Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Acer has long let it be known that it is gunning for Lenovo’s third place in the global PC market. In Q4 last year, it picked off an easier target, overtaking Toshiba to become the world’s third best selling notebook PC maker.

Toshiba’s sales fell slightly in the quarter, which would have been nice for Acer, but the rise in the ranks did not depend on the missteps of others, according to iSuppli. The market watcher attributes Acer’s Q4 sales success, particularly in Europe, to aggressive pricing.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: buy, computer

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

When you get a new computer, odds are that you don’t simply throw away your old one. You may tuck it away in the closet, or set it up elsewhere in the house as a “backup” PC but never use it. If you keep up with the cutting edge, you might have two or three unused PCs gathering dust. You may have considered giving your old PC away to a family member, or perhaps to someone who can’t afford a new computer (needy students are everywhere), but wondered if it was really worth it, given that you can buy a new Dell for $299. Well, be assured that a working PC, even if a bit old, is a valuable commodity, and you can increase its value with a little work.

We’ll classify a PC to be given away as good, better, or best, depending on the work you’ll be putting in to prepare it for its new owner. A good gift computer is a working PC with your personal data removed, but your recipient may still need to do some work to get it set up for his or her needs, and may not have the knowledge or resources to do this.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: buy, computer

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

About 10 years ago CNET used to provide a great service that would tell you when updated versions of the programs running on your PC were available.

The service was sadly discontinued I think for legal reasons, but now there’s an even better service from File Hippo called Update Checker.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: software

Originally published at PC Tips Box. Please leave any comments there.

Could you cope without the internet? What do you do when your broadband connection goes down? I think I would find it impossible to go a whole day without logging on which is quite sad.

If you’re not sure if your internet usage has reached dangerous levels yet, then you should take this test which measures the level of your addiction. Based on your score you can decide whether or not you need to take drastic action quick!

The higher your score (I’ll tell you my score later!), the greater your addiction level:

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: computer, internet, web