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Its all well and good splashing out for a pre-built PC or putting together a bespoke tower yourself, but whats the point of sinking all that money into it if youre not getting the very best performance out of each component? Thats where overclocking comes in.

Once thought the pastime of acne-ridden, basement-dwelling tech nerds, overclocking has now become one of the most widely used avenues for getting your PC firing on all cylinders.

Weve included some of the best free pieces of overclocking programs available right now, from mainstream utilities that anyone can pick up and use to complicated tools that enable you to tweak even the smallest of elements in pursuit of even more gaming performance.

Intimidated by overclocking? MSI Afterburner makes it easy for even complete beginners to wring extra power from their hardware

One of the oldest overclocking tools out, but still one of the best, MSI Afterburner has become a mainstay on the PC overclock scene. So why is it still so popular?

Well, for a start its very easy to use, making it ideal for newbies and those with an intermediate level of knowledge to push your graphics to their designed limit. Also, unlike EVGA PrecisionX (mentioned below), it supports both Nvidia and AMD processors.

The current version of MSI Afterburner includes a still decent number of utilities, including GPU/shader/memory clock adjustment, the power to adjust advanced fan speed, and the ability to tweak GPU voltage control.

We also like the bespoke hardware monitor included as part of the interface, which effectively tracks the performance of your rig and shows frame rates, etc while youre playing a game.

Sure, its not the most comprehensive of packages, and certainly wont appeal to the hardcore among us, but its still a robust suite that will help transform your games if youre relatively new to the scene.

Download here: MSI Afterburner

If you have an AMD GPU, this is the only overclocking software you need

Unlike MSI Afterburner, AMD Overdrive only supports AMD's own branded GPUs, but it still manages to offer one of the most impressive ways to get your PC running at an invigorated pace. As long as your CPU is of AMD origin (including its chipset), you can start pushing those components like theyve never been tested before. Best of all, the attractive interface provides convenient access to an impressively in-depth set of tools to make this ideal for both relative newcomers and seasoned overclockers.

So what does this brilliant little free overclocking tool offer? For a start, AMD Overdrive enables you to change the clock speed of your RAM and adjust the overall speed of your fans (an incredibly useful utility, especially if youre currently having overheating issues).

The built in status monitor lets you see the state of your processor in real time as you overclock it to the hilt, and with streamlined interface (one thats markedly improved over the years), you can easily and confidently tweak the voltage or clock speeds by simply moving a slider.

Okay, theres a little more to it than that, but we like how cleanly it can distill its utilities down to simple actions.

Download here: AMD Overdrive

Free, convenient overclocking software for Nvidia graphics card owners, with support for up to 10 custom user profiles

Easily one of the most popular overclocking tools on the market today, EVGA PrecisionX has become a must for gamers looking to give their rig or gaming laptop a decent push in the hardware performance stakes.

Unfortunately, EVGA PrecisionX only works with Nvidia graphics cards (sorry, AMD users) so youll need to have something like a GeForce GTX TITAN, 900, 700 or 600 installed.

The latest version supports Microsoft DirectX 12 API, as well as enabling you to change your GPUs clock offset and its memory clock offset. As if that wasnt good enough, EVGA PrecisionX also presents you with the power to overclock your refresh rate and establish up to 10 individual overclocking setups. You can even seamlessly switch between them at will!

This being a free overclocking tool aimed at gamers who want better performance with the minimum of hassle, the freeware offers an easily navigable interface that wont drown you in too many options or utilities.

It might not be as comprehensive as some of the more advanced tools out there, but if youre looking to squeeze out better clock speeds overall, EVGA PrecisionX is an ideal addition to your machine.

Download here: EVGA PrecisionX

Two free programs that will give you an in-depth look at your hardware, helping you see where there's room for improvement

Not all free overclocking tools give you the kind of data you really need to see where you machine can be tweaked or adjusted. Thats where tools like CPU-Z and GPU-Z come in, offering an in-depth look into exactly how your PC or laptop is performing.

CPU-Z enables you to track processor name and number details, determine codenames, identify processes, packages, cache levels and more. It can test the performance of your mainboard and chipset, as well as instantly bringing up memory types, sizes, timings and module specifications (SPD). It can even offer real-time measurements of each core's internal frequency and memory frequency.

