There’s a part of me that really hates AI because it has taken work away from me and my colleagues. And even though I find it useful for certain things, I’d prefer humanity wasn’t replaced by AI. That said, AI is indeed useful. Over the past few years, ever since ChatGPT blew us away with its conversational skills and agentic abilities, I find myself using some form of AI tool almost every day. Sometimes it’s just to chat—I quite like gushing to an AI chatbot over a new show I’m watching without risking spoilers—but more often than not, these AI-driven apps are slowly transforming the way I work and live my life. I’m not about to let them take over completely just yet, but I’ll begrudgingly admit that I’m also unwilling to give up AI altogether. All that to say, AI was once seen as a mere gimmick but has successfully evolved into something greater. Here are some of my favorite AI-assisted apps that I actually use on a day-to-day basis. Adobe Photoshop for Generative Fill Removing the name on this Nvidia graphics card would be tough if left to my own devices, but Generative Fill can take care of it in a snap.Jon Martindale / Foundry When Adobe introduced its AI-powered Generative Fill feature back in 2023, it was billed as a way to create masterpieces in record time by quickly adding and removing elements from images via text prompts. That’s all well and good, and I’m sure people are using it to great effect, but I really only use it for one thing: image cleanup. Every time I write an article like this one, I have to grab a few images for illustrative purposes. Usually that’s a screenshot or two, but it can sometimes involve product shots, stock images, and other specific photos related to whatever I’m writing about. The problem is, the images are never quite exactly what I need. That’s where Generative Fill comes into play and saves the day. Normally I’d have to painstakingly cut out bits, clone areas, use the healing brush over imperfections, expand the image, copy and paste backgrounds, crop to a specific aspect ratio… But these days? I can just describe what I need and have Generative Fill do it for me. Want to remove something? Just draw a box around it and leave the Generative Fill prompt blank—it’ll wipe out whatever is there and blend the gap into the background. Same goes for expanding the dimensions of an image without stretching, or hiding personally identifiable information behind something more complicated than a simple blur filter. Generative Fill isn’t perfect—and that’s good because it means I keep my Photoshop skills sharp—but it is a massive time saver and one of the most effective AI-driven tools of the last few years. PDFgear for AI editing and answers PDFgear has a built-in AI chatbot that analyzes documents and answers questions. Unfortunately, it’s not smart enough to help me win—yet.Jon Martindale / Foundry My seemingly lifelong search for a capable-yet-free PDF editor ended last year when I discovered PDFgear. But not only is it a free PDF editor that can do everything the big players can do—including annotations and signatures—it also has a built-in AI assistant that’s genuinely useful. PDFgear has an AI chatbot that can perform various editing tasks with speed and precision, making it a useful tool for tweaking complicated documents without introducing formatting errors or compromising the original aesthetics of the document’s design. It can annotate, extract data and images, or even just talk to you about what’s in it. I especially like it for finding information in complex board game rulebooks. Sure, a good index or glossary goes a long way, but asking a natural language question of the Twilight Imperium Living Rules is much faster than flipping back and forth through the 30-ish pages of endless text. My eyes slip off that like water from the proverbial duck’s back—but with AI, it’s fast, easy, and accurate. My colleague reviewed PDFgear and found it excellent with robust AI features worth using, so I’m not alone on this one! ProWritingAid for AI suggestions ProWritingAid If you thought otherwise, let me break it to you: professional writers use spell check. While my colleagues and I used to debate whether tools like Grammarly and ProWritingAid were “cheating,” that ship has long since sailed. These days, it’s almost expected—and why not? Sure, my editor could catch all my typos and grammar mistakes, but AI tools can go way beyond that. ProWritingAid makes me a better writer, period. To be clear, I don’t use ProWritingAid to generate text for me. Instead, I use it to analyze what I’ve written and point out all the areas where my writing could be improved. Maybe I’ve inadvertently used passive voice, or maybe I reuse the same phrasings too often, or maybe sentences can be worded more clearly. It’s useful, and the persistent presence of these reminders makes me improve over time. ProWritingAid is like a voice on my shoulder reminding me that I can always do better with tighter copy. I appreciate it. Microsoft 365 Copilot and Designer Jon Martindale / Foundry Microsoft has been all-in on AI since ChatGPT made its major debut, but despite Copilot integrations in Bing Search and Windows 11, they’ve struggled to find a real purpose for it beyond the basics offered by other AI chatbots. That said, one area where I’ve found legitimate use for it? The various integrations across Microsoft 365 apps. I’m a LibreOffice user at heart, but even I’ve been enjoying Copilot’s quick text generation in Word and slide generation in PowerPoint. Asking where something is within a