You'd better have a solid Internet connection in order to use the new XBOX 720

In the recent weeks, we’ve seen various reports that Microsoft will require the Xbox 720 to have an always-on internet connection to function. Not technically always-on DRM — which has been pushed to the forefront of the news cycle thanks to the Sim City debacle — the always-on connection would, however, effectively be DRM. If the rumors end up true, the biggest question would be what would happen to your game session if, for example, a storm passes over your house and knocks out your internet for a few minutes? A new report suggests that your Xbox 720 would be safe, but only for three minutes.

Though modern game consoles are more connected than they have ever been, we still don’t need to connect to the internet in order to enjoy a single player or offline experience. With an always-on connection, though, you’d have to connect to the internet even if your game doesn’t have a lick of online or multiplayer functionality. According to multiple Kotaku sources, if your router decides to be a little unruly, or your cat starts chewing on some important wires and knocks them out of place, you’d only have three minutes to hurry up and finish whatever you were doing before the 720 suspends the game and loads a troubleshooting prompt.

The sources don’t say how long the game will be suspended for, or if the system will automatically save your game’s state. Before you swear off Microsoft for life and begin building a brand-new gaming PC, keep in mind that nothing has been confirmed yet, and Microsoft hasn’t even come close to commenting on these rumors. With such a barrage of rumors all saying the same thing, though, it’s difficult to discredit the notion of an always-on Xbox. Perhaps Microsoft is simply floating the thought out there and gauging the public’s reaction.

Since Sony already unveiled the PlayStation 4, it would make sense that Microsoft unveils the 720 at this year’s E3 at the latest, since being late to the console war rarely goes well. So, we’ll most likely only have to wait until June 11 to find out if the new Xbox will have a forced symbiotic relationship with the internet.

One Click Maintenance Program....Free and surprisingly effective

One click system maintenance programs is not a new concept. There are many out there like Glary Utilities, SlimCleaner and Puran Utilities that are designed to help users getting rid of unnecessary files that otherwise tend to be the cause of slack PC performance. Synei System Utilities is a similar Windows utilities suite that houses a host of different system maintenance tools like disk cleaner, startup manager, disk defragmenter, data backup, registry cleaner, system tune-up and a few more. The application is designed to speed up your computer’s performance by removing unwanted junk from the memory and primary storage.

The captivating interface of Synei System Utilities lets you easily access all the available optimization tools. You can either choose to only analyze your system – which in turn displays your current PC health represented in percentage – or also optimize it after the analysis.

The application is highly customizable in terms of usage, which means it’s entirely up to the users which files they want removed, or what kind of system optimization they want. Once analyzed, the underlying cause of the issue becomes more apparent, since you can click each tool from the available options and manually perform the cleanup and optimization process.

Disk Cleaner, for instance, allows removing temporary files from installed browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Chrome etc.) as well as system and application items to free up HDD space. Likewise, Startup Manager allows toggling processes and programs that automatically execute upon Windows logon; Service Manager enables terminating unwanted services; TuneUp lets you detect and optimize registry items, and Defragment is pretty much self-explanatory. Each tool opens in its own separate window, from where the desired actions can be performed by the user.

The Tools tab within Synei’s interface puts a few more handy options on the table, the most interesting and useful of which is the Backup Manager. This feature lets you create custom backup tasks from its easy-to-configure wizard mode in order to automate the processes of data backup for your important files. It boasts many useful options like Sync Mode to avoid overwriting existing files, ZIP compression support, and backup file encryption.

Apart from Backup, there’s also a trio of additional useful tools i.e. Schedule Manager, Automatic Shutdown and Repair Hard Disk. In a nutshell, Synei System Utilities has a lot of features up its sleeves. The application also creates logs regarding the previously performed actions and saves them under the Logs tab. And lastly, you can tinker a few application-specific options by clicking Settings button.

A plethora of system cleanup and optimization features, am exquisite design and a price tag of free make Synei System Utilities one of the best PC maintenance applications around. It supports all major Windows operating systems including Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8. Testing was carried out on Windows 8 Pro, 64-bit.

Download Synei System Utilities

Yahoo Mail now has Dropbox support! Now you can transfer large files

Attaching large files to an e-mail used to be a major hassle, but e-mail providers are now tapping into cloud storage services to make it easier.

Yahoo Mail is the latest service to get in on the action with Dropbox support.

Starting today, Yahoo Mail users can add files directly from Dropbox, allowing attachments to exceed Yahoo’s 25MB size limit. Users can also save attachments directly to their Dropbox accounts, which could come in handy when using a public computer.

Yahoo Mail now offers the ability to add files directly from Dropbox.

The built-in Dropbox file chooser has a couple other useful features: It includes a quick link to the Photos folder, as well as a search option. Users can also upload files to Dropbox without leaving Yahoo Mail.

Yahoo Mail isn’t the first service to integrate cloud storage. Gmail now allows attachments directly from Google Drive, and Microsoft’s Outlook automatically uses SkyDrive to attach large files and Office documents. (This is enabled by default, but can be adjusted by going to Settings > Attachments.)

You also can save Yahoo Mail attachments directly to your Dropbox account.

In practice, these features aren’t much different than uploading a file to cloud storage, then sharing the link in the body of an e-mail, but it does save a couple of extra steps—as long as you already use the particular cloud storage service that your e-mail provider supports.

It’s unlikely that Gmail will integrate SkyDrive, or that Outlook will integrate Google Drive anytime soon.

As for Dropbox, the company has shown an interest in e-mail lately. Last month, Dropbox acquired Mailbox, a much buzzed-about iOS app that aims to make e-mail management easier. Dropbox has vowed to keep building the app, and eventual cloud storage integration seems like a given.

Automatically calculate the size of any folder

Copy and paste any file to any computer on your network

Did you know Easter was World Backup Day as well?

With World Backup Day upon us once more, take some time to consider your data-protection plan. Online backup makes this easy, affordable, and secure.

This year's ersatz World Backup Day holiday coincides with a real one, Easter, and, while you could make analogies about resurrecting your data, the holiday the event's organizers want to focus on the one that comes a day later: April Fool's Day: If you're not backed up, there's a chance you could end up looking like a fool. All foolishness aside, the point of the faux holiday is an important one: We're creating vast amounts of digital content—photos, videos, music, and documents—all of which is just a hard drive crash away from obliteration. Other data-ending events threaten, as well: You could be the victim of a fire or flood, or you may just delete data unintentionally.

You could simply back your precious files up to an external hard drive or rewritable DVD, and you can find good software for this in our roundup of backup software. But an online backup service offers the advantage of securely storing your files at off-site server locations. This way, your data stays intact and available even if your local disks are stolen or your premises are hit by damage. And with more and more emphasis on "cloud computing," it only makes sense that backup should take advantage of this hot trend in technology.  Check out this link from PCMag on the ten most popular online solutions.  Pick one, any one, just pick one!