At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Simple design with good build quality Lots of physical connectivity Great GPU and game performance for the price Cons Moderate CPU performance Lacks latest connectivity such as Wi-Fi 7, USB4, etc Disappointing motion clarity from 144Hz display Short battery life Our Verdict The Lenovo LOQ 15 is effectively a portable RTX 5060 graphics card. Its game performance is a good value for its current sale price, but a few flaws drag down the laptop experience. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Lenovo LOQ 15 Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Budget gaming laptops are in a pickle. Gamers often expect them at a price around $1,000 or less, but between rising GPU prices and internal trade wars, shipping a laptop with discrete graphics for under $1,000 isn’t easy. The result is laptops like the Lenovo LOQ 15. It’s successful in delivering solid game performance for the price, but Lenovo cuts a lot of corners to make that possible. Lenovo LOQ 15: Specs and features The Lenovo LOQ 15’s specifications feel built around the Nvidia RTX 5060, which takes center stage. The AMD Ryzen 7 250 is an acceptable processor, but based on the older Zen 4 architecture, which has consequences when it comes to performance. Model number: 15AHP10 CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 250 Memory: 16GB DDR5-5600 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5060 8GB (115W TGP) NPU: Up to 16 TOPS Display: 15.6-inch 1,920 x 1,080 IPS with 144Hz refresh rate, G-Sync Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 solid state drive Webcam: 5MP with electronic privacy shutter Connectivity: 3x USB-A, 1x USB-C with 100 watts of Power Delivery and DisplayPort 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x 3.5mm combo audio jack, 1x barrel plug power adapter Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 Biometrics: None Battery capacity: 60 watt-hours Dimensions: 14.17 x 10.19 x 0.94 inches Weight: 5.29 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Home Price: $809.99 The laptop also sticks with just 16GB of RAM and a 512GB solid state drive, both of which are really the bare minimum for a gaming laptop in 2025, regardless of price. At least the price is attractive. Although it carries an MSRP of $1,299.99, it’s currently sold for $809.99 through Lenovo’s website. Lenovo offers an upgrade to 32GB for $65, and an upgrade to 1TB of solid state storage for $60. The SSD upgrade is a must-have. Lenovo offers a variety of alternative LOQ 15 configurations, new and old, so pay close attention to the specifications of any model before you buy. This review covers the late 2025 LOQ 15 model 15AHP10. It’s successful in delivering solid game performance for the price, but Lenovo cuts a lot of corners to make that possible. Lenovo LOQ 15: Design and build quality Foundry / Matthew Smith Lenovo’s PC gaming sub-brand, Legion, has earned a solid reputation in recent years—but the LOQ 15 isn’t part of it. Or is it? Keen-eyed gamers might notice the LOQ logo shares the same stylized “O” found in the Legion logo. In any case, the LOQ 15 definitely lacks the attractive design of Lenovo’s Legion laptops. It’s instead a simple gray machine with minimal branding. If Lenovo swapped the branding to IdeaPad and sold it as a budget desktop replacement, well, I don’t think anyone would bat an eye. All of which is to say: the laptop looks a bit drab. Functionally, it’s about what anyone would expect from a 15-inch desktop replacement. It’s a thick machine, measuring up to 0.94 inches in profile, and it weighs in at 5.29 pounds. It’s only 14 inches wide and 10 inches deep, however, which are common dimensions for a 15- or 16-inch machine. As a result, the laptop fits snugly in my backpack’s laptop compartment. Build quality is adequate. Faux-metallic plastic is the material of choice. The chassis is reasonably rigid but some flex can be found along the keyboard, as well as when opening or closing the display. It’s good enough for a budget machine, but it doesn’t stand out. Lenovo LOQ 15: Keyboard, trackpad, mouse Foundry / Matthew Smith Keyboard quality is often a highlight for Lenovo’s laptops, but the LOQ 15’s keyboard didn’t leave the usual positive impression. I think the amount of key travel is fine, but the bottoming action felt more subtle than other recent Lenovo laptops. I’d like both tactile and audible feedback. If you like a quiet keyboard, though, you might enjoy it. While the key action wasn’t my preference, the keyboard layout is a positive. Lenovo squeezes in a keyboard with a numpad. Despite that, the primary alphanumeric keys are generally large, while the numpad keys are slimmer than usual. The keyboard also provides oversized arrow keys, which I think is a good move for a gaming laptop. As with most budget gaming laptops, the touchpad is just sort of… there. It measures about 4.5 inches wide and three inches deep, which isn’t large for a 15-inch laptop. And while the surface is responsive enough, it feels inexpensive. The touchpad provides a physical mouse action, but it’s shallow and seems hollow. With that said, these downsides are common for a budget gaming laptop. PC games are often played with an external mouse, so the touchpad becomes less of a priority. Lenovo LOQ 15: Display, audio Foundry / Matthew Smith The Lenovo LOQ 15 ships with a 15.6-inch 1080p IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate. And honestly? It’s a bit of a disaster. See, there’s one specification that stands out as rather odd on Lenovo’s website. It lists “25ms.” No context is provided, but I expect this is meant to be the panel’s pixel response time. And when it comes to pixel response times, well, 25 milliseconds may as well be an eternity. And here’s the real problem: this specification wasn’t my first indication that the panel was a problem. Instead, I noticed something was fishy while moving windows around the display on the Windows desktop. Normally, a 144Hz IPS panel will look crisp in motion. But on the LOQ 15 I noticed huge, smeary trails following text and icons. I noticed a similar issue in games, which invariably looked more like a 60Hz panel (or perhaps even worse) than a 144Hz display. That’s a big problem. It would be reasonable, of course, to expect even a budget gaming laptop to ship with a display that’s good for gaming. But that’s not what I saw from the LOQ 15. But hey, at least the display supports Nvidia G-Sync. So that’s something. Motion performance aside, the IPS panel is otherwise a typical example of the breed. Color performance is decent, but the contrast ratio is low due to the display’s inability to reach a true, inky black level. Because of that, the display is a better choice for bright, colorful games than for darker, more atmospheric content. The display is also rather dim even at maximum brightness, so it’s uncomfortable to use in a brightly lit room. Audio, meanwhile, is delivered by a pair of two-watt speakers. They’re not going to impress but do manage to provide a healthy maximum volume and reasonable clarity in most situations. They will become muddy and harsh when listening to music at high volumes but they’re fine for games where audio presentation isn’t as critical.   