Intel Management Engine, Explained: The Tiny Computer Inside Your CPU

Did You Know? When Galoob released the “Game Genie” product in the 1990s to allow players on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis to use game cheat codes to modify their console games, the two companies had very different reactions. Nintendo sued them while Sega offered them an official licensing deal. Geek Trivia In The Late 19th Century, There Was A Global Panic Over Increasing Amounts Of? Whale Sightings → Soot → Horse Manure → Bones in Corset Design → Advertisement How-To Geek Recommends Running Malwarebytes Alongside Your Antivirus for Maximum Protection Running antivirus is still important, but these days the really active threats are from spyware, adware, crapware, and the worst of all: ransomware. That's where Malwarebytes comes in. Malwarebytes not only protects your computer from malware, but does a better job of cleaning up an infected computer than anything else on the market. And it doesn't just work on PCs — they have a Mac version too. Click here to download Want to Change Your Email Preferences? At some point in the past you subscribed to the How-To Geek newsletter, but if you'd like to change the frequency or unsubscribe, you can do so by clicking the button. Change my Subscription (or unsubscribe) Today's How-To Geek Articles Amazon Fire Tablet vs. Fire Tablet Kids: What’s the Difference? How to Save Money on Apple Products (Like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac) Intel Management Engine, Explained: The Tiny Computer Inside Your CPU How to Join a Beta and Download Early Versions of Android Apps How to Turn Your iPhone or iPad Into a Shortcut Remote for Your Mac with Alfred How to Test Your Roku’s Internet Connection What Is Net Neutrality, and What Will Happen If It Gets Repealed? How to Disable the Beeper on the Schlage Connect Smart Lock How to Disable the Window Minimize and Maximize Animations on Windows How to Change Your Twitter Password Streaming Box Showdown: Apple TV vs. Roku vs. Amazon Fire TV vs. Chromecast vs. Android TV Today's Review Geek Articles The Best Affordable Automatic Watches Whatever TV You Buy Next, Make It a 4K One Geek Comic Today's Tech Term RF Site Survey An RF Site Survey (a.k.a. Wireless Site Survey and Wireless Survey) is a process for planning and designing a wireless network that is capable of delivering the required wireless coverage needed by an organization. Elements of an RF Site Survey include: Analysis and inspection of the organization’s location and facilities Establishing the effective range boundary Testing for interference Determining the minimum signal to noise ratio (SNR) Identifying optimal access point locations Determining the number and placement of access points required Auditing and analysis of an existing wireless network (if present) What We're Reading This section contains what we're reading from around the web, along with commentary from our editors. Think of it like your daily digest of the most interesting things online. Microsoft Testing New macOS Spotlight-like Search UI for Windows 10 It's about time, to be honest. [Thurrott.com] Why Apple's HomePod Is Three Years Behind Amazon's Echo Apple saw their speaker as an accessory; Amazon saw their speaker as a platform. [Bloomberg] Uber CEO says company failed to disclose massive breach in 2016 The company paid $100,000 to keep the breach hidden. 57 million names, phone numbers, and email addresses were leaked, along with millions of drivers licenses. [Reuters] Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs Excel changed the world of finance, but finance is outgrowing it. [Wall Street Journal] Amazon Fire Tablet vs. Fire Tablet Kids: What’s the Difference? Amazon’s Fire Tablets offer arguably some of the best value in tablets today. The company also offers various sizes and builds of these tablets—including “Kids Edition” tablets designed for, well, kids. But what makes these different than the standard edition tablets? Read This Article → How to Save Money on Apple Products (Like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac) Apple’s computers and phones have a reputation for being expensive. While it's true that their products are all high end (and priced accordingly), they're rarely objectively overpriced (dongles and other accessories aside). But if you want to pinch a few pennies, there are still ways to save money on Apple products. Read This Article → Intel Management Engine, Explained: The Tiny Computer Inside Your CPU The Intel Management Engine has been included on Intel chipsets since 2008. It’s basically a tiny computer-within-a-computer, with full access to your PC’s memory, display, network, and input devices. It runs code written by Intel, and Intel hasn’t shared a lot of information about its inner workings. Read This Article → How to Join a Beta and Download Early Versions of Android Apps Back in the earlier days of Android, if you wanted to beta test an application, you generally had to sideload it alongside the current stable version of the app. But now, Google has “beta channels” in the Play Store, making it a lot easier to give beta apps a shot. Read This Article → How to Turn Your iPhone or iPad Into a Shortcut Remote for Your Mac with Alfred Alfred is a fantastic Spotlight Search replacement for macOS, but it also comes with a secondary feature that can turn your iPhone or iPad into a shortcut keyboard of sorts. That feature is named Alfred Remote. Read This Article → How to Test Your Roku’s Internet Connection You’ve got big plans for tonight, and they all revolve around Netflix. You fire up your Roku and…it’s not working. Is your Internet down, or is Netflix? Read This Article → What Is Net Neutrality, and What Will Happen If It Gets Repealed? Net neutrality is one of the biggest policy debates around the internet, and the government is getting ready to vote on it once again. Here’s what net neutrality is, and how it affects you. Read This Article → How to Disable the Beeper on the Schlage Connect Smart Lock The Schlage Connect is a great smart lock, but it makes a pretty annoying beeping noise whenever you press a button and lock or unlock it. Here’s how to disable it for good, either on the lock itself or from your phone. Read This Article → How to Disable the Window Minimize and Maximize Animations on Windows Windows normally animates windows whenever you minimize or maximize them. These animations can be disabled, if you like, making windows hide or appear immediately. This option is available on all modern versions of Windows, including Windows 7, 8, and 10. Read This Article → How to Change Your Twitter Password You should use a strong password for every important web service you have. While Twitter may not be up there with Facebook in terms of the personal data connected to your account, you may still use Twitter for important stuff, or have it connected to other accounts. Read This Article → Streaming Box Showdown: Apple TV vs. Roku vs. Amazon Fire TV vs. Chromecast vs. Android TV It’s no secret that “smart” TVs aren’t really that smart. Generally, and a dedicated streaming box or stick is the way to go. There are quite a few to choose from, though, so how do you decide which is the best for your movie-viewing needs? Read This Article → Advertisement How-To Geek Recommends Running Malwarebytes Alongside Your Antivirus for Maximum Protection Running antivirus is still important, but these days the really active threats are from spyware, adware, crapware, and the worst of all: ransomware. That's where Malwarebytes comes in. Malwarebytes not only protects your computer from malware, but does a better job of cleaning up an infected computer than anything else on the market. And it doesn't just work on PCs — they have a Mac version too. Click here to download