Then theres GPU-Z, which supports Nvidia, AMD, ATI and Intel GPUs (so youll definitely have a card thats compatible). The free tool displays adapter, GPU and display information, and provides all the information youll need for overclock, default clocks and 3D clock shenanigans.

Both GPU-Z and CPU-Z work brilliantly alongside all of the overclocking tools in this list, so grab them both and take a peek deep inside your PC.

Download here: CPU-Z Download here: GPU-Z

One for the experts, SetFSB lets you tinker with your PC's front side bus

Weve shown you some of the most popular tools and utilities in the world of overclocking, but what if youre a seasoned PC builder who wants to squeeze every ounce of juice your machine has to offer? Sounds like you need something in-depth and comprehensive thats been designed with overclocking pros in mind say hello to the brilliant little tool that is SetFSB.

Unlike some other overclocking tools, SetFSB is all about making adjustments to your system's front-side bus (FSB), which connects the CPU to the main memory. Its speed is measured in MHz and can vary from 60 to 400 (it can go higher if youre lucky/slightly mad), so the higher the speed, the better the performance. Think of it as plugging yourself directly into the Matrix.

One quick word of warning, though. SetFSB is not for the faint of heart and should only really be used if youre an experienced PC tinkerer and overclock pro. Youll need a strong knowledge of the limits of your motherboard and CPU before tinkering with its settings, otherwise you could end up cooking your machine due to the unbridled precision at your fingertips.

Download here: SetFSB

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The best free overclocking software 2017 - TechRadar

How often do you see this when youre online, whether downloading a new app or software or signing up for some new service?

Click Agree to Accept our Terms and Conditions

You click on it, but then discover youve just agreed to give up your future first-born child or clean public toilets for a thousand hours.

This is what happened recently to more than 20000 people in the UK when they accepted the terms and conditions for free Wi-Fi that included a commitment to clean public toilets, hug stray dogs and paint snails shells to brighten up their existence.

Thankfully, the Wi-Fi provider, Purple, says it is not going to enforce its community service clause.

But it makes a good point. Purple says it added the spoof clause to its terms and conditions for a two-week period to see if anyone would notice. It said in a statement: The real reason behind our experiment is to highlight the lack of consumer awareness when signing up to use free Wi-Fi.

All users were given the chance to flag up the questionable clause in return for a prize, but remarkably only one individual, which is 0.000045% of all Wi-Fi users throughout the whole two weeks, managed to spot it.

We want free online service and free software, and we want it now. So we readily agree to the terms and conditions despite having little idea what we are agreeing to, and the service provider is in no hurry to tell us.

Thats a concern for everyone who readily accepts free Wi-Fi connections in places such as shopping centres, cafes, restaurants, hotels, bars or any other public Wi-Fi hotspots.

The same concerns apply when it comes to downloading free software and apps which can sometimes come bundled with other software or extensions. If people dont read the terms and conditions, then they wont know what else they are agreeing to install.

We have been warned about these problems for years and yet the recent Purple example shows that people still havent learnt.

Earlier this year, the Australian consumer group Choice raised the issue of licence agreements, terms-of-use agreements, and terms and conditions that people never read.

It gave the example Amazons Kindle Voyage e-reader, which it said had a minimum of eight documents that needed to be read and agreed to when buying the device, as well as documents to be read to use any subscription service.

The total word count is more than 73000, which Choice said would take about nine hours to read. It even tasked someone to read the lot, but heres the abridged version.

While the great majority of tech companies operate lawfully, if not ethically, the process of getting actual informed consent remains problematic. At present, just clicking Agree will do, regardless of what lies buried deep in the many words of those terms and conditions.

One survey in Britain found that only 7% of people read the terms and conditions carefully when signing up for an online service or product.

These documents are typically written in legalese, meaning that only a trained lawyer would be able to understand them properly. Yet the simple act of clicking on a check-box constitutes informed consent in the legal sense.

That same survey found that one in five people said they had suffered as a result of agreeing to terms and conditions without having read them carefully. One in 10 had been locked into a contract for longer than expected because they didnt read the small print.

Choice says lengthy and overly complex contracts should be considered unfair and has called for reform of the law to protect people from such agreements.

