GOG has placed 100 games in the program, including hits like the original Diablo and the Hellfire expansion, the first three Resident Evil games, Wing Commander III, Ultima VII, the original Fallout, and many more. They're labeled as "Good Old Games" on GOG's store page.
GOG is attempting to solve what will inevitably become a growing problem: As more and more games are lost to history, developers and the PC industry move on. Code incompatibilities prevent older games from being used with the latest operating systems, and the small, niche market of fans face the specter of those games fading away entirely.
GOG's Preservation Program won't add new features, but the company is trying to ensure the games at least run. "The GOG Preservation Program ensures classic games remain playable on modern systems, even after their developers stopped supporting them," the company said Wednesday. "By maintaining these iconic titles, GOG helps you protect and relive the memories that shaped you, DRM-free and with dedicated tech support."
OLED gaming monitors aren't cheap, but Amazon is selling a 27-inch OLED monitor with a 2560×1440 resolution, a speedy 240Hz refresh rate, and a USB-C video input for just $430 right now. That's hundreds less than any comparable OLED display on the market.
If you're bracing for the other shoe to drop, here it is: the brand is Innocn. That's a white-label seller who takes generic hardware designs, slaps its own logo on them, and ships them out at low prices. Without seeing any expert reviews, I don't want to guess at the quality (or lack thereof) of Innocn as a brand. But it seems likely that you'll find some corners cut versus similar OLED monitors from LG, Alienware, Corsair, etc.
That said, on paper this 27A1S monitor looks pretty darn good. In addition to that sweet OLED screen, you also get a 2560×1440 QHD resolution, which is the current sweet spot for PC gaming. Add in the 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time and it's plenty fast enough even for some intense multiplayer shooters.
Connections are flexible with an HDMI port, two DisplayPort ports, and one USB-C port with 65 watts of charging. (That's enough for most laptops, though the beefiest gaming laptops might not be able to go full power without a dedicated charger.) Oh, it also has a wireless Qi phone charger built into the stand, which I guess is a nice touch.
Extras include some RGB bling on the back, plus four five-watt speakers that
That's why the company has attempted several underhanded tactics over the years, like forcing links to open in Edge and ignoring user settings for default browsers. And earlier this year, Edge was caught "stealing" tabs from Chrome, purportedly due to a data import bug.
Well, it seems Microsoft is up to no good again, this time with an Edge update that causes the browser to automatically start up with the PC and prompt the user to import data from other browsers.
As reported by The Verge, this pop-up has a checked-by-default option to "bring over your data from other browsers regularly," which includes open tabs, browsing history, bookmarks, and more. If you see the pop-up and click to confirm, Edge will continuously import data from Chrome.
Given the design of the pop-up and the pre-checked nature of the option, you wouldn't be wrong to think of this as an attempt by Microsoft to trick you into switching over to Edge. After all, if all of your data is already moved over, the hassle of migrating is significantly lessened.
Microsoft officially confirmed the existence of this new pop-up with The Verge, and Microsoft spokesperson Caitlin Roulston explained: "This is a notification giving people the choice to import data from other browsers. There is an option to turn it off."
When looking for a great VPN, you'll want to consider a few things: First and foremost, does it have a good privacy record; how are its average connection speeds; is it able to unblock streaming services effectively; and finally, does it have a large enough server network for your specific location needs? All of my curated picks below deliver these essentials plus more.
Why you should trust me: Here at PCWorld we've been testing computer hardware, software, and services since the 1980s. For my own part, I'm continually testing all of the major VPNs on the market and many lesser-known services with an eye toward the features and performance that a VPN user should care about most. To learn more about my testing methodology, scroll below my recommendations.
But don't get too excited, gamers. We aren't the ones buying. Almost all of that growth is driven by an explosion in AI infrastructure, according to Jon Peddie Research in a new market report, which confirms that Nvidia is reaping most of the benefit in this change.
That's hardly surprising if you've even been glancing at the news lately. Selling AI hardware for data centers, just a couple of years after selling some of the same hardware for cryptocurrency generation, has driven Nvidia to become the most valuable company on the planet. (By market cap, anyway. There are other ways to measure corporate value, but that's an argument for bigger brains than mine.)
For a bit of broad context on this $100 billion number, the estimated worldwide revenue for smartphones in 2023 was about $500 billion according to Statista, and vehicle sales totaled about $2.1 trillion for the top 20 manufacturers.
Nvidia is definitely the go-to vendor for any company that wants to rapidly scale up flexible, AI-focused data centers, if you have the scratch. Nvidi
Right now, the Samsung T9 (2TB model) is on sale for $195.76 on Amazon, a big drop from its original $300 MSRP. That's an incredible price for a drive that performs this well.
The T9 has blazing-fast file transfers at speeds of up to 2,000MB/s, which makes it ideal for moving large files. Since it's compatible with a wide range of devices, from computers to cameras to gaming consoles to smartphones, this portable SSD is highly versatile.
And since it's super compact — barely larger than a credit card and only 0.55 inches thick — it'll fit into your pocket or bag with ease. Worried about dropping it and losing your data? Don't be. The T9 is fall-proof and shock-resistant so it (and your data) will survive just fine, even if your cat ends up yeeting it off your desk.
When we reviewed the Samsung T9, our expert gave it a near-perfect 4.5-star rating and our Editors' Choice award, praising its performance, its textured surface that improves grip, and its five-year warranty. What he didn't like was the price, but that's obviously not an issue when it's 35 percent off in a deal like this one.
If you want to score big on tech ahead of Black Friday, you can't go wrong with this 2TB Samsung T9 portable SSD for $195.76 since it'll serve you well in many situations. If you want less storage capacity, the
You could spend the whole rest of the meeting interrupting your colleagues to find out what juicy tidbits you missed, but doing that isn't going to win you any fans. A better option is to just use Copilot to recap what happened in your absence.
A few things first…
For Copilot recap to work in Teams you'll need to have a current license for Microsoft 365 and Copilot. If you have those things and can't see Copilot at the top of your Teams meeting window, you'll need to enable it in the three-dot menu.
Additionally, the meeting host will need to have "transcription or recording enabled." Or, alternatively, use "Copilot without Transcript" selected in the meeting settings.
Copilot will only work if someone in your organization created the meeting. It also needs enough meeting time to have transpired with enough participants talking to be able to recap. So, if that coffee order is taking longer than usual, you can relax and have a sip or two before booting up your PC.
Now what to do…
In the Teams meeting window click the Copilot icon at the top of the screen. This will open Copilot in your sidebar. Now type: What did I miss in the meeting so far. This will generate a summary of what was discussed when you weren't there. That's it!
Case in point: the Xbox handheld. Rumors of some kind of Microsoft-made competitor to the Game Boy have been floating around since the original Xbox launched more than 20 years ago. And for even longer, anyone who tries to step up to Nintendo on its stomping ground — including Sega, Sony, and Nokia — gets, well, stomped.
So why is it we're still hearing rumblings about a new Xbox handheld game machine, a decade after the PlayStation Portable breathed its last?
It might be because Valve has bucked the trend. The Steam Deck is an unqualified smash hit, selling millions of units in just a couple of years. It has people excited about PC games on the go for the first time in a long time, and it's so influential that we're already seeing dozens of riffs on similar form factors from other companies like Asus, Lenovo, MSI, and Acer. All of them are using similar AMD-based hardware but running Windows inste
In other words, Bluesky users can create their own servers with specific rules and communities, allowing greater control over data and interactions. Those servers are all networked together, and that overall network is known as Bluesky.
While that sounds awesome in theory — no megalomaniac can hijack the entire platform and bend it to his or her own purposes — one of the downsides of Bluesky is that it's technically more complicated. That's been one of its biggest hurdles to growth and adoption.
Which is why this news of a population influx is so exciting. Bluesky now boasts over 14.5 million users, compared to competitors like Meta-owned Threads (which has 275 million users) and X, formerly Twitter (which has over 318 million users).
Speaking to The Verge, Bluesky COO Rose Wang says the majority of new users are from the US, coming in the wake of our high-profile presidential election. During said election, Elon Musk, who owns X, actively supported and boosted Donald Trump's campaign.
