PCWorld Mar-15

THE BATTLE FOR PC gaming’s “sweet spot” has a new challenger. With the GeForce GTX 980 and 970 firmly in command of the premium graphics card market, Nvidia’s setting its sights on the crucial 1080p enthusiast segment with the GTX 960, the first truly mainstream iteration of its powerful, yet stunningly power-efficient “Maxwell” processor architecture. The GTX 960 (geforce.com) delivers outstanding 1080p gaming capabilities, rocking a silky-smooth 60 frames per seconds in even demanding titles with most of the bells and whistles turned on. And priced at just $200, the GTX 960 is poised to make some waves. Meet mainstream Maxwell Let’s take a quick, high-level look at the GTX 960’s key points before diving into real-world benchmarks. The GTX 960 has a scant 120 watt TDP, and it runs cool and quiet even…

MICROSOFT OFFICE, once an expensive investment (or furtive appropriation), is now available in free as well as paid forms, on basically any device with a screen. And the goodies keep coming. The original, browser-based Office Online has steadily gained features. Microsoft also recently revealed that Office for Windows 10 apps will be preinstalled and free (go.pcworld.com/10free) to use on Windows 10 smartphones and small tablets—joining native, no-cost apps that already exist for iOS and Android. At the same time, Microsoft has added a number of perks and incentives that make the subscription-based Office 365 a very attractive upgrade. The challenge is no longer access, but choosing the right version for you. Here’s how to decide which to use. WHAT’S FREE Office Online offers the core four: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote—the same as you’d get…

DESPITE STILL BEING very much an early preview, Windows 10 is already brimming with dozens of handy tweaks and tricks—and, because the operating is still in preview, a handful of those tricks unlocks powerful functionality hidden to everyday users. Others, though, simply let you mold some of Windows 10’s new features into the shape you see fit. Here are some of the most useful Windows 10 tweaks, tricks, and tips we’ve found. Be warned: Some of these may break as the operating system evolves. This is(n’t quite) Sparta(n) LET’S START BY unlocking one of those powerful new features. Microsoft’s building a lightweight new browser for Windows 10: Project Spartan. And while Spartan isn’t available in the latest Windows 10 builds yet, you can enable its experimental Edge rendering engine in Windows 10’s Internet…

IF YOU’VE EVER opened a document that had more strikeouts than a beer-league ballplayer, you’re familiar with Microsoft Word’s “track changes” feature. It’s one of the most useful tools for collaboration, but in practice a marked-up document can quickly overwhelm with its tangle of additions, deletions, and comments all displayed in multiple colors—one for each contributor. It’s enough to make you want to put a big red “X” on the whole thing. Before you do, read through our guide to sanely navigating a multi-authored document using track changes. We’re confident that by the time you’re done you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. Review, accept, and reject changes Once you’ve opened the document you’ll be reviewing, select the Review tab, click the Track Changes button, then select Track Changes from the list…

Don Semler asked “Why are so many new laptops being offered without optical drives?” Optical drives, that can read and write CDs, DVDs, and sometimes Blu-ray discs, have been an important part of the PC universe for a long time. But there’s less and less need for them. I haven’t received software on discs in years—and in my job, I have to look a lot of software. I download it all from the Internet. Most users download and stream music and movies these days rather than buy them on a shiny five-inch disc. PC manufacturers have good reasons not to include the drives. Unlike CPUs and SSDs, optical drives can’t shrink much. They therefore add bulk to laptops, and nobody wants a bulky laptop. But in my opinion, they shouldn’t disappear entirely. We…