massive document of hundreds of pages is so convenient, and when I want to whip up a quick draft of a document to give me a baseline to work with, it saves a ton of time. Copilot really came in handy recently when I was invited to give a talk to a couple of classes at my kids’ school about how computers work. I haven’t used PowerPoint in decades, so it was a real treat to be able to boot up the latest version and have Copilot and Designer jointly generate for me a simple presentation template which I could then tweak and update according to my own needs. Literal hours saved. I like to think of myself as a PC expert, but I’m not an expert in every app. Fortunately, with Copilot and Designer, I don’t need to be. ChatGPT for everything else Jon Martindale / Foundry ChatGPT has evolved into a catch-all AI tool for me over the past year. Whether it’s having a spoiler-free conversation about the latest episode of Severance, using it to learn how to code my first game project, going back and forth to practice roleplaying D&D characters, or even treating it like a virtual counselor, it’s become a fantastic tool with practical results. I even asked it to help me reword my responses in an argument with a family member to be less combative—and it worked! In my work life, I use ChatGPT to spit out briefs for articles I’m writing to help me hone in on the structure I’m looking for. I use it as a quick and dirty alternative to a thesaurus, and to find information on the web that Google just can’t seem to for some reason. Again, ChatGPT is far from perfect and I’m not about to rely on it—or any of the tools on this list—for mission-critical tasks, medical diagnoses, financial advice, etc. But for those moments where I could use the help of someone else to tackle something simple, I’m finding that ChatGPT and other AI apps hold an increasingly useful place in my heart. Further reading: I paid $200/mo for ChatGPT Pro. Was it worth it? Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros File- and image-based backup Powerful online (web) management Console Local and online backup Pro-level features abound Cons Doesn’t support Consumer-grade online storage Costs add up Our Verdict MSP360 Managed Backup and its fully featured online Console let you control all your computer backups for a decently low fee. Local and online, file-based and imaging, along with disaster recovery are all provided via manageable local clients. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: MSP360 Managed Backup Retailer Price MSP360 $30 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket If you have more than one computer to back up, you might want to consider the option- and feature-rich MSP360 Managed Backup. Its online console allows you to easily keep tabs on all your machines, perform various related functions, and track their backup status. You can also opt for remote control and management if you really have a lot of PCs to worry about. Local and online backup are supported, though the latter lacks hooks to consumer-grade storage services such as Dropbox, OneDrive, etc. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best backup software for comparison. What are MSP360 Managed Backup’s features? MSP360 Managed Backup, nee Cloudberry Backup, supports both file- and image-based replication of your data. The client (shown below) is almost identical to the standalone desktop version of MSP360 Backup that I recently reviewed, but connects with the online management console so you can manage it remotely. Upgrades are of course available. Granular scheduling is one of MSP360’s strengths. Of which it has many. This is the desktop client. The list of the online storage services that MSP360 Managed Backup supports is extensive, but doesn’t include consumer favorites such as OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc. What it does support are: Wasabi (default), Amazon AWS S3, Microsoft Azure/Azure VM, Backblaze B2, Google Cloud, and Minio. You may also employ S3-compatible services, many of which are very affordable. The online storage service destination definition dialog from MSP360’s local client. Local disaster recovery is implemented via the usual WinPE (Linux is also common) boot disc, as shown below. Bare metal recovery basically means you can restore to dissimilar hardware without having to worry about hunting down drivers. The MSP360 disaster recovery boot disc. As for the online management console, which is the whole reason you might want MSP360 Managed Backup versus its standalone variant, it is slick, full-featured, and very efficient once you are up to speed. It does, however, take a bit of getting used to. There’s a lot there and it will only be intuitive if you’re used to remote management. You can of course manage all the local clients, install agents remotely (as long as there’s something connected already), and even control them remotely (extra charge). There are also reports and analysis aplenty of both the clients and whatever storage service you are using. If you aren’t using one, you can stick with backups to local media if you so desire. There’s also the remote control and management (the RMM in the graphic below), the latter of which is used to roll out updates and set the policies (update permissions, installation privileges, etc.) for groups of PCs. While I’ll say that RMM is of little interest to most end-users, I know of at least one guy who manages his entire trans-continental family’s computer network using RMM. The two computers I used to test MSP360 Managed Backup’s online