Hamburg  - Generic USB sticks are often not worth buying mainly because they often take so long to record data, the German computer magazine Computer Bild reported recently.

A test of 43 USB memory sticks with eight to 16 gigabytes (GB) of storage space, showed that the five generic sticks, all purchased online, were significantly lacking in speed and had no particular price benefits.

Hamburg  - Firefox is eroding Internet Explorer's reign as the most popular internet browser. An online study conducted by marketing research firm Fittkau & Maass showed that 38.4 per cent of German-speaking internet users browse either with Firefox version 3. x or 2. x.

The Internet Explorer 7. x version accounted for 37.2 per cent of the same group, while the previous version, 6. x, had 16 per cent.

Hamburg  - If you're one of those people who can never find anything good on the radio, it might be time to check out web-based radio and expand your music collection free of charge.

There are thousands of internet radio stations out there. Many of them focus on niches such as jazz from the 1920s or Puerto Rican salsa.

Streamripper, Screamer Radio, clipinc, Phonostar Player and Nexus Radio are all programmes to help listeners sort through the stations. Some allow listeners to legally transfer individual songs to their permanent collections.

Hanover  - Users of home networks may want to consider a networked hard drive to provide communal access to music, photos, videos and data. Also known as Network Attached Storage (NAS), these compact devices work quietly, are simple to set up, and use only 10 watts on average, reports the Hanover-based c't magazine.

By comparison, a PC left running around the clock uses at least 60 watts, even if only rarely used to call up data.

As NAS hard drives generally offer incredibly large amounts of storage space, they are well equipped to serve as a backup space for a PC or laptop's hard drive. Almost all operating systems can now handle daily backups of this type.

Hamburg  - DSL connections are often slower than the speeds claimed by the DSL providers. That's why Hamburg-based Computer Bild magazine recommends that customers test the speed of their internet connection.

A cost-free test can be run using the tool provided on http://dsl-speedtest.computerbild.de. Make sure you turn off all programs including virus scanners before running the measurement. The test should also be repeated at various times of the day to provide a meaningful, average value.

Gelsenkirchen, Germany  - Nobody likes pop-up adverts and banners. Deleting the unwanted windows is both annoying and wastes time. The latest versions of popular web browsers bring relief to this universal internet pest, blocking unwanted pop-ups automatically. Users can also install add-ons to the browsers to eliminate unwanted adverts and banners as well.