Windows PCs are incredibly powerful and flexible, and that’s true even before you install any apps. As it turns out, Windows itself is chock-full of useful features that few people actually know about. If you’re a college student who wants to take your college laptop to the next level, here are several obscure Windows features that’ll help you whether you’re taking notes, researching projects, or otherwise. Related: The best laptops for college students Live captions Chris Hoffman / IDG Windows 11 has a feature called Live Captions that listens to audio and automatically generates readable captions on the fly. It works when you’re watching a video, but it also works with audio captured by your microphone. So, whether you’re sitting in class during a lecture or watching a recorded video, Live Captions can use speech-to-text technology to transcribe what you hear into readable text. To get started, just search for “live captions” in the Start menu and launch the Live Captions app. This app is available on all Windows 11 PCs and requires an internet connection to work. If you have a Copilot+ PC, the Live captions feature can actually work offline and also supports live translation between different languages. Clipboard history Joel Lee / IDG Whenever you copy and paste, you might think you’ve overwritten the previous thing you copied — but that’s not true. Windows 11’s Clipboard History feature keeps track of all the text and images you copy. Normally, when you paste, you just paste the last thing you copied. But you can choose from previously copied items by using the Windows key + V shortcut (rather than the usual Ctrl + V shortcut). You’ll be prompted to enable the Clipboard History feature if you haven’t already done so. Clipboard History even allows you to “pin” items so that they’re always available and conveniently accessible for easy pasting in the future. It’s one of the many useful productivity features on Windows. Handwriting to text input Ashkan Forouzani / Unsplash Some Windows laptops ship with support for capacitive pens. These pen-enabled PCs are a great choice for college students because they make it way easier to write handwritten notes, mathematical equations, diagrams, and more in excellent note-taking apps like OneNote. But with Windows 11, pen input works in any app thanks to handwriting recognition. You can write directly on any text field with your pen and Windows will instantly convert it to text. Dictation Chris Hoffman / IDG Windows 11 has built-in support for dictation, which means you can speak your thoughts aloud and they’ll be transcribed on the fly as text. In other words, you can type using your voice — just like on a phone. To open the Windows 11 dictation tool, use the Windows key + H shortcut. If you’re using a PC with a touch screen, you can also tap the microphone button on the touch keyboard to launch it. Related: I used Windows Dictation to write this article with my voice Web apps as desktop apps Joel Lee / IDG These days, many apps are actually just websites that run in the browser. Hate having to keep dozens of tabs open with all of the webpages and web apps you use? Well, there’s a better way. Windows 11 lets you turn webpages and web apps into Windows “apps” with their own taskbar icons and windows. They feel almost identical to usual desktop apps, and it’s a particularly convenient trick for single-page web apps you keep open 24/7 (e.g., Gmail, Spotify, Slack). To do this in Google Chrome, navigate to any website and click the three-dot menu > Save and Share > Install page as app. In Microsoft Edge, navigate to a website and click three-dot menu > Apps > Install this site as an app. (Mozilla Firefox doesn’t offer this feature.) Sticky notes Microsoft Microsoft OneNote is a great note-taking application, but it might be a little too complex for your needs. If all you want to do is jot down quick notes here and there, try the Sticky Notes app instead. Windows 11 has a built-in Sticky Notes app that you can launch by searching for “sticky notes” in the Start menu. This app can keep notes pinned to the desktop or kept in a simpler list format, and the notes can be synced between your PC and other devices. When syncing Sticky Notes with your phone, your notes are accessible via OneNote Mobile, Microsoft Launcher for Android, and Outlook for Windows. Emoji menu Chris Hoffman / IDG Windows has a convenient built-in quick insertion tool for emojis. To access it, you can use either the Windows key + Period or Windows key + Semicolon keyboard shortcuts. You can browse all the emojis included with Windows and insert them into any application or document. You can also start typing right after pressing the keyboard shortcut to search for a particular emoji. Text editing shortcuts 76 / Unsplash The Ctrl key provides so many essential keyboard shortcut tricks for editing text. My favorite part, though, is that it makes many keyboard actions apply to entire words instead of individual characters. Here’s what that means: Normally, when you press Backspace, you delete the a single character of text. But if you use the Ctrl + Backspace keyboard shortcut, you delete the entire previous word. This works with lots of shortcuts, including the Delete key. Another example is text selection. You can hold Shift and press the left or right arrows to select individual characters. But if you use the Ctrl + Shift + left or right arrow keyboard shortcut, you can select entire words at a time. And if you use Ctrl + Shift + Home or End, you can select entire lines of text with a single keystroke. Dynamic locking Joel Lee / IDG Whether you’re on a laptop or PC, you should be locking it whenever you aren’t using it, especially when you’re on campus. You’re probably already doing it with a keystroke (Windows key + L) or with a setting that automatically locks whenever your system goes to sleep. But there’s a better way in Windows 11: use the Dynamic Lock feature, which detects when your phone moves away from your computer and automatically locks when it does. You can set this up in Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options > Dynamic lock. Presence-based locking Ernest Ojeh / Unsplash Newer laptops with Presence Sensors don’t even need to involve your phone. They can detect when you move away from your computer, then automatically lock when you do — and they can automatically unlock when you sit back down. If you’ve set up Windows Hello with facial recognition, they can even sign you back in automatically. Further reading: The best webcams for Windows Hello Focus timers Joel Lee / IDG Have you heard of the Pomodoro technique? It’s a method that helps you stay focused and get more done in less time. The key is to work in half-hour bursts with short breaks in between — and most people use timers to know when to switch between work and breaks. Windows 11 has a built-in Pomodoro timer. You can access it by opening the Clock app in the Start menu, then activating its Focus sessions feature. You can configure your focus session, during which all notifications and app alerts will be stifled. You can also link your Spotify account so the right music plays while you’re focusing. Do Not Disturb mode Joel Lee / IDG Windows has a Do Not Disturb feature that quiets down noisy notifications while you’re trying to focus. While Do Not Disturb has long been a popular feature on smartphones, Windows PCs didn’t actually have this sort of thing for many years. To enable Do Not Disturb mode on Windows 11, press Windows key + N to open the Notification Center, then click the bell icon with Z’s at the top-right corner. On Windows 10, you’ll need to activate a setting called Focus Assist to temporarily disable notifications. Sync with your phone Microsoft Windows makes it easy to access or control your phone right from your PC, but the process is different depending on whether you have an iPhone or Android phone (and each one’s functionality is different). If you have an iPhone, install the iCloud for Windows app. After you set it up, you’ll be able to link iCloud Photos to the Photos app and browse from within Windows. You’ll also get to integrate with iCloud’s other features, including Drive, Passwords, Contacts, Calendar, and Bookmarks. If you have an Android phone, open the Phone Link app from the Start menu. After you set it up, you’ll be able to text from your PC, manage your phone’s notifications, browse photos in your camera roll, and even copy-paste photos to your PC. Screenshots and screen recording Chris Hoffman / IDG Modern Windows PCs have powerful built-in screenshot tools. On Windows 11, it’s called the Snipping Tool, which is as easy to launch as pressing the Windows key + Shift + S keyboard shortcut (or the Print Screen key if you have that on your keyboard). Once the Snipping Tool is opened, you’ll see an overlay bar at the top of your screen. Use it to select the type of screenshot you want: Rectangle, Window, Full screen, or Freeform. Then, click or drag to select what you want to capture and you’ll get a notification. (You can click the notification to edit the screenshot before saving it.) Related: How to take smarter screenshots in Windows 11 The Snipping Tool also includes the ability to record video of your screen. Switch to the video camera icon in the overlay bar at the top of the screen, then draw a rectangle over the area you want to capture. Past versions of files Chris Hoffman / IDG Windows offers multiple ways to retrieve an older version of a file. If the file is synced to Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage, you can locate it in File Explorer, right-click it, and select OneDrive > Version history. For files that are only stored on your PC and not synced to a cloud storage service, you can set up the File History feature to regularly back up selected files and folders to an external drive. Then, you can restore previous versions of the file from there. Lost laptop tracking Chris Hoffman / IDG If you’re at college and using a laptop, you should always have a contingency plan in case your laptop is lost or stolen. One option is to use the built-in laptop tracking feature of Windows, which also lets you lock your laptop remotely. It won’t be as useful as similar features available on smartphones because your laptop probably doesn’t have a cellular connection. The tracking requires your laptop to be connected to Wi-Fi, and your laptop can’t be in sleep mode. Even so, it’s still useful even if it isn’t perfect. If you lose your laptop on campus, it’ll probably stay connected to Wi-Fi and be traceable. But the key is making sure the feature is active before you lose your laptop. Turn it on now by going to Settings > Privacy & security > Find my device and activate the Find my device option. Then, use Microsoft’s account devices page to track down your laptop. Further reading: Laptop security guide for college students Advanced calculators Chris Hoffman / IDG The built-in Calculator app on Windows is more powerful than it looks. Open the app’s menu and you’ll find different calculator modes, including a scientific calculator, a graphing calculator, and tools for converting currencies and units of measurement. Quick video trimming Joel Lee / IDG Windows comes with Microsoft’s Clipchamp video editor, but there’s actually another useful video tool buried within the operating system. With this feature, you can quickly trim video files and clip sections to save as their own smaller video files. You can do this by right-clicking on a video file in File Explorer, then selecting Open with > Photos. When the Photos app opens up with the video loaded, click the blue Trim button on the toolbar and select the part of the video you want to save. Further reading: How to use the free Clipchamp video editor Quick photo editing Joel Lee / IDG You’d be surprised by how capable the built-in Photos app can be. It’s not just a photo viewer — it’s also a good photo editor when you’re in a pinch or just need some simple crops and edits. After opening an image in Photos, click the blue Edit button in the toolbar to access the image editing tools. You’ll see options for cropping the image, marking it up, adjusting lighting, applying filters, and even using AI effects to erase elements and remove the background. Laptop battery drain statistics Joel Lee / IDG Everyone always wants more laptop battery life. If you find your laptop dying much faster than you think it should, you’ll want to look into which apps are the biggest battery drains — and Windows keeps track of that for you, making it easy to investigate and troubleshoot. On Windows 11, head over to Settings > System > Power & battery. Then, scroll down and expand the Battery usage section to view battery usage by app. On Windows 10, go to Settings > System > Battery to find these same details. Once you know which apps are killing your battery life, you can make informed decisions on what to do. (Battery stress is one of the common mistakes killing your laptop’s lifespan.) Further reading: Is it bad to always leave your laptop plugged in? Read...

