Stories by Preston Gralla

  • 9 reasons not to upgrade to Windows 10 -- yet

    Windows 10 is here - and many users (especially those who have been wrestling with Windows 8) are probably eager to upgrade. But even if you can get it now -- the upgrade will be sent first to <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2944212/microsoft-windows/windows-10-release-date-delayed-itbwcw.html">those who signed up for the Windows Insider beta program</a> and then in "slow waves" to everyone else -- you may want to hold off.

  • Review: Norton Security -- simpler and still a winner

    Once upon a time, Symantec's brand of Norton security software had one of the most confusing lineups around -- products included Norton 360, <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2488677/application-security/7-all-in-one-security-suites-anti-malware-for-all-your-devices.html?nsdr=true&amp;page=5">Norton 360 Multi-Device</a>, Norton Anti-Virus and Norton Internet Security. Trying to decide which product was the best for you -- not to mention the best priced -- was no picnic.

  • Review: McAfee LiveSafe offers top Windows, Android protection

    McAfee LiveSafe is the best product in McAfee's sizable security portfolio. Its suite offers protection for an unlimited number of Windows PCs, Macs and Android and iOS devices, along with a Web dashboard. There's 1TB of cloud-based storage as well. The whole thing is available for $60 per year.

  • The Internet of Things: Your worst nightmare

    You've heard the hype: The Internet of Things (IoT) will transform the way we live and work, bring us untold benefits like cutting our utility bills and warning us when the milk has gone sour, and be the engine for the next great economic boom. <a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/The_Internet_of_Things_The_value_of_digitizing_the_physical_world">McKinsey claims</a>, for example, that the IoT could have an impact of $11.1 trillion per year by 2025 -- about 11% of the world economy, by McKinsey's estimate.

  • Broadband for all

    There's no mere digital divide in the United States; it's a chasm. It ensures that the have-nots will always have less, and those with broadband access will have more. It's time to finally end that, and guarantee that everyone in the country, no matter how poor, gets broadband and its many benefits.

  • Word 2013 cheat sheet

    The buzz today may be all about Office 2016 for Windows, which is due to be released this fall, but many business users are still getting acquainted with Office 2013 and will continue to use it for some time. Use this Word 2013 cheat sheet to help take advantage of all it has to offer.

  • Review: Windows 10 Insider Preview -- a nearly finished OS

    Microsoft has been racing to put the final touches on Windows 10 before its expected release date in late July. There have been three public updates in the last month: Builds 10061, 10074 and 10122. At this point, the interface and features for the new operating system are essentially set -- on May 20, Gabe Aul, engineering general manager at Microsoft, <a href="https://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/05/20/announcing-windows-10-insider-preview-build-10122-for-pcs/">wrote about build 10122</a> on the company's official blog: "From here on out you'll see fewer big feature changes from build to build, and more tuning, tweaking, stabilizing, and polishing."

  • Europe's war against U.S. tech is wrongheaded

    What do Facebook, Apple, Google, Amazon and Netflix have in common? In addition to being U.S. tech giants, they're in the crosshairs of European regulators and may face big fines and stiff rules reining in the way they operate on the continent.

  • We've got net neutrality. Now the real work begins.

    Now that <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2889261/fcc-approves-net-neutrality-rules-reclassifies-broadband-as-utility.html">net neutrality is the law of the land</a>, you may feel inclined to pat yourself on the back for a job well done. After all, a big reason the FCC backed net neutrality was the outpouring of support for it.

  • First look: Microsoft's Office 2016 IT Pro and Developer Preview

    The first glance at the future of Office for Windows is here, in the form of the <a href="http://blogs.office.com/2015/03/16/announcing-the-office-2016-it-pro-and-developer-preview/">Office 2016 IT Pro and Developer Preview</a>. It's the initial public iteration of the suite that will be released sometime in the second half of 2015, so at this point it's very much a work in progress.

  • Two OSes in one: DuOS-M puts Android on your Windows device

    Do you have a favorite Android app that you wish you could run on your Windows tablet or laptop? Well, now you can. A new program called <a href="http://www.amiduos.com/">DuOS-M</a> runs full-blown Android as its own Windows application, so that you run almost any Android app on a Windows 7/8/8.1 system.

  • New rules: How to unlock your smartphone

    Until recently, if you wanted to unlock your phone in order to switch carriers, there was a good chance that you'd have to do it without the cooperation of the carrier you were with. You could search online for the codes that might unlock your device -- or try to hack it in other ways. But what you usually couldn't do was call your carrier and ask how to do it.

  • Windows 10 deep-dive review: Finally, a unified operating system

    The second preview release of <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2874955/microsoft-releases-big-update-to-windows-10-preview.html">Windows 10</a> begins to flesh out Microsoft's vision of an operating system that bridges the gap between traditional PCs and touch-based tablets -- something it failed at dismally in Windows 8. More than that, the new release reveals a single operating system that shape-shifts according to the device it's running on, be that a PC, a tablet or a phone.