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http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-record-calls-iphone/ In a time where our phones can order pizza, hail cabs, and detect our heartbeats, you’d think it’d be easy to record a phone call. Unfortunately, it’s not. Despite what you may think, recording calls isn’t as easy as pressing a button on your iPhone, so in order to get it done you’ll need to install an app. There are tons of these littered across the App Store and the Web , and while many of them promise crystal clear recordings and nonexistent pricetags, very few live up to these claims. To help you pinpoint the right app for your needs, we’ve scoured the Internet in search of the best call recorders and offered up a quick overview of our favorites in the paragraphs below. Here’s how to record calls on an iPhone: **Record Incoming Calls If you’re looking to record an incoming phone call, your best bet is using Google Voice. Like all of Google’s products, Voice is completely free. The only caveat is that Google doesn’t allow you to record outgoing calls – only incoming ones. This makes it rather inconvenient if you’re hoping to record any conversations that you yourself need to initiate, so if you need to record an outgoing call, skip to the next section of this page. To start recording incoming calls with Google Voice, you first need to set up a account. This is extremely easy – just head to voice.google.com and follow instructions. Once your account is up and running, the next step is enabling call recording so you can actually record and save stuff. Here’s how that’s done: 1.) Go to your Voice homepage. 2.) Click the gear icon in the top right or tab to this choice and hit enter. Then select Settings from the dropdown menu. 3.) Click on the Calls tab. 4.) In the Call Options section, check the box that says Enable Recording. Once you do this, you can record incoming calls by pressing 4 on your phone’s keypad during the call. This will trigger an automated voice to notify both parties that the call is being recorded. To stop recording, simply press 4 again or end the call. After you stop recording Google will save the conversation to your Voice inbox, which is where all your recordings can be found/listened to/downloaded. **Record Outgoing Calls When it comes to recording both incoming and outgoing calls, you’ll need something other than Google Voice. Unfortunately there aren’t too many free options out there, but if you don’t mind shelling out a few bucks, your range of choices widens substantially. We’ve tested out quite a few call recorders, and based on what we’ve seen, here are your best options in each category: Free: Call Recorder by NoNotes.com https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/call-recording-by-nonotes.com/id522637615?mt =8 If you’re only looking to record one call, this app is probably your best bet. After you download it and sign up for a NoNotes account, you get 30 minutes of call recording for free each month. If you go over this monthly limit you’ll need to purchase additional minutes, but the good news is NoNotes offers a variety of different pricing options . If you only need a little bit more time, you can pay 25c per additional minute, or you can buy in bulk at get 100 minutes for $10. As an added bonus, NoNotes also offers low-cost transcription services, which are ideal if you’re recording an interview. **Pay-per-minute: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/call-recorder-intcall/id521680097?mt=8 NoNotes is a good option, but if you’re looking for cheaper pay-per-minute rates, IntCall might be a better choice depending on the country you’re calling to. Additional minutes can be purchased for $5, $10, or $20 dollars, and the cost per minute varies in each country. We definitely advise checking out the price list before you buy anything, but most countries can be reached for .10 or 0.20 cents per minute, which makes this a bit more of a bargain than the pay-per-minute plans offered by NoNotes. The only downside is that it works through a VOIP line, so you need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network in order to use it. **One-time payment: TapeACall Pro https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tapeacall-pro-record-calls/id577499909?mt=8 If you don’t mind shelling out some money up front for a good app, spring for TapeACall Pro. For just ten bucks, you get an unlimited amount of call recording time, regardless of who or where you’re calling. It works a bit differently than the other two listed here – you initiate a recording by placing a call to whoever you want, putting them on hold for a moment, then opening the app and hitting the record button. Once you do all this, the call is merged and stored with a remote recording service. When you’re done recording, you can access the stored audio file right from your phone.]]>

