operating systems

Tutorials

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  Make Windows Media Player the default audio player in Windows 8

  Like many Windows 8 users, I spend most of my time using Desktop mode, which affords me a more Windows 7-like experience.

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  How to make iOS autocorrect work for you

  Autocorrect is a boon from the computer gods for anyone engaged in tiny-screen typing, but it's also the bane of every iPhone and iPad user's existence. You can accept the gift and avoid the grief by paying attention to a few details.

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  How to set up speech and emoji on your iPhone

  Your iPhone and iPad can speak aloud any text you can select. In this video, I'll show you how to enable that feature, and how to type emoji symbols in your text, too.

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  How to jailbreak your iPhone

  Jailbreaking--the process that enables you to install unauthorized-by-Apple third-party apps and additional features on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad--has been in a largely dormant state since the release of iOS 6. But it's back again.

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  Bugs & Fixes: iPhone fails to pair to Bluetooth device

  Last September, a new thread in Apple Support Communities briefly noted that a user was unable to get his iPhone 5 to pair with other Bluetooth devices. As it turned out, he was not alone. Cut to the present: this thread is now 29 pages long, with se...

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  How to install Mac OS X Lion

  For over a decade, installing the latest major version of Mac OS X meant buying a disc and slipping it into your Mac's optical drive. No longer. Mac OS X 10.7--better known as Lion--is available for direct download. In fact, it's available only as a ...

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  How to install Mac OS X Lion over Leopard

  One of the requirements for installing Lion is that you already have Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) version 10.6.6 or later installed. The main practical reason for this requirement is that Lion is available only via the Mac App Store, and the Mac App ...

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  Should you do a 'clean install' of Lion?

  With some previous major releases of Mac OS X, upgrading over an existing OS X installation -- for example, installing 10.3 over 10.2 -- entailed some degree of risk, as existing applications, add-ons, and support files could conflict with the new OS...

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  Prepare your PC for future data disasters

  Reformatting and restoring a PC is not fun--in the way spending 2 hours in the dentist's chair is not fun. You have to back up all your data (and pray that you haven't forgotten anything), reformat the hard drive, install Windows, track down missing ...

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  Switching to desktop Linux? 6 ways to ease the migration

  With all the many compelling reasons for a company to switch to Linux on the desktop, it's no wonder that businesses large and small are increasingly relying on the free and open source operating system.

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  Overclock your smartphone, if you dare

  WARNING: Overclocking is not for the faint of heart. Do not attempt to hack your phone unless you understand and accept the risks of turning it into a useless "brick."

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  Is your business compliant with open source licenses?

  There are many ways that vendors of proprietary products try to scare business customers away from open source software, and one of the more commonly heard examples involves vague fears about compliance with open source licenses. There's nothing like...

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  Windows 7: 10 Cool Keyboard Shortcuts

  Keyboard shortcuts are wonderful time-savers but many of us are either too accustomed to the mouse or too lazy to get beyond Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V.

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  How to choose a desktop Linux distribution

  With all the many reasons to use Linux today -- particularly in a business setting --it's often a relatively easy decision to give Windows the boot. What can be more difficult, however, is deciding which of the hundreds of Linux distributions out the...

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  Why Ubuntu Linux is a good business choice

  Chances are good that if someone walked into your office right now and peeked over your shoulder, they would see a Windows operating system on your computer. But, did you know that you have a choice of something other than Windows for that computer o...