TL;DR: Get a lifetime license to Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows—including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and more—for just $39.97 (reg. $219.99) through September 7. Let’s cut to the chase: Microsoft just bumped the price of its 365 subscription—for the first time in 12 years—to $9.99/month or $99.99/year. That’s a full 45% increase for everyday users. Meanwhile, you can bypass all that recurring stress with a lifetime license to Microsoft Office 2021—just $39.97 (regularly $219.99). What you get when you hit “buy” A one-time purchase = no more subscription bills Full access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, OneNote, Publisher, and Access Works offline, tied to your PC—not your cloud No AI features like Copilot or Designer cluttering the interface Not ready to pay monthly for Copilot “benefits”? You’re not alone. Many people would rather own core productivity tools they actually use—without the AI fluff. Subscriptions are getting more expensive. This one-time deal—Office 2021 for life—lets you sidestep the ridiculous price hikes and maintain full control over what you pay for. It’s not just a purchase; it’s a power move against subscription creep. Click through and own your productivity—no strings attached. Grab one of these Microsoft Office 2021 lifetime licenses for just $39.97 (regularly $219.99) through September 7 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows: Lifetime LicenseSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

Launched way back in April 2004, Gmail has now been around for over 20 years — and it boasts lots of great features that many users, for whatever reason, still aren’t taking advantage of. While Gmail is fundamentally built for the sending and receiving of email, its various features can make that entire process work better for you. If you aren’t using the following Gmail features, consider starting today. You might be surprised by how helpful they can be. Smart compose Smart Compose is designed to help you write emails faster by writing your emails for you, saving you the hassle of wasting time or brainpower. The feature uses machine learning to predict what you intend to type, with Gmail offering real-time suggestions as you compose an email. Dave Parrack / IDG Smart Compose is turned on by default unless you’ve opted out of smart features and personalization. However, it’s easy to toggle Smart Compose by navigating to Settings > See all settings, then scrolling down the General tab until you see Smart Compose. The standard Smart Compose feature offers predictive writing suggestions as you type, but you can also enable Smart Compose Personalization to have these real-time suggestions personalized to your own writing style based on all the emails in your Gmail account. Schedule send Are you the type to write your emails ahead of time? If so, you probably draft them up then let them sit in Drafts until you’re ready to send. But this can be risky because you might forget about it… and is there anything more frustrating than thinking you sent someone that email only to hear back that you never did? Ugh! Dave Parrack / IDG That’s why you need to be using Gmail’s Schedule Send feature. When your email is typed up and ready to go, you don’t have to send it right away — you can instead set a date and time for the send. To do this, instead of clicking Send like usual, click the drop-down arrow next to Send and then click Schedule Send. By default, you can opt for “tomorrow morning,” “tomorrow afternoon,” or “Monday morning” (which is great if you’re typing up a work-related email on the weekend). But you can also Pick date & time to select any specific date and time for sending it out. Never forget again! Undo send Gmail’s Undo Send feature is pretty self-explanatory. It gives you a grace period after sending an email to change your mind, allowing you to cancel the send so you can make further changes, or postpone sending to a later time, or just withhold sending altogether. Undo Send is really useful when you accidentally send in the middle of composing the email, or if you forgot to attach those files, or if you spot a typo after the fact, or you mistakenly CC’d instead of BCC’d, etc. Dave Parrack / IDG Undo Send is enabled by default, but you can change the duration of the grace period for undoing the sending of an email. Navigate to Settings > See all settings, then scroll down the General tab until you find Undo Send. You can then set the timer to anywhere from 5 seconds to 30 seconds. I recommend setting it to 30 seconds because there’s really zero downside to having that extra time. To undo an email after sending it, look for the Message Sent notification in the bottom-left of your screen and click Undo. If you’re quick enough, the email will revert back to Draft status without ever actually having been sent to the recipient’s inbox. Search operators While the basic search function in Gmail is as easy as typing what you’re looking for into the search box, the results aren’t always that great. If you’re tired of irrelevant or excessive results when searching through your entire Gmail archive, start using Gmail’s search operators to better filter the results. This is especially useful if you have tons of emails filling up your inbox and it feels like searching for a needle in a haystack any time you have to rummage through for a particular email. Dave Parrack / IDG There are too many Gmail search operators to list them all here, but some of my most used ones include from: (used to filter emails to only those that were send from a specific person) and subject: (used to filter the search by email subject lines and ignore body content). I recommend checking out our article on essential Gmail search operators worth knowing. To go even further, you can see a full list of all Gmail search operators on this Gmail support page. Snooze emails Snoozing an email is a bit like snoozing your alarm clock in the morning — Gmail temporarily removes the snoozed email from your inbox for however long you decide to snooze it. By default, you can snooze an email until “tomorrow,” “this