The Princess of Wales was speaking as part of her Mother Nature video series, which features on social media and was started in May. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros App offers copious customization options Very effective at cleaning–while tethered, that is Reasonably lightweight and easy to tote Cons Weak battery means pool didn’t get close to clean while untethered Gets stuck easily, especially on stairs App has some bugs and responsiveness issues Filter basket is difficult to close properly Our Verdict This robotic pool cleaner can run on battery power or with a connected cable, but it’s only effective at cleaning the pool when plugged into an AC outlet. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: BuHybrid L6 Retailer Price $999 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Here’s a curious concept from the new-to-us robotic pool cleaner manufacturer Bublue: The BuHybrid L6 is a robotic pool cleaner that can run via a plug-in electrical connection or via an internal battery, a hybrid design that makes more sense than it might seem at first, at least on paper. On the surface, the design has a lot in common with the Polaris VRX iQ+ and other power-corded robots. A small power box connects to standard wall power via a short cord. A separate, waterproof 49-foot-long cable then connects from the box to the 22-pound robot, attaching to its top via a large four-prong adapter with a screw-on sealing system that waterproofs the connection. Specifications The robot itself has a somewhat traditional design, though its black and gray color scheme and monster-sized wheels are a bit unusual. Once connected to Wi-Fi, you have access to a total of seven operating modes. Configured with the cable connected, the unit is ready for wired operation. Operation can be initiated by pressing the buttons on the robot itself, which, in addition to a power button, include four modes: floor, walls, waterline, and auto mode (which cleans all those surfaces). Yes, the Bublue BuHybrid can run on battery power, but we got much better results when the robotic pool cleaner was tethered to an outdoor AC outlet.Christopher Null/Foundry The buttons are dimly backlit and hard to make out under any amount of ambient light; but ultimately, you power up the robot, select your mode, and drop it into the pool to get the unit running. A wide light band across the front of the robot changes color to indicate various information about its operating status. You’ll get a lot more configurability by connecting the unit to the Bublue mobile app, which is configured by first onboarding the robot to Wi-Fi (2.4GHz only). This involves pressing a Wi-Fi button on the power box while the robot is plugged in, after which the robot is automatically connected and bridged to your home network. The tether for BuHybrid L6 plugs into this socket on top of the robot.Christopher Null/Foundry Once connected to Wi-Fi, you have access to a total of seven operating modes (including a wall+floor mode and unexplained “eco” and “power” modes. Operating duration can be set for 2, 3, or 4 hours, and “path width” can be adjusted between “normal” and “fine.” (I presume this has to do with how close together the robot’s successive trips across the pool floor are, but this isn’t explained anywhere.) Using the BuBlue mobile app once BuHybrid 6 is connected to your home Wi-Fi network provides access to seven operating modes–but only when it’s plugged in.Christopher Null/Foundry If you want to end a cleaning session early, there’s also a function to send the robot back to the waterline for easy retrieval. (Otherwise, you’ll need to use the included hook.) A scheduling system is also available if you want to leave the robot in the pool and have it run periodically. In addition to the Wi-Fi button, the only other button on the power box (aside from the power button) is a Bluetooth button. You’ll need to use this for one thing only: to activate the robot’s remote-control feature, because for some reason this feature doesn’t work over Wi-Fi. The BuHybride comes with a large filter basket that’s easy to clean, but I found it difficult to keep its hinged lid closed. Christopher Null/Foundry The remote features a simple control wheel, and while the unit isn’t super responsive to commands, with enough patience I was able to guide it around the pool floor and pick up any stray bits of debris, although going up walls was very difficult to do with accuracy. Again, each of these features is available only when the unit is plugged in to the power box. Alternately, you can pull the plug and go cordless. A 5200 mAh battery lets the BuHybrid operate for two hours while disconnected from its tether, providing a maximum specified coverage of 1,615 square feet. Since the app does not work while the unit is disconnected, note that you’ll need to use the hardware controls to choose your operating mode and you won’t be able to make changes on the fly. Performance I tested the unit various times both corded and uncorded, on natural debris and synthetic leaves. On battery power, the BuHybrid didn’t impress, as it repeatedly left behind a large amount of test leaves, capturing only about 70 percent of the total debris. It also had a tendency to get stuck on the stairs, and despite Bublue’s claims of “multi-surface mastery” I needed to manually push it back into the water on several occasions. The BuHybrid L6 exhibited a tendency to strand itself on my pool’s steps.Christopher Null/Foundry On multiple occasions during these runs, the hatch covering the filter basket popped open, requiring me to retrieve it with a pole and close it before restarting the run. I’ve also caught the robot spinning around in circles on the surface of the pool for no clear reason, perhaps temporarily unable to re-descend. I had considerably better luck when running the robot with its cable connected, in large part because using