The Complete Guide to Solid-State Drives

Adding a solid-state drive (SSD) to your computer is simply the best upgrade at your disposal, capable of speeding up your computer in ways you hadn't thought possible. The even better news: A good SSD is now cheaper than ever. But as with any new technology, there's plenty to learn. Here's everything you should know about your SSD, whether you're interested in upgrading or just like to know the ins and outs of your hardware.

What Is a Solid-State Drive (SSD)?

A solid-state drive (SSD) is a data storage device for your computer. In everyday use, it provides the same functionality as a traditional hard disk drive (HDD)—the standard for computer storage for many years. In fact, you wouldn't even know whether you're using an SSD or HDD if it wasn't for the differences in how they operate. HDDs store their data on spinning metal platters, and whenever your computer wants to access some of that data a little needle-like component (called the "head") moves to the data's position and provides it to the computer. Writing data to a HDD works in a similar fashion, where parts are constantly moving. SSDs, on the other hand, don't move at all. They store their data in blocks. When the computer wants some of that data, the SSD just says "okay, here it is." This is a simplified explanation, of course, but you might have noticed that the SSD's process seems a bit more direct and efficient. It is, and speed is the primary advantage of an SSD over a traditional HDD. This makes an SSD the single best upgrade for your computer if you're looking for a way to make it operate faster.

A new SSD can speed up your computer in several ways:

• Boot times will be significantly reduced.
• Launching applications will occur in a near-instant.
• Saving and opening documents won't lag.
• File copying and duplication speeds will improve.
• Overall, your system will feel much snappier.

SSDs have their downsides, however. For starters, an SSD won't hold as much data per dollar as an HDD. For the same $100, you could buy either a 120GB SSD or a 2TB HDD. That means you're paying about 83 cents for every gigabyte on an SSD versus five cents for every gigabyte on your HDD. That's a huge difference in cost, and the gap only grows as you compare larger drives. Luckily, it's not an all or nothing proposition. In the days of cloud storage and streaming media, SSDs provide plenty of space for most people. For those who need more storage than is affordable with an SSD, SSDs and HDDs can coexist on the same system (and we'll discuss those in depth a bit later), so you can enjoy the speed benefits of an SSD without sacrificing on storage.

In this post, we're going to walk you through everything you need to know about getting started with your first solid-state drive, from buying the one that suits you best to getting it set up and running most efficiently in your computer. We'll even take a look at a few advanced techniques for those of you who are ready to do even more with your super-fast storage device.

Choosing the Right SSD to Buy

Choosing the right solid-state drive for you isn't difficult, but the process can be a little overwhelming with so many brands available. In this section, we'll show you what you want to look for when choosing a drive and offer up a few recommendations that have worked well for us.

All SSDs are fast, and will feel like a great upgrade from a HDD, but when you're spending significantly more money on a drive that provides less storage you want it to be one of the best. You also want a reliably piece of hardware, and these are both fairly hard to gauge if you have little experience with the technology. Here are the qualities you want to look for in an SSD when you're shopping around:

• High maximum speeds: Max read speeds are around 400MB/second, and max write speeds are around 300MB/sec (note: that's megabytes per second). These numbers do not have to be exact. A little faster or slower won't make a significant difference.
• Good real-world speeds: The SSD manufacturers generally will not provide real-world read and write speeds, as they're guaranteed to be slower than the maximums. Fortunately, many online reviews contain speed test results. On Amazon, you can often find users who've posted screenshots of their test results (here's an example). Seeing this data can often be discouraging because the real-world rates are quite a bit lower. If the test results reveal read and write speeds of about 2/3 of the maximum (in the sequential and 512KB block tests) you're good to go. If you apply this to our maximum speeds above, that comes out to read speeds of about 265MB/sec and write speeds of about 200MB/sec. If you want to figure out if a more expensive SSD is worth the money, its real-world test speeds will be higher than 2/3 of its reported maximum capabilities.
• Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash memory: When shopping for SSDs, you'll run into two kind of memory: multi-level cell (MLC) and single-level cell (SLC). The primary difference is that MLC memory can store more information on each cell. The advantage here is that it is cheaper to produce, and SLC is often cost-prohibitive for the average consumer. The downside is a higher rate of error, but an SSD with error-correcting code (we'll discuss this momentarily) can help prevent these problems. (You can read more about MLChere.)
• SATA III Support: Most SSDs use the Serial ATA (SATA) interface, but not all use the latest version and this can limit the performance of your SSD. This is because SATA I can transfer data at 1.5 Gbps, SATA II at 3.0 Gbps, and SATA III at 6 Gbps. To ensure your SSD has enough bandwidth to transfer data as quickly as possible, you want it to be compatible with SATA III. You'll also want to make sure your computer is SATA III compatible as well. If not, SATA III-capable drives will still work as all versions of SATA are backwards-compatible. Just know that you may not get the most out of your SSD if your computer doesn't support the most recent SATA specification.
• ECC memory: Error-correcting code (ECC) memory does what the name implies: it provides your SSD with the ability to detect and correct common types of data corruption so you don't end up with unusable data on your drive. An SSD with ECC memory is more reliable. (You can read more about ECC memory here.)
• A history of reliability: Reliability is a very hard thing to gauge, but there are a few tricks you can employ to get a good idea. First, look for an SSD that is made by a manufacturer who has been in the business for a while (I like OCZ and Crucial). The technology is fairly new, so you don't want to go with just any company who has recently decided to jump on the solid-state bandwagon. Additionally, look at the rating each SSD receives in online shopping reviews. If it is rated a 3.5 out of 5.0 or higher, this is often points to a reliable drive. When the ratings are lower, you may want to look elsewhere. Even reliable companies make unreliable SSDs sometimes, so keep an eye on reviews to avoid buying a lemon.

Which SSDs meet these criteria? We've had a positive experience with the OCZ Vertex and Agility series of SSDs. Currently, you can find a OCZ 120GB SSD for $100 and a 240GB SSD for $180. But OCZ isn't the only company who makes fast and affordable drives. Crucial recently released a more budget-conscious set of SSDs in its m4 series, offering a128GB SSD for $105 and a 256GB SSD for $210. You'll pay a few dollars more, but you'll also get a few gigabytes as well. Going above 256GB on an SSD used to be a very expensive endeavor. While certainly not cheap, prices have dropped dramatically. OCZ now offers a 512GB SSD for $322. Even earlier this year you'd be lucky to find an SSD of that capacity for twice the cost.

These are the drives we can recommend from our own experience, but there are many other brands of SSDs available. If you want to shop around and weigh your options, keeping the criteria mentioned in this section in mind will help you find a good, reliable drive.

Dealing with the Limitations of Your SSD

One of the most common problems new SSD owners face is adapting their current systems to run on a much smaller drive. Most HDD owners are accustomed to having at least 500GB of storage, if not upwards of 2TB. Downsizing to 120GB or 240GB—the most affordable and popular SSD sizes—can be a tough job. Sacrifices will be necessary, but there are a ways you can make the process a little easier. Often times, you can even use a HDD as your secondary drive for additional storage. Let's take a look at your options.