weekend,” or “next week.” But you can also pick and choose whatever date and time you want, allowing you to procrastinate to your heart’s content. When the snooze expires, the email pops right back into your inbox. Dave Parrack / IDG To snooze an email in Gmail, hover over the email in question and click the Snooze icon on the right-hand side of the options. You’ll see a bunch of default time periods you can snooze the email for, but if none quite work for you, click Pick date & time to set your own. You can also snooze multiple emails at once by selecting them all and doing the same. After snoozing emails, you can then view all of your snoozed emails under Snoozed in the left panel, and you can unsnooze any emails early if you want to deal with them ahead of schedule. Email templates If you find yourself sending the same email over and over — or at least similar emails that contain very similar structure and content — then you should absolute utilize Gmail’s Email Templates feature. As the name suggests, Email Templates allow you to create and save different templates, which you can then use in the future to instantly start with a baseline email that you can edit, instead of having to draft your emails from scratch every single time. Dave Parrack / IDG To use templates, navigate to Settings > See all settings, then scroll across to the Advanced tab and find Templates. Click Enable, then Save Changes. Once Gmail has reloaded, you can create a template. To create a template in Gmail, compose an email as normal, but instead of sending it, click the three-dot menu > Templates > Save draft as template. Then, the next time you want to send a similar email, just click the three-dot menu > Templates > Insert template. Spelling and grammar suggestions Correct spelling and grammar in emails is important at all times, but it’s especially important when you’re emailing someone in a professional capacity. Whether to your boss or a client, you want them to have the best impression of you with every email you send. Thankfully, Gmail offers autocorrect for both, as well as real-time spelling and grammar suggestions that come in handy when autocorrect seems too much and you want to remain in control of your writing. Dave Parrack / IDG To have Gmail check your spelling and grammar as you write, navigate to Settings > See all settings. Scroll down the General tab until you see the option to toggle grammar suggestions, spelling suggestions, and autocorrect. Experiment and find what combination works for you. Inbox categories, labels, and filters If you send and receive a lot of emails, Gmail’s basic organization isn’t enough to keep you sorted and tidy — at least not without a lot of manual effort on your part. Fortunately, Gmail has advanced organization features that can help automate a lot of that and keep you straight. For starters, Gmail’s inbox categories exist to automatically sort your email by intent. These inbox categories include Social, Promotions, and Spam, and Gmail automatically processes incoming emails and sorts them into these categories for your convenience. Beyond those categories, you also have labels. A label is like a custom tag that lets you manually categorize emails however you want. Each label is like a folder, except you can mark an email with as many different labels as you want. Labels are navigable in the left-side panel, and labeling makes it easy to browse and find emails by type. For example, you might have labels for receipts, bills, work projects, different hobbies, etc. Dave Parrack / IDG One step further, you have filters. A filter is a custom rule you can create, which automatically does things to emails as they enter your inbox. To create a filter, click Show search options to the right of the search box, enter your search criteria, and then click Create filter. For example, you might create a filter that automatically applies a certain label to all emails with a certain word in the subject line, or you can automatically forward emails to a different inbox if they come from a specific domain address. Confidential mode Did you know Gmail has a confidential mode? It’s one of the best ways to make Gmail more secure, designed to protect your sensitive information by limiting what recipients can do with your email. When an email is sent via confidential mode, you can set it to have an expiration date and whether it should require an SMS passcode to open. Confidential emails can’t be forwarded, copied, printed, or downloaded by recipients. You can also revoke access to the email later. Dave Parrack / IDG To send a confidential email, when composing a message, click the Lock icon to toggle confidential mode. You’ll then be able to set the above mentioned features for that email. Safe! Keyboard shortcuts While Gmail is, by default, extremely user-friendly, you can end up wasting a lot of time if you only navigate using your mouse cursor. The more time you spend reading, writing, and organizing your email, the more you can benefit from the use of keyboard shortcuts. You have to enable keyboard shortcuts in Gmail, but once you’ve done so — and after you’ve learned the useful ones enough that they become second nature — Gmail will become so much easier to use and you’ll end up saving a lot more time than you thought possible. Dave Parrack / IDG To enable keyboard shortcuts in Gmail, navigate to Settings > See all settings, then scroll down the General tab until you see the option to toggle Keyboard Shortcuts. Gmail offers a large number of keyboard shortcuts out of the box, and it may take some time to wrap your head around all of them. Once keyboard shortcuts are enabled, you can always see a full list of them by typing ? while Gmail is open. If you aren’t happy with the keyboard shortcuts as is, you can customize them however you want. Navigate to Settings > See all settings, then scroll down the Advanced tab and enable Custom Keyboard Shortcuts. After that, you should see a Keyboard Shortcuts tab where you can customize Gmail’s keyboard shortcuts to your heart’s content. Further reading: The Gmail settings I always use (and a few I don’t) Read...