the maximum 4-hour running time setting allows it to cover twice as much ground per run. In this mode, the robot was able to collect 99 percent of debris—including debris on the stairs—although it did get stuck there again once. Apart from that, it left behind just one leaf in a corner of the pool. Retrieval is also much simpler when corded, requiring just a single tap in the app to bring it back to the surface. Note also that the battery will charge whenever the cable is connected, including while the unit is actively running. Bublue doesnt provide any when it comes to management of the BuHybrid L6’s 49-foot cord.Christopher Null/Foundry The BuHybrid’s cable doesn’t solve every problem, though. When tethered, I found the unit had a propensity for popping wheelies, as it looked like the unit struggled with the weight of the cable. If enough cable wasn’t placed in the pool to start with, the BuHybrid would often get stuck near the wall, unable to generate enough power to pull the cable into the water. Out of the water, the cable presents another challenge. While robots like the VRX iQ+ come with a rolling dock that includes the power box and a place to neatly store the cable when not in use, the BuHybrid doesn’t. The power box just lays on the ground, and it’s up to you to figure out how to manage the cable. Throughout my testing, the pool deck looked about like this: [see photo messy pool deck]. It’s an eyesore at best, a hazard at worst. The BuHybrid L6’s backlit buttons are very difficult to see in any sort of light.Christopher Null/Foundry Cleanup is reasonably easy. The filter basket features a large and simple hinged lid that hoses clean without too much trouble. I did, however, regularly struggle to get the lid back closed properly, as the latch didn’t catch as well as it should. The robot’s wireless implementation and the Bublue app also need some continued development. For example, Bluetooth must be reinitiated each time you want to use the remote-control feature by first physically pressing the appropriate button on the power box, mitigating its utility. Why Bluetooth can’t just stay active is a mystery. And while it’s handy to have a running log of cleaning operations, every entry in the app’s history displayed a recorded cleaning time of 0 minutes. The powerbox for the Bublue BuHybrid L6 robotic pool cleaner.Christopher Null/Foundry I encountered other error messages and bugs while using the app including maddening times when the robot would not respond at all to any commands while running a cleaning cycle (such as aborting the session). Disconnects from the app were common, too, though those could often be resolved by power cycling the power box and force-quitting the app. Should you buy the Bublue BuHybrid L6? The BuHybrid L6 has a list price of $1,599, although it was available on Amazon for $999 at the time of this writing. That’s still very pricey given some of the performance issues present; namely, the robot’s poor showing in battery mode and its tendency to get stuck and ignore commands. Pool owners who are considering the L6 will probably need to plan for it to remain cabled at all times, but that will mean devising a DIY cable management solution as well. For me, even though it has exceptional cleaning power while in corded mode, it still has too many negatives to merit its price tag. This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best robotic pool cleaners. Read...

Windows 11 version 23H2, released back in October 2023, will soon reach its end of support for Home and Pro editions, according to a recent Microsoft Lifecycle Policy announcement.Starting November 11th, 2025, regular security updates will no longer be available for Windows 11 23H2, leaving unupgraded systems vulnerable to cyber attacks. Millions of users worldwide are likely to be affected, although Microsoft does not provide exact figures. On the other hand, commercial editions—including Enterprise and Education—will continue to receive mainstream support until November 10th, 2026, as they have a longer support cycle of 36 months (as opposed to 24 months for consumer editions). In addition, Windows 11 22H2 is also reaching end of support, but on an earlier date: October 14th, 2025. Windows 11 SE, intended for schools, will not be updated to 25H2 and will expire completely in 2026. What end of support means for you Once the end-of-support date rolls around, PCs running Windows 11 23H2 will no longer receive security updates—and that means any newly discovered security vulnerabilities will remain unpatched. This increases the risk of suffering malware, data loss, and hack attempts for anyone who remains on Windows 11 23H2. Microsoft recommends upgrading to Windows 11 24H2, which has been available since October 2024. The new version brings improved AI integration, enhanced Copilot features for more productive work, and stronger security features (e.g., protections against phishing and ransomware). Microsoft will refuse technical support without an update. However, not all devices can upgrade to Windows 11 24H2 without problems. So-called “safeguard holds” may block the update on PCs that have hardware or software with known conflicts, such as certain audio drivers, webcam software, or older apps. Users should check their update status in the Windows settings or use the Media Creation Tool. What you should do now Microsoft is urging users to upgrade as soon as possible to avoid security vulnerabilities. Anyone who can switch to Windows 11 24H2 should do so quickly—the installation is usually straightforward and brings new features and improvements. For devices with safeguard holds, it’s advisable to regularly check for update releases or fix existing problems. Alternatively, users with incompatible hardware can consider switching to Linux platforms such as Plasma Desktop, which often run well on older devices and offer long-term updates. Read...

