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 It's time to learn your way around the new Google Maps app. The old, somewhat clunky Google Maps interface has been replaced with a flatter, more modern look. Your favorite features are probably still there, but some now hide inside swipeable drawers or behind all-new menu buttons. That explains why, for example, Street View doesn’t immediately appear when you search on an address, or why typing ok maps into the Maps search bar—a command that used to save the current map for offline use—now brings up a map of Oklahoma. Never fear, though. The new Google Maps app for Android and iOS makes perfect sense once you get the hang of it, and the latest version makes it even easier to get where you’re going or see every detail in your virtual surroundings. Read on for 8 essential tips for the new Google Maps, starting with... 1. When in doubt, swipe up (or tap) Swip

After installing Windows 10, Roy A. Day discovered a very large Windows.old folder on his internal drive. Since deleting it the conventional way didn’t work, he asked for another solution. The Windows 10 upgrade (which so many are enthusiastically embracing despite my warnings ) leaves a huge Windows.old folder on your C: drive. On one computer I updated, it was over 25GB. And Windows won’t let you simply delete it. There’s a very good reason why you shouldn’t. Without this folder, you will not be able to go back to Windows 7 or 8.1. Therefore, you should only remove Windows.old if one of these three situations applies to you: You’re absolutely sure you want to stay with Windows 10. You created an image backup before the upgrade, and can therefore restore your previous installation without Windows 10’s built-in tools. It’s been more than 30 days since you made the upgrade, and Windows 10 will no longer allow you to go back. If you meet one of those conditi

Two new Nexus phones aren’t the only items expected at Google’s press event on September 29. Google’s also gearing up to introduce a second-generation Chromecast, according to 9to5Google. The new streaming device is expected to come in a round shape loaded with improved Wi-Fi, a new feature called Fast Play, support for audio systems, and feed integration with the device’s main screen. That’s about where the details end, however, as specifics are in short supply. The current Chromecast uses 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, so it sounds like the next version will support the newer 802.11 ac Wi-Fi, but that’s just speculation at this point. The Fast Play feature apparently means the next Chromecast will connect faster than the original version when you “cast” something from your mobile device. As for the feeds, there’s no word on what this is. 9to5Google figures it means you’ll be able to integrate social media feeds when the Chromecast flips to its idle backdrop mode. Backdrop

The longer you run your computer, the more clutter it accumulates. This takes the form of programs you no longer need, bloatware you never wanted in the first place, and/or adware you didn't intend to install. The result: slow booting, slow operation, slow everything. To improve the situation, you can uninstall unwanted, unneeded programs. And if you're a little more tech-savvy, you can venture into msconfig to prevent system-dragging software from running at startup. Ah, but which programs are safe to uninstall and/or block? The last thing you want to do is remove some essential Windows element, which could do more harm than good. Should I Remove It? is a free utility that helps you answer exactly that question. The program analyzes everything installed on your computer, then helps you determine what's safe to remove. It does so by displaying both a rating for each program and a crowd-sourced removal percentage (i.e. how many "users and experts&

AT&T said three of its employees secretly installed software on its network so a cellphone unlocking service could surreptitiously funnel hundreds of thousands of requests to its servers to remove software locks on phones. The locks prevent phones from being used on competing networks and have been an important tool used by cellular carriers to prevent customers from jumping ship. They can be electronically removed, usually after fulfilling a contract obligation, but many websites offer the same service for a small fee with no questions asked. AT&T’s allegations are made in a filing with U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in which it accuses two companies, four people and an unknown software developer or developers, of participating in the audacious scheme. AT&T filed its lawsuit on Sept. 11 but it was first reported by Geekwire on Friday. The carrier first discovered something was amiss in September 2013 when a surge in the nu