Why you should trust us: It's in our name. PCWorld prides itself on laptop experience and expertise. We've been covering PCs since 1983, and we now review more than 70 laptops every year. All of the picks below have been personally tested and vetted by our experts, who've applied not only performance benchmarks but rigorous usability standards. We're also committed to reviewing PC laptops at every price point to help you find a machine that matches your budget.
Looking for sweet discounts? Check out our regularly updated roundup of the best laptop deals available right now. By the way, since we're in the thick of back-to-school season, make sure you check out PCWorld's back-to-school coverage.
Updated November 13, 2024: We replaced the Best 2-in-1 pick with the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 ($1,599.99) because of the great build quality and fantastic battery life (17 hours on a single charge!). We also updated our list of recent laptop reviews, so make sure you check those out near the bottom of the page.
According to Microsoft, two Windows vulnerabilities were already being exploited in the wild, with a total of six zero-day security flaws fixed in this patch. As of now, even without December, 2024 is already the year with the second most vulnerabilities patched.
Microsoft doesn't offer any details on these vulnerabilities in the Security Update Guide, but fortunately Dustin Childs covers it all in a much clearer way on the Zero Day Initiative blog, always with an eye for admins who manage corporate networks.
On top of all this, Microsoft has released a new version of the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool, which you can use to find malware threats on your system and reverse any damage they've caused.
Windows security flaws patched
A large proportion of the overall vulnerabilities patched — 37 in total — were spread across various Windows versions, including Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server.
Sure, I know I can apply one level of sorting to my files, differentiating them by type, date modified, or size in Windows File Explorer, but to be honest when I do that I have just as hard a time finding what I need. The fix? An extra level of sorting!
How do you do it?
Getting an extra level of order into your folders is super easy really. All you have to do is Shift-click on the File Explorer category you want your files to be sorted by after you make the first column sort, and they'll appear with that extra tier of information.
To demonstrate this, I've put together a folder with different file types — JPEG, PNG, and PDF files created at different times. First off, I click on Type to sort them by type.
This tiny PC features a powerful AMD Ryzen 7 5700U processor that's coupled with 16GB of DDR4 RAM, so you'll have no issue running demanding apps and games. And if you want more power, you can later pop up the magnetic side cover and upgrade to 64GB of RAM.
The Acemagician AMR5 also comes with a 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD, which should be enough speed and space for most of your files, apps, and games. If not, you can use the same accessible magnetic cover to add a second drive. Each drive can be up to 2TB, for a total of 4TB.
And if you're going to be using this mini PC as a workflow powerhouse, you can optimize your productivity with three 4K@60Hz displays, one through HDMI 2.0, one through full-feature USB-C, and one through DisplayPort. Other ports include four USB-A 3.0, full-size Gigabit Ethernet, and an audio in/out jack.
Simply put, this thing is a beast. You can't find a laptop or desktop PC with specs like this anywhere near this price. Act fast and grab this Acemagician AMR5 mini PC for just $289 while you can!
Right now, you can grab this Arzopa portable monitor for just $126 on Amazon, down from its usual $170. (That price is with a Prime membership, but if you don't have Prime, you can still score this deal just by signing up for a free 30-day Prime trial.)
The Arzopa Z1RC is a 16-inch travel-friendly monitor with a gorgeous 2560×1600 resolution, also known as 2.5K. That means crisper text and images than your typical 1080p monitor, and this one's IPS panel also means vivid colors and near-perfect color accuracy.
This ultra-slim display can be used either horizontally or vertically, depending on what you need on a specific occasion, and the adjustable built-in kickstand makes it easy to get just the right viewing angle.
The Arzopa monitor is not only slim (with a thickness of just 0.36 inches), but it's also very lightweight (weighing just 1.46 pounds). It's extremely easy to slip into your bag next to your laptop whenever you leave home, and it won't weigh you down at all.
This monitor is super simple to use thanks to its wide compatibility. It has a USB-C port, a USB-C with data transmission port, and a Mini HDMI port. Don't just use it with your laptop — you can just as easily use it with your phone, tablet, or even your Nintendo Switch!
Wi-Fi 8, known right now as IEEE 802.11bn Ultra High Reliability, still remains years away. Wireless technology is in a constant state of improvement: Each progression in the evolution of Wi-Fi takes several years to discuss, approve, and then deploy. Wi-Fi 7, the "current" standard, hasn't even been formally ratified quite yet.
But that's not stopping the development of Wi-Fi 8 behind the scenes, and we already know some details. MediaTek's Filogic wireless division has released some of what you can expect, with the caveat that final details won't be nailed down until the final specification is released around Sept. 2028.
The key phrase that you should think of in the context of Wi-Fi 8? Not peak throughput, but effective throughput.
Wi-Fi 8 will look a lot like Wi-Fi 7
According to the Wi-Fi Alliance and MediaTek, the United States isn't the driving force behind the wireless evolution. Instead, it's China: The country has 650 million broadband subscribers and more than a quarter have 1Gbps broadband connections to their homes. Overall, the average connection speed is 487.6Mbps, which grew 18 percent in a year's time.
When I take a step back and look at my own AI chatbot use, that's what I'm predominantly doing with it: educating myself. Sure, I'm learning new skills and finding answers to questions when my kids stump me, but ultimately what I'm doing when I play around with the likes of ChatGPT Plus and Copilot Pro is learning how to use AI, period.
And now that these AI chatbots have come out with premium subscription plans with even more advanced features, I wouldn't blame you if you're confused about why they have paid plans, what the benefits are, and whether they're worth paying for.
Like it or not, AI is the future
The latest AI chatbots are impressive feats of engineering and software development that build on decades of work in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and neural networks. But it's still a bit of frontier. Many are still figuring out what they can do and how best to use them, and many others still dismiss AI as a passing fad to ignore.
While I don't think we've yet reached the point where everyone needs to know how to use AI for day-to-day stuff, it feels like that time is fast approaching. Being able to work with AI is going to be a necessary skill, akin to general computer use and not being an ass to your colleagues.
But can you get by on the free versions of ChatGPT, Copilot, and the rest? Or should you pony up for a premium plan? Well, that depends!
You can design flowcharts, network diagrams, floor plans, and even intricate brainstorming maps with Visio's pre-built templates and shape library. With over 250,000 shapes and access to additional online content, you'll find everything you need to create compelling visuals.
Plus, Visio supports BPMN 2.0, IEEE, and UML 2.5 standards for those needing unique solutions, making it ideal for industry-specific requirements.
Visio also makes collaboration easy. Work on diagrams with colleagues, link live data to visuals and use it as a tool for real-time communication. Visio simplifies complex data-driven visuals with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality and compatibility with Excel and Microsoft Entra ID.
Available for new users only, don't miss out on the chance to turn big ideas into clear visuals with an all-in-one diagramming tool.
We still don't know exactly how these new recommendations are going to work in the taskbar, nor what exactly will be recommended, but we can speculate. The first signs of the new taskbar recommendations feature were spotted in the latest beta versions of Windows 11.
The Baseus 65W USB-C wall charger currently has a 40 percent on-page digital coupon and an additional 20 percent slashed off with the 7DUZIEDB coupon code, which you can either redeem on the product page or copy/paste at checkout.
This tiny GaN charging station features two USB-C ports and two USB-A ports, as well as a 5-foot extension cord that's able to reach the nearest outlet no matter where you put it. From there, it's up to you to plug in your various devices — laptop, phone, earbuds, tablet, camera, etc. — to get them recharged in a jiffy as needed.
With a maximum output of 65W, your devices will refresh in no time. It's fast enough to get an iPad Pro 11 from zero to a hundred in just two hours. (Of course, when multiple devices are plugged in, the charging rate will have to be split between them. That said, the charging station will smartly decide which ones to fast-charge.)
Snatch this early Black Friday deal and get yourself a Baseus 4-port USB-C charging station for just $20 on Amazon!
Save 60% on this fast 4-device USB-C charging stationBuy now on Amazon
You'll need to jump through a hoop or two to get that price, as noted by posters on the SlickDeals forum. First, add the MX Master 3S to your cart in any color. A little slide-out window should pop up. You'll notice the freebie carrying case is in your cart for $0.
Now, underneath the MX Master 3S item, you'll spot two extras: first is the "Complimentary subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud" and second is the "Complimentary subscription to Codecademy." Click the Add buttons for both of those offers.