Lenovo LOQ 15: Webcam, microphone, biometrics There’s not a lot to say about the Lenovo LOQ 15’s webcam and microphone. It ships with a 5MP webcam that offers acceptable image quality for Zoom calls, but it’s nothing special. The same can be said of the dual-array microphone, which is fine but doesn’t stand out. An electronic privacy shutter is available. Biometrics, on the other hand, are no-go. That’s typical for a budget gaming laptop, but something you’ll typically find if you spring for an alternative priced around $1,000 and above. Lenovo LOQ 15: Connectivity Foundry / Matthew Smith The Lenovo LOQ 15 has a lot of connectivity. It includes three USB-A ports, one USB-C port with Power Delivery and DisplayPort, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet (RJ-45), and a 3.5mm combo audio jack. Power is delivered over a barrel-plug connector. This is a wide range of connectivity that can handle most situations. An SD card reader is the only option notably missing, but SD card readers aren’t common on gaming laptops. However, the available connectivity is basic in terms of technical specifications. The USB-A ports all support USB 3.2 Gen 1 with 5Gbps data speeds. The USB-C port is USB 3.2 Gen 2 with 10Gbps of data. There’s no Thunderbolt and no high-data-rate USB. Also, the USB-C port’s Power Delivery only reaches 100 watts, which isn’t enough to fully power the laptop at load. To be fair, this is all more-or-less the norm for a budget gaming laptop. It’s not reasonable to expect cutting edge connectivity in a laptop that has Nvidia discrete graphics, yet retails under $1,000. The LOQ 15 also sticks to Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 for wireless connectivity. Wi-Fi 7 is the latest standard, and many laptops support it, while budget machines often get by with Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 6 is a much older standard at this point and it lacks the high-speed 6GHz band that was introduced with Wi-Fi 6E. Lenovo LOQ 15: Performance The Lenovo LOQ 15’s internals pair an AMD Ryzen 7 250 processor with Nvidia’s RTX 5060 discrete graphics. The Ryzen 7 250 is an eight-core, 16-thread processor with a maximum clock speed of 5.1GHz. The RTX 5060, meanwhile, has 8GB of VRAM and a maximum graphics power of 115 watts. This core duo is flanked by 16GB of DDR5-5600 memory and 512GB of solid state storage. Foundry / Matthew Smith First up is PCMark 10, and you might notice something odd about the results. The LOQ 15 actually crashed mid-way through the benchmark, at the moment the Nvidia GPU had to be engaged, despite efforts to adjust settings (like turning off Nvidia Optimus and G-Sync) to smooth things over. This is not a novel issue for the LOQ 15. PCWorld reviews have, on rare occasions, run into issues with PCMark 10 failing to finish a benchmark run for opaque reasons. Still, the Lenovo LOQ 15 did report Productivity a score for the Essentails portion of the benchmark, which is the first half, and PCWorld has records of those scores posted by other laptops. So, that is what you see above. And, truth be told, it’s not too exciting. The Essentials tasks—which include web browsing and video conferencing—are important, but not exactly difficult for a modern Windows gaming laptop. Foundry / Matthew Smith Let’s move on to a more illuminating benchmark: Cinebench 2024. This is a heavily multi-threaded CPU test that benefits from lots of high-performance cores. The AMD Ryzen 7 250 has just eight cores, however—which isn’t all that many in 2025. On top of that, the Ryzen 7 250 is based on the Zen 4 processor architecture, not AMD’s newer Zen 5. The Cinebench 2024 results suffer as a result. The multi-core score of 818 isn’t terrible but, when compared to a range of gaming laptops, it’s certainly towards the lower end of what’s available. Foundry / Matthew Smith Next up is Handbrake, a program that can transcode a variety of video formats. We use it to convert a feature length film from .MP4 to .MKV format, a task which takes roughly six minutes on the Lenovo LOQ 15. That once again is towards the higher end of what’s available from a modern gaming laptop. However, the Ryzen 7 250 is competitive with Intel Core 7 chips like the Core 7 240H, as well as older hardware like the Intel Core i7-13650HX. Foundry / Matthew Smith It’s clear the Ryzen 7 250, though a decent performer for a budget gaming laptop, isn’t going to set records. But what about the Nvidia RTX 5060 mobile? It’s arguably the most important piece of silicon in the laptop, as it contributes the most to game performance. 3DMark Fire Strike returned a score of 11,779, while Port Royale (a ray traced benchmark) reported a score of 7,529. These results are a bit of a mix. On the plus side, the Lenovo LOQ 15 provides good performance for an RTX 5060 laptop. The RTX 5060 also posts modest but noticeable improvements in both benchmarks. On the other hand, though, the RTX 5060’s gain over the RTX 4060 is slim for a new generation of hardware. It’s there, but it’s slim. Foundry / Matthew Smith Moving on to real games, we first come to Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and an older title most modern gaming laptops can handle with ease. The LOQ 15 is no exception, as it averaged 118 frames per second at 1080p and the Highest detail setting. The LOQ 15’s score is unremarkable for a gaming laptop with RTX 5060, though. Perhaps we’re looking at a CPU bottleneck, as the competitive systems that score better in this game also beat the LOQ 15 in CPU benchmarks. Foundry / Matthew Smith Metro Exodus is also an older title, but one that’s still difficult for modern laptops to run at the Extreme detail preset. Here, the LOQ 15 managed to reach an average of 49 frames per second, which is a solid result. The Alienware 16 Aurora with RTX 5060 isn’t nearly as quick. The LOQ 15 with RTX 5060 also has a commanding lead over older RTX 4060 laptops, which cluster around 40 FPS on average. Foundry / Matthew Smith We wrap things up with Cyberpunk 2077. Though the game has a reputation for demanding system requirements, the LOQ 15 didn’t have much trouble, as it managed to reach an average of 91 frames per second at 1080p and the Ultra preset without ray tracing. The system-slaying Overdrive preset tanked performance down to just 17 FPS. But that’s hardly a surprise, as even RTX 5080 laptops barely nudge over 30 FPS at that preset. It should be noted that games with DLSS 4, like Cyberpunk 2077, can reach much better performance with DLSS 4 and frame generation engaged. For example, the LOQ 15 averaged only 36 FPS at Ultra when ray tracing was turned on—but DLSS 4 with 2x Frame Gen boosted performance to 99 FPS. One final hardware concern worth mentioning is the laptop’s 16GB of RAM and 512GB of solid state storage. The RAM should be enough for most modern titles, but it doesn’t leave much room for future-proofing. The 512GB SSD, on the other hand, is already borderline unusable for a gaming laptop. Just three or four modern games, like Fortnite or Call of Duty, will fill up the drive. You’ll need an external SSD or a high-speed Internet connection that makes installing and un-installing digitally owned titles less painful. Lenovo LOQ 15: Battery life and portability The LOQ 15’s lower price forces a concession in battery life. It provides just 60 watt-hours of capacity. That’s not a lot of capacity for a gaming laptop—or any modern Windows laptop, really. The HP Victus 15 has a 70 watt-hour battery, for example, and the Dell G15 has an 86 watt-hour battery. On the plus side, the LOQ 15 supports Nvidia Optimus switchable graphics. That means the Nvidia RTX 5060 can be turned off in favor of the integrated AMD Radeon graphics in less demanding situations. Foundry / Matthew Smith I measured just over five hours of battery life in our standard battery test, which loops a 4K clip of the short film Tears of Steel. That’s not a lengthy result. With that said, however, it’s about what I would expect from a modern gaming laptop. As the graph shows, some competitors that have larger batteries turn in even less appealing results. Lenovo LOQ 15: Conclusion The Lenovo LOQ 15 could be a decent budget gaming pick if not for one serious issue: the display. I noticed serious ghosting and blurring while using the laptop. This was an issue both in-game and also on the Windows desktop. It’s a shame, because the LOQ 15’s performance level is respectable for its price tag, but I can’t recommend the laptop unless you don’t want to use the included display and instead intend to use the laptop with an external monitor. Indeed, I think that’s arguably the one appealing use case for the LOQ 15. You could just use it as a portable RTX 5060. At $809.99, the LOQ 15 isn’t that much more expensive than a desktop RTX 5060 paired with a PCIe dock and power supply, and it’s way easier to travel with, or even move around your house. Gamers should also be aware that though the LOQ 15 is inexpensive, you arguably get more value if you can spend around $1,000 to $1,200. For example, the Lenovo Legion 5 with an AMD Ryzen 7 260, Nvidia RTX 5060, OLED display, and 512GB SSD can be had for $1,150, or $1,215 with a 1TB solid state drive. A $350 to $400 price leap is nothing to scoff at, but a laptop like the Legion 5 is a far more well-rounded system that should keep you happy a few years longer than the LOQ 15, making the higher price worthwhile if you can stretch your budget. Read...