There are plenty of ways for PC gamers to share gameplay videos, what with YouTube and livestreaming services like Twitch. But before you can share a video, you have to capture it first. With Windows 10’s Game DVR feature, you can easily record your gaming exploits and share with your Xbox-using friends—all without downloading and installing additional software like Nvidia’s ShadowPlay or OBS. Here’s how to get started. If you haven’t used the Xbox app before or don’t own an Xbox console, you’ll need to first set up a gamertag—basically, your Xbox screen name. Pop open the Xbox app and follow the onscreen instructions, and the Xbox app will take care of the rest. (The Xbox app doesn’t need to be open in order for the Game DVR feature to work, but you’ll want to get set up with an Xbox account before you dive in.) Press Windows-G  to get at Game DVR controls as you play. Next, open the game you want to play: For the sake of this article, we’re going to play Cros

 Chromebooks are more powerful than you realize already, but zooming around the web in Google’s browser is just the beginning of what Chromebooks are capable of. Chrome OS is built on top of the Linux kernel, and you can install a full Linux environment alongside Chrome OS on your Chromebook. This gives you access to Steam and over a thousand PC games, Minecraft , Skype, and everything else that runs on desktop Linux. ARM vs Intel If you do plan on getting a Chromebook and using Linux on it, you should consider whether it has an ARM chip or an Intel chip. ARM-based Chromebooks can use a full Linux environment too, but they’re cut off from a whole ecosystem of closed-source software designed for traditional x86-based PC chips—including Steam and all its games. If you’re planning on running desktop Linux, get an Intel-based Chromebook. You could even use Steam’s in-home streaming to stream games running on a gaming PC to a Chromebook. But this isn’t possible an

One of the nicest additions to Windows 8 was its robust support for multiple monitors, including the ability to easily set separate, individual wallpapers for each screen in your setup. All you had to do was open the Control Panel, go to the personalization section, right-click on the images you wanted, tell them which display to use them on, and you were done. Microsoft decided to do away with that ease of use in Windows 10. The official way to add different backgrounds in Windows 10 is to select two images in File Explorer (meaning they both have to be in the same folder), then right-click and select “Set as desktop background”. The two images will now appear on your two monitors, with the image you right-clicked occupying your primary display. The problem is the File Explorer method automatically swaps the images between the two monitors every thirty minutes by default—a nice feature that some people may like, but personally I’d rather set my monitor backgr

 New Surfaces. New flagship Lumia phones. Maybe even a new wearable. Microsoft could make its fans very happy on October 6, if the company comes through with new devices at an event planned for that day.  “We have some exciting news to share about Windows 10 devices,” reads the teaser to an invitation sent to reporters to attend an event in New York City.  The invitation did not include any other relevant information—or, it must be said, that any new devices would be launched or discussed. Reports have indicated, however, that Microsoft has an enormous launch underway. Supposedly, Microsoft plans to launch at least one new model, and most likely two, of its Surface tablets. Intel recently launched its new Skylake processors, which include both new versions of the Core m as well as specific models designed for tablets. (The Lenovo Ideapad Miix 700, a Surface clone, uses the new Core m chip.) Microsoft shipped the Surface Pro 3 more than a year ago, and both tab

 The iPad Pro will offer “desktop-class performance” and have a CPU faster than 80 percent of portable PCs shipped. If you just fell off your chair, it’s understandable. Those claims made by Apple about its newest tablet are truly bold. They’re also pretty hard to believe for anyone who believes in the inarguable performance supremacy of the PC and x86 over tablets and ARM. Let’s take a closer look at exactly what Apple’s VP of marketing Phil Schiller said about the iPad Pro during the company’s big unveil last Wednesday. During his talk, Schiller said the new 64-bit A9X SoC  doubled memory bandwidth, doubled storage read and storage, and offered 1.9X the performance of the iPad Air 2.  What does this even mean? ”This is desktop-class performance,” Schiller boasted.  ”It is faster than 80 percent of the portable PCs that shipped in the last 12 months, that’s at CPU tasks. At graphics tasks, it’s faster than 90 percent of them.” Schiller did seem to qualify