Well, if that describes you, Microsoft wants you to know that they're listening and they care. According to Windows Latest, Microsoft is reportedly working on adding the emoji panel to the taskbar, granting immediate access to emojis no matter what you're doing.
Although there's already a keyboard shortcut for accessing the emoji panel — simply press Windows key Period or Windows key Semicolon — it's clear that not everyone is aware of it. After all, who can really remember the hundreds of keypress combinations that exist?
Microsoft hasn't officially confirmed the move to add the emoji panel to the taskbar, so there's no word on when this change is going to come. But the UI settings for it appear to exist in Windows 11 based on some leaked strings that indicate an "Emojis and more" taskbar button.
That's why it's imperative that you use a VPN while doing any torrenting or P2P file sharing. A VPN can keep your connection private and encrypt your data so that unwanted prying eyes — cybercriminals, overbearing ISPs, or nosy government watchdogs — can't monitor your online activity. (See "Can a VPN really hide all of your torrent activity?" to learn more.)
Why you should trust me: Here at PCWorld we've been testing computer hardware, software, and services since the 1980s. As PCWorld's primary VPN reviewer, I'm continually testing all of the major VPNs on the market and many lesser-known services in order to curate a list of the very best VPNs across a variety of categories. Below you'll find my favorite VPNs and additional information about what to look for when choosing a VPN on your own.
If you're interested in using a VPN for more than just torrenting you can check out my list of best VPN services for even more great options.
In the December 2024 issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology, a team of researchers published a study with data from over 83,000 participants in the United Kingdom who had mixed both sitting and standing for work. They found that "stationary time" increased circulatory system disease risk.
Sitting for more than 10 hours a day across an extended period of time was associated with a 13 percent increase in heart problems over seven years and 26 percent greater prevalence of circulatory disorders. The longer participants remained stationary, the greater the risk (as measured by an increased average heart rate). Hence the push to get people to periodically stand at a desk instead of sitting in a chair.
The more concerning data is that time spent standing for the same stationary tasks didn't significantly reduce those risks. In fact, standing still for hours and hours as an alternative to sitting came with measurably higher risks for orthostatic circulatory diseases, including "orthostatic hypotension, varicose vein, chronic venous insufficiency, and venous ulcers." But, again, this isn't shocking — doctors have known that standing still for long hours for work, repeated across weeks, months, and years, has some predictably bad outcomes.
The report is pretty dense, academically. (The Washington Post has
If you act fast, you can snag one for just $70 on Amazon, which is a hefty 53 percent off its normal $150 price. That's an insanely good deal for one of the best internal SSDs we've tested so far.
When our expert reviewed the Samsung 990 EVO, he enjoyed it enough to give it a 4-star rating, appreciating the drive's fast overall performance, the five-year warranty, and that it works both on PCIe 5.0 and PCIe 4.0.
This high-performance internal SSD supports up to 5,000MB/s read speeds, meaning that it can load games and apps super fast and transfer files just as quickly. It's also equipped with smart thermal control, spreading the heat across the whole drive and cooling things down even when you're in the middle of an intensive task.
Why wait until Black Friday when you can grab this Samsung 990 EVO SSD for 53% off on Amazon? (And it's not just the 1TB version that's on sale right now — if you need more space, get the 2TB version for just $130, which is an almost-as-good 46 percent discount.)
The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 is on sale for $1,050 right now at Best Buy. That's a whopping $450 off its original $1,500 price tag, bringing it down to an incredible price-to-performance ratio with its specs.
This isn't your typical gaming laptop. We gave it a 4-star rating in our review: "The Acer Predator Helios Neo 16 goes all in on speed, blitzing past competitors with similar configurations while sticking to a more modest price point." And that modest price point is even better now!
Featuring an Intel Core i9-14900HX processor, this powerful laptop is ready to tackle all kinds of demanding tasks — including video editing — and your workloads will get done with ease. Then there's the GeForce RTX 4060 GPU that can take on most modern games at high settings without breaking a sweat.
This may not be the most portable laptop given its 16-inch size, but it's one you'll enjoy using wherever you do take it. The 1900×1200 resolution is crisp and gorgeous, the 165Hz refresh rate ensures smooth gameplay, and you can tack on extra high-end monitors with its two Thunderbolt 4 ports and full-size HDMI 2.1 port.
If you're worried about storage space, don't be. This beast comes with a fast 1TB SSD, which should be more than large enough for all your personal photos and videos, work documents, apps, and games.
But while Wi-Fi security cameras are meant to equip homeowners and apartment dwellers with burglar-deterring measures, thieves are now using tech to even the playing field.
According to a tweet sent out by the Los Angeles Police Department's Wilshire division earlier this year (spotted by Tom's Hardware), a small band of burglars is using Wi-Fi jamming devices to nullify wireless security cameras before breaking and entering.
The thieves seem to be well above the level of your typical smash-and-grab job. They have lookout teams, they enter through the second story, and they go for small, high-value items like jewelry and designer purses.
Wireless signal jammers are illegal in the United States. Wireless bands are tightly regulated and the FCC doesn't allow any consumer device to intentionally disrupt radio waves from other devices. Similar laws are in place in most other countries.
But signal jammers are electronically simple and relatively easy to build or buy from less-than-scrupulous sources.
The police are suggesting the usual precautions: don't tell anyone you're going on vacation, look out for suspicious vehicles, etc. But they're also suggesting that homeowners use old-fashioned, wired sets of security cameras that require more elaborate installations and extra hardware.
According to an investigation from HKEPC (machine-translated and spotted by Tom's Hardware), one user got a nasty surprise when making use of that generous extended warranty for the failure-prone Intel Core i9-14900K. Despite being a lot more forgiving with warranty service after months of highly public issues with crashing 13th- and 14th-gen processors, Intel denied one user a replacement or repair because the liquid metal cooling they used had corroded the processor's top plate to the point that its original printed label was gone.
This is a known problem with liquid metal paste alternatives — the alloys are mildly corrosive. Most of the time that isn't enough to actually damage hardware, but wiping away the chip's markings is a pretty telltale sign that liquid metal has been used. Intel and its competitors specifically say that
The classic Outlook app is also on track to being deprecated, but on a longer timeline. In recent months, Microsoft has repeatedly issued pop-ups informing users that they should switch to the new Outlook, but it wasn't clear how long the grace period would be for those who weren't ready to make the switch. Now there's finally some clarity.
What is the deadline?
The Windows Mail, Calendar, and People apps will no longer be supported come December 31, 2024. You'll still be able to open the apps, but you won't be able to do certain things like send and receive email or create appointments in your schedule.
The classic Outlook app is on a different, more progressive migration timeline, as explained in this support document. We're currently in the phase where the new Outlook app is publicly available but still on an opt-in basis. We'll soon move into the on-by-default, opt-out-basis phase. Then, in the phase after that, classic Outlook will no longer be available.
What you can do right now
If you're still using Windows Mail, Calendar, People, or classic Outlook, you'll start receiving new pop-ups (if you haven'
While GeForce Experience will still work if you have it installed, it's no longer being bundled with Nvidia's frequent GPU updates, and it probably won't be long before the program is put out to pasture.
If you haven't tried it, the all-in-one Nvidia App is pretty good. It combines features from GeForce Experience and the seldom-used Nvidia Control Panel into a unified interface, including driver updates, system-wide and per-game graphics settings, monitor and video tweaks, and Nvidia's promotional goodies (like some free in-game currency and goodies for Throne and Liberty).
It doesn't do everything, though. More advanced tools, like GeForce Now game streaming and Nvidia Broadcast, are linked and open in separate windows. And there are still a few small tools that aren't in the UI yet, as Nvidia admits in its announcement post, like Nvidia Surround that can span virtual spaces across multiple monitors for playing games on two or three displays at once.
Like GeForce Experience before it, the Nvidia App isn't strictly necessary, and you can install drivers for your GeForce GPU using a separate, standalone process on both laptops and desktops. And Nvidia also gives you the option of running the App and downloading drivers without logging into an account, which is something I appreciate. Gotta keep that taskbar notification area lean!
If you need to look up a particular password, it takes just a few quick clicks to access them directly. Here's how to locate them—and how to access all the different settings related to them.