The threat from AI-powered online scams is on the rise. You can be fooled by realistic-looking fake emails and messages pretending to be from your bank or other companies, that convince you to unwittingly install malware on your device. How can everyday people have a chance against these hugely sophisticated schemes? Avast has the answer – fight fire with fire. It has launched a new AI assistant that can answer security-related questions about communications you may suspect are fraudulent, as well as check URLs to see if websites really are what they report to be. So, if you want to stay safer online, it’s time to level-up your defences with an AI powered scam detector. Getty Ask the Avast Assistant if you’re worried about something being fake One of the main ways that AI-powered scams work is in trying to trick the recipient into believing that they have received a message or email from either a business, friend or family member. There’s often also some kind of time-pressure involved, which is there to force you into making a snap decision – ‘Do this now or your account will be closed!’ In those moments, it would be good to have an advisor on-hand who can tell you whether the crisis is authentic or fake. With Avast Assistant, you can simply paste in the link that’s included in the message, the email address, and you can even copy and paste the text from the message itself. Then the AI software will analyse it for you and tell you whether it’s likely to be trustworthy or not and how you should proceed. It’s a simple, fast and reliable way to avoid being scammed, plus the whole experience is conducted as a conversation, so you don’t need any security experience to be able to use Avast Assistant. It also offers you tips on how to improve your privacy and security online, so you’ll have a constant advisor there to help keep you safe. New – Scam Guardian will fight scammers for you Avast Avast Assistant is part of Scam Guardian a new suite of tools that are included in Avast Free Antivirus, and purpose-built to seek out and help protect against online scams aiming to steal your data, identity or money. Alongside Avast Assistant there is also Web Guard that analyses the content and code in the websites you visit for hidden scams before it has a chance to get past your defences. If you move up to the Avast Premium Security plan, then you’ll also have access to Email Guard, which scans messages before you open them to ascertain whether they include malicious links or scams that attempt to deceive you and do you harm. All of the tools use the latest AI training helping ensure they stay up-to-date with emerging new threats that appear. Getty Use Avast AI technology to keep your security strong Online threats are moving too fast and becoming so sophisticated that everyday people simply can’t be expected to fight off the constant attacks. That’s why it’s important to take security seriously and bolster your defences with powerful tools of your own. You can download Avast Free Antivirus today, at no cost, and instantly have Avast Assistant and Web Guard by your side in the fight against online scams. Sign up to Avast Premium Security Sign up to Avast Premium Security (£39.99 for the first year) and you’ll also get Email Guard as well as several other features that help protect your device and data. AI is powering up the scams that are out there, so now is the time to match it with your own security-focused armour. Read...