does this well, displaying the battery’s approximate wear level, the capacity it was designed to have, and the capacity it currently has. You can find this third party tool at http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/battery_information_view.html An example of Battery Info View’s results can be seen in a screen shot at the http://www.howtogeek.com/172362/how-to-know-when-its-time-to-replace-your-la ptops-battery/below link. in the above mentioned screenshot, we see that the battery was designed to hold 86,580 mWh of energy. However, the battery’s current capacity at full charge is only 61,261 mWh. In other words, the laptop’s battery only holds 70.8% of its original capacity when fully charged. Some batteries may display more information, such as the number of charge and discharge cycles they’ve been through. Calibrating Your Battery How to Calibrate Your Laptop’s Battery For Accurate Battery Life Estimates So you’re using your laptop and, all of the sudden, it dies. There was no battery warning from Windows. (I will post an article on “how to Calibrate your battery”on Friday October 11.) The information above may not be completely accurate if your battery requires calibration. For example, we had a battery that reported it was almost dead. Windows warned us that it was time to replace the battery and the battery appeared to be at 27.7% wear level according to its reported capacity. After we calibrated the battery , Windows stopped warning us and the battery’s reported capacity went back up to 70.8%. The battery didn’t actually gain any additional charge, but the calibration helped the battery’s sensor actually detect how much capacity was in the battery. If Windows says it’s time to replace your battery, be sure to calibrate it first before checking its actual wear level. If you don’t, you may replace a battery that’s still in good enough shape. That would just be a waste of money. Why Your Laptop’s Battery Capacity Declines Batteries need to be cared for properly – they’re a critical part of our mobile devices and battery technology. Laptop batteries decline due to a number of factors. Heat, usage, age – all of these things are bad for batteries. Batteries will slowly die no matter what – even if you put your battery in a closet and never touched it, it would slowly lose capacity due to age. However, if you never use your battery – say you use your laptop at your desk most of the time and it gets rather hot, which is bad for the battery – removing the battery can certainly help prolong its life. To make your laptop’s battery last longer, read the explanation of battery life myths and facts to be posted on Friday October 11 2013, to know what works and what doesn’t. Replacing Your Battery If your laptop has a user-serviceable battery – that is, one you can remove on your own – you can replace your battery fairly easily. If your laptop doesn’t have a user-serviceable battery, you’ll need to contact the laptop’s manufacturer so they can crack your laptop open and change its battery for you. Assuming you have a user-serviceable battery, you can order a replacement battery for your laptop model online. Don’t just head to eBay and buy the cheapest third-party batteries available – buy official batteries from a reputable company. Aftermarket batteries are often built on the cheap, with cut corners and insufficient testing. They can be dangerous – a cheap, counterfeit, and improperly designed battery could literally go up in flames. There’s no point in obsessing over your battery’s capacity, it was designed to be used, after all, but it’s something to keep one eye on. If your capacity is dropping more quickly than you’d like, that may be a sign that you should be treating your battery better. Perhaps you’re exposing it to too much heat if you leave your battery in while playing demanding, strenuous PC games on your laptop.]]>

battery technology hasn’t advanced as fast as other technologies. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of incorrect information about batteries out there. Some of the big myths come from old battery technologies and are actively harmful when applied to new battery technologies. For example, nickel-based batteries needed to be fully discharged, while modern lithium batteries shouldn’t be fully discharged. Perform Shallow Discharges; Avoid Frequent Full Discharges Old NiMH and NiCd batteries had a “memory effect” and had to be completely discharged from 100% to 0% to keep their capacity. Modern devices use Lithium Ion batteries, which work differently and have no memory effect. In fact, completely discharging a Li-ion battery is bad for it. You should try to perform shallow discharges – discharge the battery to something like 40-70% before recharging it, for example. Try to never let your battery go below 20% except in rare circumstances. If you were to discharge your battery to 50%, recharge it, and then discharge it to 50% again, that would count as a single “cycle” with modern Li-ion batteries. You don’t need to worry about performing shallow charges. There’s only one problem that shallow discharges can cause. Laptops can get a bit confused by shallow discharges and may show you wrong estimates for how long your device’s battery will last. Laptop manufacturers recommend you perform a full discharge about once per month to help calibrate the device’s battery time estimate. Heat (and Cold) Can Damage Batteries Heat can reduce a battery’s capacity. This affects all types of devices – even smartphones heat up when performing demanding tasks – but laptops can become hottest of all when under load. The battery is in the laptop, near the electronics that become hot while working heavily – this contributes to battery wear. If you have a laptop that you use plugged in all of the time and it gets quite hot, removing the battery can increase the battery’s life by limiting the battery’s exposure to the heat of your laptop. This won’t make too much of a difference in normal use, but if you’re using a laptop to play a lot of demanding games and it’s heating up quite a bit, it may be helpful. Of course, this only applies to laptops with removable batteries. Your climate is also a concern. If it gets very hot where you live or you store your device somewhere that gets very hot – say, a hot car left in the sun on a summer day – your battery