With billions of dollars at stake, IT companies need to make it clearer just what the consequences of using that product or service will be, including any potential dangers. If users can give genuinely informed consent, its a win-win situation.

For example, if we know were agreeing that an online product can use some of our personal information and we know what that information is we could receive targeted advertising that might be useful to us, and even be a good fit for our lifestyle.

So, how can we do to make sure people are properly informed in plain language about the consequences of using a product or service?

One solution that already works well is the way Creative Commons includes a human readable summary of its licensing conditions. It breaks it down to the basics then highlights anything out of the ordinary.

Its not difficult to do this, and if you have nothing to hide, the user is unlikely to be scared off by it.

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Go on, click here to accept our T&Cs - TechCentral

MINNEAPOLIS, MN--(Marketwired - July 21, 2017) - For network professionals who are managing a small number of network devices at their organization, HelpSystems now offers a fully-functional free version of Intermapper, user-friendly, reliable network monitoring software for Windows, Linux, and Mac. The free version of Intermapper includes network monitoring for up to 10 devices, plus full enterprise features including sophisticated network mapping, real-time performance alerts, and free monitoring for multiple items per device (e.g. disk storage, RAM memory, or CPU processor load) without consuming additional licenses.

Given the catastrophic effect IT outages have on business operations, 24/7 visibility into network performance has never been more important. A rising number of IT professionals are turning to free tools to do the job, only to be disappointed by their limited functionality, poor reliability, or time-consuming development it takes to make them fit their requirements.

Intermapper combines the power and reliability of enterprise software with the ease of installation that makes free versions so attractive. "Compared to other free network monitoring tools, which are often limited in functionality and may require heavy development work to get started, Intermapper is both powerful and easy to set up right out of the box," said Dev Barua, Senior Software Development Manager at HelpSystems.

Intermapper helps IT teams stay ahead of network outages and ensure all their physical and virtual equipment stays up and running -- today and in the future. "When you get started with Intermapper, you can enjoy peace of mind knowing you're using a fully-functional enterprise tool that will scale as your business requirements grow," said Chris Heim, CEO of HelpSystems.

The free version of Intermapper is available for download on the HelpSystems website.

About HelpSystems

HelpSystems aligns IT and business goals to help organizations build a competitive edge. Our software and services monitor and automate processes, encrypt and secure data, and provide easy access to the information people need. More than 10,000 organizations around the world rely on HelpSystems to make IT lives easier and keep business running smoothly. Learn more at http://www.helpsystems.com.

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HelpSystems Releases Fully-Functional Free Version of Intermapper Network Monitoring Software - Markets Insider

NIU students and faculty have the opportunity to access hundreds of IBM programs and other resources for free.

These resources ranging from cloud access, industry software, remote hardware and datasets to training tools and lesson plans are part of the IBM Academic Initiative, which offers free resources to academic institutions worldwide to help students develop market-ready skills. NIU is one of more than 3,000 organizations taking part in the program.

The Academic Initiative includes a wide range of products and tools that students can take advantage of to gain hands-on experience related to computer science, information technology, business and marketing. As Valinda Scarbro Kennedy, Worldwide Skills Program Manager for IBM Global University Programs, emphasizes, IBM is sharing the full-version software and tools not a limited academic version. This means that students have an opportunity to gain hands-on experience with the exact software programs being used in industry.

The IBM Academic Initiative is organized into nine key technology areas, including Cloud, Data & Analytics, Security and Watson. Students and faculty can browse available resources at http://onthehub.com/ibm/.

Some of the resources that are most popular with college students include IBMs Watson and Bluemix technology. Watson IBMs Artificial Intelligence QAM (Question Answering Machine) is most famous for defeating human opponents to win the game show Jeopardy in 2011. But since then Watson has continued to grow, with new capabilities and an increasing services base now available to students and faculty.

The Watson technology is part of the Bluemix cloud, another of IBMs most popular technologies. Bluemix allows users to create their own applications on the cloud either from scratch or by plugging in pre-built pieces. Users can plug in Watson services, for example, to allow for intuitive real-speech interaction with the app, along with learning capabilities.

