ReadWriteEnterprise

It's the single greatest dilemma of modern society: How much freedom would you trade to get more security - or vice versa? Since Windows XP became the most exploited operating system in history, Microsoft has taken bold moves - not all of them very popular, but usually very effective - to sever the routes of exploit. User Account Control, though controversial, eliminated perhaps 90% of account-elevation exploits. Now the company makes another bold security move - changing how Windows 8 boots to increase security, potentially at the cost of some freedom for certain users and non-commercial developers.

It is hard to believe that it has been more than 30 years since the Basic Input Output System or BIOS has been with our PCs, but the old girl is getting tired. If you are thinking about a major PC refresh or bulk purchase, you might want to consider its replacement, which goes under the unwieldy Unified Extensible Firmware Interface or UEFI. Why should you care? Several reasons, including better 64-bit support, handling larger hard drives, and faster boot times.