will wear down faster. Keep your devices near room temperature and avoid storing them in very hot places, such as hot cars on summer days. Extreme cold temperatures can decrease the lifespan of your battery, too. Don’t put a spare battery in the freezer or expose any device with a battery to similarly cold temperatures if you’re in a region with cold temperatures. Don’t Leave the Battery At 0% You shouldn’t leave the battery in a fully discharged state for very long. Ideally, the battery wouldn’t discharge all the way to zero very often – but if it does, you should recharge it as soon as possible. You don’t have to race to a power outlet when your smartphone dies, but don’t throw it in your drawer and leave it there for weeks without charging it. If you let the battery discharge completely and leave your device in a closet, the battery may become incapable of holding a charge at all, dying completely. Store Batteries at 50% Charge On the other hand, leaving the battery charged fully for an extended period of time could result in a loss of capacity and shorten its life. Ideally, you’d store the battery at 50% charge if you weren’t going to use it for a while. Apple recommends you leave the battery at 50% if you intend on storing the device more than six months. If you’re using it regularly, you shouldn’t need to worry about its state – although you never want to leave a battery at 0% for too long. Storing the battery while fully discharged could result in the battery dying completely, while storing the battery at full charge could result in the loss of some battery capacity and shorten your battery’s life. This applies to both batteries in devices and spare batteries you may have lying around – keep them at 50% if you won’t be using them for some time. Leaving Your Laptop Plugged in All The Time Is Okay, But This one appears to be fairly controversial. We’ve previously covered the eternal question of whether it’s okay to leave your laptop plugged in all the time. We concluded that it’s okay and the battery’s temperature is the main thing you need to worry about. Apple disagrees, recommending against leaving its Macbook Air and Macbook Pro notebooks plugged in all the time. Ultimately, we’re both saying the same thing. It’s fine to leave your laptop plugged in at your desk when you’re using it, as the laptop won’t “overcharge” the battery, it will stop charging when it reaches capacity. However, just as you shouldn’t store your laptop’s battery at full capacity in a closet, you shouldn’t leave your laptop plugged in for months on end with the battery at full capacity. Allow your laptop’s battery to occasionally discharge somewhat before charging it back up – that will keep the electrons flowing and keep the battery from losing capacity. Battery University found at the link below: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batt eries Says that “the worst situation is keeping a fully charged battery at elevted temperatures.” If your laptop produces a lot of heat, removing it might be a good idea. If you have a fairly cool laptop that you occasionally let discharge a reasonable amount, leaving it plugged in – even for days on end – shouldn’t be a problem. If your laptop gets extremely hot, you may want to remove the battery, as we mentioned above. Batteries Will Always Wear Down Like all other types of batteries, Li-ion batteries will wear down over time, holding less and less charge. Apple says its laptop batteries will reach 80% of their original capacity after “up to” 1000 full discharge cycles. Other manufacturers commonly rate their batteries 300 to 500 cycles. The batteries can still be used after this point, but they’ll hold less electricity and will power your devices for shorter and shorter periods of time. They’ll continue losing capacity the more you use them. Heat and aging will reduce the battery’s life, too. Whatever you do, your devices’ batteries will slowly wear down over time. With proper care, you can make them hold a long charge for longer – but there’s no stopping entropy. Hopefully, your device will be due for an upgrade by the time its battery dies. For more tips on increasing your battery life, read our complete guide to maximizing your Android phone’s battery life, http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/25319/complete-guide-to-maximizing-your-andro id-phones-battery-life/ instructions to finding the root cause of your Android battery problems, http://www.howtogeek.com/139592/how-to-find-the-root-cause-of-your-android-b attery-problems/ tips for maximizing your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch’s battery life, http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/35783/how-to-maximize-battery-life-on-your-ip ad-iphone-or-ipod-touch/ and introduction to using the Windows power troubleshooter to increase battery life. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/33338/improve-battery-life-in-windows-7-with- the-built-in-power-troubleshooter/]]>

