The $99 Amazon Prime arrives, with questions in tow - CNET

The $99 Amazon Prime arrives, with questions in tow - CNET: "Amazon Prime's US members will have to swallow a $20 increase, starting Thursday, that will push their membership fees to $99 a year -- a price hike that raises questions about the real value of the two-day shipping program.

The assumption has been that in addition to predictable, two-day shipping, Prime customers end up saving money vs. non-Prime members, with the membership fees often compared to the fees customers pay to join warehouse clubs that offer bulk discounts. But CNET took a look at a number of products and found that isn't always the case."



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Windows 8.1 Update tip: Clean up that disk space now | PCWorld

Windows 8.1 Update tip: Clean up that disk space now | PCWorld: "Now that you've had about a week to play around with the update—which brings the taskbar to the modern UI, among other welcome additions—the next few days present a good time to clear up extra space on your hard drive by getting rid of some Windows Update files"



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Windows XP lives on: Avast survey shows 27 percent of its XP users don't plan to switch | PCWorld

Windows XP lives on: Avast survey shows 27 percent of its XP users don't plan to switch | PCWorld: "Microsoft may have ended support for Windows XP, but free antivirus software vendor Avast projects that for millions of users, that won’t mean squat."



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Microsoft Office Online Apps are Now Available in the Chrome Store

Microsoft Office Online Apps are Now Available in the Chrome Store: "Microsoft has been on a roll as of late with their Office Online suite, so this week’s announcement about Office Online apps for Chrome just sweetens the deal even more. Now you can pick and choose from Word Online, Excel Online, PowerPoint Online, and OneNote Online apps to make your Chrome browser more productive than ever before!"



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Warning: Anyone Can Recover Deleted Files From Your USB Drives and External SSDs

Warning: Anyone Can Recover Deleted Files From Your USB Drives and External SSDs: "It’s common wisdom that deleted files can’t be recovered from solid-state media, only from traditional mechanical hard drives. But this only applies to internal drives — USB flash drives and external solid-state drives are vulnerable to file-recovery attacks."



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Windows Networking: How to Share Devices With Others On the Network

Windows Networking: How to Share Devices With Others On the Network: "We will start by teaching you how to share a printer with the Homegroup and then how to share it with the network. As you will see, the process is different and using the Homegroup makes things easier and faster."



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▶ Mean and green: How to build a gaming PC that’s fast, quiet, and efficient | PCWorld

▶ Mean and green: How to build a gaming PC that’s fast, quiet, and efficient | PCWorld: "Every enthusiast wants a killer, high-performance PC that blows fire and chews up benchmarks for breakfast. (PCMark, yum!) But packing a PC to the gills with cutting-edge hardware creates a hot rod in more than name alone: Truly powerful rigs tend to be big, hot, and loud, and they usually suck power faster than a parched pre-teen chugs Kool-Aid."



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How to Use the Narrator on Windows 8.1 Desktop PCs

How to Use the Narrator on Windows 8.1 Desktop PCs: "If you tried to use the Narrator application in Windows 7, you know it wasn't quite ready for prime time. Fortunately, Microsoft has made some great improvements in Narrator for Windows 8.1, basically turning it into a whole new program. Let's see what the new Narrator is all about and how to use it on any desktop computer."



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How to Scan and Repair an Infected Computer From Outside Windows

How to Scan and Repair an Infected Computer From Outside Windows: "If a Windows system is badly infected with malware, running an antivirus from inside Windows often won’t help. You can more easily find and purge malware by scanning from outside Windows.

Malware can hide itself on an infected system, avoiding detection. Other malware may attempt to battle the antivirus software, preventing it from properly installing or scanning. This is why it’s important to catch malware before it infects you"



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Buy Your Cable Modem Instead of Renting It to Save $4-8 Per Month

Buy Your Cable Modem Instead of Renting It to Save $4-8 Per Month: "When you sign up for cable Internet service, you need a modem. You’re often asked to choose between renting the modem from your Internet service provider for a monthly fee or buying it outright.

If you’re already signed up for cable Internet service, you may see a “modem rental” fee on your monthly bill. You can eliminate this fee by buying a modem outright."



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