Maintenance

Many PC users love to tinker with the hardware and software on their machines. Other people consider any time they spend using Windows' built-in system tools a total waste. In between are those of us who understand the value of a little preventive maintenance--as long as it doesn't take all day.

Windows 7's arsenal of maintenance and system-tweaking utilities has been enhanced through the addition of new tools and improvements to existing programs. Unfortunately, one of my favorite Windows utilities isn't available in the Home Premium version of Windows 7: the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc) is … Read more

Our utilities update report is a column on updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is on bringing you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. This week there were updates for a data recovery tool, a popular maintenance program, an Apple products database, and an alternate filesystem browser.

If you have tried using the OS X Finder for complex management of files and file properties, you … Read more

Our utilities update report is a column on updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is on bringing you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. This week there were updates for a couple of data-recovery programs and a couple of popular maintenance utilities.

Data recovery Stellar Phoenix is a company that develops a number of recovery programs for OS X, including the standard Data Recovery program … Read more

Our utilities update report is a column on updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is on bringing you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. This week there were updates to maintenance utilities and one hardware management tool.

Maintenance Most of the updates this week are for maintenance utilities, some of which can be used for running general maintenance routines in OS X, and also for … Read more

Our utilities update report is a column on updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is on bringing you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. This week there were updates to a couple of maintenance utilities, one file duplicate management tool, and two file recovery utilities.

Maintenance

Two popular cleaning and maintenance programs have been updated this past week. OnyX is a free utility that interfaces … Read more

If you tried to sign into PlayStation Network on your PS3 or PSP in the last 30 minutes, you may have had no luck. Do not be alarmed: Sony says that PSN will be down today but that it's not another security issue.

The company posted today on its PlayStation blog that PSN will be undergoing "maintenance" between 8 a.m. PT and 5 p.m. PT. That means many users will have trouble signing into the service on their PlayStation 3 console or PlayStation Portable handheld, but can still sign in to play games online, including … Read more

Our utilities update report is a column on updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is on bringing you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. This week there were updates to maintenance programs, a number of filesystem and file management tools, and one hardware utility for managing battery calibrations.

Maintenance The popular maintenance tool Snow Leopard Cache Cleaner was updated in this past week. There is … Read more

We've already shown you how to jump-start your car with standard jumper cables, but if you don't trust yourself to remember all six steps in our guide, Michelin may be able to help with its new Smart Jumper cables. This set of jumpers features inline electronics that take most--but not all--of the guesswork and danger out of jump-starting a car.

There are two physical differences that seasoned automotive enthusiasts will notice between the Smart Jumper cables and, well, dumb jumpers. The first is that where standard jumpers have red and black clamps on each end, marking the positive and negative connections, all four of the Smart Jumper's connections are the same electric blue. So, how do you know what's positive and what's negative? As it turns out, it doesn't matter.… Read more

Our utilities update report is a column on updates for Mac utilities that have been released in the past week. Though a utility can be any tool that helps you perform a routine task (including image manipulation and synchronization), our focus in this column is on bringing you those tools that help in troubleshooting Mac hardware and software problems. This week there were updates to file recovery software, some drive monitoring utilities, and duplicate file management tools.

Maintenance

Cocktail is a good option to use as part of a general maintenance routine and also has options to allow for adjusting … Read more