console. One of my favorite features is object lock, aka immutability. This means no one can change the data, including legitimate users, until you remove the lock. Having suffered a ransomware attack once when I foolishly hosted my website on my own NAS box, I can readily appreciate the utility of this. MSP360 Management console email and downloads sections. Other online features include the ability to purchase and manage licenses, set up notification options, managing storage and billing, etc. Below you’ll see some iOS captures of the MSP360 app. While it can’t manage backups like the online management console, it can tell you plenty about the status. It’s also used in 2FA when you login online. In fact, it’s required. Industrial strength security here, though you can disable the 2FA. Having once managed several SMB computer fleets (using Kaseya) remotely, I found MSP360 Managed Backup more than adequate to the task. I didn’t take the RMM for a spin, but I wish I’d had this service back in the day. Good stuff. How much is MSP360 Managed Backup? While I’m reviewing MSP360 Manage Backup as a consumer product, and there are certainly users and small businesses who it would benefit, it’s just a wee bit of a stretch for the average user due to the overall price. The MSP360 service is $2.50 a month, or $30 a year per computer. That’s not bad at all, but then you’ll probably want to add online storage — which is where the lack of support for consumer-oriented storage services you might already have could hurt. Of course, you can work around this limitation and use virtually any online storage service by mounting it locally using cloud manager software. It’s an extra step, but hey. MSP360 defaults to Wasabi, which is $6 a month per TB, or $72 a year. That’s competitive with most other services, but shop around for the best deal. When you check pricing, remember that this is purely for backup, and not working online or syncing between computers. Those that are pure storage tend to be a bit cheaper. Using MSP360’s default pricing, a household of five computers, backing up only essential data to a single 1TB Wasabi account would cost you around $222 a year. What kind of bargain you consider that, only you will know. It might be a bit much for a family, but I’d call it insignificant for a small business. Note that the Connect and RMM services incur additional costs: $90 per year for the former and $60 a month for the latter. Also, it’s difficult to find pricing on the MSP360 website. I’m going off what the media relations folks told me. Per-computer pricing could make MSP360 Manage Backup a bit pricey for a family or totally reasonable for a small business. How does MSP360 Managed Backup perform? The local client was flawless in my hands-on, as long as there was enough room on the destination. The program actually warned me that there wasn’t enough space (our previous look at the client saw no warning) — then promptly let me try to fit 1.2TB of data into 450GB of space. I understand compression can reduce size, but not by 750GB. Just say no! The MSP360 Desktop client utilized by the managed system. To be fair, I experienced issues of the same ilk with an old faithful favorite — R-Drive Image. Trusting the intelligence and diligence of your users is great, but every once in a while guardrails are appropriate. Beyond the attempt at bliveting (trying to stuff 10 pounds of “stuff” into a 5 pound bag), local, network (mounted drives), and online backups all went off without a hitch and in what I consider a sprightly fashion — i.e., roughly in line with the speed of the operating system, connection, and media involved. The disaster recovery disk booted fine and restore operations all succeeded. Can’t ask for more than that. The management console connected successfully and in short order with the clients I had installed, and there wasn’t a lot of lag in updating information. Is MSP360 Managed Backup worth it? If you have multiple PCs to back up and monitor, and aren’t committed to an online storage vendor that’s not supported, then yes. Even if you are committed to one online service, there are roundabout ways to still utilize it. Also, redundancy isn’t a bad thing when it comes to backup. Read...

Victoria University says AI on computers could enable cheating. Read...

For years, I’ve assumed that most people don’t need third-party antivirus tools and have cheerily passed this suggestion along to others. After all, Microsoft’s Windows Security suite (also known as Windows Defender or Microsoft Defender) provides built-in virus protection for your PC, and it doesn’t cost a dime. I’ve been using it for years, and the last time I can recall having virus problems on my PC was well over a decade ago. And yet, looking around for confirmation of this long-held belief quickly turns up an alternate universe, full of experts who insist that everyone should be paying for antivirus software. This advice comes not just from the companies that sell antivirus suites, but from reputable sites that perform antivirus software reviews. On top of that, nearly every laptop I’ve reviewed for PCWorld has come with some form of antivirus trialware from companies like McAfee and Norton. Those companies pay PC makers for placement, which wouldn’t make sense if no one bought the products, right? At this point, I’ve heard enough questions from readers—and family members—that I decided to dig a little deeper. What I’ve learned is that my initial assumptions were mostly correct: Most people can indeed skate by without extra antivirus