I review a lot of laptops here at PCWorld, and I’m always surprised when I unbox one without biometric hardware. Fingerprint readers and infrared (IR) cameras for facial recognition are both great—and some laptops even have both! But then you have those that skip the biometric hardware entirely, which is a huge loss these days. I would never give it up if I had the choice. It’s so important that I won’t buy a laptop if it doesn’t have it, and I go out of my way to add it to my desktop PCs. Why? Because Windows 11 has a security feature called Windows Hello that lets me log in with my face or a fingerprint scan. It’s more secure and more convenient. In 2025, you shouldn’t accept any laptop that lacks Windows Hello support. You should avoid typing PINs in public Most laptops—unfortunately, not all laptops—now have built-in biometric hardware. You have two options here: a fingerprint reader (usually somewhere on the keyboard) or an IR camera that’s integrated alongside the normal webcam. Some laptops have both. Chris Hoffman / Foundry With biometrics, you don’t need to type your PIN or password whenever you sit down in front of your laptop. That’s good news because typing your PIN or password in public is a security risk. If someone is “shoulder surfing” and watching what you type, they could pick up on it—and PINs are particularly easy to steal. I can’t stress the security angle enough. Your PIN is the key to device encryption on your PC. With that PIN, a thief or attacker could bypass your PC’s encryption and gain access to all your data. It’s better to skip PIN entry altogether and use biometrics instead. Biometric hardware isn’t just for signing in Windows Hello is best known for its secure sign-ins, but Windows—and the applications you use—can do a lot more than that with it. For example, if you use a password manager, you can unlock your password vault with Windows Hello. I use 1Password myself, and I have a seamless experience unlocking my own password vault on modern PCs with Windows Hello. On PCs without Windows Hello, I’m stuck typing my master password every time. Chris Hoffman / Foundry Windows can also store passkeys for quickly signing into websites, but you have to authenticate before using them. Without biometrics, you have to type your PIN every time you want to use passkeys; with biometrics, you authenticate with a fingerprint or your face. Learn more about ways to use passkeys instead of passwords. Why laptop makers skip biometrics Whenever I review a laptop that lacks Windows Hello hardware, I always list it as a strike against that laptop. Manufacturers may omit the hardware to save money and hit lower price points, which makes sense on budget gaming laptops where non-essentials can be cut for performance. But I sometimes see it missing on surprisingly expensive laptops, too, and there’s really no excuse for that—especially when many of the best budget laptops still offer Windows Hello hardware. Clearly it’s possible, so it’s becoming harder to justify when it isn’t there. Before you buy any laptop, there’s a lot you need to consider. It’s one thing to make sure you don’t go below bare minimum specs, but it’s also vital to check for key features like fingerprint readers and IR cameras for Windows Hello. When we review laptops here at PCWorld, we always cover “Biometrics” in each laptop’s specifications list. I prefer facial recognition, but fingerprint readers are just as good I prefer facial recognition, which requires an IR camera. If you’ve used Face ID on Apple, you know how convenient it can be. All you have to do is open up your laptop and it automatically wakes up, detects your face, and signs in for you. No waiting around. With a Windows Hello webcam on my PC, I can do the same thing. Convenience-wise, facial recognition beats fingerprint scanners. With the latter, you have to physically swipe your finger to log in or run that Windows Hello authentication check. It’s one extra step that slows things down. But security-wise, it’s just as good and works just as well. Note: A recent Windows update disabled facial recognition in dark environments. If you frequently use your laptop or PC in a dark room, you may want to use a fingerprint reader for that reason alone. How I add biometrics to my desktop PCs Windows Hello is so convenient that I added it to my desktop PC, too. Since I prefer facial recognition, I went with a Dell UltraSharp webcam (model WB7022). It’s a high-end 4K webcam that’s great for filming podcasts and video meetings, and it has a built-in IR camera. Dell UltraSharp 4K Webcam (WB7022) Best Prices Today: $159.09 at Amazon | $175.99 at Dell Home There are more budget-friendly Windows Hello webcams out there if you don’t need to show up to your Zoom meetings in 4K. Check out our roundup of the best Windows Hello webcam for other great options. You can also get USB fingerprint readers that work with Windows Hello. I explored these many years ago before Windows Hello-compatible webcams were widespread. I’ve had a solid experience with Kensington USB fingerprint readers like the Kensington VeriMark Gen 2. Kensington VeriMark Gen2 Best Prices Today: $57.38 at Amazon However, like I mentioned above, unless you have a good reason to use a fingerprint reader, I recommend taking the Windows Hello webcam route. It’s just more streamlined and convenient overall. And, since you’re already spending the money, you might as well make yourself look better on video calls at the same time. Before buying a laptop, always check for biometric hardware Hopefully I’ve convinced you why it’s so essential to get a laptop with Windows Hello biometrics built into it. You can’t easily add it in after the fact, unless you want an external biometric device hooked up to your laptop’s USB port all the time. (Not ideal!) While many stores have great laptop return policies, you should always check a laptop’s specs carefully before buying it. This is the kind of feature that’s easy to miss on a spec sheet but really matters when you’re using the machine day in and day out. At the end of the day, I won’t buy another laptop without biometric hardware. I don’t think you should, either. Further reading: Is Windows 11’s built-in antivirus enough for laptops? Read...