(Spoiler: You may need to use both methods to fully configure Google's password storage to your liking).
What's in the White Edition?
The so-called Steam Deck OLED: Limited Edition White is the 1TB version of the Steam Deck OLED (Amazon link), fitted with the same internal components: the eponymous 7.4-inch HDR OLED display, AMD Zen 2 CPU, AMD RDNA 2 GPU, and 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM.
The only truly special aspects of the Limited Edition White are its color, which will probably be of interest to many, and the included accessories. In addition to the device itself, Valve is also including a matching carrying case and a cleaning cloth.
Price and availability
The limited-edition white Steam Deck OLED will be available worldwide on November 18, 2024 starting at 6PM EST. And according to Valve, the retail price will be $679.
It's unclear how many units Valve will release for sale. Furthermore, availability will depend on region — in the US, there will probably be more units for sale than in the UK or EU, for example.
Valve also states that the number of units will be limited to one device per purchase per account. Not only that, but buy
A few days later, I was more than happy to take it apart and return to a slower and more functional Thunderbolt environment. Because I am simply not sure that the Thunderbolt 5 ecosystem is ready for prime time.
This isn't an indictment of Thunderbolt 5, per se. Rather, it's all about the headaches that can accompany not one, but a multitude of devices, all of which can interact with each other in unexpected ways. Layer on software, drivers, firmware updates, and the like, and it's tough to point an accusing finger at any one component. This is what testing cutting-edge hardware can mean: struggling with technology that should just work, but doesn't.
Thunderbolt 5: The next generation of I/O
Thunderbolt 5 was announced about a year ago, as the next step in the evolution of the Thunderbolt I/O standard. Thunderbolt wasn't necessarily designed for power users, but the best Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 docks allows users to place a pair of 4K displays on their desk running at 60 Hz. I
It was most evident in laptops: Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips kicked off Microsoft's Copilot PC era with long life and surprisingly competitive performance, only to be rivaled by Intel's Macbook-killing Lunar Lake chips months later. AMD, meanwhile, focused on bringing high-octane speed to Copilot PCs, zigging for oomph while the others zagged to endurance. With competition flourishing, PCWorld expects to review over 120 laptops by the end of the year, by far a new high water mark!
But laptops weren't the only category laser-focused on innovation and performance. This year, cutting-edge monitors became the norm, Thunderbolt docks and SSDs embraced newer, faster standards, Intel and AMD launched overhauled desktop CPUs, gaming handhelds got truly competitive, and the software that runs on all that hardware kept getting better and better, too.
You love to see it. With such a gluttony of choice, it became harder than ever for PC hardware and software to impress us. Few products earned our rare Editors' Choice award. And only the very best of the best grace this list.
Without further ado, this is the Best PC Hardware and Software of 2024, as chosen by PCWorld's editors. Congratulations to the winners - with a field this crowded, they've definitely earned it.
Ever wanted to learn something new without the weighty price tag of a degree? EDU Unlimited by StackSkills has you covered. With lifetime access to 1,000 courses for only $30, you can become well-versed in just about anything — without shelling out for student loans.
From coding and marketing to creative hobbies like photography or design, StackSkills lets you build your dream skill set at your own pace, without the pressure.
This one-time payment opens the door to endless topics, so you can explore, jump around, and binge-learn as much as you want. Courses are self-paced and available whenever you need them, perfect for diving into career-boosting skills, side hustles, or just picking up something new to impress your friends.
What is a PNG image?
A PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is an image format that was developed in 1996 as an alternative to GIF. It enables lossless compression and supports transparency, which makes it ideal for logos, graphics, or images where the background should be transparent. The image quality remains high, as PNGs do not lose detail even after being saved several times.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of PNG files?
PNG files have a number of advantages, but also a few disadvantages you should be aware of:
AdvantagesDisadvantagesLossless compressionLarger file size compared to JPGSupport for transparencyNot ideal for very large photosHigh image qualityNot all browsers/platforms support itIdeal for graphics, logos, detailed imagesNot easily scalable
Programs in WSL run slower than under native Linux, but it's not always noticeable. Microsoft is also continuing to work on improvements that will be incorporated into the Linux kernel. A newer kernel can therefore speed up WSL.
WSL kernel and virtualization
In WSL 2, the Linux kernel runs on a hypervisor (Hyper-V), similar to its Linux counterpart KVM/Qemu. The kernel offers functions to ensure communication between the guest and host systems. This concerns, for example, the shared use of the main memory and CPU management. The program code for this comes primarily from Microsoft.
Ultrawides used to be a luxury in the monitor world, but prices have come down in recent years, and even basic computers like my $300 mini-PC have become powerful enough to push an ultrawide's extra pixels without dedicated graphics cards.
My particular monitor, the (oh-so straightforwardly-named) LG 35WN65C-B, has a resolution of 3440×1440, which gives it about 34 percent more horizontal screen real estate than a more standard 2560×1440 widescreen monitor.
But are these wallet-friendly bots actually worth it, or are you better off saving up for a premium model?
Read on for my advice, and be sure to browse our top robot vacuum and mop picks once you're ready to shop.
Why budget robots are so tempting
Even if you're not working with a tight budget, it's hard to resist scoring a robot vacuum for the price of a standard upright.
Budget models promise the same hands-free cleaning experience as their pricier cousins, often with similar-looking features and capabilities. And for basic cleaning needs, they can get the job done.
But before you click "buy" on that suspiciously cheap robot vacuum, it's important to consider what you're really getting and what you might be giving up.
What budget bots actually deliver
Lower-cost robot vacuums will deliver basic cleaning capabilities, but your user experience may leave something to be desired.
These models typically come with reduced suction power and "bump-and-run" navigation
At PCWorld, we've had to adjust to remote work just like the rest of the world. Our staff has spent countless hours testing and reviewing hardware, which means we've been lucky enough to find the best gear and accessories available. Below you'll find our favorite work-from-home essentials.
Look sharp during Zoom meetings: Logitech C920e Business Webcam
Tired of monthly fees and privacy worries? Koofr's 1TB lifetime subscription combines long-term storage with top-notch privacy — without tracking your every click. This is cloud storage built to last, with plenty of room for your photos, videos, and documents, all for a single, one-time payment.
With Koofr's Duplicate Finder, you can clear up clutter in seconds, and if you already use other cloud services, Koofr's integration feature lets you pull in files from Dropbox, Google Drive, and more, creating a central hub for all your digital content. Think of it as the only cloud storage you'll need — organized, accessible, and without the privacy concerns that typically come with cloud services.
Whether you're backing up family memories, work files, or video libraries, Koofr provides intuitive tools and advanced file management options to help you keep everything in order. Unlike other cloud providers,
These days, surfing the internet without a safeguard is a bit like wading into shark-infested waters — except here, the shark is on your side. Meet Surfshark VPN — it keeps your online activity secure while you browse freely. Through November 17, get a two-year subscription for $45.59 with code HOLIDAY20.
Designed for privacy lovers and content junkies alike, SurfShark doesn't just keep the snoops away; it also lets you access geo-restricted content across the globe.
With SurfShark's CleanWeb feature, say goodbye to annoying ads and pesky trackers that follow you around like lost puppies. Want to stream that show only available overseas? No problem — SurfShark's got over 3,200 servers worldwide, giving you easy access to con
On a podcast with Hot Hardware, Intel vice president and general manager Robert Hallock acknowledged that the Arrow Lake launch "didn't go as planned." That was evidenced in PCWorld's Arrow Lake review and reviews by others.
Hallock was frank about what Intel needed to do: explain what went wrong, either by the end of November or early December, and then work to fix it.
"Here's this old adage that we've talked about with journalists and hardware companies alike, that a new platform is hard," Hallock said. "Anytime you radically overhaul anything, it presents new and sometimes unexpected challenges. And I think what people have been interested to hear is what happened.
"And I can't go into all the details yet, but we, we've identified a series of issues, multi-factor," Hallock said. "They're at the OS level, they're at the BIOS level. And I will say that the performance we saw in reviews — to be very clear, through no fault of reviewers — was not what we expected, not what we intended. The launch just didn't go as planned, and that's been a humbling lesson for all of us, and has kind of inspired a fairly large response internally to get to the bottom of what went happened and to fix it."