software. But that doesn’t mean everyone should, or that you shouldn’t take any extra precautions to stay safe. The case against extra antivirus software As a Reddit thread on the subject shows, the consensus answer is yes, with caveats. Jared Newman / Foundry PCWorld writer Jon Martindale came to the same conclusion, as did the website SafetyDetectives. The reasoning is simple: Windows Security rivals other programs at sniffing out viruses. While this wasn’t always the case, Microsoft’s detection has improved considerably in recent years, to the point that the independent AV-TEST Institute regularly awards it a perfect 6 out 6 in protection, usability, and performance, beating industry averages. Perhaps more importantly, security is decentralized now, so a single virus scanner is no longer your only line of protection. Some examples: Major web browsers can detect and block malicious websites on their own, thanks to tools like Google Safe Browsing. Those browsers may also warn you if you’re about to download an unrecognized program. Major email providers, such as Gmail and Yahoo, scan attachments for viruses before you can even download them. Those same email providers’ spam filters do a great job at keeping malicious emails out of your inbox and warning you of potential phishing schemes. The SmartScreen filter built into Windows will warn you if you’re attempting to install unrecognized software. Antivirus, in the end, is just another line of defense. For many people, Microsoft’s built-in defenses should be strong enough. Further reading: Windows Defender antivirus: 5 settings to change first Getting a second opinion Malwarebytes might find some potential threats that Windows Security misses.Alaina Yee / Foundry So why to do some folks recommend Malwarebytes as an additional layer of protection? Mainly because it’s nice to have another set of eyes on your computer. Last year, for instance, I ran a scan in Malwarebytes, and picked up a set of potentially unwanted programs tied to my installation of Chrome. While my Chrome installation seemed to be working fine—with no sketchy toolbars or search redirects that I could see—this did convince me to delete my sync data from Chrome, reset its settings, and perform a fresh Chrome install. (I suspect it was a browser extension behaving badly.) But Malwarebytes has its downsides as well. If you’re not careful during installation, it will automatically install its own extension in all your browsers, and the free version routinely nags you with upgrade prompts. Also, unless you disable its real-time protections (which are only available as a 14-day trial for free users), they’ll override Microsoft’s own virus scanner. I may still occasionally install Malwarebytes to get a second opinion on my computer’s health, but for now, I’m leaving it off my PC as well. Further reading: The best antivirus software The case for extra antivirus protection Tools like Norton 360 provide more than just virus scanning.Ian Paul / Foundry To be clear, third-party antivirus software isn’t a grift with no actual utility behind it. While many people don’t need to pay for antivirus software, there are still some reasons to consider doing so: You need more help with security: Some antivirus programs offer extra security features beyond the realm of traditional virus scanning. Avast, for instance, can monitor webcam use and let you block untrusted apps from capturing video, and it can also alert you if any of your online passwords are involved in a security breach. (Many premium AV suites now offer identity protection features.) You’re looking to bundle: In addition to extra security features, some antivirus programs offer tools that you might otherwise purchase separately. Norton 360 Deluxe, for instance, includes its own password manager and cloud storage service. Avast One has a built-in VPN and a temporary file cleaner. You want more kinds of protection: Some third-party tools offer additional methods of protection that aren’t built into Windows. AVG’s “Behavior Shield,” for instance, can look for patterns of malicious behavior even when it hasn’t detected a virus, while Avast One has ransomware protection that prevents apps from encrypting your files without permission. (Windows offers this as well, but not by default.) Secure file deletion, browsing protection, and other helpful features are available in many premium security packages as well. Antivirus suites also typically provide protection for mobile devices as well as personal computers. All of these extra features, however, may bloat your computer, affecting performance and getting in your way, and they might not even be the best tools for the job. I’d much rather use a dedicated password manager than one that’s bundled with antivirus software, and if I needed a VPN, I’d want to choose the provider myself. That said, there’s strong appeal in an all-in-one solution for people who don’t want to handle a mish-mash of programs, and modern antivirus suites offer exactly that. the best windows antivirus overall Norton 360 Deluxe Read our review While extra antivirus software was essential in the early days of personal computing, these days it’s just one potential tool in the broader security arsenal, which should also include strong passwords, two-factor authentication, robust data backups, and a healthy dose of common sense. On that, at least, the experts seem to be in total harmony. Want more tech advice like this? Sign up for my Advisorator newsletter, where a version of this column originally appeared. Read...

