Wayne Williams

Although desktop PCs come with integrated sound and graphics, if you want the best audio and visual performance possible, especially for gaming, then you'll likely need to upgrade your system with new, more powerful hardware. Most gamers will splash the cash on a graphics card, but often don’t bother with a sound card, which is madness as great audio can really enhance the gaming experience.

Creative has been making sound cards for 30 years now, and its latest product, the Sound Blaster Z SE, offers a wealth of great audio features. While its appeal for gamers will be obvious, anyone currently working from home will appreciate the crystal clear sound and audio presets it brings to video conferencing calls.

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CES starts today, and as you might expect from a virtual event taking place in the middle of a pandemic, much of the new hardware being launched there is aimed at commercial and education users working from home.

Case in point is Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 7+ for Business, which is an updated version of the company’s Surface Pro 7 2-in-1 tablet PC with improved internals, better battery life, and optional 4G LTE Advanced for remote working.

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After a brief hiatus for the holidays, Microsoft today rolls out a new Windows 10 preview build for those Insiders in the Dev Channel.

Build 21286 is being offered to all Dev Channel testers and brings with it a major change to the Windows taskbar -- the addition of a 'news and interests' feed.

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It’s a new year, but is it also time for a new career, or new position in your current field?

Do you love your job? Have you ever loved your job? Whether you're in the wrong career or just lost the passion somewhere along the way, Best Job Ever! gives you a clear action plan with step by step guidance to help you build the career and life you want.

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It's no secret that there is a huge talent gap in the cybersecurity industry. Everyone is talking about it including the prestigious Forbes Magazine, Tech Republic, CSO Online, DarkReading, and SC Magazine, among many others. Additionally, Fortune CEO's like Satya Nadella, McAfee's CEO Chris Young, Cisco's CIO Colin Seward along with organizations like ISSA, research firms like Gartner too shine light on it from time to time.

Cybersecurity: The Beginner's Guide puts together all the possible information with regards to cybersecurity; such as why you should choose it, the need for it, and how can you be part of it and fill the cybersecurity talent gap bit by bit.

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People often claim that Microsoft operating systems follow a pattern, with good and bad versions alternating -- Windows 95 (bad), Windows 98 (good), Windows Me (bad), Windows XP (good), Windows Vista (bad), Windows 7 (good), Windows 8.x (bad), and Windows 10 (mostly good).

It’s largely true, although if Windows Vista had been given the same length of life that Windows 10 has enjoyed, there’s a fair chance a good portion of Windows users would still be running it today. Vista wasn’t bad as such, just very unfinished. If the aging OS had a modern makeover, could it win over Windows 10 users? I suspect so. Feast your eyes on the Windows Vista Remastered Edition and make up your own mind.

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High-end routers typically come with lots of advanced features and settings usually not found in lower-spec models, or those provided by your ISP.

However, you don’t need to spend a fortune replacing your existing router to gain access to these features as you can supercharge your existing device (or a spare one) by replacing its firmware with a third-party open source alternative, such as DD-WRT.

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January 1 is not only New Year’s Day, but also Public Domain Day. This is the day where certain previously copyrighted works enter the public domain, allowing anyone to use or creatively reinterpret them without needing to seek permission or pay a fee.

In 2021, copyrighted works from 1925 will enter the US public domain, and the list of books, movies and songs included is an impressive one. The BBC has even stated that 1925 could well be the greatest year for books, ever.

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Microsoft took a big gamble with Windows 8. Back in 2012 the tech giant believed that touchscreens were the way we’d all be interacting with our devices, and so overhauled Windows to give it a touch-first design and a Start screen in place of the traditional Start menu -- which didn’t go down at all well with the Windows faithful.

Although the company relented and eventually added a Start menu and made various other user-requested tweaks, Windows 8 is viewed by many as one of the worst versions of Windows, which is a little unfair as it had much to recommend it.

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Last week, Microsoft released two different Windows 10 builds to the Dev Channel, giving Insiders a chance to choose if they wanted to stay on the FE_RELEASE branch or switch to the more experimental RS_PRERELEASE branch.

For those who stuck with the FE_RELEASE branch, Microsoft now has another new build to try out (those on RS_PRERELEASE won’t get this).

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From now, Windows 10 Insiders on the Dev Channel currently have the choice of installing preview builds from the FE_RELEASE or RS_PRERELEASE branches. By default, Insiders will get flights like new Build 20277 from the FE_RELEASE branch, but you can switch to RS_PRERELEASE if you’re feeling more adventurous.

To get the alternative download, Build 21277, you will have to actively choose to download it via Windows Update. Be warned though, once you’ve switched to RS_PRERELEASE you won’t be able to download FE_RELEASE builds any more.

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We're used to Microsoft rolling out a new Windows 10 Dev Channel build on a weekly basis, but this time around it has something different for us -- two Dev Channel builds, from different branches. It’s like a choose your own adventure.

The first of the new flights, Build 20277, comes from the usual FE_RELEASE branch and sports a handful of fixes and known issues.

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The Kodi Foundation has been hard at work finishing up the next iteration of its hugely popular home theater software. Kodi 19 'Matrix' offers a number of big changes, including a switch to Python 3 for add-ons, improved music handling, an interface makeover, and PVR reminders.

Today, the team rolls out a new update and you won’t want to miss it.

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As part of GitHub Universe week, the Microsoft-owned software code hosting platform has announced a number of changes, improvements and new features. These include GitHub Sponsors for companies, auto-merge pull requests, discussions for all public repositories, and dependency review.

For a lot of people though, the big news is GitHub now has a stylish dark mode and you can enable it today.

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COVID-19 has wreaked havoc across the world and infections are showing no signs of slowing. Just yesterday, the USA reported 218,576 new cases and 2,918 new deaths. Thankfully there are a number of promising vaccines, with Pfizer/BioNTech’s the first to be made widely available. The UK is due to start rolling it out next week.

For those desperate for the vaccine an agonizing wait lies ahead -- if they want to go down the official route at least. However, drug dealers on the dark web are already selling 'Pfizer COVID Vaccines'.

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