PCWorld October 2017

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 with personal identifying…

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 Drive app for…

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 button.…

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 need to…

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…

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 from region…