TechSpot Reviews

Turn Off your Display Using a Windows Shortcut and More

Although it may seem unnecessary at first thought, there is some practicality in having a software shortcut to instantly turn off your monitor. It could prove very useful with notebook computers, if yours doesn't have a keyboard shortcut for shutting down the screen. It could also be convenient in the presence of multiple monitors, your power button might be broken, or you may indeed just be that lazy.

Asus P7P55D Deluxe Motherboard Review

Last September Intel unveiled its highly regarded Core i5 processor along with the new LGA1156 platform, delivering a brand new chipset aimed at the all-important mainstream market. As you learned from our previous coverage the Core i5 700 and Core i7 800 parts are based on the �Lynnfield� architecture, while the Intel P55 chipset goes by the codename �Ibex Peak�.

Disabling Avira Antivir's Pop-up Advertisements

If you have a free antivirus installed on your PC, there's a pretty good chance that it's either AVG or Avira -- both great options for the average person who needs a little protection. The inherent pitfall of many free applications is that they're packaged with nagware.

Averatec N3400 13.3" Ultraportable Notebook Review

Netbooks have quite a few things going for them. They are extremely lightweight and portable, typically affordable, and more recent models come with full size keyboards, larger displays and great battery life. But for all their advantages and evolution in recent years, they still lack in one key category: processing power.

Access and Customize Windows 7's Extended Context Menu

With Windows 7 pushed out to the masses, it's only a matter of time before the Web is flooded with all sorts of nifty tips and tricks as the inquisitive and tech savvy have their way with Microsoft's latest operating system. To get the ball rolling, we're going to show you how to access Windows 7's extended context menu, as well as how to edit, add, and remove items from it.

Windows 7 Arrives This Week: What You Need To Know

The much anticipated release of Windows 7 is finally upon us. This Thursday, October 22, Microsoft's latest operating system arrives on the scene looking to win over skeptics disappointed with the much-hyped but often criticized Windows Vista. Whereas its predecessor got off to a rough start with plentiful compatibility issues and incessant "allow or deny" prompts annoying users, Windows 7 represents a major leap forward and has generally been regarded as a snappier and more polished operating system.

Removing your Windows 7 installation, partition

Now that Windows 7 is creeping up on general availability, you�ll probably want to remove your RC installation. I assume most of you interested are running these pre-release versions in a dual boot configuration, and so this directly corresponds to our dual boot guide.

Dual Boot Windows 7 with XP/Vista in three easy steps

Windows 7 has proved to be quite the drastic improvement over Vista, enough that it even has XP stragglers crawling out of the woodwork to check it out. Your chance to test drive the release candidate is now running thin, in fact, if you haven�t tried the new OS until now you are better off postponing your plans for a week and installing the real thing. The final version of Windows 7 has already been sent to partners and is scheduled to debut publicly later this week on October 22.

Convert Images to Editable Documents Using Free OCR Tools

I guarantee that at least once in your life you've had to manually type the text of a printed paper into a digital document, and I'm sure halfway through you cursed at your keyboard and wished you could just scan the page into an editable text document. Sure, that can be easily taken care of with a scanner and OCR application at your disposal. But for those times when you are caught unprepared or on the go, a new Google Docs feature can help.

OCZ Agility EX 60GB SLC SSD Review

OCZ is showing strong commitment to be at the forefront of SSD technology. Over the past year the company has released nearly a dozen different series targeting every possible market, from affordable netbook oriented products to enterprise-grade solid state drives for servers and data warehouses.

ATI Radeon HD 5770 Review

Last month AMD unleashed what went on to become the world�s fastest single-GPU graphics card by a convincing margin, the Radeon HD 5870. This was followed shortly by a slightly watered-down version known as the Radeon HD 5850. The latter has proved to be very competitive, playing second only to its bigger brother and at just $260, it stands without a doubt as the best value high performance offering available at the moment.

HIS Radeon HD 5850 Review

Having just recently reviewed the ATI Radeon HD 5870 and bearing witness to its power, we were keen to get our hands on the cheaper, cut-down version known as the Radeon HD 5850. Though both cards were announced last September 23rd, AMD waited an extra week until the Radeon HD 5850 could be showcased. And now - admittedly a bit late - we have finally dug up a production model from HIS to put to the test.

Top PC Games for this Holiday Season and Beyond

With the holiday rush approaching, it can be difficult to keep track of all the popular video games launching each week -- much less those on the horizon. Whether you're a casual gamer or just doing a little early Christmas shopping, we've collected a list of games we're most interested in this holiday season and the first quarter of next year. Without further ado, sorted by release date, the games:

Interview with Good Old Games' Lukasz Kukawski

Good Old Games is just about that, reviving PC gaming classics. Having started with just two publishers and 40 titles backing them up, one year later GoG.com has expanded to include nearly 30 publishers and over 130 games, among which are such classics like the original Fallout, MDK, Duke Nukem 3D and many more -- priced reasonably between $5.99 and $9.99 for a DRM-free copy.

OCZ Sabre OLED Gaming Keyboard review

Art Lebedev Studio created a whirlwind of excitement when their Optimus Maximus keyboard concept surfaced in 2005. The peripheral touted a full set of OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) buttons that were 100% user-customizable and downright amazing-looking.

How I Keep Clean Without an Antivirus Guarding My System

Most people sleep better at night knowing their PC is well equipped to thwart oncoming malware attacks. Out of paranoia some actually install multiple antivirus programs -- even though that's overly counterproductive.

Get the Most Out of Your Google Search Results

With Bing slowly but steadily rising in popularity Google is facing more pressure than ever to rejuvenate the search experience it has to offer. Sure, they still hold a clearly dominant share of the market at about 64.6% (versus 19.3% for its closest rival, Yahoo), but then again Google has proven to know better than to just rest on its laurels.

ATI Radeon HD 5870 Review

Following a successful run with the codenamed R700 family of GPUs, which was originally released back in June 2008 as the Radeon HD 4000 series, AMD is launching the highly anticipated R800. Debuting to no one's surprise as the ATI Radeon HD 5000 series, on our test bed today we have a reference HD 5870 graphics card packing some 2150 million transistors and produced on a 40nm process.

AMD Athlon II X4 620 Processor Review

AMD is launching a new series of affordable quad-core processors today under the Athlon II brand name. Based on the 'Propus' architecture and built using a 45nm design process, the new series is intended to help AMD secure the low-end portion of the market, as Intel's Core i5 750 and LGA1156 platform have clearly made life difficult for them on the mainstream front.

Place a Fully Functional Recycle Bin on your Windows 7 Taskbar

I'm not exactly sure when it became cool to abandon the use of your operating system's desktop, but a growing number of people these days prefer the "clean" look. Recent releases of Microsoft Windows seem to encourage this. By default, Windows Vista and 7 strip the desktop of all icons but the Recycle Bin.