PC hardware guides

It's been one of those summers in many areas of Australia, with plenty of afternoon thunderstorms. When it comes to protecting your technology, the simplest, cheapest and most guaranteed way to protect against electrical surges caused by lightning is to simply pull the power plugs out of the wall sockets. However, it’s not just surges that cause problems — blackouts themselves can cause a loss of data, especially when your PC drops its bundle on the spot.

Have you been treating your keyboard as simply a QWERTY layout with a numeric keypad? If so, take the time to have a closer look at it. You’re likely to discover special functions assigned to the function keys across the top, plus specialty shortcut keys around the edges. If you’ve taken the wise step to invest some money in a good ‘smart’ keyboard, these handy shortcut keys are just a hint of the magic hidden within.

It’s increasingly being called the Apple Tax — the answer to why, despite a strong Australian dollar, we seem to pay more for our technology in real terms than other countries. While it might be a touch unfair to solely blame Apple, it’s increasingly one of the chief reasons why we’re fast becoming a nation of international shoppers. In fact, the shopping is so good that fresh from my success in buying a $3.29 HDMI cable, which I tested and pulled apart previously, I decided on a stiffer challenge: to buy as much technology as I could for A$5.

You don’t have to be using technology for long to end up with a box full of cables. It seems as though the industry has some sort of clause whereby it mandates that all connectors will change every five years and we all have to start again. That usually leaves most of us scrambling for cables as we try to connect gadget X into widget Y. However, over the years, I’ve found that there are a few cables, adapters and converters I’ve come back to time and time again, and they’re well worth having in your computer kitbag.