Option One: Start Fresh and Copy the Essentials

When upgrading to an SSD, the most obvious option is starting fresh with a new install of your operating system. While this might require a little more of your time, you'll have everything configured perfectly when you're done. Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Install your operating system of choice on the new SSD.
2. Copy the contents of your home folder from your previous HDD to your new SSD. If you can't fit everything, start with the essential system files and settings, then migrate the media you have room for.
3. Go through the list of applications on your old HDD and install them on your new SSD. Run any updates, or save yourself some time by downloading the latest versions from their respective sources. Windows and Linux users can employ Ninite to get the latest versions of popular free software titles for their machines. OS X users can head to the Mac App Store to download the latest versions of their previous purchases.
4. Copy any important documents (or other files) you have room for on your SSD.
5. Put the old HDD in an external enclosure (like these), if you haven't already, and keep it handy for a month or two. This will help you see what files you use often and which ones you don't. If you find you're using something often, copy it to the SSD. If not, leave it on the external HDD for occasional access.

Again, this method requires more work but also handles the task of cleaning up your system at the same time. It may be more tedious, but it is an efficient way to solve two problems at once.

Option Two: Migrate Your Data from Your Old Hard Drive

If you don't want to start with a fresh installation of your operating system, you can always migrate your OS (and other data) to your new SSD. Chances are, however, that you're not going to be able to fit everything. That means you're going to have to start deleting files on your main drive until it is small enough to fit on your SSD. Because you don't want to lose that data forever, start by making a backup of your drive. Once you have a complete backup, you're ready to get started.

Windows users can follow our SSD migration guidefor the complete instructions. It comes across as a complex process, but shouldn't take too much time. You also won't have to reinstall Windows. Mac users can follow our MacBook SSD installation guide. While the guide focuses on installing an SSD in a MacBook Pro's optical disc drive bay, if you skip to the second half you'll find instructions on performing a data migration as well.

Bonus: Use an External Drive and the Cloud to Combat Storage Constraints

Regardless of the size of your SSD, it's never going to beat the storage capacity of a HDD. If you don't have a secondary hard drive installed in your computer, you're going to need to store your excess data elsewhere. An external HDD and the cloud are two of the best ways to get around the storage limitations of your SSD.

Unless you have enormous collections, an SSD with a 240GB (or higher) capacity should be able house your operating system, documents, music, and photos without issue. It's when you get into the business of music creation, video editing, professional photography, and other work that produces large files will you regularly run into a storage ceiling. An external drive is often the easiest solution, so you'll want to pick up one with a large-enough capacity to suit your needs. If you're looking for a portable drive, the Seagate GoFlex series is worth a look as it not only works with USB 3.0, but can be connected to other ports like Firewire 800 and Thunderbolt by way of adapter. This also provides you with some assurance of compatibility with future technology.

When an external drive won't do the trick, and you really need to downsize your space-hungry media collection, the cloud can come to the rescue. Most of the best solutions come from Google because they're both simple and free. Google Play Music allows you to upload your entire audio collection, and doing so will allow you to delete any songs you rarely listen to (or at least move them to an archival hard drive) while still maintaining direct access to them from anywhere you have an internet connection. Picasa can do the same thing for your photos. (Personally, I preferFlickr, but it isn't free.) When it comes to other data, you have plenty of options. Google Drive is great for various files, Simplenote for text, and Evernote for rich text and PDFs. It doesn't matter so much which services you use, but rather that you start making regular use of the cloud if you have heavy data needs that can't be adequately served by an external or secondary internal drive.

Optimize Your SSD for Optimal Performance

For the most part, there isn't much you have to do to optimize your SSD. It's already really fast and should do it's job without any adjustment. That said, you can achieve better performance and longevity with a few adjustments.

Enable TRIM

The very first thing you should do after installing and setting up your SSD is enable TRIM. What is TRIM, exactly? Wikipedia offers a concise explanation:

TRIM is a command [that] allows an operating system to inform a solid-state drive (SSD) which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally.

Basically, it prevents your SSD from being overused. Just like any component, SSDs have limited lifespans. TRIM helps keep your solid-state disk alive a bit longer, so you want to have it enabled if your drive supports it. Here are instructions on how to find out and enable TRIM in Windows and OS X.

Enable or Disable Hibernation Mode

Mac users can skip this section, but Windows users will want to decide between enabling or disabling hibernation. Both choices offer distinct advantages and disadvantages. When enabled, your computer will resume from hibernation almost as fast as it does from sleep thanks to the speediness of your SSD. On top of that, you won't use any power when in hibernation mode (which is especially useful for laptop users). The downside is that hibernating will eat up some of your SSD's limited space and require additional writes to the drive (which shortens its lifespan a tiny bit). If you favor power savings, turn it on. If you want a little extra longevity and storage, turn it off.

Don't Defragment Your SSD

When data is stored on a drive, it often ends up in various parts that aren't all in the same place. This is called data fragmentation. It slows down HDDs because the drive's head needs to move from place to place to read all the little bits of information. This can be fixed using a process called defragmentation, which is built into recent versions of Windows (7 and higher) and OS X. Because the location of data on an SSD is pretty much irrelevant, as it can quickly access any of it regardless of where it is, defragging a SSD is not only unnecessary but bad for the drive as well. SSDs have a limited lifespan that's determined by how much they're used. While most will last as long as you'd ever need, defragmenting the disk involves reading and writing data unnecessarily and those actions will shorten your SSD's lifespan. OS X and Windows should know when you're using an SSD and turn off defragmenation automatically. That said, it's important to remember not to defragment your solid-state drive. It provides no real benefit and can shorten its life.

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You should now be well on your way to a better, faster computer with your solid-state drive. Most of us here at Lifehacker have been enjoying the benefits of SSDs for a few years now and can't imagine going back to a traditional hard drive. Despite the limitations and the cost, they're one of the best investments you can make. We hope you enjoy your SSD as much as we're enjoying ours!

A Beginner's Guide to Water Cooling Your Computer

Click to view I used to think a truly high
I used to think a truly high performance computer meant lots of fans and lots of noise. Then I discovered water cooling. If you really want to overclock your PC and push it to the brink of its power, water cooling is the best way to make that happen, while keeping the entire thing whisper quiet.

Music by Eric Skiff.

Why Water Cooling?

Water has a high thermal conductivity, meaning it absorbs heat very easily—even moreso than air. As such, it's a great candidate for cooling your system. Water cooling works by running water over each of your components, transferring heat from each part to a radiator that dissipates the heat and keeps the water cool—almost exactly like your car's radiator does. This lets you cool your processor, graphics card, and other hardware more effectively.

We've talked a bit about water cooling before, but prebuilt systems like the Corsair Hyrdo Series can only take you so far. They're certainly quieter than most air coolers, and they'll definitely give you lower temperatures than your PC's stock fan, but if you really want silence and low temperatures, a homebrew water loop is the best way to do it.