While it once scoffed at the possibility of offering an ad-supported tier, Netflix has since embraced the idea, with millions of users snapping up its “Standard with Ads” plan, garnering plenty of interest from Madison Avenue along the way.  Since its arrival more than two years ago, Netflix has added a variety of features to its ad-supported tier to set it apart from the streaming crowd–and for now, its price remains a fraction of Netflix’s priciest 4K streaming plan.  So, how much does Netflix with ads cost, what’s included, and is anything left out? Here’s what you need to know. How much does Netflix with ads cost? Netflix Standard with Ads costs $7.99 a month, which reflects a buck-a-month price hike that Netflix imposed back in January 2025. For some context, ad-supported Hulu costs $9.99/month, as does Disney+ Basic, while Paramount+ Essential and Peacock Premium (which, confusingly, is ad-supported) both cost $7.99 a month. Finally, Max Basic with Ads goes for $9.99 a month. As it stands, Netflix’s cheapest available ad-free tier (following the demise of Netflix’s Basic plan) is the Standard plan, which currently costs $17.99 a month. How many streams do you get with the Netflix Standard with Ads plan? At launch, Netflix’s ad-supported plan (which was initially called “Basic with Ads”) only offered a single stream. But last year, Netflix upped the number of concurrent streams available on the Standard with Ads plan to two. Does Netflix with ads offer 4K HDR video resolution? No, but the video quality of Netflix Standard with Ads has improved since the tier was first launched. While ad-supported Netflix once offered only 720p video quality, it has since been boosted to 1080p, same as Netflix’s ad-free Standard plan. Currently, only Netflix’s priciest plan–Premium ($24.99 a month)–offers 4K HDR streaming, with four concurrent streams per household. Same as Netflix, most other streamers reserve their 4K HDR streams for their ad-free subscribers, although that’s not a universal policy; Paramount+, for one, does allow ad-supported subscribers to stream in 4K. Does ad-supported Netflix offer downloads for offline viewing? One of the best perks offered by the big streamers is the ability to download videos for offline viewing, perfect for binge-watching your favorite series during a long flight or when you don’t want to bust through your ISP’s (or carrier’s) data cap. Until recently, Netflix didn’t allow its with-ads subscribers to download videos for offline viewing, a restriction shared by the other big streamers. But in November 2023, Netflix reversed course, becoming the first big streaming service to enable offline downloads for subscribers to its ad-supported tier. There is a monthly limit to downloads for Standard with Ads subscribers, however: 15 downloads per device, resetting on the first of the month. How many commercial breaks does Netflix with ads have? Netflix Standard with Ads subscribers will have to sit through 4- to 5 minutes of commercials per hour, with the ads running at the beginning and during videos (ideally during “natural plot breaks”). Each ad will be either 15 or 30 seconds. That 4- to 5-minute-per-hour figure is pretty much in line with Netflix’s competitors. For example, the “with ads” version of Max averages about four minutes an hour, while Peacock tops out at about five minutes per hour. You will get some ad-free episodes as a bonus for binge-watching, however. Netflix previously announced a new “binge” ad unit that allows advertisers to sponsor an ad-free episode for viewers who just binge-watched a few episodes in a row. Of course, you’ll need to watch a 30- to 60-second “cinematic” ad from the sponsor before you get to watch your ad-free episode. Is Netflix with ads available on all streaming devices? Most devices that work with ad-free Netflix should also support Netflix Standard with Ads, although a “small percentage” of streaming players and TVs won’t work because its Netflix software can’t be updated anymore. And while the ad-supported Netflix plan wasn’t initially supported on Apple TV streaming devices, it is now (on Apple TV HD devices and later) following an update of the Netflix tvOS app in March 2023. Netflix with ads is also available on most other streaming platforms, including Amazon’s Fire TV, Android and iOS devices, most smart TVs, Mac and Windows computers, and Google TV players. Does Netflix with ads offer the same content as ad-free Netflix? Almost, but not quite everything. While the “vast majority” of TV shows and movies on Netflix are available for “with ads” viewers, a “small number” are missing because of “licensing issues,” Netflix says. If you do run across a video that’s unavailable on the Netflix Standard with Ads plan, you’ll see a padlock on the title, or a “Change plan to watch” banner in place of the standard “Play” button. Why did Netflix launch an ad-supported plan? Netflix lost subscribers during the first and second quarters of 2022, ending a decade of growth and sending Netflix’s stock price into a tailspin. And while Netflix is ubiquitous in North America, it’s having trouble gaining traction in the rest of the world, where it’s facing tough competition from cheaper streaming services. Meanwhile, Netflix’s rapidly growing competitors, including Max, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, and Hulu, have rolled their own cheaper ad-supported plans, all of which undercut Netflix’s cheapest ad-free plans. So while it wasn’t all that long ago that Netflix executives scoffed at the idea of cheaper ad-supported plans, the company abruptly changed course when it became clear that its once seemingly unstoppable growth had stalled. In May 2024, Netflix reported that its Standard with Ads tier had roughly 40 million global active monthly users, up from just 5 million users in May 2023. (Netflix has since ceased tallying its monthly user base for the public.) Read...