Let’s face it: your home office probably deserves a lot more love than you give it. But who has the time (or funds) to deck out a home office as it deserves? Well, one thing you can do without breaking the bank is replace that clunky traditional power strip with a much better one like this Anker 8-in-1 USB charging station—and now’s a great time to grab one because it’s on sale for $19.99 (was $25.99) on Amazon. This charging station features four three-prong AC outlets oriented in opposite directions so your bulky plugs don’t get in the way of each other. And you know how all your USB power adapters take up so much room on your power strip? This solves that problem with built-in USB ports along the bottom edge—two USB-C, two USB-A—so those AC outlets can be reserved for importance stuff (like monitors). As far as power, the main USB-C maxes out at 20W, the secondary USB-C at 15W, and the USB-A ports at 12W. When multiple ports are used at the same time, they typically max out around 15W shared (except for the USB-As, which max out at 12W shared). While that’s far from “super fast” charging speeds, it’s still plenty speedy for a budget-friendly charging station that’s meant to be used while you’re at home for a while. I also love this charging station’s flat profile—measuring 4.72 x 3.15 inches and only 0.71 inches thick—and the AC outlets recess when you aren’t using them, so the whole thing takes up less space than your typical power strip and feels quite sleek. The power cord is 5 feet long so you can position it almost anywhere, and the end plug is flat and angled so you can easily reach it behind furniture hassle-free. You can’t go wrong with this, especially at this price. Get this 8-in-1 Anker charging station for just $19.99 before this killer deal expires! Replace your clunky power strip with this sleek, modern upgradeBuy this Anker charging station for $19.99 Read...

Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. Missed the latest topics on our YouTube show or burning news from across the web? You’re in the right place. Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website! I never thought I’d think on laptops with envy. But here I am, writing these words. It comes on the heels of Intel’s deep reveal of Panther Lake, which is what Adam, Will, and Mark were learning about last week. (Such is the super sekret life of tech journalists.) Mark’s quick rundown of the facts is extensive, as overviews go—there’s just that many details to cover. I highly recommend reading his deep dive as well, but among the highlights: Three chip families represented by one 8-core and two 16-core processors, with a claim of 50 percent better multithreaded performance over previous generations. The top-tier 16-core CPUs pack juggernaut-level integrated graphics, including dedicated support for ray-tracing. Said integrated graphics take the form of Xe3 GPU cores touted as 50 percent faster on average compared to last gen. Multiframe generation support (yep, “fake frames”).  Intel is also cramming in upgrades to the “image processing unit” in its integrated laptop processors to boost clarity and color fidelity of video during webcam calls. Inaccurate skin tones and grainy low-light calls should be less of a problem on a Panther Lake chip. But the feature I want in all chips, including desktop? Auracast, which not only lets you wirelessly play videos across two devices simultaneously, but also use the onboard Bluetooth radio to triangulate the location of a lost item—whether the laptop itself or a connected device, like earbuds. So why the envy, when desktop could get Auracast (and likely will)? When kickass integrated graphics matter less, given the flexibility for discrete GPU support? When desktop processors outstrip performance on laptops? Memory issues. I mean of course the ominous reports of anticipated shortages and sharper rising costs for memory. In a recent interview, Phison’s CEO thought that demand from AI data centers for NAND-based products could create a dearth lasting as long as 10 years. A whole-ass decade. Blake Patterson It’s not just NAND, either. DRAM is also expected to suffer from the same shortages and price hikes as demand skyrockets. (You can read Luke James’s excellent article over at Tom’s Hardware for more of a dive into the factors contributing to this bleak outlook.) Here’s my thinking: CPUs and GPUs will continue to improve on desktop, yes. It’s likely features like Auracast will come to desktop processors, yes. But what good will that do me if I can’t afford to build a PC around those chips? These days, I think of storage and memory as basic staples among hardware components—no different than the potatoes, rice, or bread of a meal. The idea of RAM and SSDs becoming both scarce and expensive makes me start to question what I can take for granted about desktop PCs and DIY building. I wonder if interest in DIY building will slow a bit, due to the extra burden on budgets. If that will then lead to an equal slowdown in consumer CPU and GPU innovations. If that then increases the withdrawal from DIY building, leading vendors to pull back on the innovation and variety in cases, fans, and other such components. I’m not predicting a death spiral, but I fear a period of dormancy that returns us to the mood and vibe of past eras—when desktop PCs were boring, bland, and not highly performant unless you had serious spare cash to drop. For now, I’m preparing for austerity even as I look forward to seeing what else could come from Intel’s Panther Lake, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite and Elite Extreme, and future laptop processors. I love the idea of powerful mobile chips. I hate the idea that they could supplant desktop PCs as the only reasonable option for consumers. In this episode of The Full Nerd In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Will Smith, and special guest Edward Crisler, NA PR Manager at long-time GPU maker Sapphire Technology, discuss the current state of GPUs, including manufacturing challenges and benchmarking changes. I should talk more about the actual episode here, but honestly, Ed always has great insights and you should definitely check out the whole conversation. More to the point, I’m still extremely preoccupied by the lollipop scorpions that Adam brought back as a souvenir for Willis. Surely…that’s an HR violation? Isn’t it? Wouldn’t it be? (Willis, be careful!) Willis Lai / Foundry Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd Network YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real-time! Don’t miss out on our NEW shows too—you can catch episodes of Dual Boot Diaries and The Full Nerd: Extra Edition now! (Adam just dropped a new episode of Extra Edition related to Panther Lake!) And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds. This week’s packed nerd news Intel’s Panther Lake chips definitely made the biggest waves in tech news this week, but other interesting, quirky, and downright unsettling tidbits popped up, too. I’m predictably wary after reading a new report about AI models being easily corrupted, but balancing out the scales is a rather delightful DIY take from Google on a keyboard. Also, we got word of it a few weeks ago, but now it’s time to bring out the bugle—AOL’s dial-up service is now officially dead. Rest in peace, old friend. It’s unusual, but I want one.Google Expect Thread Director changes in Intel’s Panther Lake: Mark wasn’t the only one who dug deep into Panther Lake while at the press briefings in Arizona. Will took a dive with Intel Fellow Rajshree Chabukswar into the upcoming improvements Intel is making to Thread Director for Panther Lake, too. Xbox Game Pass site chokes as flood of gamers rush to unsubscribe: Perfectly balanced, as all things should be. (If you want to try to load up on the previous, more reasonable price for Ultimate while you still can, try these methods.) The only RAM config that PC gamers need? This advice from our colleagues over at PCWelt takes the pressure off to spend more to get better performance. But will the internet agree to a sensible take? AI can figure out conversations based on…mice vibrations: Right out of a spy novel. I hope I’m never a high-profile enough target for this. (Also, I guess this justifies my use of a crappy cheap mouse.) Keep it secret. Keep it safe: Google’s allowing end-to-end encrypted emails to be sent to non-Gmail recipients. It’s only available to Workspace users, but I like what it could mean for personal accounts down the road. You can play real Game Boy games in a LEGO Game Boy: My current favorite modder is back with this dope LEGO GameBoy tweak. I definitely smiled when I read about this and saw who was behind it. I love Natalie_The_Nerd’s work.Natalie the Nerd I’d try this rotary dial keyboard: It would be slow, yes. But I like what it could mean for accessibility options. (Though maybe voice typing is faster. Assuming it recognizes what you’re saying with any accuracy. And it’s not always necessarily as private as I’d like.) So it doesn’t take much to corrupt AI models: Cool cool cool. At least one Starlink satellite per day is falling and burning up: The good news is the debris won’t kill anyone. The bad news is that these occurences will contribute to global warming, which indirectly causes death worldwide. Microsoft keeps trying to kill off local accounts in Windows 11: I’m really grumpy about this. Seriously, Microsoft, who do you think is bothering to open the Command Prompt during setup? It sure isn’t most folks. ‘Interstellar interlopers’ makes a great band name: As always, much appreciation for the fine folks at Ars Technica, keeping the wonder and mystery of space alive for us all. Catch you all next week—if I manage to escape the boxes I’ll be swimming in, after taking inventory of my October Amazon Prime Day purchases. None of it is exciting, but I’m excited that I got a good deal on “boring” stuff. Yeah, I’ve reached that age. ~Alaina This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld. Read...