I’ve been using Windows for as long as I can remember. It was on the very first PC I recall using, literally on my father’s knee. But I don’t need it anymore. That’s a weird thing to say as a writer for a site named PCWorld. But it’s been a long time coming, a slow mix of broad tech trends, feeling betrayed by multiple brands, and a little bit of intention on my part.  To be clear, I still use Windows. It’s what I’m using right now to type this, on a beefy gaming desktop I assembled myself, with triple monitors and all sorts of googaws attached. But I don’t need all that anymore, and for the first time in my adult life, I can see myself transitioning to an entirely different operating system.  That’s a big deal for me, and I suspect I’m far from alone. Microsoft might want to make a note of it.  Why I don’t need Windows So here’s what I mean when I say that I don’t need Windows anymore: Every tool, program, and piece of information I rely upon is now essentially separate from whatever machine I’m using at the moment. I’m writing the words you’re reading right now in Google Docs. When I’m done, I’ll edit them in WordPress. Throughout my work day I’m talking with my coworkers and bosses on Slack, I’m chatting with my friends via text, WhatsApp, and some other platforms. I’m managing my own to-do list in Google Keep, updating my work tasks in a tool called Monday, and checking personal and professional email in Gmail and Outlook, respectively. I’m keeping an eye on news and social trends in BlueSky and The Old Reader for RSS.  I still use local files, of course. But they’re all backed up weekly via Backblaze and accessible wherever I go, with whatever hardware I have to hand. Most of the time I don’t even need that. Aside from installed game files, the odd business/tax document, and a huge library of photos, both my own and my family’s, I barely even think about the storage on my PC.  Michael Crider/Foundry Here’s a screenshot of my main Windows taskbar: Vivaldi, Gmail, Outlook, the PCWorld logo for WordPress, a certain green “P” I’ll address shortly, Slack, Explorer, Monday, Google Keep, Google Docs, YouTube. If you haven’t spotted the common thread here: every single one of these experiences is either a web tool or has a web interface. I use my favorite browser, Vivaldi, to access almost all of them, usually in a progressive web app (PWA) or merely a shortcut wrapper without a full browser interface. It’s one of my most essential features of modern browsers, allowing me to separate these tools more easily and focus on them when I need to.  Every one of them is accessible on the web, and on other platforms. I can use all of them on a tablet or even my phone, and most of the time not lose any functionality. In fact even though I work from home, I access a lot of that on my phone during the day, on the same platforms. At this point Windows is basically just a means for accessing the web in a comfortable way, on expensive hardware I’m familiar with. I think a lot of users feel the same way, especially younger folks who grew up post-iPhone. Further reading: The best Chromebooks we’ve tested Photoshop was the last holdout The very last domino to fall in this chain was image editing. I’ve been using Photoshop for over 20 years. Since I learned it in a high school media class, it’s been incredibly difficult to break myself of the reliance on it for creating article header images or editing review photos. Not that I didn’t want to — I’ve had a chip on my shoulder for Adobe for almost as long, especially after it transitioned its extremely expensive Creative Suite software to an even more expensive Creative Cloud subscription setup. It reeked of “you’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy.”  I liked owning Photoshop, and I was not and am not happy that the option was taken away. Until a few weeks ago I was still keeping an ancient copy of Creative Suite 6 from 2012 (the last time it was offered as a real purchase) alive and kicking. I’ve tried alternatives many times, including the tastelessly-titled GIMP, Affinity Photo, and Pixlr X. All are pretty good tools, but to my shame, I kept crawling back to the familiarity of Photoshop.  Foundry My memory, both conventional and muscle, made it difficult to use any of these programs, even though each one of them covers the vast majority of Photoshop’s core functions. I’ve spent years of my life using Photoshop, a few of them using it for up to eight hours a day in a print shop. It’s a hard experience for me to quantify if you’re not married to a piece of software like that — imagine it as the feeling you get from wearing someone else’s prescription glasses. It’s that kind of functional discomfort.  I’m fairly certain Adobe banks on this, and that’s why you can access Photoshop and other programs at a huge discount if you’re a student or otherwise working at a school. To paraphrase Aristotle, “Give me a high-schooler until they are 17, and I will show you the foundations of a life-long subscription customer.”  But after a long-overdue Windows reinstallation, I decided to forego the hassle of getting my trusty, rusty copy of CS6 operational. Instead I tried out Photopea, an online raster image editor with a shameless and wonderful clone of the Photoshop interface.  