs don’t have to be power hogs, but they often are. High-powered desktops with gaming-focused dedicated graphics hardware are the most thirsty for energy, but older PCs are typically less energy-efficient than modern ones. This is a particular concern if you want to re-purpose an old PC as a media centre PC or home server. […]

Imagine you go on your dream European vacation and all your things are stolen after your hotel room is burgled or your car is broken into. Clothes and toothbrushes are easy to replace, but your devices are a potential treasure trove for thieves to exploit. Unfortunately, this story is all too real–in fact, it happened to […]

The Performance Monitor is one of many useful tools buried deep in Windows. It can generate a System Diagnostics Report with information about problems and suggestions of how to fix them. If your computer isn’t performing well or is experiencing another problem, this quick report might be able to help. Other useful diagnostics tools include the Reliability […]

Thanks to the frequent sales, PC games just cost less than console games. If you’re patient and know the tricks, you can save quite a bit of money. Almost every game seems to regularly go on sale. Since Steam started holding their regular holiday sales, the sales are coming thicker and faster than ever. From […]

You’re sitting at your PC and you receive a text message, so you pick up your phone, unlock it, read the message, and type one back using the tiny touch screen keyboard. Why not use your PC instead? If you’re already sitting at your computer, you can easily take advantage of your computer’s keyboard to […]

PC cleaning apps are digital snake oil. The web is full of ads for applications that want to “clean your PC” and “make it feel like new.” Don’t pull out your credit card — these apps are terrible and you don’t need them. If you do want to “clean your PC,” you can do it […]

Computers are like anything else. Myths and urban legends have built up over time, passed from person to person. Some myths once had a grain of truth, but are no longer true thanks to technological progress. A few myths are simple misunderstandings, while others exist to help people make money from you. Windows alone has many unnecessary Windows-tweaking myths […]

When learning more about how operating systems and the hardware they run on work and interact with each other, you may be surprised to see what appears to be oddities or under-utilization of “resources” occurring. The Question SuperUser reader AdHominem wants to know why x86 CPUs only use two out of four rings: Linux and […]

Unlike a faster CPU or graphics card, more memory (aka RAM) won’t always speed up your games. If you already have enough RAM, adding more won’t make a difference. So how much RAM do you need for modern PC gaming, anyway? This is a crucial question whether you’re purchasing a gaming computer, buying RAM whilebuilding […]