If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an RTX 50-series gaming rig and you need to keep it portable, then you should really check out this Asus TUF Gaming A16 laptop that’s on sale at Best Buy. It’s got a powerful configuration that’s well worth it with this huge $350 discount, knocking it down to a much more affordable $1,349.99. What’s under the hood here? A brand-new 2025-era AMD Ryzen 9 270 processor, a hefty 32GB of fast DDR5 RAM, and a speedy 1TB Gen 4 SSD that all come together to zip through any task you need to handle. It’ll boot up in a flash, won’t struggle with Windows 11, move enormous files in minutes, and run games as smoothly as butter. (It has two memory slots and can be expanded up to 64GB of RAM, by the way.) And don’t forget that just-released Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card that future-proofs this laptop for several years at least. It unlocks Nvidia’s latest gaming features, including DLSS 4, and you’ll love how it plays on the 16-inch IPS screen with 1920×1200 resolution and 165Hz refresh rate and Nvidia G-Sync support. It offers more connections than most modern laptops, too, with dual USB-A on the right side plus USB4, USB-C, USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5mm audio jack on the left side. Use it for up to 10 hours on a single battery charge, and other nice bits include a 1080p webcam, backlit keyboard, and a CPU that qualifies it as a Copilot+ PC for AI features. Best Buy has this listed as a “Techtober Deal” that ends on (or around) October 12th, so don’t miss it. Snag the Asus TUF Gaming A16 for just $1,349.99, this weekend only! Or if it isn’t the right laptop for your needs, look through our best gaming laptop picks for more options. Get the Asus TUF A16 laptop for $350 offSave $350 on this Asus TUF Gaming A16 laptop Read...

The bells are ringing for Windows 10, and many users who have waited are now choosing to update to Windows 11. If you’re one of them, congratulations on continued security updates and new features, but also on an operating system that has received a lot of criticism since its launch in 2021 — sometimes justified, but often exaggerated. Because when you look beyond the glassy surface with its rounded corners and the Start menu in its strict position, the differences are not that insanely big actually. It’s not like switching to Mac or Linux, not by a long shot. In many cases, these are fairly small changes that you can quickly get used to. In many cases, it’s even possible to restore or mimic old behavior, and new additions you don’t need can often be turned off or hidden. We recommend: Windows 11 Pro Relax and enjoy the ride and everything will be easier, right? Microsoft has become a bit more like Apple in one area in recent years. Where the company used to make an effort to step aside and let users choose how they want to use their computer, it now prefers you to do certain things in a certain way. Foundry The most obvious example is that you’re almost forced to sign in with a Microsoft account instead of a traditional local account. For example, it is not normally possible to choose a local account when installing the system. This can be circumvented fairly easily, but Microsoft keeps harping on about all the benefits of its account. In a way, the company is right. With a Microsoft account, for example, you don’t have to worry about registering Windows because the license key is linked to the account and it’s easy to reactivate if you make changes to the hardware. I find this very useful as I sometimes boot my Windows installation directly and sometimes in a virtual machine — even though the hardware is completely different, the system has no problem with activation. Windows 11 Home can encrypt the local storage with Device Encryption, but it requires a Microsoft account to store a copy of the recovery key — so if you want to use a local account you need a Pro license to encrypt the disk. Further reading: How to save your older PC when Windows 10 hits end of life Other benefits include synchronization of settings and applications installed from the Microsoft Store between computers and automatic authentication for all other Microsoft services and applications. If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription for Office, it will be much easier if you are logged into Windows with the same Microsoft account. But if you don’t subscribe to Microsoft 365, don’t use OneDrive, have no need for disk encryption, and rarely or never change hardware, there’s no practical gain from a Microsoft account. If you prefer, you can then opt for local account anyway, even with Windows 11 Home. Create local account with Rufus Rufus The easiest way to do this when reinstalling the system and not updating from an older version is by creating an installation media with the Rufus program. Download an .iso file of Windows 11 from Microsoft and select it in Rufus. Select a connected USB stick of at least 16 gigabytes that has nothing important on it (all current files will be deleted) and click Start. In the dialog box that pops up, tick Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account. You can also tick Create a local account with username and fill in the account name you want, so you don’t have to do it during installation. The Start menu Microsoft The most visible difference in Windows 11 from its predecessor is that the Start menu and program icons have been centered in the Taskbar instead of being on the far left as in all previous versions. But it’s a quick thing to change if you prefer to have it the way it used to be (go to Settings > Customization > Start and change to left-aligned). The big difference lies in the content of the menu. As soon as you click on the Start icon, it is obvious that it is not the old familiar Start menu. There is no list of installed programs, but instead a number of preselected “favorites” are listed in a grid under the heading Pinned. Below these is an area called Recommended, where you can find recently opened and added programs, files, and more. Further reading: Windows 10 support ends soon. Here’s how to upgrade to Windows 11 You can switch off all these recommendations, but the section will still be there. Microsoft hasn’t made it easy, but at the time of writing there is a method that works in the latest version. It requires three additions to the registry. You can save the below code in a plain text file with a .reg extension and import into the Registry Editor. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftPolicyManagercurrentdeviceStart] `HideRecommendedSection`=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftPolicyManagercurrentdeviceEducation] `IsEducationEnvironment`=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindowsExplorer] `HideRecommendedSection`=dword:00000001 After a reboot, the pinned items area fills the entire center section of the menu. Foundry With a trick, you can get rid of Recommendations and get a cleaner Start menu. What you can’t do anything about, however, is that the Start menu doesn’t show a list of all installed programs. You can still access such a list by clicking All in the top right, but there doesn’t seem to be any hidden setting to make it open that list automatically. In the narrow strip at the bottom you will see the on/off button and an icon for your account, but you can also add other shortcuts in Settings > Customization > Start > Folders. The Taskbar Aside from the default placement in the center, the big change in the Taskbar is that programs group all their windows behind one icon instead of one icon per window. But just like the placement, you can easily restore the old behavior. You can find the different settings in Settings > Customization > Taskbar (or Taskbar Behaviors). The Explorer Foundry In Windows 11, Microsoft has given Explorer an updated interface with a modern, airier design. If you have a small screen, it can be distracting to have fewer icons. You can change that by choosing View > Show > Compact view. The menu tab area that existed before has been replaced by a narrow toolbar with only a few common functions. Other functions can be accessed via the context menu — click on Show more options to display the old context menu with all options. You won’t miss the fact that functions like copy and paste have become icons. A big improvement is that the program now has built-in tab support, so you can have multiple folders open without having multiple separate windows. Ctrl+T opens a new tab just like in browsers, and you can drag and drop a tab from the tab bar at the top to detach it into its own window. Tab layouts and tab groups Foundry Hover over the maximize button at the top right of an application window and you’ll soon see a small menu of options to quickly adjust the size of the window to take up, say, half or a third of the screen. These are called tick layouts, and if you fill the screen with two or more programs using the feature, they are automatically lumped together in something called a tick group. You can quickly view such a group of programs either by hovering over one of the included programs in the Taskbar and selecting the group there, or by clicking on the new Task View button to the right of the search button and selecting there. Foundry Unfortunately, pinned groups do not save after a restart and if you switch off one of the included programs, the group disappears. A quicker way to pin a window to one half of the screen is to grab it and hold it against the edge of the screen on the side you want it. If you already have an application taking up, say, a third of the screen, the next window will be two-thirds instead of half. Widgets and Copilot Foundry On the far left of the Taskbar (if you have the Start Menu centered — otherwise on the far right before the System Tray) is a new icon which normally shows the current weather in your location. It may also show news headlines of various kinds. Hover over or click it to reveal Windows 11’s new widget feature. To be honest, it sucks, so it’s a good thing Microsoft has made it easy to switch it off. Go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar and turn off Widgets. Another new feature that is now also included in the latest version of Windows 10 but has been included for longer in Windows 11 is Copilot, which in a way replaces the old voice assistant Cortana. Microsoft The Copilot icon is located in the Taskbar next to the Task View icon (which shows all open windows and virtual desktops), and opens a spartan web-based interface that looks exactly like copilot.microsoft.com. The company has been criticized for not developing a proper Windows application but settling for a web view. But Copilot is one of the more competent free AI chatbots, so you can still use it to brainstorm ideas, proofread texts, and more. If you have a subscription to Copilot Pro, you can log in to access the more advanced features, but otherwise you can skip it. Unlike in Word and Excel, for example, the system doesn’t automatically log you in with the same account you log in with in Windows, but that account should show up as a preset when you try to log in. Updated classics If you come to Windows 11 today and not right after the launch, you will notice a change that has come with updates to the system. Microsoft has gone to great lengths to update some of the oldest but still most used programs in Windows: Paint and Notepad. In addition to an updated, modern interface, both programs have been enriched with AI features. It’s not that the Copilot chatbot itself has been baked in, but specific features for each program. Microsoft In Paint, you can use a new tool to remove distracting objects or blur the background of images. Users with a Copilot Plus computer can also use generative fill to add new objects to images. Notes have been given more features for rewriting text. For example, you can ask Copilot to rewrite in a formal tone or in the form of a poem. The AI can also expand or shorten text. Soon, a function for writing summaries of texts will also be added. Microsoft Other examples of applications you might not recognize are Clock — which has a new design and new features — and the brand new Media Player application, which replaces the old Windows Media Player. Key settings and where to find them Joel Lee / Foundry Microsoft has redesigned the Settings application in Windows 11. Not only have many more settings that were previously in Control Center moved into the modern application, but it also has a new interface that makes it easier to browse settings. In Windows 10, Settings had a separate list of different settings on the left for each category, and to go to a different category, you had to first go to the home screen and then click into that category. In Windows 11, the left-hand column is instead filled with a list of categories, and a menu of different kinds of settings under each category appears on the right. Click on one of these to open the settings included in that sub-category. For example, Bluetooth & devices > Devices where you will find related settings. Some more advanced settings may be hidden in another level of submenus and others behind expandable groups. For example, in Display, the Color Profile and HDR settings are in submenus, while the Multiple monitors settings are expandable. The search function in Settings is really good and if you’re looking for a particular setting and can’t remember exactly where it is, it’s often the quickest way to find it. Read...

