Table of contents for January 2022 in Tech Advisor

Users of Microsoft’s first-party cloud storage are going to get a less-than-gentle nudge to upgrade to a newer operating system early 2022. According to a post on its tech support forum, Microsoft will be ending support for the OneDrive desktop app on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 starting on 1 March, 2022. Users who want to preserve the backup and sync functionality will need to upgrade to Windows 10 or 11. OneDrive won’t become completely useless for those on older operating systems: the files themselves aren’t going anywhere, and the OneDrive system (and updated, synced contents) can still be accessed via Microsoft accounts on the web. OneDrive apps for iOS and Android are unaffected. It should be noted that, since this is a rather arbitrary end of service,…

Intel opened its recent Intel Innovation conference by unveiling what everyone has been waiting for: how fast its new 12th-gen ‘Alder Lake’ desktop Core chips will be, and how much they’ll cost. The flagship, the Core i9-12900K, will be the “world’s best gaming processor”, Intel executives said; it will be priced around £50 higher than the last-gen Core i9-11900K at launch, too. Perhaps not surprisingly, there won’t be that much variety to Intel’s first ‘performance hybrid’ processors: just six new chips, which won’t even include a Core i3 processor. By contrast, Intel launched 19 new 11th-gen ‘Rocket Lake-S’ processors back in March, which will conceivably fill any gaps in Intel’s 12th-gen portfolio. (At the Intel Innovation event, Gregory Bryant, executive vice president and general manager of the Client Computing Group,…

To Pixel 6 or to Pixel 6 Pro? That is the question. By now, you’ve no doubt heard plenty about Google’s latest and greatest Pixels. So rather than repeat what you’ve already seen in several dozen other places, I thought we’d focus on a purely practical, real-world comparison for anyone torn between the two Pixel 6 models. I’ve been carrying around both the regular Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro and living with them for nearly two weeks now, and I’ve collected some pretty telling observations that might be a bit different from the more spec-oriented comparisons you’ve pored over elsewhere. First and foremost, I’d say this: lots of traditional tech reviews tend to focus on measurement minutia and place the greatest emphasis on numerically driven, objective variables. It’s…

Ever since 5 October, you’ve had the choice to upgrade your computer to Windows 11 or remain on Windows 10. You’ll probably want to stay put. Normally, feature updates are a no-brainer. Updating your PC from one Windows 10 version to another typically offers you security updates, bug fixes, and new features, justifying the hassle. You don’t really have the freedom to opt out of a Windows 10 update, either – you can only delay it for a short time. But Windows 11 offers you a true choice. Microsoft says that it will support Windows 10 until 2025, giving you the option to remain on it for a few more years before it goes end-of-life. We think you should decline the upgrade and remain on Windows 10 for now, for…

The ongoing chip shortage is causing low stock and high prices for everything from computers to cars and games consoles. And unfortunately, it isn’t going away anytime soon. Speaking to shareholders to announce Intel’s third‑quarter financial earnings, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said that he doesn’t expect the shortage to end until 2023 – at the earliest. “We’re in the worst of it now, every quarter next year we’ll get incrementally better, but they’re not going to have supply-demand balance until 2023,” Gelsinger told CNBC. Intel recently said that the chip shortages are dragging down laptop sales, and warned that it might be hard to find juicy PC deals this holiday season. The other titans of the chip trade agree, to one degree or another. In a similar earnings call in…

Android 12 may seem like old news to those of us in the land of Pixels at this point, but hold the phone: Google’s latest software has some pretty phenomenal features that are lurking beneath the surface and all too easy to overlook. We explored a dozen such treasures the other day, but there’s even more juicy goodness where that came from. So here now are seven more spectacular hidden gems you’ll absolutely want to dig up in Android 12 on your Pixel phone – regardless of whether you’re packing the new Pixel 6 or Pixel 6 Pro or one of the older Pixel models. 1. FAST LINK-GRABBING Android’s Overview area – the card-driven app-switching interface you see when you swipe up from the bottom of your screen and then…

Microsoft knows how you want Windows to look. That, at least, seems to be the company’s message with Windows 11. It makes big changes to the user interface and continues the trend of making user customization more difficult. It’s not currently possible to fully revert Windows 11 to the look for Windows 10 and, given Microsoft’s current attitude towards UI customization, it may never be. Still, there are several key tweaks that can make you more comfortable. 1. START MENU LOCATION Windows 11’s most obvious design change is the relocation of the Windows Start menu from its traditional home nestled on the taskbar’s left side to the centre of the taskbar. Fortunately, this change is easy to revert. Open the Windows Start menu and then the Settings app. In Settings,…

Intel chief executive Pat Gelsinger has said that he expects Intel to maintain or even supersede Moore’s Law for the next decade, revving up the pace of Intel’s manufacturing, despite having slowed down just a few years ago. Gelsinger also said he believes the progress of manufacturing innovation will be unique to Intel, and that rivals will be unable to keep up. It’s no secret that while silicon manufacturing has been the foundation of much of Intel’s success for generations, there’s been a fundamental limitation: Moore’s Law, which has proven to be surprisingly prescient in determining how quickly chips can be made more powerful. Historically, the ‘law’ (really an axiom) has been that transistor density doubles over a fixed period, usually 18 months to two years. That, in turn, governs…

Keyboard shortcuts save time. Instead of moving around your mouse and then clicking through menus or dragging windows, you can just cut straight to the chase. And not only do our favorite keyboard commands carry over to Windows 11, but Microsoft has added several new ones to its latest OS, too. One was an instant hit among our staff, but give them all a try to see which stick with you. SHORTCUTS TIED TO NEW WINDOWS 11 FEATURES These keyboard commands give you instant access to a few of Windows 11’s brand-new features, like widgets. Our pick for the standout winner? Instant access to Snap, which lets you pick from six layouts when arranging your app windows next to one another. It’s a tangible upgrade from Windows 10, which required…

Windows 11 is now available as a free upgrade from Windows 10. Should you jump on board, or sit tight for now? We’re currently recommending most people wait to install Windows 11, with the emphasis on most. That article explicitly lays out our reasons for that recommendation (see page 111), but it really boils down to this: While Windows 11 offers some excellent new features, it also has plenty of rough edges, and it actually removes some key functionality you might have used in Windows 10. In the spirit of that mixed reception, here are three things we love in Windows 11 – and three things we hate. WE LOVE: THE SETTINGS MENU Nearly a decade after the new Settings menu appeared in Windows 8, Microsoft has finally made a…