Which Android Launcher Should You Use? We Compare The Best!


Which Android Launcher Should You Use? We Compare The Best!
What does your Android launcher say about you? Is it really the best launcher for you, or maybe there’s a better one waiting just around the corner? The Play Store has a multitude of launchers, some popular and even some you may never have heard of.
For the uninitiated, a launcher is an app that lets you customize the look of your homescreen (or “desktop”, in the traditional sense) as well as your app drawer (the place where you see apps when you hit the Home button).
Now, given the huge number of launchers available, there’s something for everyone. So here are the best app launchers for particular needs:

Third Windows Phone Update & Developer Preview Program Due Soon

They’re getting pretty excited over at Windows Phone headquarters. Apparently the Windows Phone share in Europe has rocketed to an earth-shattering 10%. So to capitalise on that unstoppable momentum, the Windows Phone team are about to release their third update with some goodies. And if that wasn’t enough, they are even about to begin a developer preview program.
To begin with, all of you Windows Phone users out there (both of you raise your hands), will get a bigger Start Screen for 6 Live Tiles instead of 4. This will enable you to clutter your screen even more with stuff that doesn’t really need to be on your screen, but hey, if you have the space for it, why not?


Google Chrome 31 Beta Packs Web Payments, Application Shortcuts For Android

Google Chrome 31 Beta Packs Web Payments, Application Shortcuts For Android
Google Chrome is on a roll. After debuting a smarter Omnibox with Chrome 29 and baking Search By Image into the browser, the Chrome 31 Beta has even more new features in store, including a new e-payment system as well as mobile website shortcuts on Android.
The current technology that automatically fills up forms on sites using the browser’s autocomplete information — requestAutocomplete() — is now also being used to work for online payments. On sites with requestAutocomplete(), users will be able to use payment data such as Google Wallet.

Scribblenauts Unmasked Combines Classic Creative Gameplay With The DC Universe [Giveaway]

Those who love DC Comics and Scribblenauts will go bonkers for Scribblenauts Unmasked, which merges the two universes. Developer 5th Cell blends the nuances loved by comic readers with the puzzle-oriented riddles of the Scribblenauts series, perfectly. For those unfamiliar with the Scribblenauts series of puzzle games, the game’s protagonists are Maxwell and Lily, a brother and sister duo possessing teleportation and word-fueled, object conjuration powers. After blundering into to the DC universe, Maxwell and his sister square-off against an evil clone of Maxwell, predictably named “Doppelganger”. The clone teams up with the worst of the DC universe’s evil-doers.
The game divides into a series of primary quests and sub-quests. By completing these you gain “reputation” points, which function as the world’s currency. Spending reputation points lets you unlock additional regions. Maxwell can also use points to unlock superpowers, giving himself  super strength or power rings. The ultimate goal of the game is to prevent Doppleganger from acquiring Starites, the magical substance you may remember from the original Scribblenauts.
Keep reading to the bottom to enter for your chance to win one of three copies of the game!
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Will You Like Scribblenauts Unmasked?

3 Things To Check After Removing Malware From Your PC

3 Things To Check After Removing Malware From Your PC
Did your Internet stop working or were your browser settings messed up after you removed a virus from your computer? Malware can cause havoc while being active and it can put up a fight before it is finally eradicated. Many times, that malware will attempt to mess up your Internet settings so that you will not be able to access it anymore. You do not have to throw out your computer or re-install Windows because of this — here are four things you can do to try to fix the problems.

How To Automate Firefox Or Chrome With Excel VBA And Selenium

How To Automate Firefox Or Chrome With Excel VBA And Selenium

The key to automation is doing things faster and easier than you’ve ever done before. So what takes you a long time to do? What part of your workload would like to automate?
When it comes to productivity, Excel is the most common tool used by people for things like organizing finances, managing projects, and prioritizing goals. Last week, I described how to automate IE by setting up groups of URLs in Excel sheets, and then using the IE object in Windows to automate launching groups of URLs straight from inside Excel.
Following that article, many readers  asked how to do the same thing in Firefox or Chrome. Since neither Firefox nor Chrome have a similar object included with Windows that can be used for VBA automation, performing the same sort of actions on those other browsers requires an extra step. That step is the installation of Selenium VBA – a Windows COM wrapper for Selenium.
It allows you to perform calls from any application that supports VBA in order to open a browser – not just IE – and control that browser session. It’s a powerful automation tool that is so commonly used that many popular browser vendors are incorporating Selenium as a native part of their browser. Using it in your automation applications is sure to be supported for years to come.

