Google Smart Watch Said to Face Off Against Apple, Samsung

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From Laptopmagazine. Product reviews and advice for best reference

Review: ProtectMyID from Experian helps guard against identity theft

Identity theft is scary business, for sure. But it's a threat that seems a whole lot less likely once you sign up for ProtectMyID, an online identity theft protection service that comes from Experian, a trusted credit-reporting company. ProtectMyID is not cheap though, as it costs $16 per month for regular monitoring.

To sign up for ProtectMyID.com, you need to provide some basic information about yourself, including your address and social security number. It then begins protecting your identity by monitoring the use of your social security number, certain credit accounts, and address. All of the information you need to get started is presented in ProtectMyID's neatly-organized dashboard, which easy enough to browse, but slightly text-heavy.

ProtectMyID offers three different "Surveillance Alerts": Internet Scan, Change of Address Alerts, and Credit Alerts. The Internet Scan feature monitors what Experian calls "a vast number of online sources" where compromised credit and debit card numbers, Social Security numbers, and other personal data is found, traded or sold. To activate this protection, you need to manually add the cards you'd like protected, and Experian limits you to three. If you have more cards than that, you're out of luck, unfortunately.

ProtectMyID features a good-looking layout that's easy to understand.

The Credit Alerts feature monitors your credit report (from all three leading reporting bureaus) for what it calls "leading indicators of identity theft," which include new loans and accounts. The Change of Address alerts, meanwhile, monitors address changes that affect your credit accounts. If any alerts are raised, ProtectMyID will alert you via text message or email. Both of these are more comprehensive than the Internet Scan feature.

ProtectMyID also includes a nice feature called Lost Wallet, which will likely prove a lifesaver if your wallet disappears. You can enter the details of your medical and debit cards, and if your wallet is ever lost, ProtectMyID's Identity Theft Resolution Agents will help you cancel these cards. It also helps with your credit cards, too, but you do not need to enter that info manually, as it obtains it directly from your credit report.

And if you want to view your credit report, ProtectMyID helps you there, too. When you sign up for the service, you get a free copy of your Experian credit report; if you'd like to see the version that includes your credit score, or your credit reports from other agencies, ProtectMyID offers them to you at discounted rates.

ProtectMyID isn't perfect. It can be slightly overwhelming at times, as it throws a lot of information at you, and it's not always easy to understand the subtle differences between its various features, like Credit Alerts and Internet Scan. I also wish the Internet Scan let you monitor more than three credit cards. But for anyone who's concerned about protecting their identity, ProtectMyID will provide plenty of reassurance.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can use the latest version of this Web-based software.

From PC World. Shop computer and accessories from Amazon here

Pit Yourself Against International Racers in Need for Speed World

Need For Speed World (free) is a massively-multiplayer online racing game first released in 2010 by Electronic Arts. As befitting the long-running Need For Speed franchise, Need For Speed World features beautiful graphics, dozens of cars, and copious amounts of action.

Race against players from around the globe in Need for Speed World.You can race against other players from all over the world, participate in single-player events where you dodge the cops in crazy urban car chases, gain in rank, and buy new vehicles. Need For Speed World lets you buy in-game SpeedBoost for real-world money, and then use the SpeedBoost to buy cars and other items, but you don't have to buy SpeedBoost to have fun and level up.

You will need to log into the Need For Speed servers every time you start the game, and the game does not offer to remember your password, which can be annoying at times. Nevertheless, the game is very popular; the vendor even threw it an anniversary party earlier this year.

Note: The Download button takes you to the vendor's site, where you can play this Web-based software.

—Erez Zukerman

From PC World. Shop computer and accessories from Amazon here

Report: T-Mobile Planning to Sell Against iPhone 5 on Sept. 21

If you’ve found yourself thinking the iPhone 5 would be a good match with T-Mobile’s new Unlimited Nationwide 4G Plans, you’re probably right! A new report says you’re probably also going to be disappointed, however. TmoNews has received leaked screens indicating that Apple’s iconic handset will be a no-show on T-Mobile once again, and it may even be preparing to unleash a “Selling against the iPhone” counteroffensive.