Attack of the Clones I’ve tried Photopea a few times before, with this exact aim in mind. And I couldn’t quite get it to stick. To be honest I can’t recall if it was a lack of performance in the tool, or simply that it wasn’t as capable as CS6 even over a decade later. But whichever part of the equation has changed — the performance in a modern browser on a powerful desktop, the server-side performance, or the image editing options being improved — it just clicked.  Now I’m using Photopea (pronounced “photo-pee” if you’re wondering, but the creators don’t really care) in place of Photoshop for all my work purposes. I don’t even have the latter installed, though I still have my copy just in case. I’m paying $5 a month for the ad-free version of Photopea, which still rankles my “just let me buy it” heart a bit. But the fact that it’s completely free with ads, not to mention far, far cheaper than an Adobe subscription even if you banish them, is a balm to my skinflint soul.  Photopea’s interface apes Photoshop closely enough that I can use it without problems. And yes, I used it to edit this story’s header image, and even this screenshot. Photopea And after all, Photopea is a web tool hosted on a server — it at least has a basic justification for charging a subscription. Nothing stops Adobe from selling a stand-alone, non-subscription version of Photoshop. Except greed. Photopea is a clone of Photoshop, not a perfect replacement. There are things it can’t do, notably load up custom fonts without a lot of extra steps, that would make it unsuitable if I were still doing graphics full time. And to be perfectly honest, I’m not quite as good at it as I used to be with Photoshop. Some of the effects I’d throw together with ease just don’t look as good. That could be equal parts my own unfamiliarity with the deeper tools and the web-based program’s lack of Photoshop’s most powerful, deeply buried options. Maybe I’ll get back to my old expertise in time. But I’m not a graphic designer anymore. I’m a keyboard jockey who needs a lot of cropping for PR images, a bit of background work, clone-stamp and color adjustments for original photos, that sort of thing. And I can do all that, without sacrificing speed or most capability, and without local software. I can do it on any machine, from a laptop or a tablet or even my phone in a pinch (with a mouse and keyboard), and I can log in on all of those to get access to it ad-free.  Samsung Oh, and even if you prefer to pay Adobe’s exorbitant prices, you might still not need a local installation of the program. Photoshop has an online version now, very similar to Photopea, included with the subscription. Everything I need to do my job, and most of whatever else I want, is completely divorced from Windows. Or if not divorced, then at least amicably separated. I realize that a lot of people got to this place before I did, people younger than me, older than me, both more tech-savvy and less. But it still feels like a personal milestone. Gaming still lives on Windows…for now I’m still using Windows 11, warts and all, even while I moan about ever-encroaching advertising in allegedly premium software, not to mention the hard upsell for “AI” tools I don’t want. These are where Microsoft is hoping to get that real (read: recurring) money out of me, and where I refuse to let it go. But Windows is still my personal and professional home, even as I increasingly “live” on my phone, just like everyone else.  Gaming is a big part of this. I own a Switch and a PS5 and a nice tablet and a few other wingdings for games — over a recent vacation I even played through Skies of Arcadia to the end on an Android emulator. But PC gaming is where I really sink my teeth into the medium, and that’s unlikely to change. Not just because I like building desktop PCs (again, check the name of the site up top!), but because Steam is my primary means of acquiring and playing games.  Lenovo/Valve And even that is not a sacred cow I’m unwilling to eat. Valve is making Steam its own OS, spreading into hardware from partners like Lenovo and Asus, and I think it has a legitimate shot at dethroning Windows as the home of PC gaming. To say nothing of trends that let you access your games anywhere, including Nvidia’s cloud-powered GeForce Now (which plays my Steam games!) and Microsoft’s own Xbox Game Pass streaming. I’ve used both of them on the go, enjoyably if far less smoothly than on my fancy-pants desktop at home, and been keenly aware of their platform-agnostic nature.  I played the PC version of Fortnite, complete with mouse and keyboard, by using my Samsung phone’s DeX desktop mode, a USB-C monitor, and GeForce Now. Hey, at least one tiny sliver of the future doesn’t suck.   A new world of options This newfound freedom is liberating, if only in a consumer sense. For the first time I can seriously consider a Mac or a Chromebook laptop, safe in the knowledge that everything I need will be accessible with barely even an adjustment to my routine. An iPad Pro, while not my first choice, would probably be doable. I could even see myself trying out Linux on the desktop, though I confess I’d probably keep it dual-booting at first. And maybe using SteamOS or a derivative like Bazzite, just to satiate my degenerate gaming needs.  I don’t need Windows anymore. There’s a pretty good chance you don’t, either, or at least that it’s easier than ever to work around it. I think you should keep it in mind…especially if you’re a Microsoft executive who wants me to buy a new laptop.  Further reading: Windows survival skills: 8 things every PC user should know how to do Read...