When determining what makes for a good VPN for Android, I consider several criteria. First, it's crucial that it has full functionality on the OS. Also, since Wi-Fi can be inconsistent at times, I test these apps over multiple days to look at speed and consistency of service. Finally, I considered the Android app itself and its ease of use, as well as other things such as pricing and the number of simultaneous devices allowed per account. All of these factors help determine the very best Android VPNs indicated below.
Why you should trust me: PCWorld has been testing computer hardware, software, and services since the 1980s. I'm continually testing all of the major VPNs on the market and many lesser-known services in order to curate a list of the very best VPNs across a variety of categories. Below you'll find my favorite VPNs and additional information about how I test these services as well as helpful advice about what to look for when choosing a VPN for your Android device on your own.
Without further ado, here are my recommendations for the best VPNs for Android.
Updated November 8, 2024: Check out my latest review of
Ultimately, Black Ops 6 delivers what we've been missing in recent years, complete with intelligent, emotional, and smart storytelling, well-written characters, and truly epic action that could well be a Game of the Year candidate.
Price When Reviewed
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Take this oversized ultrawide from LG, for example. Though the retail price for the 39-inch OLED is an eye-watering $1,500, you can find Amazon selling it for just $892.74 today. That's 40 percent off!
The LG UltraGear 39GS95QE is similar to a lot of smaller 34-inch gaming monitors, with a semi-standard 3440×1440 resolution that has become so popular lately. But with a generous bump up to 39 inches and a super-speedy 240Hz refresh rate, it's a definite winner over something like the Alienware OLEDs. A generous curve and stylish base sure don't hurt, either, nor does compatibility with Nvidia's G-Sync.
This monitor is missing a few of the most premium options, with no USB-C video to augment its DisplayPort and double HDMI inputs. In fact, the only other expansion you get is a pair of USB-A ports and a headphone jack for your gaming headset. But unless you're running a gaming laptop as your primary machine, the lack of video and charging over USB-C might not be a deal-breaker.
Best Buy has this particular model in stock at many brick-and-mortar locations, so you might be able to pick it up lickety-split if you're in the mood to upgrade for a gaming session this weekend… but it's going to cost extra at about $1,000. That's also true on LG's web store. Y
Why you should trust us: Hey, it's in our name! PCWorld prides itself on laptop experience and expertise. We've been covering PCs since 1983, and now review more than 70 laptops every year. All of the picks below have been personally tested and vetted by our experts, who've applied not only performance benchmarks but rigorous usability standards. We're also committed to reviewing PC laptops at every price point to help you find a machine that matches your budget.
Looking for great laptop deals? Check out our regularly updated list of the best mainstream, gaming, and 2-in-1 laptop deals. By the way, since we're in the middle of back-to-school season, be sure to check out PCWorld's extensive back-to-school coverage for advice and deals.
Quick retail links to our favorite laptops:
Best overall: Dell Inspiron 14 Plus (2024)
Best battery life:
One New Yorker isn't satisfied with Intel's extended RMA offerings, though, and he's suing the company in a class action.
Ars Technica reports on the suit brought by one Mark Vanvalkenburgh, which alleges that Intel knew about the processors' issues in late 2022 or early 2023 and failed to disclose them to buyers, even as return rates climbed and both end users and tech media (including PCWorld) began to widely discuss the issue. Vanvalkenburgh and his lawyers allege that Intel's withholding of internal data on failures and return rates was misleading and caused him and many others to buy CPUs they would have otherwise avoided.
Depending on what's presented in discovery, Vanvalkenburgh's lawyers estimate that hundreds of thousands — or possibly millions — of people could be part of the class action. Though Intel maintains that not every 13th- and 14th-gen desktop processor is vulnerable to these failures, that's yet to be demonstrated empirically.
This scenario is already one of the biggest CPU blunders in recent memory, but information resulting from this suit has the potential to make it spiral into a full-on disaster.
And Intel can't afford a disaster right now. The company has been reeling from multiple setbacks, including disappointing performance from its latest desktop and laptop chip
It looks like we were right! (Not that it was an earth-shattering achievement of prognostication, to be fair.) As it turns out, AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a smash hit right out of the gate, and nearly every major US retailer that sells it — including Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, and Micro Center — is out of stock one day after the CPU's launch.
There might be a few of the gaming-focused chips still hanging around physical retailers, but it looks like everything online is gone right away. It's a similar situation in Europe and in countries where the 9800X3D debuted yesterday, according to The Verge.
The X3D variant family, which punches up Ryzen chips' performance for video games and other visual rendering with an extra helping of V-cache, has been extremely popular ever since it launched with the Ryzen 5000 series. It sits at the top of recommendations for desktop gaming builds (and in fact I'm typing this on a desktop with a 7800X3D!), and it's driving a shift upwards in market share that AMD has been waiting on for years.
AMD senior vice president Jack Huynh took to Twitter/X to show off lines forming at retailers around the world. "So pumped to see the global excitement for the AMD Ryz
It's a no-brainer move when you can get this PS5 charging station for less than $13 at Walmart, a huge cut from its normal $60 price tag. And it supports two PS5 DualSense controllers! Let me say that again: right now you can save 79 percent on this two-seat PS5 charging dock.
Not only can this charging station recharge your PS5 controllers in 2.5 hours, but it also provides a designated home for them, ensuring they're always organized and ready to grab at moment's notice.
Frankly, for me, it's a game-changer. Instead of fumbling for a cable to charge my dying controllers, now I can just put them in their spot and know they'll be ready for my next gaming session.
And if you ever go on a trip and want to take your PS5 along, know that this charging station's compact size makes it easy to fit into most bags so you can take it with you as well.
If you're a PS5 gamer who has a spare $13 in your pocket and you're tired of plugging and unplugging a cable all the time to charge your controllers, do yourself a favor and snag this $13 charging dock now.
Effortlessly charge two PS5 controllers with one $13 dock
Right now, this two-in-one bundle deal is going for just $50 on Amazon, a sizable 38 percent off the Echo Spot's original $80 price (or 45 percent off the bundle's $92 combined value).
This is the new 2024 version of the Echo Spot with its sleek redesign that puts a digital display on its front face. Unlike past models, this one makes it easy to check the time, weather, and media playback at a glance. No more need to wake Alexa up unnecessarily.
But Alexa remains as easy to use as ever. Simple voice commands are all you need to ask questions and get answers, find new recipes, set up timers and reminders and schedules, play music and switch playlists, and all the extra stuff that Alexa can do with third-party skills.
The bulb in this bundle is a 60W Globe Electric smart LED bulb that's specifically tuned to only work with Alexa. Pop it into that lamp you always forget to turn off and you can now toggle it by saying, "Alexa, turn off the living room lamp." You can also change it to almost any color you want, which can be fun for mood-setting.
If you've always wanted an Echo but have been holding back for a deal, this is a solid one to jump on and a cheap way to start evolving your home into a smart home. Get the new Echo Spot with free smart bulb for just $50 on Amazon while this deal lasts!
Save 38% on the new Echo Spot and get a free smart bulb, too
Themes by Copilot allows you to specify the types of themes you want to use in Outlook, which are then auto-generated by Microsoft's Copilot generative AI tool. Theme designs can be based on location or weather, and the aesthetics can be in realistic, oil painting, or cartoon styles.
Additionally, you can choose how often the theme's background is updated in Outlook, keeping your email app fresh and visually interesting throughout the day. It's small but interesting.
Themes by Copilot is currently available in Microsoft Outlook for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and the web app.
If you're ready to pay for premium AI, this kind of deeper integration of AI into Microsoft 365 apps is one reason to
Unfortunately, on March 5, 2024, Microsoft officially deprecated the feature and announced that the Amazon Appstore plus all its apps and games will stop working come March 5, 2025. If you have the Amazon Appstore or Android apps installed on your Windows 11 PC using WSA, they'll stay operable until the deprecation date.
The problem is that WSA is actually quite popular, and the move to deprecate the compatibility layer has been met with harsh criticism on Microsoft's Feedback Hub. According to Windows Latest, numerous users are upset and asking Microsoft to reconsider, hopeful that Android app support will continue on Windows 11 in some form:
Common problems include weak coverage in parts of the home, devices being disconnected and having to be reconnected manually, choppy music and video playback on connected devices, and slower-than-promised speeds on large downloads.