Windows 8 Has a Great New Backup Feature. It’s Called File History

Windows 8 Has a Great New Backup Feature. It’s Called File History......

When people talk about Windows 8, they usually can’t think of anything more noteworthy to discuss than whether they like the Modern interface and all its Live Tiles or hate them. Windows 8, though, is more than just a pretty face. It offers upgraded features throughout. One of the most useful new features that Windows 8 offers goes by the name File History. If you know of the well-loved Time Machine feature on Mac OS X, File History is just like it.

Windows File History allows you to create automatic backups of your files to a flash drive or a drive connected over a network (File History doesn’t allow you to create backups to a local internal hard drive installed right on your computer). When you lose a file or simply wish to take a look at an older version of a file, you are able to access this backed up version. File History and Windows 8 exist alongside of the Backup feature that was first seen in Windows 7. File History is considered a more advanced version.

How to Use Check Disk to Fix Problems With Your Hard Disk

How to Use Check Disk to Fix Problems With Your Hard Disk

Hard disk manufacturing defects and improper shutdowns over a period of time can result in errors showing up on your hard disk. You may be faced with data losses and random computer freezes. When you are in such a situation, your first step should be to run the Windows Check Disk utility. When run, the program goes through your hard disk sector by sector to find out what parts are unusable. It then reroutes traffic around those parts. It is usually a good idea to run the check disk utility once every quarter as a preemptive measure before you start experiencing problems.

The easy way to use Check Disk

While keying in the right command into the Command Prompt is the usual way to use Check Disk , Windows has a GUI method, too. To run the disk checker, you need to right-click on the hard disk partition that you need to check, select Properties and then click on the Tools tab on the dialog box that appears. This brings up a new Check Disk dialog box with two options, both of which you should check.

Controlling an Android Device With a Computer

How to Use Check Disk to Fix Problems With Your Hard Disk

Hard disk manufacturing defects and improper shutdowns over a period of time can result in errors showing up on your hard disk. You may be faced with data losses and random computer freezes. When you are in such a situation, your first step should be to run the Windows Check Disk utility. When run, the program goes through your hard disk sector by sector to find out what parts are unusable. It then reroutes traffic around those parts. It is usually a good idea to run the check disk utility once every quarter as a preemptive measure before you start experiencing problems.

How You Reassign Your Caps Lock Key to Something Useful

Here’s How You Reassign Your Caps Lock Key to Something Useful

When Google released its first Chromebook, reviewers praised the way its designers had left the Caps lock key out of the keyboard. They felt that the Caps lock key was a vestige of another era. Modern writing doesn’t need a Caps lock key. Mostly, it only serves as a key to hit by accident.

Many people use a Windows registry hack to disable the Caps lock on their keyboard. If you do plan to go to all the trouble of performing a registry hack, though, there is no reason to use it to waste a perfectly good key and disable it. You can emulate Mac OS X users and simply remap it to something useful.

What could you reassign it to?

Google’s Chromebook has the right idea – on the Chromebook, the place on the keyboard that is usually occupied by the Caps lock key is given over to a Search key. It could be an idea to remap the Caps lock key on your laptop’s keyboard to a search function, too.

3 Windows 8 Tips to Make Life Easier

3 Windows 8 Tips to Make Life Easier

Windows 8 has been around for a full year, already. To many people, though, the Modern interface is still a mystery. Here are a few tips on getting things done on Windows 8.

Using your Modern interface on the Desktop

The Modern interface on Windows 8 that’s filled with touchscreen-optimized tiled apps hasn’t been a hit with Desktop users who don’t have a touchscreen monitor. On a Desktop computer that’s mainly intended to run traditional Desktop programs, the fact that Windows 8 allows you to either use a Modern app or a Desktop program (but not both at the same time) can seem like a major oversight. The Desktop user with a dual monitor setup, for instance, would find it very useful to run a weather app or something else on one monitor and do his Desktop work on another. Windows 8 will have none of it, though.

If Microsoft allowed people to just run their Modern apps on a separate window right on their Desktop, they would possibly begin to care about Modern apps instead of considering them a hurdle to be crossed on the way to the Desktop.

Planning on Reinstalling Windows? Read This First

Planning on Reinstalling Windows? Read This First


Many people find that their Windows computers slow down over time. Often, the solution they come up with is to do a painstaking reinstall. They back up all their files, wipe their hard drive and put either their Recovery disk or their Windows disk in the optical drive to reinstall Windows. Once they do that, they may need to install all their drivers and programs all over again. The entire process can take up the better part of a day.

Why should Windows slow down in the first place?

Windows can slow down for a number of reasons.