20 Things They Don't Want You to Know  Illustration: Dan Page
Psssst! Wanna know a secret? How about a whole bunch of them?
Sadly, the Colonel's Secret Recipe and Dick Cheney's Secure
Undisclosed Location remain shrouded in mystery, but I'm going
to spill the beans about a bunch of things that technology
companies would rather you didn't know. These insider tips will
help you cut through hype when you shop, save money when you
buy, and get the most out of products you already own.  Your CPU
May Be Much Faster Than You Think  Photograph: Rick Rizner
Here's a CPU manufacturing secret: Most CPUs can be overclocked
to run at least a bit faster than usual, giving your PC a free
speed boost. And on some rare occasions, low-end chips are
capable of running just as fast as much more highly priced CPUs.
But while overclocking can speed up your system, note that you
must take care to properly cool your PC, or you might damage the
CPU--and most system warranties won't cover that damage.  The
big speed jumps usually co