With notebook and desktop computer prices at an all-time low, you have to think carefully about upgrading them. The cost of a few upgrades may come close to equalling the price of an entirely new system. In general, you’ll probably want to avoid upgrades designed to improve performance.

Gift ideas are needed year-round. And gifts for geeks can be particularly tough to find — especially for the giver who might not be up to date on the latest gadgets. Here’s some help. The gift ideas below — some of them wild and wacky — should be sure-fire hits to just about any tech fan for whom you need to find a quick gift.

Seasoned travellers know that the key to a great vacation is great preparation. The means taking care of many details beforehand: where to go, what to pack, where to stay and how to afford it all. Thankfully, the internet makes the chore of vacation planning easier than ever before. Never has there been so much information available so readily.

Losing email can cost you both lost time and opportunity. That’s because most of us have valuable information stored in our email programs — addresses, contact information and appointments, and some of it can be difficult or impossible to replace. Backing up your email, therefore, is essential.

Everyone looks forward to summertime — but computers hate it. That’s because along with summertime comes a computer’s worst enemy: heat. Too much heat can cause hard drives to fail prematurely and entire systems to become slower and less stable.