Water cooling is particularly useful for those that perform resource-intensive tasks like video editing and gaming. Not only will it keep your hardware cooler during heavy loads (my temperatures went down by nearly 10 degrees), but it gives you a ton of headroom if you decide to overclock your system, giving you the most power possible out of your components.

Water cooling isn't without downsides, however. Water cooling has long been an enthusiast-only endeavor, mostly because of its high cost and complexity. However, you can buy all-in-one kits that cut your cost in half, and eliminate the hours of research you'd otherwise have to do finding compatible parts. Below, we'll show you all the parts you need for a water cooling setup as well as how to put it all together. Check out the video above if you want to see it in action, then head to the how-to below for more detailed instructions.

What You'll Need

We're using this XSPC Raystorm RS240 all-in-one kit, which costs about $150. You can buy your parts separately if you choose, but know that the cost can jump up to $300 or more. The parts you'll need include:

• A Waterblock: This is the block that you mount on the hardware to be cooled. In this guide, we'll just be cooling our processor, but you can also find waterblocks for your graphics card, chipset, and other components. Note that while waterblocks for RAM and hard drives exist, they're not really necessary and won't give them much of a performance boost—water cooling is most useful for the processor and graphics card.
• A Radiator and Fans: The radiator, coupled with its attached fans, is what actually keeps the water cool as it flows through your loop. Radiators come in multiple sizes, usually designed for a certain number of fans. The larger and thicker the radiator, the more effectively it will be able to dissipate heat. Our radiator is a 240mm fan (meaning you can attach two 120mm fans to it), but you can get smaller one-fan radiators or large 4-fan radiators. If you have a large enough case, you can mount them inside your computer, but smaller cases will usually require you to mount them externally.
• A Reservoir: Your reservoir is what holds the liquid in the loop, and makes bleeding out bubbles easy. Most reservoirs require you to mount them inside your case using provided hardware, though some (like the one we're using) are designed to mount inside your 5.25" external drive bays.
• A Pump: Your pump is, obviously, what pumps the water in your loop. You can buy an external pump or a pump that attaches to certain reservoirs. In our case, we're using a pump that's built-in to our reservoir.
• Fittings: You'll need two fittings for each component in your loop—the waterblock(s), the radiator(s), and the reservoir. These are what actually allow you to connect them to one another with tubing. You can use barb fittings, which are just a spout, or compression fittings, which contain a second piece you screw on for a super tight fit. They're better looking, but more expensive.
• Tubing: Your tubing is what connects each component together, and it comes in multiple shapes and colors. When you buy tubing, make sure its inner diameter (ID) and outer diameter (OD) are compatible with the inner diameter and outer diameter of your fittings. Usually this means they should be the same size, but in some cases your tubing can be slightly smaller than your fittings if you want a tight fit.
• Coolant and Additives: Lastly, you'll need a coolant, and you'll have to buy this separately even if you get a kit like the one mentioned above. You can buy all sorts of coolants with different properties, but we're partial to distilled water. It's just as effective as anything else, but it's super cheap, available at any grocery store, and has less of a chance of causing problems. You'll also want some additives for your coolant, which can include but are not limited to:
  • A biocide, which keeps algae and other gunk from growing in your loop. PT Nuke is a popular brand. Alternatively, you can use a small piece of silver called a kill coil, since silver acts as a natural biocide. This is nice because it doesn't require you to add extra liquid to your coolant.
  • An anti-corrosive, which is only necessary if you have multiple metals in your loop. Our loop contains a copper waterblock and a copper radiator, so we don't need this. But, if you used a copper block with an aluminum radiator, for example, you'd want an anti-corrosive like Fesser Base in your coolant.
  • A drop or two of dish soap, which acts as a surfactant and can help you get rid of bubbles in your loop.
  • Coloring, which we don't recommend using. Color additives have a tendency to gum up the works, so if you want color, we recommend getting some colored tubing instead.

If you're buying all your parts separately, make sure to triple check that everything is compatible. If you're unsure, ask around on forums like Tom's Hardware or Overclock.net. I also highly recommend checking out DazMode's complete guide to water cooling on YouTube, as its incredibly informative on the finer points of each component.

How to Put It All Together

Once you've decided on all your parts, it's time to put everything together. The process is a little involved, and can be pretty scary at first—but as long as you go slow and follow the instructions, you should have a safe water loop running in no time. Again, to see the process in action, check out the video at the top of this post.

Step One: Plan Out Your Loop

Before you do anything, look inside your case and plan out how your loop is going to work. Figure out where you can mount your reservoir and pump using the included hardware, decide where your radiator is going to sit, and in what order you'll connect all the parts.

Your reservoir should sit right before your pump in the loop, so the pump never runs dry. If your reservoir isn't built for a drive bay like ours is, you'll need to either mount it on your case with the included hardware, or find a spot to velcro it in place. The hard drive cage is often a good candidate for this.

Once you've figured out where all the parts go, decide how you're going to run your tubing. From the pump, you can go to your radiator, then your waterblock, then back to the reservoir. Alternatively, you can go to the waterblock first, then to your radiator and back. Neither provides a clear performance improvement over the other, so do whatever looks good to you and fits easily.

Keep in mind you may have to tweak this setup once you actually start connecting your tubing, but at least get a good idea of where you expect everything to go.

Step Two: Rinse Out Each Component

Next, collect all your hardware and rinse it out. For your waterblock, tubing, and reservoir, this is as simple as just running some distilled water through it and dumping it out. Your radiator, however, is a bit more complicated. Radiators can often come with a bit of debris left over from manufacturing inside, so you'll want to give it a very thorough rinse before you hook it up.

To do this, heat up some distilled water and pour it into your radiator, filling it up about two thirds of the way. Plug up the holes, and then shake it vigorously for a minute or two. Dump the water back out into a bowl, and you may find that a lot of debris comes out with the water. Repeat this process until the water comes out clear.

Step Three: Install Your Hardware

Now that everything's clean and ready to go, install your main components. The waterblock will mount to your CPU the same way any other cooler would: Add a small dab of thermal paste to the CPU, set the cooler on top, attach the backplate to the back of your motherboard, and screw it into place. When you screw it in, make sure to only give each screw a few twists at a time, moving in a star pattern so that pressure is applied evenly to your processor.

If you have a big enough case, you can mount the radiator just by mounting it on the vent your fans usually go, then screwing the fan to the radiator itself. If you have a larger case, you'll likely mount it in the bottom. If neither of those are an option, you'll need to mount it externally using the brackets that come with it.

Mount your reservoir and pump using velcro or the mounting hardware that come with them. If you have a bay reservoir like the one we're using, just slide it into place and screw it into the sides like you would a DVD drive.

Step Four: Connect Your Tubing

Now that everything's in place, it's time to connect it all with your tubing. Screw your fittings into each component, making sure they're good and tight before you continue so you don't spring a leak. I like to screw them in finger tight, then give them a small turn with a wrench or pair of pliers to make sure they're snug.