Support for Windows 10 ends today, but that doesn’t have to be the final curtain for the operating system. With Extended Security Updates, you can keep receiving support for up to 10 PCs for one year at no cost. It’s worth signing up if you plan to keep using Windows 10. However, experts—including former Microsoft employee David Plummer—recommend taking a further step: grab the Windows 10 ISO file before Microsoft removes it from the website. What’s a Windows 10 ISO file? And why do I need to download it? An ISO file contains all the data, files, folders, and structures of a particular program. It’s usually kept on hand for archiving purposes. It’s essentially the digital equivalent of what you’d get if you bought a software CD, for example, Windows 10. You can use the Windows 10 ISO file to completely reinstall Windows 10 if problems arise on your current system. If you burn the ISO file to a bootable CD or drive, you can use it at any time to run Windows. If you think you’ll ever want to run or install Windows 10 again, it’s a good idea to download the Windows 10 ISO file ASAP. We don’t know how much longer it’ll be made available by Microsoft. How to download the Windows 10 ISO file There are two ways to obtain the Windows 10 ISO: either via Microsoft’s download page or via the Media Creation Tool. Method 1: Download the ISO directly This method is a bit cumbersome and was explained step by step on the Windows Latest page. Here is the abridged version: Open your web browser and go to the settings. Navigate to the Developer Tools section (usually found under “More” in Microsoft Edge). You’ll now see a developer window. This must remain open at all times. Open the Microsoft Download Center for Windows 10. The “Network Conditions” option will now be displayed in your browser. If not, go to “More tools” and click “Network Conditions.” Change the user agent here by removing the tick next to “Use Browser Default.” Then select a different one from the drop-down menu, for example, “Android Mobile.” This will make the download page believe that you’re accessing it with a device that doesn’t yet have Windows installed. Refresh the download page. You should now see the Windows 10 ISO download page. Scroll down and click on “Select Edition” under “Windows 10 2023 Update | Version 22H2.” Next, click “Windows 10 (Multi-Edition ISO).” Confirm and wait until the check is complete. Select the desired language and then “Confirm.” Select the 32-bit or 64-bit version and click on “Save” to start the download. In the developer window, switch back to “Use default browser option” and then close it. Method 2: Use the Media Creation Tool The second method is somewhat simpler, but requires you to install another program. The Media Creation Tool is offered by Microsoft itself to create ISO files. This is how you proceed: Open the Microsoft website to get the Media Creation Tool for Windows 10 via the “Download Now” button. Wait until the download is complete and open the EXE file. Once opened, the tool can either be used to update your existing operating system or to create an ISO file. Double-click on the file to open it. Click “Yes.” The Windows 10 setup page is now displayed. Accept the terms of use. You will then be asked whether you want to update your PC or create installation media. Select the second option. Select the language, edition, and architecture according to your requirements. This option is hidden by default. Uncheck the “Use Recommended Options for this PC” box to select the desired options. Then click “Next.” Select the “ISO file” option in the media selection field or, if you want to create a bootable flash memory, the “USB Flash Drive” option. Click “Next” to continue. The download will now start in the Media Creation Tool. When the download is complete, you can either burn the file to a DVD or click the “Finish” button to close the Media Creation Tool. Once you have your ISO file, it’s a good idea to update with the latest patches. You can do this easily by opening the ISO and clicking on “Update this PC.” It’s best to keep the ISO updated until support ends in October, so you’ll have all the important improvements before then. Read...

TechHive Editors Choice At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Lots of features for the price Fast 2.5GbE port Very advanced OS with media streaming and backup galore No hidden charges to enable features No license needed to connect IP cameras Cons Occasional interface rough spots All-plastic case Our Verdict The TerraMaster F2-425 two-bay NAS box is a good value for streaming media over your home network, handling IP cams, and backing up your computer and other device data. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: TerraMaster F2-425 two-bay NAS Retailer Price $224.99 View Deal $249.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Millions of people pay month in, month out to store their data in the cloud, seemingly oblivious to the fact they can store their data privately, in their own home, on their own network, without any recurring costs whatsoever. All you need is a NAS box (Network Attached Storage) like the TerraMaster F2-425 reviewed here connected to your router. You can keep the NAS in a physically safe location, stream movies and music to any of networked display, smart TV, or speakers, as well as back up your the photos, videos, and other data stored on any of your devices to it. And the best part is that you don’t need to trust your data to a broadband conduit and some large corporation that quite frankly–wouldn’t give a darn about your data if you weren’t paying them to store it. Specifications If you’re not familiar with a NAS box, it’s basically a tiny computer that’s designed for storing and distributing data–a file server, in the vernacular, although it can do much more. NAS attaches via an ethernet cable, or in some cases Wi-Fi (the F2-425 is hardwired only). You access the files stored on a NAS box via your operating system’s (Windows Explorer, the MacOS Finder, etc.) network browsing and administer it or access its virtual machines and apps with a Web browser. In some cases, you can attach a keyboard via the NAS box’s USB port and a display via its DisplayPort or HDMI; however, while the F2-425 has an HDMI port, it’s used for terminal (aka command line) use only. Unlike some NAS boxes, this one has no graphical desktop or direct streaming media output. The all-black TerraMaster F2-425 is constructed largely from plastic with some metal framing to secure the components inside. It measures around 9-inches long, 5.5-inches high, and 4.6-inches wide, and it weighs just a tad under four pounds unpopulated (i.e., before you add any of the drives that are needed for storage). I’d love to say it’s ruggedly constructed, but on one of the rubberized feet was falling off after only a few drags across the rough surface you see in the photos. It’ll do, but don’t set it in the back of your jeep while off-roading and expect it to survive. As you can see in the photo at the top of this page, the F2-425’s front panel is home to the power button, activity and power lights, a single a 10Gbps USB 3.2 Type-A port for quickly copying data from the NAS, and the two quick-change drive bays. There’s no drive-locking mechanism, but we’re hoping you trust everyone in your home. If you don’t, well…. The box’s rear panel features the 2.5GbE ethernet port, two more 10Gbps Type-A USB ports, the power jack, an HDMI port, and a large fan to keep things cool. There’s also a pinhole reset button that I had to use since I couldn’t remember the first password I used. Dummy. The fastest transfer rate you’ll get from a 2.5GbE network device is 300MBps–only a skosh faster than today’s high-capacity hard disk drives (HDDs) (which can transfer files at