Computers

Overwrite instead of format - erasing hard drives correctly

Overwrite instead of format - erasing hard drives correctlyKiel, Germany  - Faced with the task of erasing everything on their hard drive, most users simply opt to reformat the drive. If the drive or PC is to be sold or given to someone, that's not enough as data subjected to a formatting is not really permanently gone. In the wrong hands, a bit of time and skill are all that's needed to recreate data the user thought had been erased forever.

The computer helper: Are e-readers for you?

The computer helper: Are e-readers for you?Washington  - Amazon. com got people talking again about electronic book readers recently when it unveiled the second version of its Kindle e-reader. This handheld device, with its high price tag but hefty library of titles behind it, has a relatively small but avid user base. Amazon's Jeff Bezos and others, however, believe that the e-reader is destined to displace paper as the distribution medium of choice for books, yet most people have yet to even hold an e-reader. What's the fuss about? Read on for some answers.

Q: What's the attraction of e-readers?

Online storage comes of age

Online storage comes of ageWashington  - It's time for you to get yourself an online storage account. The reasons why are compelling - and they keep piling up.

Internet Explorer 8 available in 25 languages

Internet Explorer 8 available in 25 languagesRedmond, Washington  - Microsoft has released a new version of its Internet Explorer browser. Compared to its predecessor, the new software offers technical improvements and new functions, the company said. The browser is also available in 25 languages.

The novel features include the ability to send highlighted text directly to a lexicon or mapping service using a context menu; and webslices, a service to keep users informed about changes to subscribed sites like weather and auction portals.

IT specialists still in demand despite economic downturn

Berlin  - IT specialists have been hot property in recent years partly because too few young people entered the field over the last decade, meaning that not enough graduates with degrees in hand have been reaching the other side.

"That situation hasn't changed significantly," says Maurice Shahd from the BITKOM, the German association for the IT industry. It's just one of the reasons why IT specialists have less to fear from the hard current economic times than other workers.

Huge new hard drives: Western Digital clears two terabyte hurdle

Huge new hard drives: Western Digital clears two terabyte hurdleLake Forest, Illinois - Western Digital is the first out of the gate in the race to produce a hard drive offering two terabytes (TB) of storage.

The WD20EADS, a 3.5-inch drive with 32 megabytes (MB) of cache, is part of the WD Caviar Green series and will be available in stores for around 300 dollars, the company reports. Four storage disks with a capacity of 500 gigabytes (GB) each are housed inside the casing.

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