Now, start connecting your tubing. Slide one end of your tubing over a fitting, then measure how much tubing you'll need to connect it to the subsequent component in the loop. Mark it with your finger, and cut the tubing with a pair of scissors. Cut it as straight as you can. Connect that end of the tubing to the next component, and repeat this process with each piece of hardware. Make sure you're connecting the tubing to the correct fitting each time—your blocks, pump, and reservoir should each have a designated inlet and outlet. It won't matter which holes you use on your radiator.

You may find during this step that the tubing makes too sharp a turn, and kinks. This is bad for your water flow, so you need to return to the planning stage and see if there's a way to make that bend without a kink—sometimes giving yourself some extra tubing solves the problem, but other times you'll need to connect your components in a different order. To disconnect tubing from your fitting, you may need to slice it with a razor blade where the two connect—pulling them off is often very hard to do.

Step Five: Fill Up Your Loop

Once everything's connected, it's time to fill up the loop. Some people recommend removing the loop from your case and testing it on its own, but I prefer to just test it inside the case. If you test it outside the case, you can still spring leaks by moving it back in, so it doesn't give you a ton of extra security against leaks. As long as you do everything slowly and correctly, you shouldn't have a problem—just make sure to put some paper towel down inside your computer, and if you do spring a leak, plug it up, empty out your loop, and give your computer 24 hours to dry off. Most of your hardware will be fine, even if you get a little water on it.

Before you fill up, you'll need to jump your power supply. This lets you test the pump and the fans without actually turning on the computer itself. Disconnect the 24-pin cable from your motherboard, and connect the green wire to the black wire using a paper clip, as shown above. Some kits also come with a small adapter to serve this purpose.

Next, add your liquid additives to your water, if applicable. Grab a funnel and put it in the reservoir's fill port. Carefully pour your water in, filling the reservoir almost to the top. Some may empty into the tubing, which is okay. Once the reservoir is filled up, flip the power switch on the back of your computer and let it run for a second. When your reservoir gets about halfway down (1/3 of the way if you're using the XSPC pump/reservoir combo), turn the computer off before the pump runs dry. It's very important to make sure your pump never runs dry, as this can permanently damage your pump in a matter of seconds. Once you've let a little water out of the reservoir, fill it up to the top again. Repeat this process until the water level in your reservoir stays constant. Double check your loop for any leaks, and if everything's okay, you have yourself a working water loop!

Step Six: Test for Leaks and Bleed Out Air Bubbles

The last step is to let the entire loop leak test for 24 hours. Let it run and check back frequently to make sure it isn't leaking anywhere. During these 24 hours, you should also find that a lot of the bubbles in your loop will bleed out. You may need to tip, shake, or jiggle the case to help this process along, as well as tap or pinch the tubing. Don't worry if you have a few small bubbles left over, they'll go away in time. Again, a drop or two of dish soap can help bleed out the bubbles as well.

Once the system proves to be leak-free, you can turn it off, reconnect your 24-pin motherboard cable, close everything up, and start using your computer. You should find that your computer's temperatures are much lower, and that you can run the fans at much lower speeds, keeping everything much quieter. You'll need to empty out the loop and rinse out the hardware about every 6 months, but for now, you're ready to overclock your processor, do some serious gaming, or just bask in the silent hum of your computer's new cooling system.

Further Reading

If you're ready to give water cooling a try, that's great! I highly recommend doing a bit of extra research, so you know everything backwards and forwards before you start. Here are some other great guides that should help you learn more about the process:

• Overclock.net's Water Cooling Guide for Beginners: A basic introduction to water cooling, good for those still deciding whether they want to get into it and what kind of parts are available.
• Overclockers' Beginner's Guide to Water Cooling Your PC: This guide goes through some less-talked-about points, like water cooling without a reservoir and choosing the perfect case.
• Tom's Hardware's Beginner Guide for Water Cooling Your PC: A good guide with lots of pictures for each step of the process
• Clunk.org's Water Cooling Guide for Beginners: A very, very detailed guide to picking parts and each step of the process.

I also high recommend these two video guides:

• DazMode's Complete Water Cooling Guide: This is a great run-through of the different parts you can buy and the pros and cons of each.
• NCIX Tech Tips' Ultimate Water Cooling Guide: This guide is awesomely over-the-top, so while certain parts may not apply to the beginner, it has a fantastic demonstration on the actual filling procedure.

And, of course, we have a few water cooling gurus around here that know their stuff, so feel free to ask questions in the comments below.

Click to view

How to Block Useless Websites from your Google Search Results

Block Websites from appearing in your Google Search Results

Google has been getting better at identifying and removing spam websites from their search results pages but sometimes not-so-useful sites do manage to slip through the Google filters. What can you do to prevent such sites from appearing in your Google results? →
Approach #1: Block Sites at the Browser Level
Google offers an easy-to-use Chrome add-on called Personal Blocklist that lets you block entire web domains from showing up in your Google search results. If you spot any irrelevant website in search results pages, just click the block link (screenshot below) and all pages from that website will be hidden from your Google results forever.

The Chrome add-on implements client-side filtering – the blocked websites

are still getting served in Google search results as before and the add-on

simply hides them on your screen using CSS.

A limitation with this approach is that it works only inside Google Chrome. That is, if you are searching Google inside Firefox or maybe on your mobile phone, the site filters that you have created in Chrome won’t be available to you.
Approach #2: Block Sites per Google Account
Google also offers a web dashboard for manually blocking spam websites, one URL at a time. You can add up to 500 different websites to your blocked list and Google won’t show pages from any of the included sites provided you are signed in with your Google account. That’s the promise but unfortunately, this solution doesn’t seem to work anymore.
Approach #3: Google Search with a Global Filter
If you would like to create a “global  filter”  for your Google search results that works inside all browsers including mobile devices, you can make use of Google’s Custom Search (CSE).
CSE, if you are new, is Google except that it is meant for searching a smaller set of websites and not the entire Internet. Now here’s a little trick. You can do a reverse configuration such that Google CSE searches the entire Internet except the websites that you think are useless. Here’s how you can set it up in 2 minutes.
Step #1 (optional): Assuming that you have been blocking websites using the Personal Blocklist add-on in Chrome, click the BlockList icon in your Google Chrome toolbar and choose “Export” to download the list of all sites that you have blocked so far.
Step #2: Click here to create a Custom Search Engine. Give it a name, description and in the “Sites to Search” section, enter all the popular TLDs (like *.com, *.org, etc) one per line.

Whitelist all the popular top-level domains like .com, .org, etc.

Step #3: Click Next to save the changes. You’ll have an option to test your CSE. Click Next again and on this screen, click the link that says “Include more sites.” This is where you’ll enter the list of “bad” websites the should be blocked in Google Search Results.
Choose Exclude Sites -> Exclude Sites in Bulk and enter all the domains that should be removed from your Google search results. You can even copy-paste your Chrome Block list here. Save the changes and your “clean” Google search engine is ready.
[*] If you would like your Google search engine to search all known TLDs and not just the popular ones, go to the Manage Search Engine page inside Google CSE and change the “How to search included sites” option from “Search only included sites” to “Search the entire web but emphasize included sites.”