around 275MBps), but slower than SATA solid state drives (SSDs) (they can perform file transfers at 550MBps). Streaming even high-resolution 4K video, however, requires transfer speeds less than 50Mbps (that’s megabits per second), so you’ll have bandwidth to spare with the F2-425. You’ll find two quick-change drive bays inside the F2-425 that can accommodate either 2.5- or 3.5-inch HDDs or 2.5-inch SATA SSDs, and you can hot-swap drives if you so desire. While HDDs and SATA SSDs might seem quaint in the age of NVMe (Non Volatile Memory Express), you can get up to 72TB of storage with the former, but only 32TB with the latter–and then only with a pair of VectoTech 16TB V-MAX drives that cost $1,700 each! Normies can figure on 8TB with two $250 4TB consumer-grade SATA SSDs (4TB if configured as RAID 1). And in at least the case of HDDs, I would recommend that mirror them (RAID 1) if there’s anything irreplaceable on them. That halves the storage, but it reduces the chance of catastrophic data loss if one drive fails in striped RAID 0. The processor is a four-core Intel Celeron N5095 and there’s 4GB of DRAM on board–easily enough to run the Linux-based TNAS operating system that’s provided, but not powerful enough to host the Roon music server. (Roon recommends having at least an Intel Core i3 processor and 8MB of DRAM.) What are the TerraMaster F2-425’s multimedia features? Of most interest to the average home user will be the F2-425’s video, music, and photo features. For streaming video and music, there’s TerraMaster’s own Multimedia Server, which leverages DLNA. The acronym stands for Digital Living Network Alliance, a trade group Sony founded in 2003, and it’s become the baseline for even the included (and more powerful) Emby, Plex, and Jellyfin media servers. You can click on the preceding links for TechHive’s reviews of those product, but Plex is the most mainstream option. Setting up Plex on the F2-425. The Photos app features “AI”, aka pattern recognition, and it will auto-sort photos based on various criteria. Bittorrent clients and an iTunes server are also on board. Using the F2-425 for client backup TNAS’s Centralized Backup is one of my favorite NAS backup apps. You can of course install clients for it on your computers and devices, but you don’t have to. If you share the files on your devices, you can access them via Centralized Backup’s SMB (i.e., normal Windows file sharing). TNAS’s extensive support for backup includes local, network, cloud, and other remote servers. In other words, turn on file sharing on your computer or device, share the folders you want backed up, then add them as sources to a Centralized Backup file server backup. From there, you can use TNAS’s online storage backup software to sync your backed-up data to the cloud, and/or sync it from the cloud to the F2-425. The commercial services supported include BackBlaze B2, Google Drive, OneDrive, Amazon S3, Dropbox, Box Baidu Cloud, Alibaba Cloud, and others??. There’s Time Machine support for Apple users, but iCloud is not supported. Setting up the F2-425 to back up shared files on my M4 Max Studio. On a side note, I highly recommend keeping a local copy of your precious photos. There have been no huge losses of data from a major online repository, but it’s an increasingly dangerous online world. Using the F2-425 for security cameras Did you know that you don’t need to pay through the nose to have online surveillance vendors monitor your premises? Indeed, before those services were available, local security systems employing hardwired or IP cameras (Internet Protocol cameras that use your local network via Ethernet or Wi-Fi rather than an online service.) were the norm. IP cams are still readily available for not a whole lot of cash. And you can still access IP cameras remotely, although that requires configuring the ports on your router so that you can reach the F2-425 from outside your home network. Alternatively, you can use the TerraMaster TNAS Web portal/forwarding service, which is a far easier and more secure way to go about it. The TNAS Surveillance manager, though it doesn’t include a satellite for this view. To that end, TerraMaster provides its Surveillance Manager app (shown above) which will accommodate multiple ONVIF-compliant (Open Network Video Interface Forum) IP cams without expensive additional licenses as the boxes from QNAP and Synology typically require. Yay TerraMaster! What are the FS-425’s other features? While media streaming and backup will be the most important features for the average user, the TerraMaster is also suitable for SMBs (small to medium-sized businesses) and even enterprise use. It supports virtual machines, too, so you can compute over your web browser; and there’s a Docker host, so you can do the same via Docker modules. As to the basics, the F2-425 runs the BTRFS (Better File System) which features copy-on-write, snapshots, and data scrubbing. There’s also deduplication, MyBB and phpBB bulletin boards, NextCloud shared storage, FTP client, Portainer (like Docker), a web server), Java. iBos, and a lot of other stuff that IT types love. A reasonably recent (6.7/2024) version of WordPress is included (keep it updated if you decide to use it) if you want to create and host your own website. Be careful with that. I was malware-attacked hosting my own website (I was running a very outdated and vulnerable version of WordPress), and only diligent backup policies saved me. I’m not totally against hosting your own site, but do so only if there’s nothing else of importance on the box, and keep the site constantly backed up to less vulnerable external media. The open-source ClamAV antivirus engine is available as a TNAS app, though I’m not sure it would protect you from a WordPress exploit. TerraMaster F2-425 performance While not quite the fastest 2.5Gbe NAS box I’ve tested, the F2-425 isn’t far enough off the pace to worry about. Generally speaking, with a single 2TB SATA SSD inside, read and write speeds varied between 250- and 300MBps. Read speeds of 292MBps and 202MBps writing isn’t bad, although other benchmark tools I used gave the F2-425 higher write ratings. Given that 4K video requires only around 25- to 50Mbps, the the F2-425 should easily stream video to multiple clients simultaneously. And client backups, while not extraordinarily speedy, shouldn’t take more than a few minutes each. At least after the initial slog of a few hours at roughly 250GB per hour. This all, of course, depends on the amount of data involved. Fast enough aside, if you want to know what 10GbE and NVMe bring to the table, check out my review of the TerraMaster D8 SSD Plus in Macworld. Short story: Almost 1GBps best case, though larger NVMe SSDs are pricey. Disk Speed Test rated the F2-425’s reading and writing a relatively even 260- and 270MBps respectively. One thing I don’t like about TNAS is that it doesn’t multitask particularly well. For instance, I couldn’t retreat to the desktop and fire up the file manager while installing an app. That’s not a deal killer, but there are four cores. Let’s use em’! Should you buy the TerraMaster F2-425? While I’ve traditionally recommended QNAP and Synology as the go-to vendors in the consumer NAS space, TerraMaster’s TNAS OS has matured to the point where it’s every bit as capable, and the company doesn’t nickel-and-dime you for “extras,” such as security camera license fees the way those other vendors now do. So yes, I’m recommending the F2-425 as a top choice in a two-bay NAS box for multimedia streaming, backup, home file sharing, and storing video from ONVIF IP cams. Good job TerraMaster. Read...

Logitech`s MX Master 4 mouse features customisable haptics, Actions Ring shortcuts, enhanced connectivity, and eco-friendly materials, priced at AUD $199.95. Read...

