Computers and hardware

Protect your keyboard's keys from fading into oblivion

Unlike classic keyboards where characters were small decals stuck on generic keys, many modern keyboards, such as those in Apple's laptops, have keys built for the specific characters. The keys are made of translucent plastic with a black coating so the character can be illuminated with a backlight.

This approach to keys offers great advantage in low-light situations, but it also can be a bit of a burden if the key begins to wear out. While the keys ought to last, after extensive use you may look down to see some of the characters fading away.

When key wear … Read more

Make your portable hard drive faster by upgrading to USB 3.0

The most common portable hard drives have USB 2.0 connections, which are great for compatibility, but terrible for performance. If you have an old USB 2.0 portable hard drive, you can increase its transfer rates by upgrading it to USB 3.0. For as little as $15, you can double your drive's real-world performance. Here's how:

Disclaimer: Opening your portable hard drive's enclosure will likely void your warranty. It's also possible that you'll damage the original enclosure and or the internal hard drive. We recommend you back up any data that may be … Read more

How to lock the Windows 7 Start menu (if you really must)

Three things I don't get:

Face tattoos The popularity of books, movies, and TV shows about vampires and zombies Windows users' devotion to the Start menu

The one thing all three of these mysteries have in common is that they will eventually run their course and fade away -- well, maybe not the face tattoos, at least not without a series of laser treatments.

Since the introduction of Windows 8 late last year PC users have been clamoring for the return of the Start menu. There's more to the widespread disdain for Win8's Start screen than just … Read more

How to check Bluetooth connection strength in OS X

Bluetooth devices we attach to our Macs include everything from phones to mice, speakers, and printers. As with any connection there may be instances when the device will not connect, or continually drops its connection to the Mac. These issues can be frustrating to deal with, but should this happen there are a couple of things you can do to check the connection and hopefully increase its stability.

Similar to Wi-Fi connections, Bluetooth uses a radio as a means of communication, so if you are experiencing drop-outs then the first thing to do is check the signal strength, which is … Read more

Home networking explained, part 6: Keep your network secure

Editors' note: This post is part of an ongoing series. For the other parts, check out the related stories section below.

If you were concerned after reading CNET's recent report that most home routers can be easily hacked, I don't blame you. The study did sound ominous, but the good news is that your network is likely far less susceptible than the report suggests. And more importantly, there are things you can do to make sure it's secure.

Two things are vital to keeping your network safe: proper settings and prudence. The first step is easy; you … Read more

How to add line breaks between list items in OS X Mail

When composing messages in OS X Mail, you have the option to use the program's built-in list tool to keep numbered or bulleted lists properly formatted, but you may find its formatting options to be a bit limited.

The list generator is not intended to be a complex option; however, by default it only displays one list entry per paragraph, so if you attempt to create a line break to separate list items or add multiple paragraphs per item, the default behavior is to simply append new list entries.

This can be a bit annoying to deal with, and … Read more

Addressing mailbox access errors in OS X Mail

Apple's Mail program in OS X for the most part offers a quick and basic approach to e-mail, but occasionally you may run into problems such as not being able to access messages, whether you get error messages or simply can't locate them.

Similarly to OS X's Spotlight search feature, Mail uses an index to show the available e-mail messages that have been downloaded to the program, listing information such as subject, sender, and whether messages have been read and linking this information with the respective message file.

Errors involving the index can result in a number … Read more

How to use optional list-sorting methods in the OS X Finder

When you view a Finder folder in both standard lists and the Cover Flow view in OS X, you have the option to sort the list by any of the view's columns.

By default, these are the item's Name, Date Modified, Size, and Kind (for example folder, picture, PDF) which you can click to sort in either an ascending or descending list. However, there are some additional ways to locate the files you need.

Add more columns In addition to the default column categories, OS X includes a number of others that can be enabled on a per-folder … Read more

A fix for the multifile-selection glitch in Windows 7 and 8

Sometimes you wish Microsoft would let customers decide when to delete a feature. Reader Dan Baechlin depends on Windows Explorer's ability to retain the selection of multiple files after changing the sort order. The feature has been removed from the version of Explorer in Windows 7 and 8. As Dan explains:

My job requires the ability to highlight multiple files or folders in a directory, and to retain that highlighting while re-sorting them by different fields (modification dates, thematically-based titles, etc.) Windows provided that feature -- until version 7. My work unit indexes, manages, and compares policy documents that … Read more

Output stereo as mono in OS X

If you listen to music on your Mac while at work, you may use earbuds so as not to disturb co-workers; however, this does have a tradeoff. When using both earbuds, you can drown out others who might be trying to get your attention, but if you only wear one earbud, you will miss the parts of stereo recordings on the channel for the bud you left out, which in some cases can make a dramatic difference in the sound you're hearing.

You can avoid this by setting your Mac to use Mono output. This will combine all audio … Read more