later in this article. If you’re looking for a program, a website in your browser history, or a file that you’ve stored anywhere in your personal folder, you can use the Search box at the bottom of the Start menu. For more information, see Find a file or folder . File list headings If you’re looking for several related files, such as all the files from a particular month, or all the documents that you have written, you can use the headings above the file list to filter, stack, or group your files. Organizing your files in one of these ways makes them easier to locate and select. Search folder When you need to build a search with multiple filters, or when you’re looking for files from several folders at once, create your search in the Search folder. When you are done, you can save the search criteria, and use it in the future to find the same set of files again with a single click or pressing enter. This will be covered later. 3. Use the Search box The Search box is located at the top of every folder. It filters the current view based on text that you type. The Search box finds files based on text in the file name, text within the file, tags, and other common file properties that are attached to the file. In addition, it searches the current folder as well as all subfolders. For example, if you created a trip report called “Las Vegas Seminar,” as soon as you type Las into the Search box, most files in the folder would disappear from the list, but the trip report, and any other files with the word Las in them, would immediately be displayed. The following table of five columns and six rows lists the common properties that you can use in the Search box: Property What it is How to use it in the Search box File name The name you have given the file. Type part or all of the file name you are looking for. For example, to find a file called November invoice.txt, you can type Nov or inv. Kind of file A broad description of the content. Most of your files fall into one of these kinds: Document, Picture, or Music. Type the kind of file you’re looking for. For example, to find all of your text, spreadsheet, and presentation files, type Document. Type of file A more specific indication of the file’s content. The last three letters of the file name, called the file name extension, identify the file type. Common types include DOC (Microsoft Word document), XLS (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet), JPG (JPEG image), and MP3 (a standard digital audio format). Type the file name extension. If you want to find only MP3 files, type MP3. For more accurate results, type *.mp3. Tags Words or phrases you add to your files to describe them. Type any tag to see a list of files to which that tag has been applied. Author The name of the person who created the file. Type the name of an author to see a list of files by that person. 4. Advanced searches in the Search box Windows will usually search for whatever you type in the Search box by looking in the file name, file contents, and file properties of all the files in the current view. Type “Summer,” for example, and it will find files named “sunset in summer.jpg,” files tagged with “summer,” and files written by anyone named Summer. This broad approach to search usually helps you find your file quickly. If you want to search more selectively, however, you can filter your search in the Search box by specifying which file property to search. To filter by file property, separate the name of the property and the search term with a colon, as these examples show in the table of chree columns and four rows: Example Use this to Name:Sunset Find only files that have the word sunset in the file name. Tag:Sunset Find only files that are tagged with the word sunset. Modified:05/25/2006 Find only files that have been modified on that date. You can also type Modified:2006 to find files changed at any time during that year. 5. Which file properties can you use in this way? Anything you see in a folder. You can filter by any property that appears in the file list headings, for example. To see the complete list of properties that you can filter by, right-click or pressing enter on the heading you want to see properties for, and then click More. 6. Searching using Boolean filters Using Boolean filters is another way to perform a more precise search. Boolean filters let you combine search words using simple logic, as you can see in the following table of five columns and eight rows. Filter Example Use this to AND tropical AND island Find files that contain both words “tropical” and “island” (even if those words are not right next to each other). NOT tropical NOT island Find files that contain the word “tropical,” but not “island.” OR tropical OR island Find files that contain either of the words “tropical” or “island.” Quotes “tropical island” Find files that contain the exact phrase “tropical island.” Parentheses (tropical island) Find files that contain both words “tropical” and “island,” in any order. > date: >01/05/06 Find files that are more than or later than a certain value, such as after 01/05/06. < size: < 4 MB Find files that are less than or earlier than a certain value, such as less than 4 MB. You can also specify other sizes, such as KB and GB. 7. Tip: When you type Boolean filters like AND or OR, you need to use all capital letters. Combining Boolean filters and file properties You can combine Boolean filters with other filters. The following table shows how you can get very different results using the same search words, but different Boolean filters. Also note how the use of parentheses can change the effect of a filter shown in this table of three columns and four rows.. Boolean filter Use this to author: Charlie AND Herb Find files that are authored by Charlie as well as any files that include Herb in the file name or in any file property. author: (Charlie AND Herb) Find only files that are authored by both names. author: "Charlie Herb" Finds only files that are authored by someone with exactly this name. 8. Find files with natural language search If you turn on natural language search, you can perform searches in a simpler way, without using colons and without the need to enter AND and OR in capital letters. For example, compare these two searches in the table of three columns and three rows shown below: Without natural language With natural language kind: music artist: (Beethoven OR Mozart) music Beethoven or Mozart kind: document author: (Charlie AND Herb) documents Charlie and Herb To turn on natural language search 1. When using a mouse, one can Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options. 