After October 14, 2025, Microsoft will no longer release any regular updates to Windows 10. The company may make exceptions if a really serious security flaw is discovered — this has happened with older, discontinued versions like Windows XP and Windows 7. get windows 11 pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro Many people who are running Windows 10 and haven’t updated to Windows 11 are doing so because their computer doesn’t support the greatly increased system requirements. So what can you do if you have one of these millions of computers? If your computer has no other faults and is not too slow for your needs, buying a new one just to get system updates probably seems unnecessary. PROMOTIONBackup, Save, and Transfer PCs with EaseUS Save your PC before support ends? EaseUS Todo PCTrans simplifies the process by backing up your data, apps, and settings – no reinstallation needed. Whether migrating from an old PC to a new PC or performing an in-place upgrade to Windows 11, it ensures a seamless transition, saving time and avoiding data loss. A must-have tool for hassle-free PC transfer and system upgrades. Use code PCWORLD for 25% off. FREE DownloadBuy Now and Save 25% Option 0: Postpone the decision – pay for extended support If you don’t have the time or energy to organize a longer-term solution and don’t mind paying a little extra, you can choose to take advantage of Microsoft’s extended support offer. The company announced last autumn that it would be offering a year of continued security updates for around $30, but that’s it. If you don’t want to spring for the money, you can also claim another year of free Windows 10 updates by activating Microsoft Backup or spending 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points. Buying yourself a year’s grace may make sense, especially if you really want to get a new computer with Windows 11, but would prefer waiting until next year. Further reading: How I finally learned to love Windows Task View Option 1: Force Windows 11 onto your old computer Perhaps the easiest way to continue using an older computer that doesn’t officially meet the system requirements for Windows 11 is to ignore the system requirements. Microsoft doesn’t recommend it, of course, and in a way it’s right. The TPM requirement tied to newer systems has to do with the ability to store private encryption keys and other secrets in a truly secure way. But if the alternative is to keep running Windows 10 without security updates, it’s obviously much better to run Windows 11 even if your computer won’t be as secure as a slightly newer machine. One way to increase security a little is to use a hardware key or just your mobile phone for two-factor authentication. In order to run Windows 11 at all, your computer must have a processor that supports the SSE 4.2 and Popcnt instructions. This basically means an Intel processor from 2009 or later, or an AMD processor from 2013 or later. If the option is available, you should also enable Secure Boot in the BIOS. What you need: An .iso file of Windows 11 from Microsoft The latest version of the Rufus program A USB stick of at least 16GB Start Rufus and select your connected USB stick under Device at the top. Locate and select your downloaded .iso file under Boot selection. Leave the other settings as they should be by default: Standard Windows installation under Image, GPT for Partition scheme, and UEFI (non CSM) under Target system. Rufus Then click Start and the Windows User Experience dialogue box will appear. Here you should tick the top option, Remove the requirement for 4GB RAM, Secure Boot, and TPM 2.0. That’s all that’s required, but if you intend to do a fresh install instead of an upgrade, you can also fill in any other options you wish, such as running local account instead of Microsoft account. Click OK and accept the warning that the USB stick will be erased (you didn’t have anything important on it, did you?). The program will then chew for quite a while it copies all the files and makes the desired changes. Upgrade Now you can open the USB stick in Explorer and start the Setup.exe program. You will first need to accept the user agreement and click through some other things, then the program will check for available updates. It may take a long time so be patient. Microsoft Finally, it will finish and you can start the installation. When you install using this method, the default choice is to keep all personal files and installed programs, so you won’t have to redo any settings (other than what has changed between Windows 10 and 11). Foundry Reinstallation If you prefer to start from scratch or to test drive Windows 11 before switching full time, you can reboot your computer from the USB stick and install the system to an empty SSD (or hard drive, but I don’t recommend this as it will make your computer slow as syrup). The Windows installer can be a bit tricky. If you have problems with more than one storage device in your computer, try temporarily removing all but the blank disc you are installing to. Option 2: Switch to Linux – how to get started Linux Mint If you’re tired of Microsoft’s shenanigans and feel ready for an adventure, try switching to Linux instead of harping on about Windows. Linux is more capable today than ever, and thanks to open source projects like Wine, Vulkan, and Proton, it’s easy to run many, if not most, Windows programs and games. Linux is not a unified operating system that looks and works in a particular way. Instead, there are a large number of so-called distributions, different flavors of Linux that may use different graphical user interfaces and different tools for basic functions like system updates. To give you an idea of what a jungle it is, I can list some of the major distributions: Arch, Debian, Fedora, Manjaro, Mint, Opensuse, Red Hat, and Ubuntu. There are many more, and often several variants of each distribution. It’s no wonder that many people who want to try Linux get decision anxiety and give up. My recommendation if you come from Windows and have never used Linux is to start with Linux Mint. It has a graphical interface that is fairly close to Windows and is designed to work well right after installation without having to tinker with settings. If you don’t like it, you can always try something else. I recommend starting by installing Linux on a separate hard drive or SSD alongside Windows, so you can easily switch back. 1. Download and create installation drive Download an .iso file of the latest version of Linux Mint from the distribution website. Then download and open the Balena Etcher application. Select the .iso file in step one and a connected USB stick of at least 4GB (without any important files!) in step two. Then click on Flash and authorize to overwrite the USB stick with the Mint installer. Linux Mint 2. Start the installation Restart your computer and press the correct key to access the start menu before Windows starts. Which key it is varies between different computer manufacturers, but it is usually, for example, the Esc key, F2, or F10. Select the USB stick and wait until Mint has started. Double-click on the Install Linux Mint icon on the desktop and the installer will start. The first thing to do is to select the language. Then select the keyboard layout and move on. In the next step, you should tick Install multimedia add-ons. Linux Mint Next, it’s time for disc formatting. Select Erase the disc and install Linux Mint and move on. The next step is important: Choose the right disc to install on. You can usually start from the size. For example, if Windows is on a 1TB SSD and you’re installing Linux on a 512GB SSD and you don’t have any other SSDs or hard drives, simply select the 512GB drive. Click Install Now and then Continue. While the installation is running in the background, select the time zone, fill in a username and password, and a few other things. Then just sit back and wait for it to finish. Further reading: Newbie’s guide to Windows BitLocker: Why you need it and how to set it up 3. Getting started with Linux Mint When you restart your computer after installation and enter the password you chose, you’ll be greeted by the Mint desktop and a welcome program to help you get started. The First Steps tab provides shortcuts to a number of important features that you can use right from the start. Here, for example, you’ll find Driver Manager, which you should run to see if there are drivers for your hardware that are not pre-installed. If you have an Nvidia graphics card, this can be particularly useful, as the system does not pre-install the company’s proprietary drivers, which often work better than its open-source drivers. To install software, you can usually use the Software Manager application, and system updates are installed using Update Manager. However, there are exceptions. For example, if you want to play Windows games from Steam, go to store.steampowered.com and click Install Steam, and do not use the version that appears in the Application Manager. Valve has made it very easy, and most games will work as long as you have enough modern hardware. Try it out! Much of the system is similar enough to Windows that you should be able to find your way around as long as you are curious. It’s easy as pie to install Steam and start playing Windows games on Linux.Foundry If you run into trouble, a quick web search is usually enough, but there are also plenty of forums with helpful members, not least on Reddit. It can help to keep in mind that Mint is based on Ubuntu, so if there are no instructions specifically for Mint, you can usually use those for Ubuntu. ‘Linux Lite’ with Chrome OS If you don’t fancy getting into Linux “for real,” Google’s Chrome OS can be an alternative. This is the system that powers Chromebooks, and although it is essentially Linux, it is greatly simplified and almost all interaction with the system is via the Chrome browser. Option 3: Keep Windows 10 – how to protect yourself Foundry If you don’t want to give up on Linux or force Windows 11 onto your old computer, you really only have two options: Buy a new computer or keep running Windows 10 without any updates. Microsoft isn’t kidding when it says you’re exposing yourself to a security risk if you choose to continue running Windows 10. It’s impossible to say how long it will take, but sooner or later someone will find a serious security flaw that can be exploited to take over your computer. If you’re lucky, such vulnerabilities will still require you, the user, to be tricked into clicking a link or opening a downloaded file. With less luck, it could allow computers to be hacked just by visiting a website with malware. That said, there are some things you can do to protect yourself from the biggest risks and avoid the worst consequences. Here are some tips: Foundry 1. Keep your programs up to dateJust because Windows doesn’t get updates doesn’t mean that other programs on your computer can’t be kept up to date. Browsers are by far the most important, but so are email clients like Thunderbird and various chat programs. 2. AntivirusPay for a good security package and make sure all antivirus features are switched on. 3. Be extra vigilant about what you do onlineAvoid visiting “dodgy” sites and only install programs that you know come from trusted sources. 4.Use your mobile phone for two-factor authenticationLog in to all your important sites with an extra code (or key/passkey) that you store on your mobile phone and not on your now vulnerable Windows computer. This way, malware or hackers cannot take over your accounts via your computer. Glasswire is a popular firewall for Windows.Skärmdump 5. A firewall can protectUse an application firewall like Glasswire or Safing Portmaster that can block individual programs’ internet access and detect when a program is trying to “phone home.” Pi-hole.Foundry 6. Protect via DNSUse Pi-hole or similar to block advertising and malicious websites across the network. 7. Minimize your exposureIf possible, use a computer or mobile device with a more secure operating system to log into important accounts and manage sensitive data. If you don’t have anything sensitive on your computer, there’s nothing for a hacker to pick up. 8. Backups are becoming even more importantPerhaps the biggest risk as an individual running an operating system with known security flaws is being targeted by an extortion program that encrypts all files on your computer. This makes it even more important to have a good backup strategy. Don’t keep all your backup devices connected to your computer at all times, otherwise an extortion program could also encrypt your backups. Other possibilities If you can’t do any of the above yourself, there are other ways to keep your old computer out of the scrapyard. One option is to give the computer away to someone else who has more energy. Another is to use it as a server in a home lab. Yet another is to use it as a gaming computer, without connecting it to the network. You can copy over new games from a newer computer using a portable hard drive. Read...