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office Pro 2019 + Windows 11 Pro Lifetime Bundle for just $45.97 (MSRP: $428) — the ultimate productivity and security upgrade for one low price. If your PC is still running on outdated software, this bundle gives you everything you need to bring it into 2025 — and beyond. For just $45.97 (MSRP: $428), you’ll get lifetime licenses to both Microsoft Office Pro 2019 and Windows 11 Pro, a combination built to handle both everyday productivity and professional performance. Office Pro 2019 delivers the full suite of Microsoft classics, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, and Access. It comes with enhanced features for inking, data analysis, presentation design, and email management, making it just as useful for professionals as it is for students or home projects. Meanwhile, Windows 11 Pro brings a sleek, modern interface alongside powerful upgrades in security, productivity, and performance. It features improved snap layouts, voice typing, advanced security protocols like BitLocker, and even AI-powered Copilot integration to help you work smarter. For gamers, DirectX 12 Ultimate ensures your hardware runs at its full potential. Don’t miss getting this Office 2019 + Windows 11 Pro bundle while it’s just $45.97 (MSRP: $428). The All-in-One Microsoft Office Pro 2019 for Windows: Lifetime License + Windows 11 Pro BundleSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

Peter Snowden-trained Raging Force and Grand Prairie took out the group 3 features on a day of drama on and off the track at Rosehill on Saturday. Read...

Microsoft’s controversial Windows Recall has now been generally released, and it poses as much of a risk to your privacy as it could be a boon to your productivity. Recall is just one of several new features that either have or will be arriving on Copilot+ PC, Microsoft said Friday. Recall, Windows’ improved semantic search, Live Captions, Cocreator, and Restyle Image and Image Creator within Photos are now all available for Copilot+ PCs that include Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs as well as PCs with qualifying processors from AMD and Intel. A few features — Click to Do, Live Captions, and Voice Access — are available for Copilot+ PCs running on Snapdragon, but support for AMD and Intel chips isn’t quite available. For Microsoft, the release of these AI-powered features are cause for celebration, finally delivering on promises of an AI-powered world that the company first made a year ago. But in the weeks and months since Microsoft first announced Recall, a darker side of its potential has emerged. Now, Recall and its saved snapshots provide a record of information that could be used against you. Fortunately, Microsoft hasn’t shied away from allowing you to remove Recall altogether, deleting these saved records entirely. It’s also important to put Recall in perspective. Now, by default, Recall is opt-in, which means that you’ll have to explicitly enable it. But even if you want to use Recall, it’s only available to Copilot+ PCs, which are a tiny subset of the available PCs on the market. Just because Recall is available doesn’t mean that your PC will necessarily receive it. Even the most “modern” PCs, such as Intel’s Core Ultra 200 series (Arrow Lake) don’t have the necessary NPU power to run Recall. What is Windows Recall? Microsoft first announced Recall at a May 2024 event at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash., where the company debuted several upcoming Windows features to complement its newly announced Copilot+ PCs. Recall was designed as a sort of search assistant: As you went about your day-to-day business, Recall would periodically take and store “snapshots” of your PC, which its optical-character recognition AI could “read.” (At the time, Recall wasn’t designed to be opt-in.) Essentially, Recall could search your PC for a piece of information without knowing the app in which it was captured, or when it was stored. In concept, Recall’s premise appealed to me. Windows Recall’s taskbar icon.Mark Hachman / IDG Privacy experts disagreed, big time. Instead of serving as a useful tool, Recall could store snapshots of information that weren’t necessarily secure, opening them up to hackers and whoever else gained access to your PC. Meanwhile, others were concerned with the vast amounts of storage needed to store all of that information. Cowed, Microsoft pulled Recall from the original Copilot+ launch and promised to perform more testing. Recall would debut in October, Microsoft said then. In September, Microsoft began making the changes that users had asked for: making Recall opt-in, and even uninstallable after a user had decided to enable it. But it was delayed yet again. I went hands-on with Recall in early December, but by then my stance had changed — I found Recall to be a useful tool, but by then government attitudes toward privacy and free speech had begun changing. Also at that time, Microsoft opened up Recall to Copilot+ PCs using AMD and Intel processors, paving the way for a final test run before releasing it. Windows Recall allows you to search for a keyword or specific data, and it returns a list of snapshots or screenshots.Mark Hachman / IDG Recall’s risks outweigh its benefits Recall will be shipped as a feature of new Copilot+ PCs, though you should be able to