2. When using a screenreader one can open Folder options by: a. Press the start button. b. Tab once. c. Press the letter c until reaching "control panel. d. Press enter. e. Tab over to "Appearance and Personalization" and hit enter. f. Tab to folder options and hit enter. 9. Once reaching the folder option using a mouse or screenreader: a. Click or press enter on the Search tab. 1. Select the Use natural language search check box. To use natural language search Even with natural language search turned on, you can continue to use the Search box in exactly the same way. If you want to use Boolean filters or introduce filters with colons and parentheses, you can. In addition, you can use all the same properties to fine-tune your searches. The difference is that you can enter searches in a more casual way. Here are some examples: ]]>

http://www.howtogeek.com/172271/how-to-calibrate-your-laptops-battery-for-ac curate-battery-life-estimates/ So you’re using your laptop and, all of the sudden, it dies. There was no battery warning from Windows,, in fact, you recently checked and Windows said you had 30% battery power left. What’s going on? Even if you treat your laptop’s battery properly, its capacity will decrease over time. Its built-in power meter estimates how much juice available and how much time on battery you have left, but it can sometimes give you incorrect estimates. Why Calibrating the Battery Is Necessary Batteries need to be cared for properly, they’re a critical part of our mobile devices and If you’re taking proper care of your laptop’s battery , you should be allowing it to discharge somewhat before plugging it back in and topping it off. You shouldn’t be allowing your laptop’s battery to die completely or even get extremely low each time you use it. Performing regular top-up will extend your battery’s life. However, this sort of behavior can confuse the laptop’s battery meter. No matter how well you take care of the battery, its capacity will still decrease as a result of unavoidable factors like typical usage, age, and heat. If the battery isn’t allowed to run from 100% down to 0% occasionally, the battery’s power meter won’t know how much juice is actually in the battery. How Often Should You Calibrate the Battery? Manufacturers generally recommend calibrating the battery every 2-3 months. This helps keep your battery readings accurate. In reality, you likely don’t have to do this that often if you’re not too worried about your laptop’s battery readings being completely precise. However, if you don’t calibrate your battery regularly, you may eventually find your laptop suddenly dying on you when you’re using it – without any prior warnings. When this happens, it’s definitely time to calibrate the battery. Basic Calibration Instructions Calibrating – or recalibrating, really, as the battery was calibrated in the past when the battery had more capacity – involves letting the battery run from 100% capacity straight down to almost dead, then charging it back to full. The battery’s power meter will then see how long the battery lasts and get a much more accurate idea of how much capacity the battery has left. Some laptop manufacturers include utilities that will calibrate the battery for you. These tools will usually just make sure your laptop has a full battery, disable power management settings, and allow the battery to run to empty so the battery’s internal circuitry can get an idea of how long the battery lasts. Check your laptop manufacturer’s website for information on using any utilities they provide. You should also look at your laptop’s manual or help files. Each manufacturer may recommend a slightly different calibration procedure or tool to ensure your laptop’s battery is properly calibrated. Some manufacturers may even recommend against doing this. Apple says its newer laptops don’t require this calibration procedure , although older models do. How to Manually Calibrate a Battery While it’s a good idea to use any included utilities or just follow instructions specific to your laptop, you can also perform battery calibration without any specialized tools. The basic process is simple: * 1. Charge your laptop’s battery to ful, that’s 100%. * 2. Let the battery rest for at least two hours, leaving the computer plugged in. This will ensure that the battery is cool and not still hot from the charging process. You’re free to use your computer normally while it’s plugged in. * 3. Go into your computer’s power management settings and set it to automatically sleep or hibernate at 5% battery. (Below are instructions how to reach “powermanagement” for Windows-xp, vista and Windows Seven.” * 4. Pull the power plug and leave your computer discharging until it automatically sleeps or hibernates . You can keep using your computer normally while this happens. (Note: If you want to calibrate the battery while you aren’t using the computer, be sure your computer isn’t set to automatically sleep, hibernate, or turn its display off while idle. If your computer automatically enters power-saving mode while you’re away, it will save power and won’t discharge properly.) 