Filter the less-useful websites from your Google Results

Google CSE results are as relevant as the main Google web search engine and the layout looks good on mobiles and tablets as well. The only manual work you will have to do going forward is to keep the Chrome block list and the CSE exclude list in sync with each other.

Create Karaoke Music Tracks from Songs with Vocal Reducer

We all like singing to songs of our choices, don’t we and if it is a karaoke song then the fun is doubled. So in case you are planning a small get together at your place and would like to host the karaoke singing competition with your friends then you can convert your normal songs to karaoke easily and instantly and that too by self.
Converting a song into a karaoke track is although not possible completely as the music is coded with the lyrics or vocals, which is not possible to remove completely. However there are tools that that can reduce the level of vocals so much that it feels like the vocals have been removed. If you search internet for such tools then you may find many but I found this tool called Vocal Reducer better than others.

When you install and launch Vocal Reducer you will be surprised to see the simplest of the interface that this tool has. You then need to load the song to the tool for which you need to create the karaoke. The interface will show both the left and right audio frequencies in the form of waveform. Also you will find the other details of the track like sound duration, beginning and selection range.
To remove the vocals from the audio track, you now need to click the Vocal Reducer on the title menu which will open a new window named “Vocal Reduce/Removal”. In this window you will find three settings as Voice attenuation, Gain and Cutoff Frequency changing which will set the track right for you. It must be interesting to note here that changing the cutoff frequency too much can distort the song.
The quality of the karaoke you produce depends mostly on these three settings about which you will learn more when you experiment a little with these. The tool is compatible on all versions of Windows.
Download Vocal Reducer

Unleash the Power of Android with These Automated Apps

Alan Henry

If you've ever thought "I wish my Android phone would do [X] whenever [Y] happened"—for example, text your significant other whenever you leave work; silence your phone when you walk into a movie; or turn on your ringer when you wake up in the morning—Tasker makes it possible.
We've shown you the ins and outs of Tasker before, but in this post, we'll hand you the tools (and the apps) to make your phone more powerful with considerably more ease than we have in the past. Whether you're a Tasker beginner or an automation pro, the apps in this post will make your phone easier to use, smarter, and even more battery efficient. You don't have to know the ins and outs of Tasker to install the apps here, but if you do and want to tweak the workflows yourself, we'll give you the tools to do it. Let's get started.

What Is Tasker?

Tasker is an automation tool for Android. Tasker can watch for certain conditions (from phone orientation and location to y and z), and when those conditions are met, it can do anything from open applications, toggle system settings, send SMS messages, and even speak alerts aloud if you ask it to. Virtually anything your Android device can do can be automated with Tasker, and when you combine Tasker's automation tools with conditions that you set, for example, "Arrived at work" or "Out of range of my Wi-Fi network," based on your GPS location, you can see how much potential the tool really has.
Tasker App Factory is an add-on utility for Tasker that allows you to take the workflows you create and export them as standalone Android apps (APK files) that you can send to friends so they can use them, share on the web as your own work, or even post to Google Play as standalone apps. In fact, the combination of Tasker and App Factory makes building a certain type of app for Android much simpler than developing them from scratch. With App Factory, anyone can install your action as a normal Android app and use it.

What Can I Do With Tasker?

We hinted at how powerful Tasker is above, but the sky's the limit when it comes to its real potential. Most users use Tasker to automate things they do on a regular basis that they wish they didn't have to—like turn on Wi-Fi at home and turn it off again when you leave the house. Even if you're new to Tasker, you can churn out some great profiles. We've shown you some great ones in the past, but this time we're going to give you the app to get the job done, and the code if you want to get your hands dirty.

Before You Get Started

Before you proceed, you'll need to be comfortable installing apps from sources other than Google Play. The first thing you'll need to do is tell your Android phone to allow you to install apps from places other than Google Play.

1. From your Android phone's home screen, tap the menu button.
2. Tap "Settings" and select "Applications."
3. Make sure the checkbox under "Unknown Sources" is checked.

Additionally, I'll be walking you through installing the apps below in one of two ways:
The easy way : This just involves downloading the provided APK for each app and installing it on your phone. You'll need to download the APK directly to your phone, or use a service like Dropbox to get them onto your phone. Once the APK is on your phone, just launch it to install the app.
The hard way : Download the provided Tasker XML to your phone and import it to Tasker. You can either download the XML directly to your phone or use Dropbox as an intermediary, but once you have the XML on your phone, you can import it to Tasker one of two ways:

• Method One: Open Tasker, and long-press on the Project tab at the top of the window. Select "Import," and browse to where the XML file is stored on your phone.
• Method Two: Open the XML file directly, and when prompted for an application to read the XML file, select Tasker from the pop-up menu.

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My Favorite Tasker Apps, Bundled Up for Easy Installation

If you like what each of these apps does, you can just install it and walk away. Don't worry if it doesn't seem to do anything at first, it's running in the background and will respond when you need it.

Automatically Dim Your Screen at Night

What It Does: This task dims your screen completely during the late night hours when you're normally sleeping, so your device doesn't turn on with an incoming message and drain your battery. By default, the app here dims the screen at midnight, and then turns the brightness back up at 6am.
How to Install It: You can install this the easy way. Download and install this APK.

If you want to customize this recipe, import this XML file to Tasker (aka, the hard way), or click here for step-by-step instructions to set it up from scratch.

Open a List of Installed Music Apps Automatically When Headphones are Plugged In

What It Does: We've covered this workflow before, but a Tasker has changed a lot since then. Run this app, and watch: the next time you plug in your headphones, you'll see a menu of all of your pre-installed music players. This way you don't have to plug in and then go looking for your favorite music app. The app below lets you choose between Google Play Music, DoubleTwist, and Pandora.
How to Install It: You can install this the easy way. Download and install this APK.

If you have different music apps installed that you want in the menu, grab this XML file and import it into Tasker (aka, the hard way)—it's a snap to change the applications in the menu. If you want to set it up from scratch, click here for step by step instructions.

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Automatically Enable GPS When You Open Google Maps Navigation

What It Does: If you've ever fired up Navigation, selected your destination, and hit "Navigate" only to find out that your phone sits at "Waiting for GPS" for a few minutes before it finally kicks in and plots your route, you've suffered a very common Android GPS malady. Unfortunately, Navigation is just too fast for many devices' built in GPS, and the radio just hasn't managed to fully activate and connect before you're already looking for directions. We've discussed other ways to fix this problem, but this app will take care of it in a single tap.
How to Install It: You can install this the easy way. Download and install this APK.

Want to look under the hood? A pair of Tasker workflows power this app, you can import this XML file to Tasker (aka, the hard way) to customize it. If you'd rather set them up from scratch, click here for step-by-step instructions.

The Best Reader-Submitted Tasks

We can come up with plenty of uses for Tasker, but the ones that really shine are the uses that you submit to us. When we covered Tasker and App Factory's update last week and then asked you what you automated with Tasker, you came up with some impressive uses. Here are a few of the ones we really liked.