By optimizing your router's settings and placement in your home, you can achieve a more stable and faster Wi-Fi network. Often this is enough, but otherwise there is help from different types of networking equipment.
If you're feeling the age of your laptop and wish you could inject more power and life into it so it lasts you a few more years, you might consider upgrading some of its parts. After all, even if your laptop isn't a modular Framework laptop, it can likely still upgrade some of its components.
But which laptop parts are worth upgrading? And which ones are you better off ignoring? Keep reading because I'm breaking it all down.
What you can't upgrade in laptops
Upgrading laptops can be tricky business. With so many components packed into such tight spaces, laptops are notably more restrictive compared to desktops — and those tight confines force manufacturers to make different design decisions. Practically, that often means meant-to-be-permanent builds with minimal DIY upgrade options.
In other words, certain laptop parts can't be upgraded, period. A quick Google search might misguide you, though, and I've even seen Lenovo suggest that "almost any component inside your laptop can be upgraded if necessary," even CPUs and GPUs.
The sad truth is that CPUs and GPUs are almost never upgradeable in laptops because they're usuall
This isn't just any laptop. It's a speedy gaming machine that will have you enjoying your endless hours playing all sorts of games, powered by a GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card that can push graphics to the max. Those games are going to look good on its 16-inch IPS panel with a resolution of 2560×1600 and refresh rate of 120Hz.
The HP Envy is also great for general productivity and creative work, running on a fast Intel Core i7-13700H processor alongside 16GB of DDR5 RAM, promising snappy load times and high-performance multitasking with no lag. It's capped off with a just-as-speedy 1TB SSD that's plenty big to store all your photos, videos, apps, and games.
Frankly, finding a laptop with this level of configuration at this kind of price is a rare and pleasant surprise. Don't miss this chance to snag an HP Envy 16 gaming laptop for just $1,000 at Best Buy!
The browser history can allow conclusions to be drawn about surfing behavior and bank details.
Stored email traffic reveals details of business transactions and provides information on subscribed streaming services and times when no one is at home.
FTP tools such as Filezilla offer to save access data so that the user does not have to enter it again and again, thus opening up access to FTP servers of companies and organizations.
Browsers open the way to accounts and services of all kinds via their password managers.
Cross-platform support with .NET MAUI, Blazor, and more — build mobile, desktop, and web apps seamlessly
AI-powered IntelliCode and CodeLens for quick, smart code suggestions and insights
Real-time collaboration through Live Share, letting teams work together effortlessly
Advanced debugging and testing tools for .NET and C projects across various environments
Efficient handling of complex projects with built-in tools for testing, debugging, and deployment
Trusted by industry pros — praised by Microsoft Choice Software, Capterra, and GetApp
Take your development projects to the next level with a lifetime license to Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2022
Pop-up ads? Trackers? Data-hungry apps? Say farewell to the digital noise that clutters your screens. The AdGuard Family Plan is a powerful shield against all that junk, built to keep your family's online life clear of distractions and data-grabbers. And with lifetime access for just $18.97 (reg. $79), this is one investment that'll keep on giving.
From scrubbing ads off your favorite sites to blocking sneaky trackers that try to follow your every click, AdGuard's software is like a full-time digital bodyguard. You'll notice faster page loads and a smoother browsing experience without interruptions — and your data stays right where it belongs.
Setup is easy, and it covers nine devices, so every family member gets a cleaner, safer internet. This
Why you should trust us: PCWorld has been covering PCs since 1983, and reviews more than 70 notebooks a year in our never-ending quest to find the best laptops. Our expert reviewers evaluate every machine using a combination of performance benchmarks and rigorous usability standards, with an eye toward identifying the best laptops for specific needs and at various price points. We also edit lots of videos ourselves, with the results appearing on PCWorld's YouTube channel. Take a look at our top picks for video editing below, followed by buying advice and more details about our testing process.
If you're on a budget or just looking to save some money, you may also want to check out our daily roundup of the best laptop deals to scope out any discounts on content creation notebooks.
Mercury Research, which tracks the market share of PC CPUs from AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm, reported sweeping gains in most segments of the CPU market. A portion of the report specific to AMD was provided to journalists by AMD, but confirmed by Mercury.
In general, because of the relatively low share of Qualcomm Snapdragon X CPUs, any share gains AMD realizes usually reflect a corresponding drop in Intel's market share.
AMD's results were excellent: The company's desktop market share, in units, increased by 9.6 percentage points year-over-year, to 28.7 percent. In mobile, AMD now holds 22.3 percent of the CPU market, an increase of 2.8 percentage points. Intel typically holds 80 percent of the market, and AMD the other 20 percent. In overall client processors, that relationship still largely holds true: AMD sold 23.9 percent of all client CPUs during the period.
In desktops, at least, there's evidence of strong momentum for AMD's existing Ryzen 7000X, 8000G and 9000X chips — even with middling 9000X reviews and post-launch, performance-altering Windows updates. Mercury's numbers report the last year's worth of sales. But the future looks bright, too. AMD just
Tech4Gamers spotted the United States patent filing in PatentScope. The patent was published by the USPTO on October 31, so it's pretty darn fresh as these things go — Sony only applied for the patent about a year and a half ago. The dense legalese basically describes the action of pressing or holding said button (which is where the "share" button sits on the current PlayStation pad), then going immediately backwards, either in the gameplay itself or a recorded video.
Like I said, rewinding your actions in gameplay isn't a new idea, but it's an interesting thought to so thoroughly integrate it into gamepad hardware. That would mean that Sony has a specific game in mind that heavily uses this mechanic, or would want developers to start implementing it on a broad basis. The rewind feature Nintendo integrated into the Switch Online emulation platform might be a pretty heavy inspiration here, and the PlayStation 5's reliance on speedy flash storage and beefy hardware could implement it for modern full-power games. These are systems that could also be applied to PC games, albeit with a little more legwork.
While paid password managers offer nice extras, a free password manager still protects you from the risks of using weak passwords (or worse, using the same one everywhere). Instead of remembering all of your passwords and/or passkeys, you just need one to access a single, secure place where all of the rest are stored.
And because free password managers come in different flavors and styles, you should be able to find one that fits your needs. Even Google's password manager, built into Chrome and Android, can work as a no-cost option with a nifty Windows tie-in. Plus, if you find that the free versions aren't enough, down the road you can always upgrade to a paid service.
And the coolest part? Right now, you can get this 2-in-1 Anker USB-C cable for just $20 on Amazon — that's 23 percent off — with a Prime membership. (Don't have Prime? You can sign up for a 30-day free trial to snag this deal anyway!)
This 4-foot USB-C cable saves you the trouble of packing multiples when you travel or digging around for an extra cable (or even an extra plug) when you want to charge your phone and Kindle at the same time.
And this cable supports up to 140W Power Delivery when only one of its heads is being used, so you could even use it to fast-charge your laptop and get it juiced up in no time. It's also smart, able to know when one device is fully charged so it can redirect full power to the other device that's still plugged in and charging.
So, if you're an Amazon Prime member, don't miss out on this useful 2-in-1 Anker USB-C cable for just $20. And if you aren't a Prime member, just sign up for a free 30-day trial to score this price!
Just stick one of these on the wall outside your home and you'll get instant access to live video whenever someone visits you. Whether that's a delivery person or family dropping by, you'll have a recording of it — and even better, you can chat with them in real time through the Ring app, which can be handy for giving delivery instructions, for instance.
It also works pretty well at night and other low-light conditions, with the camera able to capture colorful images in 1080p, something that's particularly great when you're worried about overnight security.
Whenever motion is detected outside your home, you'll get sent alerts to your phone. If you pay for a Ring Home subscription plan, you can also leverage the power of AI to get more specific alerts, like only when people or packages are detected.
The Ring Stick Up Cam Battery doesn't need any wires, so installation is super easy. It also comes with Alexa integration so you can pull up the footage on any Alexa-compatible device.
Don't miss out on the chance to grab this early Black Friday deal for the Ring Stick Up Cam Battery and keep an eye on your home!
