PC Review - Computer News and Reviews

New ransomware attack hits Europe

Airlines, powerstations, banks and other businesses have been hit by a new wave of "Ransomware" attacks. Affected PCs will find that the operating system has been encrypted, with demands for a payment to unlock the system. Windows XP - Windows 10 PCs could be vulnerable, so be sure you have installed all current Windows updates and have anti-virus software installed.

This "Petya" cyber-attack has even caused problems at the infamous Chernobyl power station, meaning that radiation levels are now manually performed.

As usual, take care when opening e-mail attachments or other unfamiliar files. The best defence is by having a fully patched operating system with AV software installed (even if it's Windows Defender).
Read more

Views: 39 / Likes: 0 / Replies: 1

by Ian, Jun 28, 2017 at 1:12 PM

HMS Queen Elizabeth using out-dated Windows XP

The UK's latest aircraft carrier appears to be running Windows XP, at least on some onboard computers. Log-in screens spotted on some terminals appear to show XP-era login screens:

As HMS Queen Elizabeth left its dockyard for the first time to begin sea trials, it was revealed the £3.5billion aircraft carrier is apparently using the same software that left the NHS exposed.

Screens inside a control room on the ship, which is the largest vessel ever built for the Royal Navy, reportedly displayed Microsoft Windows XP - copyright 1985 to 2001.

The operating system was that which left the NHS and other organisations around the world vulnerable to a major WannaCry ransomware attack last month. It affected 300,000 computers in 150 countries.

Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft, meaning it does not receive updates to protect users from new types of cyber hacks.
Click to expand...

Read the rest here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...running-outdated-windows-xp-software-raising/
Read more

Views: 87 / Likes: 0 / Replies: 4

by Ian, Jun 27, 2017 at 12:13 PM

AMD EPYC

Anandtech have some information on the new lineup of AMD CPUs, aimed at the Dual-CPU (i.e. datacentre) market. For recent years, this market has been entirely dominated by Intel. Are things about to change?

On the package are four silicon dies, each one containing the same 8-core silicon we saw in the AMD Ryzen processors. Each silicon die has two core complexes, each of four cores, and supports two memory channels, giving a total maximum of 32 cores and 8 memory channels on an EPYC processor. The dies are connected by AMD’s newest interconnect, the Infinity Fabric, which plays a key role not only in die-to-die communication but also processor-to-processor communication and within AMD’s new Vega graphics. AMD designed the Infinity Fabric to be modular and scalable in order to support large GPUs and CPUs in the roadmap going forward, and states that within a single package the fabric is overprovisioned to minimize any issues with non-NUMA aware software (more on this later).
Click to expand...

Read the rest here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/11551...w-7000-series-cpus-launched-and-epyc-analysis
Read more

Views: 195 / Likes: 0 / Replies: 0

by Ian, Jun 21, 2017

MSI VR ONE

[H]ardOCP have a review of the MSI VR One - a VR backpack PC, that allows you to connect a headset for a wireless VR gaming experience.

The gist of this niche product is that instead of hooking your HTC Vive or Oculus Rift VR system into a stationary desktop or laptop computer, you plug your HMD into the MSI VR ONE and then strap the VR ONE onto your back. This forgoes you having any wires tethering you to that stationary computer. This greatly frees up your movement and also leaves you without any wires to step or trip on. For all intents and purposes, the MSI VR ONE is a laptop without a screen or keyboard, but that is oversimplifying it quite a bit.

I refer to this as a "niche product" mainly due to the cost associated with it. There are several different models, ranging from $1700 to $2300 in cost. The barrier to entry on price alone is the reason I refer to this product as serving a niche market. While you could jump through some hoops and use it for things other than VR, it is truly a standalone "wireless" VR device, however it certainly could double as a very portable LAN gaming computer.
Click to expand...

Read the rest here:
https://www.hardocp.com/article/2017/06/15/msi_vr_one_wireless_backpack_review
Read more

Views: 236 / Likes: 0 / Replies: 1

by Ian, Jun 19, 2017

Oculus Rift VR - NVIDIA vs AMD

Babel Tech Reviews have an interesting set of benchmarks that compare the VR performance of the Oculus Rift on NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards. It's important to note that even an incredibly expensive GTX 1080 Ti can't run some VR games at the highest presets:

Until NVIDIA released FCAT VR in March, there was no universally acknowledged way to accurately benchmark the Oculus Rift as there are no SDK logging tools available. To compound the difficulties of benchmarking the Rift, there are additional complexities because of the way it uses a type of frame reprojection called asynchronous space warp (ASW) to keep framerates steady at either 90 FPS or at 45 FPS.

Both NVIDIA and AMD agree that Fraps benchmarking only provides a slight correlation between what the user actually experiences and what is displayed by the Windows desktop. Fraps only measures the framerate of the desktop window, not what appears in the HMD so the performance that a user sees in the desktop window is not a valid proxy for the experience in the HMD. OCAT, Performance Mon, Afterburner, and other PC benching software do not accurately report nor measure what the user experiences in the HMD. And it is important to be aware of VR performance since poorly delivered frames will actually make a VR experience quite unpleasant and the user can even become VR sick.
Click to expand...