According to the images, the carrier plans to receive new SIM kits for its Monthly4G prepaid plans tomorrow, including micro-SIM kits designed specifically to help iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S owners make the jump to T-Mobile. In addition, the carrier’s sales staff will be trained in the aforementioned “Selling against the iPhone” techniques… and that’s where another interesting tidbit lies.
The new sales initiative is slated to start rolling out on September 21st, the widely expected launch date of the iPhone 5 — and a date that both Verizon and AT&T have blacked out for employee vacations. Is T-Mobile acting on first-hand knowledge or just following the trail of bread crumbs like the rest of us?

Assuming the memo turns out to be true, it strongly suggests that T-Mobile isn’t going to hop on the Apple bandwagon this year, and if so, the anti-iPhone push and unlimited 4G announcement make a lot of sense. Back in February, T-Mobile announced it had lost around 700,000 subscribers thanks to the launch of the iPhone 4S on competitors’ networks, history that T-Mobile obviously hopes doesn’t repeat itself.

The major barrier preventing T-Mobile from carrying the iPhone is the carrier’s spectrum band, which isn’t supported by the iPhone hardware.

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Avira Internet Security Suite 2012 Review: An Adequate Safeguard Against Malware

We couldn't find anything truly wrong with Avira Internet Security Suite 2012 ($60 for one year, one PC as of January 29, 2012), which ranked 11th in our 2012 roundup of Internet security suites. After all, the package protects against malware adequately, and although the interface isn't perfect, it's certainly usable. But in a year when so many suites are excellent performers, being adequate isn't enough to keep pace.

In our tests, the Avira software put up decent overall scores in malware detection and blocking. It fully blocked 92.3 percent of brand-new malware in our real-world detection tests--a good result, though slightly below average for the products we tested. With known malware, it was able to detect 99.68 percent of samples; despite that better-than-average outcome, Avira's suite wasn't quite on a par with the top performers in this test, which detected over 99.99 percent of samples.

False positives are a nonissue: The Avira suite mistakenly flagged only a single known safe file out of a pool of over 250,000 as being potentially malicious.

It proved capable at dealing with malware infections, too, as it detected and disabled all active malware infections on our test system. That said, it did leave behind malware remnants 50 percent of the time--slightly worse than average next to its rivals.

Avira's package had a moderate impact on overall PC performance as compared with the other suites we looked at. Its performance was average or slightly better than average in most tests we performed, though it seemed to struggle in two particular cases. Our test PC with the Avira suite installed completed our download test in 3 minutes, 12 seconds, which was by far our worst performance in that regard. In contrast, the average completion time for other suites was around 53 seconds; and without any antivirus installed, our test PC finished this test in 37 seconds. In addition, the Avira product slowed file-copying operations on our test PC significantly, wrapping up that test in 2 minutes, 56 seconds. Our test PC with other security software installed finished this test in 2 minutes, 2 seconds on average; without antivirus software, the PC sped through in 1 minute, 28 seconds.

Scan speeds were about average next to the other suites we evaluated. Avira's on-demand scanner--which runs when you manually start a scan--checked 4.5GB of files in 1 minute, 29 seconds, good enough for sixth place and 30 seconds faster than the mean. Meanwhile, the on-access scanner--which runs when you open or save files--finished in 4 minutes, 40 seconds (a slightly better-than-average result).

Avira's interface is usable for the most part, but it's nothing to write home about. The installation process steps you through a fairly standard wizard, though it will check for incompatible software before you install it. Avira's suite underwent a mini-makeover for 2012, with a redesigned main status screen. This new panel is a definite improvement over last year's interface: It's nicely laid out, and it gives you a clear status indicator as to whether you're protected. A 'Fix Now' button makes it easy to correct issues, and you can easily toggle suite components off and on from this main screen. Once you delve beyond the main screen, though, Avira's interface feels designed with experts in mind. I wasn't a big fan of the Avira firewall's insistence on asking me whether programs had permission to connect to the Internet when they attempted to do so the first time--especially since I had no idea what some of the programs it referred to were.

All in all, Avira Internet Security Suite 2012 is a lot like the company's 2011 offering: It isn't flashy, but it will do the job. Even so, Avira must do better if it wants to hang with the top performers in the increasingly competitive race for security supremacy.

From PCWorld. Visit Amazon Computer and Notebook Center here