For a case study in how a once-promising technology turned toxic, look no further than ATSC 3.0. Also known as NextGen TV, the new broadcast standard promised to revolutionize free over-the-air TV with features like 4K HDR video, time-shifting, on-demand viewing, and interactive programming. For cord-cutters who get free local channels with an antenna, this was a genuinely exciting technology when it began rolling out way back in 2019. Six years later, that excitement has evaporated thanks to restrictive digital rights management (DRM) and high adoption costs. While the broadcast TV industry has failed to make ATSC 3.0 stick, they’ve succeeded in getting tech enthusiasts, consumer advocates, and even some individual broadcasters to fear and despise it. Now, broadcasters are hoping for a bailout from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which announced this week that it will consider their wishes to wind down the existing ATSC 1.0 standard and mandate ATSC 3.0 adoption. If that happens, most antenna users will need a new TV or tuner box by 2030 at the latest. Having failed in the marketplace, broadcasters now want the government to help foist ATSC 3.0 upon people instead. Sadly, it didn’t have to be this way. What’s happening with ATSC 3.0? NextGen TV broadcasts are available in more than 90 U.S. markets, covering 70 percent of the population, but accessing these broadcasts requires an ATSC 3.0 tuner, and most TVs don’t have one. If the FCC disappears ATSC 1.0, over-the-air TV viewers will need to upgrade their tuners even if they don’t need a new TV or care about ATSC 3.0’s new features. Low-cost TV makers tend to exclude ATSC 3.0 from their sets, and some bigger brands–including Samsung and LG–have either pulled back or stopped supporting the standard entirely. External ATSC 3.0 tuner boxes can bring support to existing TVs but they’re expensive at $90 and up. TV’s that don’t support ATSC 3.0 will need an external tuner box if the FCC pulls the plug on ATSC 1.0.ADTH As such, broadcasters estimate that only 14 million compatible TVs and 300,000 external tuner boxes have been sold in the United States through the end of 2024. That means only about 11 percent of U.S. households can tune into ATSC 3.0 channels today. Broadcasters argue that by winding down ATSC 1.0, they’ll have more bandwidth for features like 4K resolution (which remains largely unavailable in today’s actual ATSC 3.0 broadcasts), additional channels, or improved reception. They believe this will finally stimulate demand for NextGen TV and get more hardware makers on board. That’s one way to look at it. The other way is that if the FCC lets ATSC 1.0 support disappear, viewers will need to upgrade even if they don’t need a new TV or care about new features. Meanwhile, broadcasters would be free to repurpose additional spectrum away from free TV over public airwaves. Either way, broadcasters are hoping the FCC will force the issue. This week, the commission released a notice of proposed rulemaking that seeks public comment on what broadcasters want. That includes the ability to sunset ATSC 1.0 broadcasts for the 55 largest U.S. markets in 2028 (and every market in 2030), along with a potential mandate to force every TV maker to include a ATSC 3.0 tuner in their sets. After the public comment period, the FCC will come up with proposed rules to adopt and eventually vote on them. Doing early adopters dirty Broadcasters could have stimulated demand for ATSC 3.0 in a more organic way. Instead, they’ve stymied the groups most likely to advocate for its success. SiliconDust is a case in point: It was the first manufacturer to sell a consumer-grade ATSC 3.0 tuner in the U.S. Its HDHomeRun tuner lets you set up an antenna in one room, and then access live TV across multiple networked televisions via its streaming apps. Users can also set up DVR servers to record over-the-air channels, using either HDHomeRun’s software or third-party solutions such as Plex and Channels DVR. SiliconDust Nick Kelsey, SiliconDust’s CTO and founder, told me in 2020 that the company wanted to spur the market for ATSC 3.0 with a bleeding-edge product. But since then, broadcasters have punished both SiliconDust and its customers for their early enthusiasm. As broadcasters have started encrypting their ATSC 3.0 channels with DRM, HDHomeRun users have been unable to access that content because their boxes can’t decrypt the programming. While HDHomeRun tuners are “NextGen TV-certified” and licensed to decrypt copy-protected content, a private group of broadcasters called the ATSC 3.0 Security Authority (A3SA) has separately been certifying devices to receive encrypted channels. The group refuses to do that for HDHomeRun tuners, citing SiliconDust’s use of a chip by a subsidiary of the Chinese company Huawei as a security concern. It’s unclear why the A3SA waited five years to point out this potentially disqualifying hardware issue. It’s also a little fishy, given that SiliconDust has cited numerous other roadblocks along the way. Either way, the upshot is that not a single whole-home DVR with encrypted ATSC 3.0 channel support exists on the market today. Tablo indefinitely delayed its plans for an ATSC 3.0 product in 2022, citing DRM concerns. ZapperBox is working on a whole-home solution but it doesn’t expect full functionality for another year. Broadcasters understandably want to protect their content from piracy, but balancing that goal with all the existing use cases for over-the-air TV should have been a priority. Instead, broadcasters alienated their most enthusiastic audience and mutated ATSC 3.0 from a promising technology into a poisonous one. DRM alienated everyone Channels DVR (and its new Multiview feature) won’t work with encrypted ATSC 3.0 channels.FancyBits The downsides of DRM extend beyond just whole-home DVRs. Some NextGen TV tuner boxes won’t decrypt channels without an internet connection, and the YouTube creator Tyler “Antenna Man” Kleinle has reported that some TVs can fail to decode encrypted channels for no apparent reason. Lon Seidman has found that decryption certificates on ATSC 3.0 products will eventually expire, rendering them unable to receive encrypted channels at all. (Both creators have been encouraging viewers to complain to the FCC.) Even broadcasters that have no plans to encrypt their channels could run into problems. Weigel Broadcasting Company, which operates MeTV and several other popular digital subchannels, has told the FCC that televisions may eventually block or hinder users from viewing stations that haven’t purchased an encryption certificate. That effectively could turn the A3SA, a private entity, into a gatekeeper for the public airwaves. Meanwhile, no permission is needed to innovate on the unencrypted side of the fence. Channels DVR, for instance, just released a breakthrough multiview feature that integrates with HDHomeRun tuners, making it the first solution for split-screen viewing of free over-the-air channels. Weigel just launched a new Western-themed channel to join its stable of rerun-centric over-the-air offerings. Tablo’s $100 whole-home DVR continues to get better with a newly-launched offline mode and integration with more streaming channels. Had broadcasters not alienated these kinds of torchbearers, they might’ve fared better at convincing the public that ATSC 3.0 is essential. Now their only hope is to cry to the government about it. Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming and over-the-air TV advice. Read...