Thousands of Free Apps on CD Imagine buying a CD for $10 or $20 that contained thousands of games or apps and not committing theft or piracy. That was the promise of the shareware CD, a software distribution platform that thrived in the 1990s and early 2000s. Shareware CDs were handy because you could gain access to many programs at once in an inexpensive way—so many programs, in fact, that sometimes people called them shovelware CDs, as if the programs had been loaded into the CD by the shovel full....

If you want to share something spicy but only want it to hang around for a single view, the new View Once option within the app is exactly what you need. How “View Once” Works in WhatsApp While this feature came to other messaging apps a long time ago, it at least seems that WhatsApp has done a decent enough job implementing View Once. Content shared with the new option shows a new icon that lets both parties know that they can only look at it once before it’s lost to history....

What Are Visual Artifacts? Visual artifacts are graphical imperfections in digital imaging. Within the context of computers, the term is most commonly associated with glitchy visuals that accompany some sort of hardware or software problem. These artifacts can take a myriad of forms depending on what’s causing the issue. It’s not uncommon for onscreen elements to flicker or for random colors to appear on the screen. In 3D applications, textures might not render correctly or geometry can look out of place, while alpha effects like transparency fail altogether....

The Definitions of WYD and HYD WYD (not be confused with World Youth Day, an annual event organized by the Catholic Church) stands for “what are you doing?”. HYD stands for “how are you doing?” They’re typically used as greetings or to start a conversation with someone. In some ways, the two initialisms are interchangeable, however, there are some essential differences. You can use them in both lower- (wyd) and uppercase (WYD), but lowercase is more common among young people....

No Thank You NTY means “no thank you.” People use it online to tell someone that you’re not interested in what they have to offer. This acronym is common in online chats, social media posts, and MMOs. You can write it in both the uppercase “NTY” and the lowercase “nty.” Depending on how you use the acronym, the “thank you” part may seem genuine and sincere, or it might feel dismissive....

Too Much Information TMI stands for “too much information.” It’s often used in online chats and text messages to tell someone that they’re sharing way too much about themselves. TMI is always said as a response rather than a way to start a conversation. Often, someone has crossed a line and gone into overly personal or uncomfortable topics, and you’d like to divert the conversation before it gets too far. For example, they’ve divulged details about their body, health, intimate relationships, or personal matters....

Making Impossible Photographs Compositing makes it possible to do the photographically impossible. It’s often used to overcome the inherent limits of digital cameras and the physical properties of lenses, or at least to make things easier or cheaper. Some of the ways it can be used like this are: To increase the dynamic range of your camera by blending photos that are exposed for the shadows, highlights, and midtones If that sounds somewhat familiar, it should—it’s how High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography works....

Hidden in every user profile is a file named NTUSER.DAT. This file contains the settings and preferences for each user, so you shouldn’t delete it and probably shouldn’t edit it. Windows automatically loads, changes, and saves the file for you. NTUSER.DAT Contains Your User Profile Settings Every time you make a change to the look and behavior of Windows and installed programs, whether that’s your desktop background, monitor resolution, or even which printer is the default, Windows needs to remember your preferences the next time it loads....

During the WWDC keynote on June 7, 2021, Apple detailed new features coming with watchOS 8 and upcoming changes to AirPods, Apple Home, Apple Health, and Privacy. Here’s a quick look at major changes. When Will watchOS 8 be Available? Apple released a developer beta of watchOS 8 on June 7, 2021. The company plans to release the Public Beta of watchOS 8 in July 2021. The full, final release of watchOS 8 is expected to arrive in the fall of 2021....

Disappearing messages are an excellent feature for privacy. You choose a timeframe, and messages go away after that amount of time. WhatsApp is making its disappearing messages feature better, as you can now make it so all new conversations will feature messages that delete automatically. With the latest update to WhatsApp, you can turn the ephemeral feature on by default for all new chats. That means that anytime you start a conversation with a friend on the service, the messages will be stricken from the record after a certain amount of time (chosen by you)....

RELATED: How to Install Apps from the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 In Windows 11, Microsoft is set to allow all different kinds of apps and tools into the store, which is a significant departure from the incredibly limited Windows 10 store. You’ll find traditional Win32, Electron, and even progressive web apps in the Windows 11 store. In a blog post, Microsoft talked about how developers feel about the Microsoft Store in Windows 11....

If you work with video files often and need a tool that can do it all and do it well, look no further than Wondershare UniConverter 13. Here’s an in-depth review of everything it’s capable of. When working with video, converting files to other formats, compressing them to save on storage space, and editing them in numerous ways is crucial. This has traditionally been a frustrating process since most toolbox-style video software and services are generally clunky and slow....

The DirectX Box: Countering a Sony Threat To understand Xbox and its origins, you need to understand a little bit about its backstory at Microsoft. In 1996, Microsoft introduced DirectX, an API that made it easier for game developers to write graphics-intensive games for Windows. Instead of having to write graphics routines at a high level, detached from hardware (which affected performance), or target every type of GPU card specifically, DirectX provided a uniform way of programming for a variety of graphics cards from different vendors....

Surprisingly, the Xfinity Stream app was not available on Apple TV devices (not to be confused with Apple TV+, the streaming service), even though Comcast said nearly a year ago that it was on the way. At long last, the app is available for the Apple TV HD and Apple TV 4K. Apple TV is the first platform to get the “redesigned Stream app,” which is coming to other platforms soon....

When you have multiple user accounts, ideal if you’re working on a shared Windows PC, you can switch between accounts without closing any apps you have open or files you’re working on. Here’s how it’s done. Switch Accounts From the Start Menu You can switch user accounts straight from the Windows Start menu. Click the Windows icon in the taskbar, click your profile image, and then select the user account you would like to switch to from the context menu....

For all the hoopla about Windows 11, it’s clear that some of its taskbar features don’t yet match the functionality of the operating system it’s replacing—Windows 10. Here are five ways Windows 10’s taskbar beats Windows 11’s as of October 2021. You Can’t Move It to Different Sides of the Screen In Windows 10, you can unlock the taskbar and drag it to the left, right, or top of the screen with ease....

What Is BitTorrent? BitTorrent is an internet peer-to-peer file sharing protocol that works in a sort of decentralized fashion. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that as you download portions of your files from the person who originally shared the file, you are also getting portions from fellow downloaders to maximize data exchange. BitTorrent is one of the most commonly used protocols for transferring very large files because it doesn’t overload web servers that provide downloads—since everybody is both sending and receiving, it’s much more efficient than everybody downloading from a single server....

You don’t need an antivirus app for your iPhone. You won’t find any in the App Store. So what do these “security” apps do? Are they useful, and how exactly are they protecting you? Is Norton Mobile Security Any Good? Let’s take a look at Norton Mobile Security, which is a free download but requires at $14.99 yearly subscription fee. It has three features: Wi-Fi Security, Web Protection, and OS Alerts....

One place Google Photos stands above other photo-sharing apps is how quickly you can use it to get prints of your photos. Now, Google has announced that there’s an even easier way. Instead of going to a local store to pick up shots, you can have them shipped directly to your home. Google says this option is rolling out to users now, however, I couldn’t print photos for shipping from my account at this time, so you may have to wait a little while before you’re able to do it....

Starting in early 2022, the company announced that Google Play Store users would see app ratings based on the type of device they’re running. If an app is particularly demanding and has tons of five-star ratings from users with high-end smartphones, someone with a tablet wouldn’t see those ratings, as they don’t pertain to their specific hardware. Instead, they’d see ratings from other tablet users. The change to the Play Store doesn’t just apply to tablets and phones....