PC Magazine June 2022

Forty years ago, in 1982, Ronald Reagan was POTUS. The median household income in the US was $23,430. Chariots of Fire won the Oscar for Best Picture, and Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” was Billboard’s top single. Time Magazine named “The Computer” as person of the year. And another magazine launched that year: PC Magazine. Of course, that was long before we were all walking around with wirelessly connected supercomputers in our pockets; before the internet was ubiquitous; before social media began hoovering up our attention and our personal data. The personal computer was far from mainstream in 1982, but PC Magazine’s founders were prescient. The first issue (February-March of 1982) kicked things off with an interview with the (very) young Bill Gates. By December of that year, the magazine was up to 400 pages…

BILLIONAIRES WON’T SAVE TWITTER Billionaires may not save Twitter, but there is a huge cost to come up with competing services. Everyone doesn’t have the money to fund such an effort. Keep in mind that everyone doesn’t see any issue the same way. There isn’t much distance between content moderation and silencing those with a different point of view. The one who is doing the censoring is happy to call it ‘content moderation,’ while the one being silenced will call it censorship… Silencing someone with an opposing view doesn’t mean your opinion is correct. Silencing the opposition just means your viewpoint is the only one that is heard.—Justin Wachin Facts don’t change. People try to change the facts to fit their point of view.—Harvey SHOULD YOU BUY KASPERSKY SECURITY PRODUCTS? I use and will…

BEST CHEAP GENERAL-USE LAPTOP (ALTERNATE PICK) Sometimes one of our favorite inexpensive laptops is out of stock, so we included an extra pick here in this key category. The budget runner-up MSI Modern 14 is another 14-inch lightweight that sells for just under $500. With sturdy aluminum construction, a good selection of ports, and enough battery life to get you through an eight-hour workday, it’s as capable as it is affordable. Its smaller 128GB SSD leaves it a little short on storage, but its combination of portability and performance is still one of the best in its class. BEST CHEAP IPAD The base-model iPad, starting at $329, is all the tablet most people need. Its A13 Bionic processor runs the latest iPadOS apps speedily, and its wide-angle front-facing camera is perfect for Zoom…

About a year after its release, Microsoft has decided Windows 11 is in a good enough state for everyone to install and use. That is, assuming your PC meets the requirements for running the OS. As Neowin reports, the Windows Health Dashboard changed the status of Windows 11 in May to be “designated for broad deployment.” This basically means that Microsoft believes the operating system is now robust enough that all new PCs should be shipping with it, and anyone holding off on upgrading from Windows 10 should pull the trigger. Whether your PC is capable of running Windows 11 can be determined by using Microsoft’s PC Health Check app (https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/windows-11?r=1#pchealthcheck). Even some Microsoft employees can’t upgrade to Windows 11, so it’s definitely worth checking before you attempt the upgrade. If you can,…

For years, security researchers have complained about the problems with passwords and dreamed of a better, password-free future. But that glorious dream remains elusive—this clunky, outdated technology is still the best solution we have. PROBLEMATIC PASSWORDS What has made passwords so compelling is that they solve multiple problems simultaneously. A password verifies the identity of an individual, since only the correct person would know the correct password. Requiring a password limits access to files and infrastructure, allowing multiple people with different levels of access to use the same systems. Most important, a password lives outside the computer, safely stored in someone’s head. Unfortunately, passwords have not kept pace with the number of sites and services that require them. In 2018, password manager Dashlane reported that the average person had 150 accounts that required…

Electric vehicles are largely seen as an environmental good and a tool for slowing climate change. But are electric vehicles (EVs) really as green as we think they are? All-electric vehicles and hybrids produce low or no exhaust emissions. That means virtually zero greenhouse gas emissions produced by the vehicles themselves—definitely a good thing for the environment. But other factors come into play when determining how much pollution your electric vehicle generates. These include where your local power grid gets its electricity, what time of day you charge, the climate where you live, the battery manufacturing process, and your driving patterns. The above five factors all affect an EV’s performance—and how much, if any, of a negative environmental impact it has. Let’s look at each in turn. 1. SOURCES OF ELECTRICITY Electric cars generate…