5. Allow your computer to sit for five hours or so after it automatically shuts down. * 6. Plug your computer back into the outlet and charge it back up to 100%. You can keep using your computer normally. * 7. Ensure any power management settings are set to their normal values. For example, you probably want your computer to automatically power off the display and then go to sleep when you’re not using it to save battery power Below are links to two RELATED articles for further reading. HTG Explains: Should You Shut Down, Sleep, or Hibernate Your Laptop? http://www.howtogeek.com/128507/htg-explains-should-you-shut-down-sleep-or-h ibernate-your-laptop/ How to Increase Your Windows Laptop’s Battery Life http://www.howtogeek.com/169720/how-to-increase-your-windows-laptops-battery -life/ * Computers can sleep, hibernate, or shut down. Sleep allows you to quickly resume using your laptop. * * Your laptop should now be reporting a more accurate amount of battery life, sparing you any surprise shutdowns and giving you a better idea of how much battery power you have at any given time. The key to calibration is allowing the battery to run from 100% to almost empty and then charging it all the way up to 100% again, which may not happen in normal use. Accessing Power Management 1. Windows-xp A. Press the start button or click on the “start menu. B. If the start is in “classic view”, press the letter s until reaching “settings” followed by hitting enter. If using a mouse, click into “settings. C. Press enter on the default of “control panel, or click on this same option. D. Press the letter p until reaching “power options” and hit enter. Mouse users click on “power options.” e. Pressing control plus tab moves between property sheets and tab will move through the options on each sheet. The spacebar iis used to check or uncheck aa checkbox. It would probably be useful to explore all the property sheets and make any changes you prefer for your personal laptop. f. When finished making changes, tab to “apply” and hit the spacebar or enter. Mouse users, click on “apply when finished. 2. Windows Vista and Seven: a. Press the start button or click into the search edit field on the start menu. B. Type in “power management” without any quotes. C. Arrow to any of the following choices that are now available and hit enter or click your mouse. “change what the power buttons do” “change battery settings” “change what closing the lid does” “change when the computer sleeps” d. When entering of the above options, tab through the choices and make your choices. Remember to always click on apply or hit the spacebar on apply when finished making changes.]]>

4 Places To Find Up-To-Date Antivirus Test Results Online antivirus-test-header Do you know how effective your antivirus programs is? A variety of organizations regularly compare antivirus programs, throwing a large amount of malware samples at them, seeing how they perform, and ranking them in comparison to each other. It would be very time-consuming to test 30 different antivirus programs in virtual machines with a large amount of malware samples yourself, which is why these test results are so useful. 1. West Coast Labs West Coast Labs provides “real-time” test results for popular free antivirus products: A link to the site is below. http://westcoastlabs.com/realTimeTesting/article/?articleID=1 Microsoft Security Essentials, Avira, Avast, AVG, and PC Tools. These antivirus programs are tested against a stream of newly-collected malware samples gathered 24/7. The real-time nature of the results is unique. Other organizations put together new test results monthly – or even less often. 2. Virus Bulletin Virus Bulletin magazine regularly tests antivirus products. Products that detect all virus samples with no false positives receive the VB100 award. To see how an antivirus program is doing, you can look at a variety of reports, including a chart that averages performance over the last four tests, found here. http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/latest_comparative/index and a summary of the last five tests, found here. http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/summary The products at the top of the chart are doing fairly well, while you’re probably better off avoiding the products that are consistently at the bottom. http://cdn.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/virus-bulletin-test-resu lts-chart1.png 3. AV-Comparatives AV-Comparatives regularly performs a variety of tests, including real-world protection tests, file detection tests, and malware removal tests. The results of these tests are published on their website, found here. http://www.av-comparatives.org/ For a quick look at how different antivirus programs are doing, you can view a chart of real world test results here: http://chart.av-comparatives.org/chart2.php Iif using a screenreader, press the letter h once when arriving at the above link to reach the start of the results. Or read the annual summary report found here. http://www.av-comparatives.org/summary-reports/ If using a screenreader, press the letter h once to land on this summary. This report is published in December of each year and summarizes how the security products performed in tests over the previous year. http://cdn.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/av-comparatives-chart.pn g 4. AV Test AV Test performs regular tests of antivirus programs, ranking their ability to protect a computer, how well they repair infections, and their usability (which includes how much they slow down your computer). The test results found here: http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/ Screenreaders sould press the letter h to move through headings when reaching the above link. Results display how well an antivirus performed on different versions of Windows, although no Windows 8 test results are available yet. http://cdn.