opt in during the original setup process. When I tested Recall, I had to manually download a new Windows build and then manually launch the Recall app, which then stepped me through its setup process. Finally, I had to specifically choose to enable Recall and store snapshots. Even after doing so, the Windows 11 Settings menu included a toggle switch that allowed me to turn off the ability to save Recall snapshots entirely, or exclude specific applications. (It still does.) (After this story was published, a Microsoft representative also emphasized that you’ll need to log in via Windows Hello to access any screenshots as well. That’s true, but I’m not sure it solves the convenience issue outlined below.) Windows uses optical character recognition to search out the relevant snapshot, but also to extract text stored within it.Mark Hachman / IDG Related: What are Copilot+ PCs? Explained Even with all of these safeguards, I don’t trust Recall. That’s not to say I distrust Microsoft’s implementation of it — Recall is protected by Windows Hello, which is both a secure and convenient way of locking down information on your PC. It’s the convenience of Hello that worries me. I can imagine a scenario in which I’m directed to unlock my PC via Windows Hello, which would give someone access to my documents and email — even as a journalist, whose legal protections should safeguard that correspondence. I have major concerns about Hello also unlocking a searchable database of everything I’ve done on that PC for the last few months using Windows Hello. No, I don’t have anything to hide, but I also don’t want anyone poring through anything I consider private. You shouldn’t, either. It’s my recommendation, then, that you don’t let Recall on to your system. How to remove Recall If your PC is managed by a corporation or school, Microsoft says that Recall won’t be on it. Otherwise, Recall “is available by default,” Microsoft says on its Recall support page. (“An IT admin can’t, on their own, enable saving snapshots on devices that are managed by an organization or school,” Microsoft says. “IT admins can only give you the option to enable snapshots.”) Recall can be turned on and off via the optional Windows features. To access them, type “Turn Windows features on or off” within the Windows search bar. That will bring up a list of optional features that can be turned off or on depending on whether the appropriate box is checked. To remove Recall, you’ll need to search for “Turn Windows features on and off,” then uncheck the Recall box.Mark Hachman / IDG Microsoft shouldn’t enable Recall without telling you, as per my earlier test. But if you’re simply not sure, you can double check by running down the list of optional features and seeing if Recall is installed. (If it is, the box marked “Recall” will be checked.) To uninstall Recall, you can simply uncheck the “Recall” box. Recall will be uninstalled and your PC will be rebooted, so be careful to save your work. As Microsoft removes Recall, it will delete your stored snapshots, too. You can re-enable Recall by checking the box at a future time, though doing so won’t restore the deleted snapshots. Recall is an optional feature; the other new AI features arriving on your Copilot PC are not. On the other hand, something like Photos’ new Restyle Image doesn’t offer anywhere near the privacy concerns that the other applications do. If you’ve followed our coverage, you’ll know that I was in favor of Recall from the beginning. But upon further reflection and changing world events I’ve become uncomfortable with the threat that Recall poses to our privacy. Remove it immediately. Editor’s note: Snapshots must be unlocked via Windows Hello as well, which the original story didn’t specify. This article originally ran on April 25 but was updated to include our video on the topic. Read...

Microsoft is sending the next annual feature update for Windows 11, version 25H2, out to the Release Preview channel for testing beginning today. It’s a signal that Windows 11 25H2 will arrive on your PC soon, as September quickly approaches. Actually, chances are that you have most of the bits associated with Windows 11 H2 on your PC right now. Microsoft is servicing both Windows 11 24H2 as well as Windows 11 25H2 on the same servicing branch, and the 25H2 update will be pushed to your PC as an “enablement package.” In simpler terms, this means that Microsoft has simply sent most of the code in Windows 11 25H2 to your PC already, and the only thing left to do will be to turn the new, updated features on. The enablement package will basically be a standard patch, delivered to your PC by Windows Update. How big the patch is and how long it will take to install is basically determined by your habits: if you’ve previously kept your PC up to date, there won’t be that much code to install and the process should go far more quickly than the sizeable Windows 11 24H2 update that took place late last year. In June, Microsoft pitched the Windows 11 25H2 update as “as easy as a restart.” It will be rolled out in the “second half of 2025,” Microsoft said then. Naturally, there will be bugs — though with a smaller update hopefully they will be minimal. You can always postpone the Windows 11 25H2 Update by using the “Pause updates” control in Windows Update. That will buy you seven weeks until Microsoft forces you to apply