Just a few months before the end of free support, Windows 10 is still the most widely used operating system version from Microsoft: Almost half of all Windows PCs are still running it. While you can count businesses among the crowd that might be loathe to change, the fact is that many consumers are just very satisfied with Windows 10 and they aren’t in any hurry to adopt a new way of doing things with Windows 11. There is still no “killer application” that would make the case for switching from Windows 10 to 11. On the contrary, Microsoft recently cancelled one of the most important new feature of Windows 11, namely support for Android apps on PCs. Still, once Windows 10 hits end of service, it will become increasingly risky for users to stick with the OS, beloved as it might be. Further reading: Windows 10 will hit end of life in 2025. Here’s what to expect The good news is that there are myriad ways to mimic the Windows 10 experience on Windows 11. Here are 9 free apps that prove that point. Windows 11 Pro Try out Windows 11 You can only really judge what Windows 11 has in store for you and how you will cope with it once you have it and use it. If you are currently still working with Windows 10 and your computer fulfils the system requirements for Windows 11, you can simply switch to the new version via the Windows update. Microsoft will even create a temporary backup copy that you can use to return to your Windows 10 with all settings, data, and programs for 10 days. After these one and a half weeks, the “Windows.old” backup folder on the system partition is automatically deleted. However, experience shows that the “Revert” function does not always work reliably. To try out Windows 11 without any worries, we recommend backing up the entire system partition. Windows 11 like Windows 10 In practice, however, the main thing is to adapt the existing system with Windows 11 to the familiar Windows 10 in terms of operation, functions, and appearance. In addition to the “Windows 10 style”, the Start11 software provides other ready-made profiles that make your own system look like an earlier version of Windows. Foundry Start11 customizes your system to the style of either Windows 7 or 10 with just a few mouse clicks. This applies in particular to the classic Start menu and the functions of the earlier versions, which Microsoft has now cancelled. After installation, select the style option for Windows 7 or 10 in the program, then click on “Start icon” in the section bar on the left and switch off the central positioning in the taskbar. Then search the internet for the desktop background of the previous system in the native resolution of your monitor using the keyword “Windows 10 wallpaper,” save the image file to your hard drive, and insert it as the background. This is done quickly, and Start11 also offers many other settings to customize your PC. Startallback is free and also easy to use; here you can choose between three styles for Windows 7, 10, and 11. Regardless of this decision, the layout of the taskbar and Windows Explorer can be defined and many other things can be changed. Another free tool for customizing is Open Shell Menu. The Explorer Patcher, which you can access via “Properties (Explorer Patcher)” in the Start menu, is also useful. Explorer Patcher customizes Windows Explorer, the taskbar, and more in a variety of ways. This also includes the ability to never have apps combine in your taskbar and bringing back classic Windows 10 context menu.Jared Newman / Foundry The software restores a number of options from previous versions of the Microsoft file manager, including the classic context menu, which offers all entries immediately and not just by clicking on “Show more options.” Alternatively, Windows 11 Classic Context Menu also does this. Finally, Winaero Tweaker combines well over 100 tools and settings in one interface, including many for customizing the desktop, taskbar, Windows Explorer, and context menu. A detailed description would go beyond the space available here. Windows themes and the Windhawk mods Windows “themes” are compilations of desktop wallpapers and modified layouts of windows, mouse pointers, icons, and more: Such themes provide a completely new Windows style. Windows 11 itself only provides a few themes under “Settings > Personalization > Themes;” Microsoft offers additional packages via the link to the Store (search “themes”) and on the internet. After downloading, you can install these theme packs by double-clicking on them and manage them under “Themes.” If you want to use third-party themes, first remove the installation lock with Ultra UX Theme Patcher. As the tool has a deep impact on the system, we recommend making a system backup beforehand. It is also important to only download themes from trustworthy sources. Themes in the form of archive files must first be unpacked and then copied to the directory “C:\Windows\Resources\Themes” together with subfolders. They can then be selected in the Settings app. On the Windhawk marketplace, developers provide so-called mods with which users can customize their Windows computers according to their wishes.IDG In addition to themes, Windhawk has established itself as a marketplace for so-called mods, which can also be used to customize Windows in a variety of ways. After installing the software, you can search for mods on the user interface and select them via “Details.” The explanations and notes are important, so read them carefully. Add the individual mods to the system by clicking on “Install -> Accept the risk (Install Mod).” Then select the desired option or function in the “Settings” tab and save the settings. RevertSV: Windows 10 perfectly imitated RevertSV promises a modern Windows 11 with the look and feel of Windows 10. The developer has already made all the customizations and offers the system as a ready-to-use ISO image. However, RevertSV is not suitable for productive use due to the U.S. settings. However, it can be tried out in a virtual machine with Vmware Player or virtualization software. The current version of RevertSV is based on Windows 11 version 21H2, a version based on Windows 11 24H2 is planned. In a YouTube video, the developer shows what the system looks like under the hood using some of the functions. Do you remember the earlier Windows photo display? It’s much better for quickly viewing and browsing through a collection of images than the later apps. IDG Read...