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/av-test-windows-741.png _____ You don’t necessarily have to switch antivirus products if your program isn’t at the very top of the charts – these results change from month to month, anyway – but these test results can give you an idea of how well your antivirus is performing. If you’re using one of the products that’s consistently at the bottom of the charts, you’ll probably want to switch. While these tests may not be perfect, they’re the best thing we have for evaluating how effective antivirus programs actually are. Got Feedback? Join the discussion at discuss.howtogeek.com SHOW ARCHIVED READER COMMENTS (12) Comments (12) 1.November 24, 2012 Bobby Shouldn’t Virus Total be on this list? In a way, it’s a good indication of what catches what. I keep a vault of old viruses and sometimes I’ll analyze them with Virus Total to see which antivirus can detect these. You’d be surprised. 5 year old virus, gets detected by only a 3rd of antivirus engines. 2.November 24, 2012 Keeprunning Read customer reviews before switching av software. I almost switched to bitdefender based on the information above, but reading customer reviews pushed me back. Words like “poor east european company”, “bad customer service”, “slowing computer”, “deleting personal files in safebox” etc. expose the other side of the protection. 3.November 24, 2012 TechGeek01 You gys know ths aeticle shows up twice in the RSS feed, right? 4.November 24, 2012 Me @Bobby – VT is good, but scans a target on demand using multiple engines. These are all overall results comparing the engines. Re old viruses: years ago I ran my own tests with ~100 floppy & doc viruses I’d collected at work and found the same thing. I asked my McAfee rep about it and they responded, “We remove old and inactive virus signatures from our database.” I’d assume the same thing is still happening – because after all, no _ever_ restores old files from backup tapes, do they? @KeepR: I completely agree, but also remember that there are a few users are either morons or trolls. A lot of good comments with only a few complaints – examine those complains Very Carefully to make sure they’re accurate. OTOH, discard a few of the “Best Ever” glowing reports as well. 5.November 24, 2012 Chemical There is absolutely no need to pay for antivirus protection. With free offerings such as Microsoft Security Essentials (Microsoft finally steps up to the plate to better protect their O.S.) AVG, Avast, and Panda Cloud you can put your wallet away. 6.November 25, 2012 Jane 2001-2007 I used AVG only got few viruses, only real pain was downloading new version, removing old version, installing new version.Then talking a few friends thru the same process over the phone. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.. that really was painful 2007- got new computer with Vista and issues with AVG. Avast was one of few that would work and sounded most user friendly. Avast gave me no problems. After a period of time, a newer version was released. Only way I knew was with a popup saying my Avast Program engine was updated. I checked and sure enogh, Avast installed its’ own new version and removed old. I fell in love. The next time my friends called about updating AVG, I talked them thru the switch and none of us have looked back. 7.November 25, 2012 Bgarner I agree with you, Jane. Also a former AVG user with all the same issues. Switched to Avast & am so glad I did. Very user friendly and simple to use. 8.November 25, 2012 EIW I clicked on West Coast Labs . Real Time Tets and this is what I got.. To read the full review get the May 2011 issue of PC & Tech Authority on sale from April 6. MAY 2011??? Real time tests? give me a break. 9.November 25, 2012 CJ Another VERY useful article from Mr Hoffman. Plus it’s nice to have the professional recommendations I have been making for years vindicated. I agree with Jane, above, on AVG. It used to be my number one recommendation, until Avast came out and was much simpler and caused me much fewer support phone calls. I have now personally installed either Avast or Security Essentials on over 800 client and/or friend machines in the past 5 years. I almost never touch a machine without doing so. The deciding factor between the 2 is simple: If the client is savvy enough not to get sucked into the paid version of Avast, (or well off enough to afford it, good companies do deserve some support!) I install Avast, first choice. Paid Avast is also installed on all the servers I admin. If the above conditions are not present, (fixed income elderly clients who barely know which mouse button to use, for instance) I install Security Essentials. I have seen both products fail to prevent virus or malware infection, sure. But damn rarely. And usually only when someone insists on installing some crap even when they are warned. 10.November 27, 2012 Ran Having been in the business for 18 yrs now over 90% of my virus calls are with computers that have one of these free programs on it. being cheap on line these days is not worth it.Just keep all your important data pics and such back-up. I am great-full for such articles. It helps everyone become a little wiser. Just remember you get what you pay for, always have and always will. 11.November 28, 2012 Ron I have my own business as well and most of my virus calls are people running MS Essentials, or some other free AV. (Fixed a Win 7 with MS Essentials last night that was so infectected, couldn’t use the machine.) That service call cost them what a paid product would have cost. 12.January 16, 2013 Jay Ran and Ron must sell anti-virus programs as the 10 years that I’ve had a computer I never got a virus and all I use are the free programs mentioned above. Chris Hoffman is a technology writer and all-around computer geek. He’s as at home using the Linux terminal as he is digging into the Windows registry. 