OpenAI’s GPT-5, a multimodal AI platform with text, image, audio and video input, aims to boost accessibility and transform customer engagement across industries. Read...

Spanning 3700 square metres, the complex in Lower Hutt features a prayer hall, dining hall, auditorium, learning centre and commercial kitchen. Read...

There are a lot of basic functions in complex apps that don’t require you to open them fully. In the last decade or so, dynamic notifications have been a solution to this, both on desktops and smartphones. But what about stuff in the middle ground, stuff that’s a little too complex for a notification, but still not crying out for a full app launch? Microsoft thinks it has the answer with some new Office tools. “Microsoft 365 companions” is the official name for these tools, continuing the company’s long-running tradition of horrible branding. But these mini-apps that live in the taskbar might be a lot more appealing than their nomenclature, at least to the right kind of user. During the beta, these mini-apps are only available for Microsoft 365 People, File Search, and Calendar, and unsurprisingly reserved for Windows 11 users. Furthermore, you can only use them if your organization’s administrator has opted into beta features. But I think they’re legitimately cool, especially if your full screen space is reserved for other tools. The People companion can show you your favorite contacts and search through your full list. The File Search companion can search across cloud files and preview them or share them without fully opening them. The Calendar companion can let you join a Teams call without needing to get into the full app. They’re sort of like widgets, except widgets are in something of a limbo for Windows 11. Mobile versions may be coming, but the official Microsoft support page (spotted by The Verge) hasn’t committed to it. Read...

If you’re one of the many users who want to upgrade to Windows 11 but aren’t eligible due to outdated hardware, then you might be familiar with a free tool called Flyby11. That nifty little app lets you bypass the hardware check and install Windows 11 on older Windows 10 PCs that are incompatible and unsupported. As of this past weekend, Flyby11 now goes by a new name: Flyoobe (pronounced “fly-oh-bee”). Flyoobe contains everything that made Flyby11 great in the first place, but also introduces new features that expand its capabilities and allows you to customize the Windows “Out-of-Box Experience” (OOBE, hence the name). Flyoobe is the smarter Windows OOBE On August 9th, the developer announced on GitHub the official version 1.0 release of Flyoobe, which includes all the great features of Flyby11 but also adds more. If you only want to do what Flyby11 used to do, you can still do that and ignore all the extra stuff on the side. According to the developer, Flyoobe lets you tweak numerous Windows 11 settings, pick and choose which bloatware to keep and exclude, optimize the user interface to your liking, run your own PowerShell scripts that automate some of the setup, and more. The OOBE views in Flyoobe also run on a faster code base for a more responsive experience, and Microsoft Copilot integration has been improved for better overall reliability. Getting started with Flyoobe To use Flyoobe, go to the GitHub releases page and download the latest version. As of this writing, that page has two download options: Flyoobe 1.0 (if you want all the OOBE tweaks) and Flyby11 3.0 (if you only want a clean upgrade from Windows 10 without all the OOBE tweaks). In the future, Flyby11 will be discontinued and Flyoobe will be the only available download. Get it now if you prefer this version. Further reading: Windows 10’s end of life looms. Here are your options Read...