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Use Tasker As An Always-On Tool to Find a Lost Phone

What It Does: Reader Helixthe2nd uses Tasker to monitor his incoming SMS messages for a "911" code sent by someone who absolutely needs to get a hold of him, even if he has the phone set to vibrate or sounds turned off:

Also having it monitor for texts that have a code in it that signals like 911. If a person just absolutely has to get a hold of me and my phone is on silent, they can text me and force my phone to yell until I deal with it. I don't care if I'm at work or a movie theatre, if my significant other needs me because of an emergency I'll make sure she can get in touch with me.

Specifically useful for those of us who mute our phones while we sleep but don't want to miss an important middle of the night call or message, or if we're in a meeting and have our phones muted or set to vibrate but are worried we'll miss an important or urgent message.
How to Install It: You can install this one the easy way. Just download and run this APK. If you'd prefer to tinker with the workflow in Tasker (aka, the hard way), we've also supplied the XML file so you can import it using the steps above.

Use Tasker to Enable "Night Mode," Which Disables Sync and Adjusts Notification/Ringer/Media Volumes

What It Does: Reader Justin Novack responded to the call via email, and we commiserated on how awful an idea it was for Android to merge notification volumes together—that is, email/SMS/alert notifications are the same volume as the ringer, which is the same volume as media playback. To get some sleep at night without worrying he'll miss an important call, he came up with this profile, which disabled sync so his phone won't sound in the dark for every email, SMS, or other notification he gets in the middle of the night, but the volume is still up so if someone calls, he'll hear it.
How to Install It: This workflow requires some work—you'll have to install this one the hard way by importing this XML file into Tasker first.

Use Tasker to SMS Ahead on the Trip Home from Work to Let Others Know You're Coming Home

What It Does: This is another one from Justin, who described it like this:

The bottom script is the pièce de résistance, and the topic of discussion among all my friends. At a certain location, during a certain time, a text will be sent to my loving girlfriend letting her know I am on my way home. Being in IT, I never know when i am going to leave work. Rather than cook and have to reheat, SHE suggested I text her when I leave work, but I thought this was easier. :)

How to Install It: This one's a little tricky, and will definitely require some customization before you run it. You can import this XML file into Tasker and change the variables there, or you can download the XML to your computer and open it in a text editor modify it so it'll work on your phone.
First of all, you'll have to set the %Home variable, change the phone number (in the script it's "800-867-5309!") to the number you want to text, and you'll have to set the GPS location that you want to be the trigger for the SMS. This one's a little advanced, but with a little testing, you can get it work no problem.

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A few others that have their own web tutorials that are worth looking over:

• Reader Tony Bullard shared his DIY notifications system with us a while ago, but it's worth another good look if you're ready to ditch your nagging to-do app in favor of real, automatic recurring reminders.
• misterlee35 found a great walkthrough on how to make Tasker build a minimal, attractive SMS/call/email count on your desktop so you can see what you've missed.
• Dan Purnell stumbled on a pair of great recipes. The first one is a desktop shortcut for "Movie Mode," which simply sets the phone to vibrate with one tap, and another that starts recording audio through the phone's microphone without any indication that recording is taking place on-screen, for all of those secret meetings you want to record. In fact, the whole thread is full of useful links and recipes.
• Ben Blincoe found a developer who's published many of his Tasker tasks to Google Play in the form of apps, including:
  • AutoRemote—A Tasker plugin that lets you control your android phone by sending it Push notifications from the web or another Android device. Perfect if your friend is driving, you're navigating, and you want to send him the address of the place you're going so he can navigate to it.
  • AutoShortcut—Use Tasker to toggle Android shortcuts and items within applications, like a playlist, specific document or note, and so on.

More Advanced Tasker Applications

These Tasker applications are great to get started with. Once you're familiar with Tasker though, you may want to take on some more challenging projects. For example, reader Bob Igo uses Tasker in conjunction with his home automation system to do everything from open the garage door when he gets home to announce when he's leaving the house. You can see some of the Tasker profiles he's developed and what they're used for at his Github page.
Similarly, make sure to check out the Advanced section in the Tasker Wiki for some ideas on more involved applications for Tasker that will test your skill with the app. For example, instead of just building a Tasker profile that gives you an icon to tap to set your phone to "Movie Mode," like we mentioned above, why not build one that tells Tasker to mute your phone automatically when you're at the GPS location of your favorite movie theater? Or instead build a Tasker profile that, when you arrive at work each day, joins your office wireless, changes your phone wallpaper, and sets the phone to vibrate, but as soon as you're out of range of the office wireless, it turns the ringer back on, changes the wallpaper, and turns off Wi-Fi until you get home (where it can join your home network?)
The possibilities are endless, and only limited by the amount of time you want to put into automating your device.

Go Forth and Tweak!

The learning curve for Tasker and App Factory can be a little steep, but it's important to be patient, keep trying things, and see what works. As you build profiles and tasks that work for you, test them out and see if they work. Make sure your syntax is correct, and you'll be set in no time. Also, don't hesitate to check out resources like the Tasker Wiki and the Tasker User Guide if you run into trouble. If you want to export your profiles as apps, App Factory makes it easy, and the App Creation Guide makes it even easier.

Re-enable Services and Windows Features Disabled by Virus Instantly

If you have been working on a Windows machine for some time now, you must have come across many computer virus attacks till now. Also you might be knowing what the system status is, after each attack. There are many different kind of computer virus and malware, each having their own type of adverse effect on the computer. Even if you have successfully removed the virus from your system, your computer might be struggling.
Most of these viruses affects computer and disables many Windows programs like Folder Options, Registry Editor, cmd and other features. Even if you have removed the virus from your system, these features are disabled and need to be re-enabled back before they can be used again. But a normal computer user can’t re-enable them back as these involve complex registry operations, even there is no surety that it would get fixed.

I came across one tool that can help you in this regard called Tangosoft’s Re-Enable II (or Re-Enable 2.0). As the name of the tool suggests, this tool can re-enable many windows functionalities and services in just one single click. You just need to make sure that the virus has been removed else the changes might not take effect. Also it is worth noting that, if the changes are undone then your system still have some traces of virus left.
With one click Re-enable will repair the following windows features:

• Safe Mode
• Registry Editor
• Command console “cmd” 
• System restore 
• Start menu Run command
• Task manager 
• Task scheduler 
• Safe mode  
• Right click context menu 
• My computer properties 
• Folder options 
• Windows explorer search 
• start menu search 
• Reset file and folder attributes
• Ms Config  
• Restore explorer registry key
• Re-enable will also edit hosts file 
• Scan and delete Autorun.inf files

The tool is free to use for personal use and requires .Net Framework 3.5 or above. You can also try the portable version of Re-Enable 2 but it would be of larger size as it already contains the required .Net Framework.
Download Re-Enable 2.0

Easily Update your System Drivers with DriverIdentifier

System Drivers are the most important constituent of our system as with the help of these only we are able to use other hardware like video, audio and other things. By default most of our systems have the drivers installed in our systems but it can happen that due to some malfunction drivers gets lost and we need to install them back. But what if you don’t have the driver CD with you?
Our Update settings in the computer are such that we regularly gets the notifications to update them but it is not always possible to update them. So whatever be the case, here is a tool called DriverIdentifier that can help you in scanning your system for the installed Drivers and suggests you to update them in one go.

