Posted 10/26/09 at 01:40:33 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

In the PDF archive of the October 2009 issue you can find:

• Nine DIY Hardware Hacks
• Netbook Upgrade Guide
• Getting to Know the BIOS
• Awesome Product Reviews, including Digital Storm's 950Si
• Ask the Doctor
• Best of the Best
• How-to make custom desktop widgets
• And a whole lot more!

Click the "read more" link to download the PDF issue today!

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Posted 10/26/09 at 11:30:00 AM by The Maximum PC Staff

I decided to do some cleaning of unwanted files on my PC, which has had occasional stretches of non-use. I now get an “access denied” message on my D: drive. I have all the latest drivers and updates for Vista Ultimate 64-bit. I poked around the Properties menu and am getting confused about how to regain access permissions. The creator is not listed. I don’t even remember what’s on the drive; it could possibly belong to my old user/admin account before a restore or reinstall. I cannot get ownership of the drive to open it. Any suggestions?

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Posted 10/25/09 at 12:00:40 PM by Evan Lahti

To the shooter enthusiast who laments auto-aim, refuses regenerating health, tires of over-protective cover systems, balks at recoilless rocket launchers, and rolls his eyes at infinite respawns, Arma 2 is a love letter perfumed in cordite.

You’re a member of Razor Team, a Marine squad deployed by the United States to assist the Chernorussian government against a well-armed insurgency. Your fire team hits the ground with weapons and equipment modeled after real-life counterparts, tackling objectives with patient tactics as the conflict evolves into a full civil war.

But narrative (even if it’s more of an asset to Arma 2 than its predecessor) isn’t the draw. For gamers who grew up with titles like Comanche, the original Rainbow Six games, and Operation Flashpoint (which was also created by developer Bohemia Interactive), Arma 2 is a platform of comprehensive war realism that appeases those who value complexity, don’t mind obscure keyboard shortcuts (hit Enter on your Num Pad to change between first/third person), appreciate accurate audio modeling (if a tank explodes a mile away, you’ll hear it five seconds after it actually blows up), and know that an M-16 can’t kill someone from three miles away (hello, Call of Duty).

Continue reading this review after the jump.

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Posted 10/22/09 at 09:30:00 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

I have a roughly year-old refurbished computer, and for the past few months the fan has been rather loud, and more recently the computer has been shutting down on its own, especially when I’m playing games, or even when I’m just on AIM or surfing the Internet.

I believe the computer might be overheating from dust caught in the fans, but I’m not entirely sure. If that is the case, how do you recommend I clean the computer? I’m quite comfortable working on the computer, but unfortunately I have very little experience working on the insides of my machine, so I have some fears about actually opening up my PC and accidentally breaking something or damaging it. Any advice, Doc?

Read our advice for Michael after the jump.

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Posted 10/21/09 at 01:45:16 PM by Michael Brown

By launching a full line of music-streaming products, including the Director DMC250 reviewed here, Cisco clearly has the Sonos Digital Music System in its sights; unfortunately, it’s fallen well short of the target.

Our biggest complaint has to do with the convoluted setup process, which includes installing Cisco’s LELA (Linksys EasyLink Advisor) on at least one PC. LELA isn’t a bad utility—if you’re completely terrified by the prospect of setting up a home network. If you’re an old hand, it’s a waste of computer resources.

The default installation also forces you to set up a user account on Cisco’s website. A spokesperson tells us this is because Cisco needs to act as an intermediary between you and Rhapsody. Really? What if you already have an account with Rhapsody? What if you decide you don’t want anything to do with it? There’s apparently some way of installing the Cisco media server software without LELA or divulging your email address to Cisco, but the documentation doesn’t mention it.

Continue reading this review after the jump.

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Posted 10/21/09 at 01:30:53 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

Lately I’ve been having an issue on startup with my PC. During POST, my system will hang and fail to load past the Asus splash screen. My keyboard stops responding altogether, so I cannot hit Tab to see the POST messages. (I’ve changed keyboards and the issue persists.) When it does load past POST, it hangs just before the GRUB boot loader. When this happens, I usually have to hit the reset button and go through the process three times before I can load an OS. Other than the keyboard swap, I’ve made no major changes to my system that I think would prevent my PC from POSTing and I run everything at stock clocks. When I do load into an OS, everything is rock-solid and stable with no issues.

I have an Athlon 64 X2 4600+ on an Asus M2-N32 SLI Deluxe motherboard, 3GB DDR2 RAM, and an XFX 8800 GT. My keyboard is a Logitech G15. My PSU is a Cooler Master 600W eXtreme Power Duo.

My bet is on the PSU, but I really don’t have an easy way or the cash at the moment to test this. Please let me know if I’m on the right track.

Read our response to J.P. after the jump.

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Posted 10/19/09 at 12:00:00 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

Don’t be fooled by the Vantec ezShare’s unassuming looks. This simple six-foot white cable with its Type A USB plugs on either end is actually one of the easiest ways to quickly moves files between two computers. Just plug one end into an available USB port on a box running Windows (XP and up), and plug the other end into the second box.

A Windows Explorer–like app will auto-launch on each machine, letting you drag and drop folders and files between the two PCs. If this sounds an awful lot like Data Drive Thru’s Tornado (reviewed November 2007), that’s because the two products are pretty similar. The file-explorer UI and software functionality of both products are virtually the same. It’s close enough that we have a pretty strong suspicion that the underlying chipsets and software come from the same factory in China. There are a few key differences, though.

Continue reading this review after the jump!

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Posted 10/19/09 at 11:30:02 AM by The Maximum PC Staff

A week ago I opened up My Computer to go exploring my second hard drive. However, when I double-clicked the drive to open it, the Windows Search function started up and opened a new window. When I right-click either drive, the Search option is the default. This is really annoying. Many times I forget about this issue and double-click, only to have the computer slow down a bit and open a new box for the search. Is there a way to modify the default option for a double-click?

Read the answer to Dave's question after the jump.

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