The Ring Stick Up Cam Battery is cheaper than ever now
One of the first tests of the FTC's new policies is a B2B service called Sitejabber, which the Commission has cracked down on.
In a public news post, the FTC charges Sitejabber's owner GGL Projects, Inc. with violations of the policy. Specifically, it said that Sitejabber's service asked customers to "rate your online shopping experience" after checkout with a one-to-five star scale and a text box. These "reviews" — of the online checkout experience and not the associated product — were then presented as product reviews for an inflated score.
"Design choices matter when developing these types of products," wrote commissioner Melissa Holyoak. "And Sitejabber's design choice here conflated real customer feedback about shopping choices with an actual rating for a product, harming its clients and consumers."
Violations of the new fake review rules can come with some devastating charges — over $50,000 per violation — but the FTC isn't dishing out that kind of punishment right away. (Which seems fair as the rules have only been in place for less than a month.) The FTC's order bars Sitejabber from selling these specific B2B services, or any other deceptive review-gathering
Starting in 2025, users (including those who pay for premium service) will be limited to 100 hours of streaming per month. While that's a fairly high limit, it still bites hard versus the unlimited playtime that the subscription has allowed up until now.
If you're currently a paying user, or if you sign up for a paid GeForce Now subscription between now and December 31, you'll be grandfathered into unlimited streaming until 2026. (Just don't let that subscription lapse.) Otherwise, if you go over the streaming limit and still want to continue playing, you can buy additional game time in 15-hour chunks for $3 (standard tier) or $6 (ultimate tier).
What's with the new limits? According to Nvidia's announcement post, the limits are there to "continue providing exceptional quality and speed — as well as shorter queue times — for Performance and Ultimate members." Nvidia says that 94 percent of users currently fit under this limit, though some less-than-precise wording means that might also include users on the free tier. (I'm getting flashbacks to when mobile carriers were trying to convince us that most people didn't need more than 2GB of over-the-air data.)
Sometimes, however, this is not a good thing at all: Sometimes the system fails to update, updates are only downloaded incompletely, or are even faulty from the outset. This was the case recently with the Windows update KB5043145. Instead of exciting new features and optimizations, some users only saw the dreaded blue screen of death (BSOD).
If there are problems with a Windows update, you should first banish the troublesome "upgrade" from your system. Microsoft often takes care of such problems promptly and the dilemma is solved with the next Windows update (the update to the update, so to speak). Until then, you can continue to use the "old" Windows version without any problems and without taking any particular risks.
We present various ways in which you can reset a Windows update in just a few steps.
Before resetting: First go through this checklist
To rule out basic problems and conflicts, you should go through th
But if you use Alt Tab a lot, you might have run into an annoying bug after updating to Windows 11 24H2 where the Alt Tab keyboard shortcut results in freezes or an empty black screen.
Turning your phone off completely protects it from some hacks
Surprisingly, this includes a very basic task that many people never do: switching your phone off completely. According to security experts at the NSA, this alone helps to protect the device from some hacking attacks. It is now not only common to gain access to smartphones via malicious links, but also via so-called zero-click exploits.
This involves bypassing the smartphone's security features step-by-step, starting with a missed call, then the first installed files, which gradually allow access to the system so hackers can tap into your information. This usually goes unnoticed, but can be prevented by completely rebooting the device.
And right now, one of our favorite mini PCs is on sale ahead of Black Friday: the Acemagic AD08 is now just $249 on Amazon, a whopping $200 off its original $449 and the lowest we've ever seen it.
To get this price, you'll need to clip the on-page coupon and have Prime. Don't have Prime? You can sign up for a free 30-day trial to score this deal! Otherwise, you can just clip the coupon and snag it for $299 instead.
This mini PC may be tiny, but it packs a punch. Running on an Intel Core i7-11700B processor and 16GB of DDR4 RAM, this computer is powerful enough to handle most apps and tasks. And if you ever need more RAM, you can later upgrade it to a max of 64GB — and upgrading this is as easy as flipping open its magnetic case to make the swap.
But my favorite thing here is that the Acemagic AD08 supports up to three 4K displays, making it a fantastic option for multitaskers who cherish screen real estate. Connectivity options include two HDMI 2.0 (4K@60Hz) ports and one USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (4K@60Hz) port.
Though it doesn't have a dedicated graphics card, the Acemagic AD08 is capable of gaming when you switch it into Performance Mode. You'll be able to get 60 FPS in most modern games at decent settings.
This mini PC also comes with a 512GB SSD, which should be plenty for typical use, able to house all the games, apps, photos, and videos you need. Once again, the magnetic cover makes it easy t
Unfortunately, we the public must take the brunt of the consequences, which comes in the form of higher risk of fraud, identity theft, account takeovers, and other schemes seeking to rob of us our money.
But you don't have to leave yourself open to such attacks—at least, not wide open. You can make it more difficult for bad actors to steal from you. Because your time is just as precious as your cash, and trying to recover from a successful scam can take both from you.
Make your login methods stronger
The more that passwords leak onto the internet, the easier it becomes for hackers to guess what yours might be. Not only can they feed that data into their cracking tools, but they can also use the passwords for credential stuffing attacks—that is, plugging in known email and password combinations around the web to see what accounts can be accessed.
So at minimum, you need passwords that are both strong and unique to safeguard your accounts. (A password manager can help you keep them all straight.)
We've separated the recommendations below by best laptop deals under $500, best home use laptop deals, best gaming laptop deals, and best premium laptop deals, to make it easier to find a notebook that fits your budget and needs. For more options, check out PCWorld's roundup of the best laptops available right now.
Best laptop deals (at a glance)
Acer Aspire 3, $279.99 ($42 off at Amazon)
Lenovo Flex 3 Chromebook, $328.99 ($150.01 off at Best Buy)
But with hundreds of models flooding the market, ranging from basic bumper-car cleaners to AI-powered navigators, finding the right one can feel overwhelming.
Here's how to pick a robot vacuum that actually delivers on its promise of making your life easier. And once you're ready to decide, browse our favorite robot vacuums and mops of 2024, where you'll find picks for every budget.
1. Start with your space
Your home's layout should be your north star when choosing a robot vacuum. A basic model might work fine in a small apartment with an open floor plan. But if you've got a larger home with multiple rooms and hallways, you'll want a vacuum with sophisticated navigation and mapping capabilities.
The best robot vacuums use LiDAR or camera-based systems to create detailed maps of your home. Think of it like giving your vacuum a GPS—it knows exactly where it's been and where it needs to go. These smarter models clean in efficient patterns rather than bouncing around randomly, which means faster, more thorough cleaning and fewer missed spots.
We're talking both hardware and software upgrades here. Things such as a Thunderbolt dock for adding extra ports for external displays and storage, or a monitor arm for total flexibility and improved ergonomics, or a trustworthy VPN and full-featured PDF editing software can all make a world of difference in your overall work satisfaction and success.
Here we present our favorite work from home tech of 2024/2025, all of which has been personally tested and approved by PCWorld's hardware and software experts.
Dell Inspiron 14 Plus - Best work-from-home laptop
The holidays are almost here. Whether you're hosting or travelling, you may be able to make things easier if you change where you shop. See how much of your party supplies and tasty treats you can find under one roof when you start shopping at Costco, especially now that you can get a 1-Year Costco Gold Star Membership plus a $45 Digital Costco Shop Card* for $65.
Your Costco Gold Star Membership gets you in the door at more than 500 Costco warehouses around the United States. Once in the door, you can search a vast selection of groceries, home essentials, clothes, jewelry, electronics, baked treats, and so much more. All your holiday shopping might be done by the time you leave.
Your Gold Star Membership opens some other exciting doors, too. You can get brand-name tires installed on your car, stop by a Costco Gas Station, or take advantage of Costco offerings online. That's a good place to use that $45 Digital Costco Shop Card*.
While PDFs are the universal file type used by countless businesses, they're not necessarily the easiest to manipulate if you find spelling errors or want to add an annotation for clarity. Fortunately, PDF management is simple when you have SwifDoo PDF Pro. A lifetime license is now available for only $34.99 (reg. $129) while supplies last.
Enjoy lifelong access to intuitive, user-friendly PDF tools with SwifDoo PDF Pro. This platform offers editing and annotating features to make contracts, business reports, work proposals, and academic writing more clear by adding text, highlighting passages, and inserting notes.