What DriverIdentifier does is, it scans your system for the installed drivers and checks their online database for any updates, thereby suggesting you to update them. This means that you don’t need to manually visit each website and update the system. You just need to click the Scan Drivers button for it to display the list within seconds to you. The only concern I found was that it displays the list in the web browser rather than the desktop window.
The information displayed consists of system hardware details at the top and the driver details below. The driver information is also displayed with many other details like manufacturer name, version and release date etc. The tool is free to download and works well with both 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows. Just pay attention while installing as it might change your web homepage or install some toolbar.
Download DriverIdentifier

Block Programs accessing Internet with Firewall App Blocker

One of the great features that Windows have is the Firewall which helps us in not only blocking the functionalities of the programs but also prevent them from connecting to the internet. This helps us in many ways as preventing a program from connecting to internet helps in saving internet data, helps in securing the system, preventing the program to download some unwanted stuffs and other things.
Any user can make use of the default Windows Firewall and block any program but the process of doing this is not that easy. It involves some complex steps like visiting the Control panel, opening up System Security and adding the program as an exception. Although you may find this process simple but it can’t get simpler than just dragging and dropping the tool to enable all the restrictions.

Yes with the help of this tool called Firewall App Blocker, you just need to do this only. Just download the app from the link below, run it to open the interface and drag drop the program to add to the block list. The tool contains only two main buttons, Add and Delete which works in a simple manner. You can also browse for the executable file of the program and click the Add button to add it to the block list. Clicking the Delete button will remove it from the list.
The program not only improves the Windows Firewall functionality but also enables you to block any program accessing internet at the backend. The program is free and simple to use and since it do not require any installation it can be run directly from the USB drive portably.
Firewall App Blocker is tested to work on Windows 7 both 32 and 64 bits, however on Vista and Windows 8 it has not been tested to work.
Download Firewall App Blocker

[Solved] Fix Windows is Not Genuine Message in Windows 7

We know how it feels when you are prompted by this “Windows is not Genuine” message every time you boot up your system. Though Windows is easily available today, not everyone wish to pay for this and thus uses the pirated copy of Windows OS.
Note: We do not encourage piracy and advise our viewers to use genuine software only.
Earlier we have also written about the “Windows Software Counterfeiting” problem and posted the solution using the RemoveWGA tool, which you can read here. “Windows is not genuine”, is a different problem than this and thus here is the solution below.

Steps:
1. Solving this problem is very easy and can be done by using a simple tool called RemoveWAT.
2. What you all have to do is, just download this tool from the link below (in case this link is not working you can search the net for this tool with the same name).
3. Extract the archive and double click the tool to run it.

4. You will see couple of options listed, just click on the “Remove WAT” button and it will start working on the problem automatically.
When the problem has been fixed, your system will be required to reboot. You will see that after the reboot your problem has been fixed and you will no longer see the “Windows is not genuine” watermark at the bottom right of your screen.
Now you can use the system as original and also set the wallpaper and themes which you were not able to, earlier.
Download RemoveWAT

How to Put a Movie Theater in Your Home on the Cheap

Movie tickets are becoming more and more expensive, and with quick home releases there are fewer reasons to make a trip to the theater. You may get an enormous screen and high quality sound, but you can also have that in your home for a lot less than you'd think. With a little extra work and know-how, you can put a movie theater in your home on the cheap.

About six years ago I had a terrible day at work—on my birthday. When I finally left the office full of stress and frustration, I only had one purpose: I was going to make an irresponsible impulse purchase to try and make my day suck just a little less. I took the subway to Best Buy, found an inexpensive 720p DLP projector (~$1000), and put it on my credit card. While I can't recommend this method to anyone else, it was the start of a great new project: putting together a movie theater in my home.

This was back in 2006 when prices on HD projectors were just starting to decline. Nowadays you can pick up one that's as good as mine for a lot less money. It's not the only thing you'll need—a good screen and sound system are important, too—but you can easily assemble a pretty killer home movie theater for as little as $1,000. In this post, we're going to take a look at how.

Step One: Choose Your Hardware

Buying a projector, a screen, and a good pair of speakers isn't cheap, but the total cost isn't much higher than a similar setup with a good flatscreen television. You can always spend more for better quality, but it's not necessary. We're only going to talk about awesome projectors (and other necessary components). Mine projector is six years old and is worth about $400-500 today, but it's been so good I've had no need to upgrade. If you've got some freedom to spend, we'll talk about options that are worth the extra cash. If not, don't worry—it'll be great nonetheless.

The Projector

At the time of this writing, the Optoma HD66 is one of the best deals you can get on an HD projector. It's currently priced at about $535, is extremely bright (it offers 2,500 lumens, which is good enough for viewing in daylight), has a very long lamp life (up to 4,000 hours), and uses inexpensive replacement lamps (only about $130 at the moment). The downside is that it's 720p, but I'd argue that's not as important as you might think. While you'll probably be able to tell the difference between a 720p and 1080p picture projected at a size of somewhere between 80 and 120 inches no matter where you're sitting (unless it's across the street), 720p still looks very good. It can be tempting to pay more for that extra detail, but I think you'd be surprised by how satisfying it looks. If you do want 1080p, however, the Optoma HD20 will give it to you. Its projection isn't as bright (1700 lumens) and it costs about $300 more, but that'll get you nearly the same projector with 1080p.

If you're willing to spend a little more money, the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 8350 ($1,278 at the time of this writing) is a great option. It offers 1080p, a fair amount of brightness (2,000 lumens), and is widely considered to be one of the best budget home theater projects you can buy (see Projector Central, PC Magazine, and Projector Reviews for evidence). Aside from the stellar image quality, the Epson 8530 offers a few distinct advantages over the Optoma options: it uses 3LCD instead of DLP projection (DLP can cause a rainbow effect for a small subset of viewers) and offers lens shift features. This may not seem like much, but when you're setting up your projector you'll find that aligning its image with the screen is one of the most frustrating parts. Lens shift does what the name implies—it allows you to shift the lens so your projector doesn't have to be mounted in a single, specifically perfect location. This added flexibility is often worth the extra money, especially if you're mounting the projector from an unusual angle or far distance.

Again, any of these projectors will provide a great image. I still use a 1,000 lumen, 720p DLP projector and I'm very happy with it six years later. Whether you're aiming for cheap or have a little extra to spend, you'll be pleased with what you get.

The Screen

Picking out a screen is a bit easier than picking out a projector, as you really only have a couple of choices: a pull-down screen (that you can roll up like a window shade) or a fixed frame screen that's always visible. Either is fine. I chose a pull-down screen because it was cheaper at the time, but a fixed frame screen tends to look a lot nicer. You should expect to spend around $200-300 and have room for a screen that's at least 90 inches (while many will be 100 inches or larger). Yes, all these screens are pretty enormous—but that's the point! You're making a home movie theater. You'll need to choose one that fits your home best, but here are a few examples to get you started:

• FAVI 120" Manual Pull-Down Projector Screen ($110)
• Elite Screens 100" Manual Pull-Down Projector Screen ($192)
• Elitech 100" Fixed Frame Projector Screen ($220)

One last thing to note is that some screens will claim to offer enhanced contrast. This is generally accurate, but the effectiveness of the claim varies. As with anything, be sure to read reviews and see how others have responded to the screen's quality before purchasing.