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From the 1980s until 2005 (where it was superseded by the MEID format), mobile electronic devices were assigned a 32-bit number known as an Electronic Serial Number. This number was initially used with early cell phones and, later, predominantly with CDMA phones (such as those deployed by Sprint and Verizon). The ESN is usually represented by either an 11 digit decimal number or an 8 digit hexadecimal string. Talking digital magnifiers Submitted by cvangerven on Mon, 08/19/2013 – 09:50 Blog Date: Monday, August 19, 2013 By Clara Van Gerven Talking digital magnifiers have been around for some time now. As the novelty wears off, the question is whether they are worth the price tag, and where they sit in the low vision landscape. At this stage, there doesn’t seem to be enough sales data to see which way the experiment is going. This much is certain: the talking digital magnifier has come a ways since I first saw the machine from Koba, which stood out as a great idea somewhat imperfectly executed. Tracking text in the magnified view and full page recognition are now available, both in my opinion major (and intuitive) improvements to the original concept. Traditionally, tabletop digital magnifiers have been a type of lowest common denominator of access technology – easy to use single purpose devices designed to serve to most tech-wary. There have been forays into more complex uses such as fine craft work and classroom use, the former setup requiring a moveable arm for the camera, the latter often using a laptop as a display, and neither typically using and XY table. Some models (especially some of the classroom ones) have introduced long distance viewing. These modifications represent, however, fairly simple and to some extent niche uses compared to the most common use. To put it in the simple terms, standard operation of a digital magnifier really only takes about three buttons – on/off, magnification, and color sets. Other uses add maybe another 3-4 functions. What makes the talking digital magnifiers potentially a game changer is that it shifts what an average user can do with it. Dressed up to look like any other CCTV, it is really something else altogether, a hybrid of the familiar desktop behemoth and stand-alone bookreaders like the SARA from Freedom Scientific or the ClearReader from Opetelec. With the addition of speech to the digital magnifier comes another major change in the way people use them – with the introduction of more complex controls, including touchscreens. Much of the speech on these hybrids is inevitably driven by different kinds of controls – be it a control pad, a touch interface, or simply more buttons. It may scare of some of the more tech-phobic folks, but as more and more seniors especially get talked into using iPads by their grandchildren, there may be fewer protestations than before. What is more, the much talked-about aging baby boomers may be the first adopters of this new style of interface. Schools may also find a use for these dual media devices, and I’ve certainly seen some interest in using these as a way to give low vision students the option to switch easily between magnification and speech when fatigue sets in. The limiting factor there is the bulk of the thing – these “talkers” have the power of a full computer behind them, and you can tell when trying to lift one. In all scenarios, moreover, price is a big factor – adding the speech adds a minimum of about $500, and more typically closer to $1,000 to the cost. General features aside, what is out there right now, and what are the differentiating features that anyone looking to buy one should keep in mind? The usual questions about brightness, contrast, screen size, color settings and the like obviously still apply. Here are some additional questions worth asking if you’re looking to buy one of these shiny new devices. I’ve not represented every model, but if you’re looking at another vendor or model, the questions still apply. Talking magnifiers – features Optelec ClearView Speech Enhanced Vision Da Vinci Merlin Elite HD Abisee Eye-Pal Ace GW Micro Vocatex Plus Does it recognize part/whole page? Whole Part Part Whole Part Screen size? 24″ 24″ 24″ 10″ 26″-37″ X-Y tray? Yes No Yes No Yes Touch screen? Yes No – keypad No – keypad No – controls on the device No – controls on the device Portable? No No No Yes – 3.5 lbs No Document/photo storage Yes No Yes (saves as image) Yes No Price $3,695 (True color), $3895 (HD) $2,995 $3,295 $2,445 $7,345-$7,595 I’d love to hear from any of you who are already using one of these. It’s early in the game yet, and it’ll be fascinating to see how this plays out, and how much – and what – use different people get out of this new version of the same old magnifier. If you have any comments please email us. Note from Dan: I looked for an emailing address.. However, I could only find the information below. If you go to the link provided next, there is a link to email “Unknown / Not Sure ” at the bottom of the “contact us” section. If you press enter on that link your email client will open to a blank message with the correct email address already entered. https://nfb.org/contact-us]]>