Read the full article here:
http://www.babeltechreviews.com/oculus-rift-vr-benching-amd-vs-nvidia-part-2/view-all/
Read more

Views: 266 / Likes: 0 / Replies: 0

by Ian, Jun 14, 2017

Xbox One X is the final name of Project Scorpio

Microsoft’s Xbox One upgrade will be called the Xbox One X, the company announced during its E3 2017 press briefing today.

The Xbox One X will be released Nov. 7 worldwide, Xbox head Phil Spencer announced. It will cost $499.

Microsoft updated the Xbox One last year with the Xbox One S, a white redesign of the original black console that reduced its size by 40 percent. Unlike the Xbox One S, the Xbox One X will come in black — although it looks very similar to the white console in shape and design, as you can see above.

As previously announced, the Xbox One X will include a 1 TB hard drive. And because it contains the same port array as the Xbox One S, the same power cable works with both systems. The Xbox One X will contain a 4K Blu-ray drive, three USB 3.0 ports — one in the front, two in the back — and an IR blaster.

The Xbox One S is currently available at a $50 discount, which drops the price of the cheapest bundle to just $199.99. Scorpio will be a significantly more powerful console, with a more than fourfold increase over the Xbox One's graphics capability, a 31 percent increase in CPU speed, and a 50 percent increase in onboard RAM. Even so, it is smaller than the Xbox One S, making it Microsoft’s smallest console ever.
Click to expand...

Source: Polygon

Read more

Views: 341 / Likes: 1 / Replies: 4

by V_R, Jun 12, 2017

Android O Developer Preview 3

Android 8.0 is edging a little closer to deployment, with Developer Preview 3 released to beta testers. The final version isn't expected until Q3 2017, and perhaps a lot longer until non-Google Android phones rollout the new release.

Here's a preview of what to expect in the Android 8.0 DP3:

If you've got a Google Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel C, Nexus 5X or Nexus 6P phone/tablet, you can join the Android beta program at the following link... but be warned, it may not be stable yet!

https://android.com/beta

Android Authority have a good roundup of some of the new features you can expect to see:

http://www.androidauthority.com/android-8-0-review-758783/
Read more

Views: 320 / Likes: 0 / Replies: 1

by Ian, Jun 9, 2017

Over half of young online gamers are bullied

According to a recent study done by an anti-bullying charity, 57 per cent of online gamers aged between 12 and 25 years suffer bullying online, and of those people 22 percent stopped playing a game as a result. BBC News has more:

One 16-year-old gamer, Bailey Mitchell, told the BBC he had experienced bullying while playing online games since the age of 10.

"If you're going to school every day and you're being bullied in school you want to go home to your computer to escape," he said.

"So if you're getting more abuse thrown at you it's going to put you off doing anything social - it has for a lot of people I know, me included.

"It's regular, every other game you're in, there's always someone who has a mic or types in chat. They'll call you some random abusive thing they can think of."
Click to expand...

Read more here.
Read more

Views: 468 / Likes: 0 / Replies: 1

by Becky, May 31, 2017

Welcome to PC Review!

Hello and welcome to PC Review. We're a friendly computing community, bustling with knowledgeable members to help solve your tech questions.

Please join our friendly community by clicking the button below - it only takes a few seconds and is totally free. You'll be able to ask any tech support questions, or chat with the community and help others. Ask a Question

Latest Threads

New ransomware attack hits Europe
Ian posted Jun 28, 2017 at 1:12 PM
WCG Stats Wednesday 28 June 2017
WCG Stats posted Jun 28, 2017 at 8:00 AM
HMS Queen Elizabeth using out-dated Windows XP
Ian posted Jun 27, 2017 at 12:13 PM
Time for the 3 yearly graphics card upgrade!
Captain Jack Sparrow posted Jun 27, 2017 at 10:23 AM
A Future Not Far Away?
nivrip posted Jun 27, 2017 at 9:36 AM
WCG Stats Tuesday 27 June 2017
WCG Stats posted Jun 27, 2017 at 8:00 AM
Copying List box values/selection to a database of sorts
Marc T posted Jun 26, 2017 at 10:13 PM
Amcrest ProHD IP2M-841B Wireless IP Camera
ChristopherP posted Jun 26, 2017 at 7:30 PM
WCG Stats Monday 26 June 2017
WCG Stats posted Jun 26, 2017 at 8:00 AM
IP address location
John haigh posted Jun 25, 2017 at 11:15 PM

Latest Articles

Synology DS916+

Netgear Orbi

QNAP TVS-873

HP DeskJet 3630 Wireless All-in-One Printer

APC Back-UPS Pro 900

Wanhao Duplicator i3