The Speakers

Sound is an important element of the home theater, and the speakers you choose can make or break the experience. That said, we could put together an entire post on home theater audio but it's just not the focus here. Instead, we're going to address the issues projectors pose when sound comes into the mix and leave the speaker buying guide to Gizmodo.

Unlike a TV, the primary speakers aren't going to be next to the projector. Instead, they're going to be across the room. That means you're going to have to run a wire from the projector (or sound source) to the location of your speakers. If you don't have a good way of stealthily running an audio cable across the room, one surprisingly effective solution is the Audioengine W1 wireless audio transmitter. Using it means you're foregoing the option of surround sound, which may be important to you, but the W1 is exceptionally easy to set up and actually sounds really good. You just plug them both into power—and they're powered by USB—and connect the output to the transmitter and the input to the receiver. This is a very simple solution to an annoying cable problem and it only costs $100. Audioengine also offers a variety of great stereo speakers (like these), so if you're not looking for a surround sound system they're a good place to start.

The other problem with sound is that you'll likely have multiple sources connected to the projector but the projector won't handle switching sound between them. That means you need to swap sound inputs separately. You can get an expensive system, or you can just pick up a simple AV input switcher like this one and call it a day. You could spend more money, but you don't have to.

The Media Center

Everything we've looked at so far doesn't do you a lot of good if you don't have something capable of playing a movie. That may just involve as little as buying a Blu-ray player or as much as building a home theater PC (and installing XBMC or Plex). If you just want a Blu-ray player you should have no problem finding one of those on your own, but if you want to put together a home theater PC you have plenty of options. Jailbreaking the Apple TV 2 and installing XBMC is a great, simple, $99 solution. If you want to spend a bit more and get additional features, you can do what I did: build a hackintosh mini. You don't actually have to make it a Hackintosh—you can always run Windows or Linux on the same hardware. Since my build is a little out-of-date, here's a more recent option that'll work with the operating system of your choice:

• SIlverstone SG06BB-450 Black Aluminum Case with 450W Power Supply ($143)
• Gigabyte GA-H67N-USB3-B3 LGA1155 Mini-ITX Motherboard ($200)
• Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($215)
• G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 RAM ($55)
• Geforce GTX550 Ti Amp 1GB DDR5 Graphics Card ($140) - This is optional, as you can use the integrated graphics if you want
• Western Digital 2TB Hard Drive ($100)

If you want to save some money, you can buy less RAM, swap in a slower (compatible) processor, purchase a smaller hard drive, and so on. If you're planning to make this build a hackintosh, be sure to check out the tonymacx86 forum post from which it originated.

Mounting the Projector and Screen

One of the hardest parts of owning a projector is the setup. I'm not going to downplay it: the process sucks. It's time consuming, difficult, and frustrating. That said, the results are worth it and you get better at hooking it every time (if you even have to do it more than once). I've moved my projector an unfortunate total of five times since I bought it and what took me several hours initially now takes about 20 minutes.

What You'll Need

Before we jump into the setup, let's talk about what you're going to need:

• An electric screwdriver or drill with a Phillips screwdriver head (trust me, you don't want to do this manually)
• A level
• A stud finder
• A ceiling mount for your projector or just a shelf you can mount to the wall. (Ceiling mounts are much harder to install, so I highly recommend the shelf route.)
• Any materials needed to hang your projector screen. What you'll need will vary from screen to screen (and sometimes be included with the one you purchase), but may be as simple as a couple of metal wall hooks that are rated to hold a good 60 lbs. or so.
• Optional (but highly recommended): a friend to help.

Make Your Calculations

With all of that together, you're just about ready to get started. Before you dive in, you're going to want to make a few calculations to figure out where your projector's image is going to land, how big it will be, if there will be any distortion, and so on. If this sounds like an absolutely miserable task, don't worry—Epson offers an online distance calculator that can handle all the math for you. It even shows you an image of what everything will look like. Make use of this tool before you do anything else. It'll help you mount in the right spot and prevent you from placing the projector too close or too far away.

Put it All Together

Once you've got your calculations figured out, just follow these steps to get the job done:

1. (Hopefully) with a friend, hold the screen up on the wall in the location where you want it. Use the level to make sure it isn't crooked, then use a pencil to mark on the wall where the corners of the screen rest. (If you're mounting your screen with hooks, just mark where the hooks will go.)
2. Use the stud finder to find the nearest studs in the wall. If your proposed location overlaps the necessary studs, you're good to go. If not, adjust the screen's positioning based on the location of the studs in the wall.
3. Go ahead and mount the screen on the wall. If you're mounting with hooks, just install the hooks and hang the screen. If you're using a specialized mount, follow the instructions it came with. For pull-down screens, pull them down so they're visible. This will help you align the projector in the next steps.
4. Plug in the projector and turn it on. Lift it up towards the ceiling—approximately where you expect it to live—and aim it at the screen. Get a basic idea of where the projector needs to be to hit the screen and mark that area with a pencil on the wall. (If your calculations were right, this shouldn't take much work.)
5. If you're using a shelf, install the shelf on the wall around the X you marked in the previous step. When finished, set the projector on top of it and see how well it aligns. You'll be able to make adjustments—especially if you purchased a model with lens shifting—so don't worry if it isn't perfect. If you're using a ceiling mount to attach the projector to the ceiling, use the X as a guide mark to horizontally align the mounting device. Once you know your position, follow the included instructions to attach it to the ceiling. (Note: this is only if you're mounting in the back of the room and not in the middle. Mounting in the middle means you'll have cables hanging down from the projector in a bad place unless you route them through the ceiling. That's a tough job, and a little bit beyond this guide.)
6. Place the projector on the shelf or attach it to the ceiling mount. Turn it on and line it up as best you can. If you're using a shelf, you may want to consider using double-sided tape or sticky mounting squares to help hold the projector in place. Although you may not notice it initially, it will move over time and so it helps to encourage it not to. Also, don't forget to zoom the lens and focus it so you get the image size and clarity you want.
7. Once you're physically aligned, adjust the picture settings so the image will fit your screen better. If you have lens shift on your projector, this will be pretty simple. If not, you should have keystone settings that will let you warp the picture a little bit to correct any distortion caused by the angle of projection.

Now you're good to go! Sure, it isn't the easiest process, but once you get the hang of it you won't spend a bunch of time figuring out the perfect alignment—you'll just know. Also, expect to make mistakes. Having a little spackle around for a few holes you drilled in the wrong place can't hurt. Despite the frustrations and mistakes, the important thing to remember is that when you are finished, you will essentially have a movie theater in your house. It turned out to be one of the best accidental decisions I've made. Chances are you'll love it, too.