Says Kennedy, The Watson technology we have available on the cloud is exciting. Students or faculty can create an app, and then they go into Bluemix cloud, and they can snap on a piece that does speech to text and text to speech, then they can snap on a piece that allows them to do conversation, and they could snap on weather data. Now its not just an app that does one thing. Its much more engaging and user friendly and informative.

Tracy Rogers-Tryba of NIUs Center for P-20 Engagement has experienced some of the IBM Academic Initiative resources in her role as coordinator of NIUs annual Huskie Hack, a 24-hour hacking event, where IBM has participated and presented. Rogers says, The Watson technologies are wonderful. The thing I like about Watson is the fact that it takes an enormous amount of data and can compile it in different ways depending upon your use. She continues, For me, one of the coolest things they have isPersonality Insights, an application where you can assess peoples personality based on their writing style. I put in my masters thesis just to see how it would react to this formal piece of writing, and it nailed my personality.

In addition to software, IBM Academic Initiative also provides coursework, tutorials, lesson plans and other resources to help faculty incorporate hands-on experience into the classroom. Faculty can browse educational resources by topic on https://developer.ibm.com/academic/resources/category/topic-overview/.

To access the IBM resources for free takes only minutes. NIU students and faculty should simply go to http://onthehub.com/ibm/ or https://niu.onthehub.com. Click on the resource youd like to use, and then click register. To register, you need only your NIU email address, username and password. Then sign in, add resources to your cart and begin using them.

Faculty receive initial access for 12 months, and students for 6 months. The access can be renewed as long as the NIU username remains valid

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IBM Academic Initiative offers free software to students and faculty - NIU Today

Everyone is snapping photos these days, be it with a phone or digital camera, and "filters" are becoming more and more popular as well. Even professional photographers rely on photo editing software to touch up their work, and you can too.

You've probably heard of Adobe's Photoshop CC, to many, the king of photo editing software. But Photoshop is pretty pricey, and takes a serious amount of time to learn. On top of that, it's way more than the everyday-photo-taker really needs. If you want to move on from your phone's stock "lo-fi" filter, there are more affordable, often free, photo editing programs with less of a learning curve.

A personal favorite and a way to whet your Adobe appetite is with Adobe Photoshop Elements, great for beginner to intermediate users. You can expect to shell out around $70 but it's money well spent. Elements offers an easier to use interface than its big brother Photoshop, though, it doesn't include the number or variety of tools. Elements does a great job of locating and organizing all your photos on your computer, adding effects, tons of touch-up options, and more tools to enhance the look of your pictures. If you want to share your moments on Facebook and such, Elements will do that for you as well. You can do much worse for the money. Elements will run on Windows or Mac.

PhotoScape is free and fairly robust, allowing for cropping, sharpening, contrast adjust, batch editing, etc., as well as several filter effects options you won't find in most free software. PhotoScape has also included tools tailored for those with a higher level of editing knowledge, too. PhotoScape's layout is a tad confusing, though, requiring a bit of practice but not as annoying as the installation process. If you install this software, be aware you may want to de-select the sneaky offer to changing your browser's default search engine and the toolbar that comes with it, you don't need it anyways. You are welcome to switch your browser to Chrome and install that toolbar, but realize it's probably going to track your browsing history more than ever.You can run this freebie on Windows or Mac.

Lastly, if you're ready for a more professional level of editing software while still minding your wallet, GIMP is a great open-source option and well respected.Gimp has come a long ways over the years, but it won't replace Adobe Photoshop CC, if that's what you're thinking. Most hobbyists and more causal users will find GIMP to be everything they need and more. You'll still need to invest some time to learn all the features, and there are some headaches getting it set up on your computer, but GIMP is a great product nonetheless, running on most operating systems.

Taking everyday photos and turning them into works of art has never been easier, and it doesn't have to cost you the price of a new camera either. Mobile photographers, hobbyists and professionals have more photo editing options than ever, reaching far beyond those mentioned here. And little to no cost means it's more accessible than ever before, too.

Brian Koch is an avid techie who's worked in the tech field for dozens of years with Compaq/HP, his own pc business Techpertise, outdoor photography, and more. He has lived with his wife Stacy in Colorado for over 16 years. E-mail questions, comments, suggestions to Brian: info@techpertise.com and follow him on Twitter @Techpertise.

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Making photo magic with editing software has never been easier - Colorado Springs Independent