From typewriter to computers, from School C to NCEA, Glenys Sparling-Fenton`s seen it all. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Available in a fantastically capable free version File-level and imaging (Pro version) backup Supports prosumer/IT online storage services Cons Pro version with imaging is subscription only Lacks support for Consumer-grade online storage services Proprietary data containers and images Our Verdict In its free incarnation, MSP360 Desktop Backup is a worthwhile upgrade to Windows File History. However, the Pro version is subscription-only which makes it very pricey over time. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: MSP360 Desktop Backup Retailer Price MSP360 $29.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket I checked out both the free and paid versions of MSP360 Desktop Backup for this review. Shockingly, the free version maintains enough of the paid version’s features to warrant a 4-star rating — even without support for consumer-grade online storage support that its Cloudberry Backup ancestor featured. MSP360 Desktop Backup Jon L. Jacobi Consider the free MSP360 Desktop Backup a nicely robust upgrade from Windows eminently useful File History. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best Windows backup software for comparison. What are MSP360 Desktop Backup’s features? The most salient difference between the free and paid versions of MSP360 Desktop Backup is the former’s lack of support for image backups. It also lacks encryption/compression, backup of virtual machines, support for Exchange, and other decidedly pro features. Like I said, think File History. Beyond that, a surprising amount of functionality is present and as far as I could tell, it’s not neutered at every turn as with a number of other freebies. There are full and incremental backups; scheduling that’s granular down to minutes; culling of backups (purging older backups, including grandfather/father/son options; as well as pre- and post- program execution). Even the free version of MSP360 offers extremely granular scheduling down to the minute. Also on the feature list: NTFS options (permissions); file filters; a backup consistency check; email notifications; and a disaster recovery boot disk, albeit minus bare metal restore — i.e. the ability to restore to new, dissimilar hardware. Bare metal restore is nice, but Windows includes generic drivers for everything basic these days, so the need isn’t nearly what it was back in the day when you might need to inject the Ethernet or Wi-Fi drivers to facilitate downloading all the other drivers. You can even back up from, as well as to, network locations — if they’re already mounted as drive letters under Windows. Online storage may serve as a source as well. More on supported services in a bit. Whew! I did mention that this is the freebie, right? MSP360 Desktop’s file filtering options are extensive. My biggest disappointment with MSP360 Desktop Backup, including the paid version, is that, unlike its Cloudberry Backup predecessor, online storage support is limited to prosumer/IT-oriented services such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon S3, S3-compatibles, Google cloud, etc. In other words, there’s no support for the Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box, etc., that most of us use. Only prosumer online storage services (and local destinations) are supported by MSP360 Desktop Backup. That pretty much means that the freebie, when it comes to the average user, is good only for local storage and local network backup. I do have one or two other minor gripes. Numero uno, I wish there was support for non-proprietary container files such as VHD so that the program wasn’t required for restore operations. Also, it would be nice to be able to define multiple destinations for each data set rather than having to create a new job for every destination. On the other hand, you can chain backup jobs for execution. Those are standard suggestions on my part for a lot of backup software and don’t really affect overall functionality — or the rating. Not much at least. MSP360 also offers a WinPE boot disk, though the disk produced by the free version is limited like the Windows version. How much does MSP360 Desktop Backup cost? MSP360 Desktop Backup is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Obviously, the free version costs nothing, but the Standalone version with imaging will set you back $30 a year. There is no perpetual option — a bit of a bummer, as rarely do backup programs improve drastically in a year’s time. Blame that on their existing maturity. Are you listening, Acronis? The Pro version of MSP360 Desktop with imaging is $30 yearly. If you are interested in the paid-level features and online (remote) management of multiple computers, there’s also MSP360 Managed Backup for $2.50 per seat, per month, or $30 per seat yearly. However, storage is extra, with $72 yearly for 1TB Wasabi being the default. Alas, no consumer-grade online storage services are supported so you can’t leverage those. That makes the Managed Backup version possibly the better deal than Desktop, but only if your storage service aligns. Note that restore functionality remains intact perpetually so you can always restore your backups if you drop your paid subscription. That’s essential if you’re using proprietary data containers as MSP360 does. How does MSP360 Desktop Backup perform? I did my initial testing with the free version, and my only issue was self-inflicted — choosing a drive without enough free space to contain the backup. This forced an error. Hitting the restart button caused another error as the program tried to create an incremental backup. Obviously, the program didn’t realize that the first job had failed. I reformatted the destination to free up enough space in the mean time, and choosing the “Force full backup” command solved that issue. Am I a bit hasty? Yes. I tend to rush testing in order to better spot possible weaknesses that might bite end users. You’d be surprised how often it works. That said, the program could be just a tad smarter about checking that there’s enough space on the destination, or that there’s a valid full backup before trying to create an incremental addition. Without space-challenged destinations, MSP360 Desktop Backup proceeded through numerous jobs without issue. Restore functionality remains intact perpetually so you can always restore your backups if you drop your paid subscription. Green bars at 100% are what we like to see with any backup program. Too much red and the rating plummets. The company sent me a license for the paid version so I could test the imaging backup. I’m very happy to report that the imaging works quite well. The disaster recovery disk booted fine, and restore operations (image and file) went off without a hitch. Good on ya’, MSP360. Should you buy MS360 Desktop Backup? If you need something more powerful than Windows File History for your file backups, then the free version of MS360 Desktop Backup is a no-brainer. However, it’s difficult to recommend the paid version, which is subscription software that’s not going to evolve significantly on a year-to-year basis. On the other hand, the soon-to-be-reviewed, and like-priced MS360 Managed Backup might just be worth the expense if you need to monitor and control backup chores for several computers remotely. Read...

