Hewlett-Packard Co. announced a breakthrough new technology that has been five years and $1.4 billion in the making. The company has been losing market share recently, as rivals like Dell and Lexmark have been able to provide comparable printers at competitive prices. HP thinks its technology advantage will allow for demand of printers to double within the next ten years. Here’s what to know about the new technology:

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Downloading music can be an inexpensive alternative to buying physical CDs. In the past few years, more and more lawsuits have been popping up involving the music industry against free download sites or individuals. However, the music industry has since realized the value in selling music on-line at a discounted price. As such, there are now many sites that offer legitimate downloadable music at a reasonable price. The three biggest and most widely known will be compared here:

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All versions of Windows since Windows 98 (meaning 98/ME/2K/XP) need to be updated periodically. The reason for this is that hackers and virus programmers continually find ways to exploit various security holes of which Microsoft often times is not aware at the time. Thus, updates and security patches are required on a regular basis to make sure your computer is running optimally and with full security. Here’s how to configure your computer for this:

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A “cookie” is a small packet of information downloaded onto your computer by websites. Cookies can be helpful in that they make it possible for the computer to remember certain pieces of information that you’d rather not type in over and over again (such as account numbers, e-mail addresses, passwords, etc.). However, as part of a regular maintenance routine, you can further optimize your computer by cleaning out cookies every few months. Here’s how it works:

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As technology makes life more convenient, our reliance on passwords to protect our data continues to increase at an alarming rate. The awful truth is that almost any password is breakable; it’s just a matter of time and energy exerted by those interested. As such, creating a solid password is critical. Here is what you need to know about passwords:

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HP is now offering the new nx6125 notebook, which comes with a fingerprint sensor provided by AuthenTec. This technology may replace the need for passwords by restricting access to the computer or its data to only those registered in the computer. The notebook itself has an attractive starting price of $999.00 and includes wireless and a battery lasting over three hours.

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All versions of Windows XP come with a built-in utility called MSConfig (short for Microsoft Configuration). Among other things, this program allows you to see all of the programs that are loading each time your computer starts up. Many of these programs may be loading in the background without you knowing. Here’s what you need to know to use MSConfig and potentially speed up your computer:

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