PDF conversion is also seamless with this platform, as you can turn them into Word, Excel, JPG, and CAD (and vice versa) without losing the formatting you selected. In add
Microsoft's October AI roadmap included tweaks to Paint, Notepad, and Search. Microsoft Recall was expected soon, too. Recall, of course, has been delayed again until December, as Microsoft works to ensure it's secure and private.
For now, three new features are debuting in the Canary and Dev Channels within Windows 11: AI rewriting within Notepad, plus Generative Fill and Generative Erase within Microsoft Paint.
Generative Erase is already within the Photos app, and the addition to Paint looks very similar. In Paint, you can highlight a section of the image and Paint will "erase" it, intelligently filling in the background. I find this especially useful in Photos, in case I need to touch up and remove a bit of dust. (In general, however, I leave images untouched for authenticity's sake.)
Build 27744 within the Microsoft Windows 11 Canary Channel contains a new version of Microsoft's Prism emulator, with a key addition: Prism now supports legacy AVX as well as AVX2 instructions. "You may find some games or creative apps that were blocked due to CPU requirements before will be able to run using Prism on this build of Windows," a post describing the new build explains.
This is a big deal. Microsoft Windows runs applications written for either x86 or Arm processors, though the version of Windows has to match up with the specific instruction set. Because the vast majority of Windows apps were written for x86, Microsoft co-developed an emulator, called Prism, that can be used to allow x86 apps to run on Arm. In most cases, Prism can step in and allow those x86 apps to run on processors like the Snapdragon X Elite. In certain cases — games, mainly — the app simply won't run at all. That's what this new update is designed to address.
Microsoft isn't saying which apps will be affected, save for Adobe Premiere Pro on Arm. That app was specifically included in the version of Prism which is currently within Windows 11 24H2, or the Windows 11 2024 Update. Now, the new build will expand that support "to any x64 application under emulation," Microsoft says.
So far, the key applications that have been largely excluded from the Windows on Arm ecosystem have been games, though Microsoft did not specifically call those out in its
Most systems come with security software baked into the OS, but for some folks, an upgrade can help demystify and simplify online security. To help you choose a good suite, we've identified products that offer excellent protection, worthwhile features, and minimal performance impact on your PC.
Why you should trust us: PCWorld has been deep in the trenches of testing computer hardware, software, and services since 1983—including security suites. For antivirus apps, we continually evaluate popular or noteworthy software. We consider the user experience, strength of protection against threats (online and offline), and how well it addresses the ever-expanding types of attacks. Our guide on how we test antivirus software at PCWorld gives the full details of our review process, but for the results of our work, read on.
Update November 6, 2024: Curious AVG's paid antivirus software? We've recently updated our review to reflect the most current version of its Internet Security subscription. Also, be alert for a new hijack of banking phone calls on Android phones and new
The best part about this discount is that it makes the 16GB version of the laptop just $50 above the model that sports half the RAM, making the upgrade an easy pick as Apple charges $200 for the upgrade. Both models are otherwise identical down to the same 256GB storage capacity.
This is a laptop we loved testing, as our review concluded with a 4.5-star rating and our Editors' Choice award. Our expert, Jason Cross, praised the laptop's "outstanding performance in its class," the amazing battery life, and the improved display. It's also an even better Apple Intelligence machine than the 8GB model. Apple's AI in late October arrived with macOS Sequoia 15.1, with features designed to help users write content, edit images, play around with Siri, and much more.
So hurry up and snatch the M2 MacBook Air for $799 while it's still avai
Fortunately, there is a way to use ChatGPT on Windows without paying for a premium plan — if you get the nightly version of Windows Terminal.
Windows Terminal is a free app provided by Microsoft that's basically a faster, more modern, more powerful, and more efficient alternative to Command Prompt but still more accessible and easier to use than the built-for-power-users PowerShell.
The regular version of Windows Terminal is available on the Microsoft Store, but the nightly version — which you'll need to access the newly implemented support for both ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot — can only be downloaded on the project's GitHub page.
To get it, scroll down to "Installing Windows Terminal Canary" and click on the appropriate download link. (The App Installer version has automatic updates but only supports Windows 11. The Portable ZIP version doesn't auto-update but works on Windows 10 and later.)
Once you've installed Windows Terminal Canary, you'll then need to enable support for "Terminal Chat" in the menu, and then you'll have to add an API key from OpenAI, GitHub, or Azure.
The idea is that you can now use ChatGPT in Windows Terminal Canary to get answers to questions, such as how to create a folder in PowerShell. You can also get tips, like sample code to use in your projects.
The MSI Katana 15 is absolutely stacked, and right now it's on sale for $1,200 at Best Buy. That's a hefty $300 discount, bringing this RTX 4070-equipped laptop down in line with those that only have RTX 4060s. It's a solid option for gamers and professionals who need power.
Under the hood, this MSI Katana configuration features an AMD Ryzen 9 8945HS processor alongside 16GB of DDR5 RAM. That's more than enough power and memory to handle most of what you could throw at it, and you can later upgrade it up to 64GB of RAM when needed.
But the real selling point here is the GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, which can push your gaming experience to the max in all but the most graphics-intensive AAA games. And you'll appreciate those visuals on this laptop's 15.6-inch display with 1080p resolution and 144Hz refresh rate.
This MSI Katana 15 also features a 1TB SSD, which should be more than enough for all your photos, videos, games, apps, and more. Not enough for you? It has a USB-C port, three USB-A ports, and an HDMI port so you can connect whatever external drives and accessories you need.
Don't miss out on this fantastic deal on a powerful gaming laptop at a great price. Get this MSI Katana 15 for $1,200 at Best Buy while you still can because this deal isn't going to last forever.
But as convenient as that might be, a laptop might not be the best choice depending on how you're going to use it. You may not need the whole kit and kaboodle. Plus, there's a good bit of engineering that goes into laptop designs — and that adds to the cost.
If your laptop is going to be used at home all the time, tethered to your desk with an external monitor and keyboard and mouse, and you're only picking a laptop because you don't want to spend tons for a bulky pre-built desktop PC… then consider a mini PC instead.
Mini PCs offer several benefits over laptops that are totally worth it if you don't need the innate portability that laptops offer.
I'm a hypocrite for blocking ads
Let's start off this rant with a little context. As a web writer, I should never block advertising on the internet. The majority of the money I've been paid over the last 13 years has come from web ads, like the ones you're probably seeing above, below, and around these words. A modern writer for a free-to-read site blocking advertising is kind of like a vegan butcher: problematic at best.
Well, you wouldn't be the only one, which is why there have always been tricks and tools to circumvent the Microsoft account requirement — even as Microsoft repeatedly blocks those methods.
Recently, a new trick has surfaced: you can now use a PowerShell script called UnattendedWinstall to access Windows 11 without having to log in with a Microsoft account. Not only does it get around the restriction, but it can also do a few other things, too.
Bypass the Microsoft account requirement in Windows 11 with PowerShell
You can download the necessary PowerShell script on UnattendedWinstall's GitHub releases page. Make sure to get version 2.0.0, which is the latest release as of this writing.
The script is based on Windows' so-called "response files," which consist of numerous command-line actions that are used to automate tasks, change system settings, and more. In this case, a response file can even be used to bypass the login prompt.
We've tested nearly three dozen PCIe 4.0 SSDs and the best one to cross our labs thus far is Solidgm's P44 Pro. In a field of tough contenders it delivered ferociously fast speeds rivaled only by next-gen PCIe 5.0 SSDs.
Whether you want to upgrade, or add more storage to your PCIe 4.0 computer, there's an SSD for you. Read on to learn more, including what to look for in PCIe 4.0 SSD.
Why you should trust us: We're not called PCWorld for nothing. Our reviewers have been testing PC hardware for decades. Our storage evaluations are exhaustive, testing the limits of every product — from performance benchmarks to the practicalities of regular use. As PC users ourselves, we know what makes a killer product stand out. Only the best SSDs make this list. For more about our testing process, scroll to the bottom of this article.
Microsoft is currently trying to find out exactly why this is happening. It shouldn't happen too often as it's rare to keep so many emails open at any given time, but you should avoid doing so for the time being.