new patches, including Windows 11 25H2. Usually, there’s a small cadre of what Microsoft calls “seekers” that flip on the “Get the latest updates as soon as they’re available” toggle in Windows Update, and those users will receive Windows 11 25H2 first. When should you get Windows 11 25H2? Typically, Microsoft’s fall release happens in September or October. I’d expect it to roll out in September, since it’s on the smaller side. What new features are expected in Windows 11 25H2? Typically, Microsoft tests a variety of new features throughout the year, in the Canary, Dev, Beta, and Release Preview Channels. Microsoft pushes some of these features out via app updates; with others, it enables them as part of the feature update. Here’s some of what we expect. Start’s mobile sidebar By Windows 11 25H2, Microsoft should be making its Start mobile sidebar available to all PCs that connect the PC to either an iPhone or preferably an Android phone. While that doesn’t do away with the Your Phone application, it’s an easy way to see if you have messages that need replying to, for example. Microsoft Supposedly, you should be able to resume an app that you’ve begun on your Android phone and launch it on your PC via the Your Phone app, too. New category views within Start Similarly, Microsoft is tweaking the Start menu to show off different views, such as a new “category” layout. That should appear in Windows 11 25H2, though it’s not guaranteed. Both the mobile sidebar and the new category views should be adjustable via the Personalization > Start menu within Windows Settings. Improved Settings Page Microsoft has shown off an improved Settings page with “cards” that show off the highlights of your system at the very top. Microsoft added this to via the 25H2 release schedule earlier this year, so it should be available this fall as well. Likewise, the “smarter” Settings should respond to queries using AI. Microsoft Semantic search Microsoft unveiled semantic search in the 25H2 Canary Channel earlier in August. Essentially, it allows you to search for a file using its characteristics (“the presentation I made to the town council”)without knowing the exact file name. Quick Machine Recovery An under-the-hood change, Quick Machine Recovery should facilitate issues when your computer crashes. Instead of putting the onus on you to solve your own problems, what QMR claims to do is search out the solution on Microsoft’s servers and apply it itself. Click-to-Do improvements Microsoft also is adding new contextual features to Click-to-Do, such as describing an image or converting a table to Excel, with just a right-click of the mouse. Microsoft Read...

As they suffered through yet another service outage that left them unable to access their locally stored TV recordings, many Tablo over-the-air DVR users were asking themselves—and Tablo—one question: When will we finally get an offline mode?  The answer, it turns out, is today. On the official Tablo blog, Tablo manufacturer Nuvyyo announced that it’s rolling out a long-promised feature that allows users of the fourth-generation Table DVRs to watch live TV with an antenna and stream previously recorded over-the-air TV shows even when their internet goes out or Tablo servers go down.  Tablo’s new offline mode comes a few weeks after Tablo DVR users endured a pair of server outages that briefly locked them out of live and recorded over-the-air TV streams and temporarily blanked out their electronic programming guides.  There have been plenty of other Tablo outages in the past too, enough so that Tablo owners have long been asking for an offline mode that would allow them to access live TV via an antenna, as well as their recorded OTA shows when Tablo’s servers are inaccessible.  The new offline mode (first reported by Cord Cutters News) has some quirks, including the fact that it can’t be activated manually. Instead, your Tablo DVR will prompt you to enable offline mode if it detects your internet is offline or the Tablo service is down or spotty.   Also, your Tablo must be online and able to retrieve the current time from your ISP prior to going into offline mode. If, say, your Tablo reboots during an internet outage, the offline mode won’t work. (Tablo says it’s “working on a solution” to this limitation.)  Finally, your home router must be powered on and working to connect the Tablo DVR to client devices, including TVs and streaming players.  For now, Tablo’s offline mode is working only for Amazon Fire TV and Android TV versions of the Tablo app; it will be available “later this week” (it’s Friday as of this writing) for Apple TV, iOS, and Roku. Users of the Samsung, LG, and Android versions of the Tablo app will get offline mode in the “coming months.”  Tablo DVRs in offline mode will only have limited features. Live streaming channels from the internet won’t be available (of course), nor will you be able to browse the Home or Guide screens for upcoming shows. And while you’ll have access to up to 14 days of “basic” programming guide information, you won’t be able to schedule new recordings.  Even with those limitations, it’s good to hear Tablo users won’t be blocked from watching over-the-air TV, live or otherwise, when their internet conks out or if Tablo’s own servers gives up the ghost. This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best over-the-air DVRs. Read...