UTECOM is a name that probably means nothing to most people these days, no matter how much they are into computers. However, it was a very important and impressive early computer, one of the first in this part of the world. Read...

As the Trump administration’s trade war oscillates, tech manufacturers are trying to deal with the unpredictable nature of an economy held hostage to a single man’s whims. But smaller, more niche businesses simply can’t deal with the uncertainty of prices that might double tomorrow—so they’re out, at least as far as shipping to customers in the US. The latest example is Keyboardio, a custom keyboard shop run by two people in California. Keyboardio specializes in the kind of gorgeous, wood-cased ergonomic designs that always draw crowds at keyboard meetups. But because essential parts like PCBs come from China, even if their wooden cases are sourced from American wood, both the standard tariffs and the crackdowns on de minimis shipping exceptions make it impossible to remain profitable for US sales, as the two explain in a lengthy blog post. The post was updated four times in three days in April to deal with the US and China’s dueling policies. But starting May 2nd, there will simply be no way to keep sales going while remaining profitable. Keyboardio announced (spotted by Tom’s Hardware) that it will “suspend all shipping to the United States until we’re confident that your orders will get to you quickly and reliably.” Keyboardio isn’t the first small gadget supplier to make this call, and it won’t be the last. Retro Dodo reports that Anbernic—a favorite of the exploding retro handheld emulation gadget scene—announced that it would be “suspending all orders shipping from China to the United States.” Stock currently available in American warehouses will be the last available to US residents until further notice. Bigger brands are feeling the pinch, too. Razer’s high-powered gaming laptops briefly disappeared from its ordering page earlier this month even as it was announcing new accessories, and Logitech’s mice and keyboards have jumped in price by up to 25 percent. Yesterday, logistics giant Hapag Lloyd says that among its customers, 30 percent have simply cancelled shipments originating from China and bound for the United States. The International Monetary Fund predicts a slowing impact to the broader global economy as companies try to account for the apparent self-sabotage of the United States buying public. Razer If you’d like to dig deeper into how the Trump tariffs are affecting both US businesses and technology buyers, Gamers Nexus has an exhaustive breakdown available on YouTube. Notably, PC case and component maker Hyte (who’s based in California) is shutting down all shipments to the US. Hyte broke down the component, manufacturing, and shipping cost of individual cases, explaining how and why simply shifting manufacturing to the United States is economically impossible. Cooler Master, Thermal Grizzly, Corsair, and CyberPowerPC all expressed similar woes, saying that the unpredictability of the tariff situation can lead to disaster. A shipment could leave port in China when the tariff rate is 20 percent but arrive when it’s 150 percent—and that alone can be so detrimental to the business that it directly results in employee layoffs. Larger companies can try to compensate with fewer products on offer shipped in bigger batches when the situation is less chaotic, but smaller companies will simply shut down sales in the US… or may be in danger of complete collapse altogether. The full video is almost three hours long, but absolutely worth watching if you’d like to see an incredibly detailed breakdown of how US companies are being clobbered by constantly-shifting policies that are beyond anyone’s ability to predict. The Trump administration has temporarily scaled back import tariffs from most countries to “just” 10 percent, a policy that would already have been considered a huge burden. Dozens of countries have indicated a willingness to bargain to avoid the more onerous tariffs announced earlier this year. But with China refusing to bow to Trump’s demands and several rounds of one-upmanship between the countries, the current rate on most Chinese imports to the United States is a staggering 145 percent. A television made in China and valued at $100 will be charged $145 to enter the country, effectively making its price $245. Apparently, reacting to panic in the tech industry specifically, the administration later scaled back the China tariffs on computers, computer components, smartphones, and some smaller parts to “only” 20 percent. Messaging on what counts and what doesn’t, and how long these and other policies will remain in place, is confused at best. The Trump administration claims that it is actively negotiating with China and that the tariff rate will go down substantially in the near future. Chinese officials have denied that active negotiations are occurring. Read...