Windows 10 users may finally be giving the Windows Store the love it needs to survive—largely due to smart plotting by Microsoft to make it happen. Microsoft announced in a blog post Thursday evening that Windows 10 users are downloading apps at a vigorous rate. “The average Windows 10 customer is downloading six times more apps than the average customer on Windows 8,” said Microsoft’s Todd Brix, who authored the post. This is hardly a grassroots movement, though. Microsoft has designed Windows 10 to drive users to the Windows Store. If it is indeed working, then that’s hopeful news for the future of the lackluster app store. Why this matters: A critical mass of Windows 10 users, downloading lots of apps, is exactly what Microsoft needs to solve its chicken-and-egg problem with Windows Store. The Windows Store needs better apps, and it won’t get better apps until it gets more users. Windows 10’s design apparently addresses the user need. Now we wait to see wheth

According to recent data collected by the Windows Feedback Program for Microsoft, less than 15 percent of desktop users and less than 5 percent of laptop users connect their systems to multiple monitors. That's a shame because few upgrades can improve productivity as much as multiple displays can. Having additional screen real estate at your disposal lets you keep more application windows open and visible on-screen at the same time; it also simplifies the task of transferring data between applications, and minimizes the need to click or scroll through open windows to find you're looking for. Working with multiple monitors is a great way to increase your efficiency, if you can afford the extra cost and you have enough space on your desk. Windows 8 Enhancements Though setting up and using multiple monitors is reasonably straightforward with Windows 7, Microsoft is introducing some major multimonitor-related enhancements to Windows 8. With Windows 8, Microsoft a

I noticed that Windows wasn’t creating restore points as often as I wanted them. I set out to discover how I—and you—can better control how often this vital task happens without manual intervention. Just about any new problem that makes Windows behave badly can be fixed by opening Windows’ System Restore and returning to an earlier time. But this only works if you have a restore point that was created before the unfortunate changes. Restore points are also vital to Windows’ File History feature. If you want to go back to last Thursday’s version of that spreadsheet, you'd better hope that a restore point was created last Thursday. (You can avoid this problem with a good backup program.) So you need to take control of how often Windows creates these points. Set up Windows to create new points on a regular basis. Type restore point in the Start menu’s Search field or Windows 8’s Search charm, and select Create a restore point. Once the dialog box is up, you c

 Word has always allowed its users to customize its menus, style sheets, shortcut keys, macros, and a number of other features. Fortunately for all of us, Word makes customization fairly simple. With just a few clicks and a couple of keystrokes, you can customize Word to do most anything. For this exercise, we’ll explain how to customize the Ribbon menu. Customize the Ribbon To customize the Ribbon menu, right-click anywhere on the Ribbon. Select Customize the Ribbon from the dropdown list. The Word Options dialog window opens and displays the Commands in the left dialog pane and the Tabs in the right dialog pane. Notice that you can display All the Commands, a specified group of commands, or commands by tabs. The Ribbon/Tabs dialog shows All Tabs on the Ribbon menu, the Main Tabs, or the Tools Tabs. If you want to add a command to an existing tab, scroll down to the command, select it, then click the Add button. The reverse is also true: To remove a command f

John wants a way to encrypt files that are stored on a flash drive or external hard drive. Flash drives are easy to lose. And anything lost can fall into the wrong hands. So if you’re carrying around sensitive information in your pocket, you need to make sure those files are encrypted. Here are three possible solutions: Buy an encrypted drive You can buy a flash drive with built-in encryption, such as the DataTraveler Locker+ G3. When you plug the Locker+ in, it comes up as a 13MB, read-only drive. But once you launch the program file on that drive and enter the password that you previously setup, another drive opens up with all the storage space you paid for. That drive, of course, is inaccessible without the password. The software runs off the drive, and it can be used on multiple computers and operating systems. But I strongly recommend against using this drive’s optional cloud backup feature. It uses Dropbox, OneDrive, or whichever cloud service yo