Torrents have gotten a bad rap over the years as a platform for sharing illegal movies, music, TV shows, and software, but they have quite a few legitimate uses as well. For example individual developers, content creators and non-profit organizations can simply set up a Torrent, share it with a couple people and let it self propagate, significantly reducing the cost overhead of purchasing file hosting or content delivery.

However, unlike traditional file delivery methods such as through HTTP/HTTPS or through FTP, in order to download a Torrent file, a Torrent client is needed and of course not all Torrent clients are created equal. As such, today we’ll be [...]

In the computer networking world, the three most ubiquitous pieces of equipment are modems, routers, and switches. These are used everywhere from the datacenter hosting Google to the internet connection in your own home. However, despite how important these three pieces of equipment are, many people are completely oblivious as to what each piece of equipment does, so in this article, we’ll attempt to clarify the difference between the modem, router and switch, and how it all fits in your home network.

 

What is a Modem?

A modem is the short way of saying “modulator, demodulator”. The primary purpose of a modem when used in a [...]

Back in 2013, privacy and encryption was thrust into the forefront of mainstream news when NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, leaked a huge repository of classified materials to the press, revealing a lot of very unnerving information about the NSA’s global surveillance programs. Among what was revealed included the NSA’s capability to monitor the online activities of US citizens which include everything from browsing activity to phone calls to e-mails to text messages and much, much more.

While government spying may be worrisome, what should be even more worrisome is the fact that unencrypted transmissions can literally be deciphered by anyone [...]

Samsung’s Magician software has long been the gold standard in consumer SSD software suites and over the years have gone through several revisions. The latest revision is Samsung Magician 5.1 which provides customers with a completely re-hauled user interface and adds some new features designed for better operation with newer operating systems.

If you’re on the fence about downloading the new version, or are considering whether to install the software or not, today we’ll be doing a quick overview of Samsung Magician 5.1 to help you make that decision.

 

Samsung Magician 5.1

The new Samsung Magician interface has changed [...]

Microsoft Gets Creative

With the Windows 10 Creator Update finally here, we thought it would be helpful to sum up some of the coolest features in this massive patch.

As its name suggests, Windows 10 Creator Update aims to boost Windows 10’s ability to make imagination come to life. When we speak of creators, our minds naturally gravitate towards graphics designers, videographers, and the like, but Creators stands for more than that. As multimedia and entertainment continues to evolve, so have different forms of creativity. With the expansion of gaming, VR, and 3D, creative mediums are more diverse than ever.

Of course, along with many of the new features [...]

There’re no two ways about it: all PCs slow down without proper maintenance. Before you decide to recycle your machine, try following this simple guide to see if you can squeeze out an extra bit of performance.

 

1. Run Windows Update

Windows tries its best to let you know when new updates with crucial bug fixes and stability improvements get released. However, sometimes the updates don’t automatically apply. If you’re experiencing a slow system, it may be that you need to update your system. This is especially important for newly purchased machines.

 

2. Identify Rogue Programs With Task Manager

The [...]

If you’ve used a PC lately, you’ve probably seen messages from both Microsoft and Google trying to coax you into using their respective web browsers. Google’s iconic “Get Chrome” banner on Google.com appears so often that many people just download Chrome simply to get rid of it. Microsoft on the other hand peppers your Windows 10 desktop with persistent notifications, constantly reminding you about the new Edge browser and how much safer, faster, or power efficient it is. Then you have Mozilla Firefox, the humble, open-source browser silently watching from the sidelines.

While all three browsers have their pros and cons, one thing they all [...]

Years ago, if you wanted to buy or build a new computer, the only option is to purchase an HDD, or a Hard Disk Drive however, more recently, another option that has become quite commonplace in the market is the SSD, or Solid State Drive. SSD marketers like to claim that SSDs are hundreds if not thousands of times faster than HDDs, require less power, and are more durable than the tried and true HDD, but prices of SSDs are relatively expensive compared to HDDs. Is it really worth the extra money for a SSD? Let’s explore.

 

The HDD

HDDs have been around since its invention in the 1950’s and while the drives themselves have gotten smaller, [...]

When we first started covering the world of SSDs back in 2012, the industry was still in its infancy. At the time, the performance benefits of SSD technology were clearly greater than HDDs, but due to high prices, low capacities, and incomplete OS support, it just simply wasn’t the time.

However, fast forward to 2016 and today the SSD landscape is a much different place than it was almost 5 years ago. Prices are much less expensive, capacities now reach up to 4TB in a single drive, and modern operating systems such as Windows 10 fully support SSDs right out of the box.

As such, here are 6 of the top reasons why you should buy a SSD [...]

If you’re deciding which new keyboard or mouse you should splurge on next, forget it. Your next investment should be a new monitor. What’s magical about a new monitor is that anyone – not just the power users, can benefit from a secondary display.

Screen estate is precious for the most of us. A single screen can quickly get cluttered with innumerable tabs, documents, videos, virtual machines, settings panes, development environments…you get the idea. You can mitigate the problem somewhat by creating virtual workspaces in Linux or Virtual Desktops in Windows 10, but it’s still frustrating to hop back and forth between screens when [...]