TechHive Editors Choice At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Camera delivers sharp 4K video Starlight night vision renders onboard spotlights optional Reliable AI detection with customizable alerts Onboard sirens and flashing lights for active deterrence Required NVR stores camera recordings locally, eliminating the need for a subscription Cons Installation involves running ethernet cables through your walls There’s no support for Apple Home Can’t operate without Eufy’s NVR (this isn’t really a con, it’s by design) Our Verdict The Eufy PoE Bullet Security Camera E40, along with Eufy’s Network Video Recorder S4, is a strong choice for homeowners and small business owners who want the enhanced security and reliability of hardwired cameras; plus, local AI and local storage that eliminates the need for a subscription. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Eufy PoE Bullet Security Camera E40 Retailer Price $129.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices The Eufy PoE Bullet Security Camera E40 is aimed at homeowners and small business owners who want the reliability of wired infrastructure, along with local storage of security camera recordings to eliminate the cost of a cloud subscription. It’s built for people who take their security seriously and are willing to pull cables through their walls to get it. The camera must be paired with Eufy’s PoE NVR, which you’ll likewise need to hardwire to your home network. For those unfamiliar with the terms, PoE stands for Power-over-Ethernet (both power and data travel over a single ethernet cable, eliminating the need for an outdoor power outlet), and NVR stands for Network Video Recorder (it’s a similar concept to the DVR–digital video recorder–you might connected to your TV). I evaluated the camera with the Eufy Network Video Recorder S4 I reviewed in July 2025. The Eufy PoE Bullet Security Camera’s video quality in daylight is excellent, with 4K resolution delivering sharp detail and accurate color. Specifications The E40 is a classic bullet-style security cameras built for the outdoors. It has a metal housing and a weatherization rating of IP67, meaning it’s dustproof and can withstand immersion in up to one meter (about 3.3 feet) of water for up to 30 minutes. Want to know more about IP codes? Our IP code guide will tell you everything you need to know. Inside that housing is a 4K single-lens camera with a wide 122-degree field of view. It supports up to 5x digital zoom, letting you focus in on details while reviewing footage. The E40 offers three modes for nighttime coverage: starlight color night vision for low-light scenes, a spotlight-enhanced mode for complete darkness, and a traditional black-and-white infrared mode when you prefer to keep things discreet. The Eufy PoE Cam E40 comes with an ethernet cable, a grommet, and mounting hardware.Michael Ansaldo/Foundry The camera’s on-device AI can distinguish between people, pets, and vehicles, reducing false alarms from passing cars or wandering wildlife. You can further minimize unwanted notifications by setting activity zones and schedules, so it only alerts you when and where you want. For active deterrence, the E40 is equipped with a built-in siren and flashing red and blue lights that mimic police strobes. Two-way audio with noise reduction can also be used to can warn off intruders or speak with visitors. The camera system can be integrated with Amazon Alexa or Google Home, but there’s currently no support for Apple Home. The Eufy Network Video Recorder S4 includes 2TB of local storage (expandable to 16TB) and built-in AI that handles detection and tracking without relying on the cloud. Michael Ansaldo/Foundry Setup and performance Installing the PoE Cam E40 is straightforward, provided you’re comfortable pulling ethernet cable from the camera back to Eufy’s NVR. The included mounting hardware gives you flexibility in positioning the camera, whether you’re attaching it to a wall, under an eave, or on a pole. The Eufy Network Video Recorder S4 comes with 2TB of storage via a mechanical hard drive, and it can be expanded up to 16TB by replacing the factory-installed drive in its single 3.5-inch bay. You’ll likely need more capacity if you elect for 24/7 recording. Setting up the NVR is more involved than a wireless camera install. You’ll need to hardwire it to your router, plug in the included mouse for system control, and hook up a monitor to its HDMI port. It’s then it’s a matter of choosing your camera locations, mounting the brackets, attaching the cameras, and drilling holes in your walls to feed ethernet cables through the provided weatherproof grommets. Once everything’s connected to the NVR, the hard part is over; the system automatically detects the cameras and you can access the system via the monitor, the Eufy app, or Eufy’s web portal. Video quality in daylight is excellent, with 4K resolution delivering sharp detail and accurate color. At night, the starlight sensor produces a clear, colorful image in low-light conditions. When the scene is completely dark, the spotlight mode kicks in to illuminate and capture maximum detail. Infrared mode provides ample light to capture clear black-and-white footage. Eufy’s onboard AI does a solid job of recognizing people, vehicles, and pets, and custom activity zones help reduce false alarms triggered by irrelevant movement. Alerts arrive promptly, and the classification accuracy keeps notifications useful rather than overwhelming. If you’re running multiple cameras, as you most likely will be, you can choose to default to the NVR’s global AI settings, which will override individual camera settings. This makes it easier to apply consistent detection rules across your system without having to configure each camera separately. When deterrence is needed, the flashing red and blue lights demand attention, and the two-way audio is loud and clear enough to startle someone who shouldn’t be there. The Eufy Security app provides full control over the PoE Cam E40, letting you view live feeds, review recordings, adjust video and audio settings, and fine-tune features such as motion detection and lighting.Michael Ansaldo/Foundry The Eufy Security app ties it all together. You’ll use it to view live feeds, scrub through recordings, and manage your video, audio, and notification settings. Streaming over a local network is smooth, and the app gives you direct control over how the camera behaves day to day. Should you buy the Eufy PoE Cam E40? At $130, the Eufy PoE Cam E40 delivers a lot for its price. You get sharp 4K video, reliable AI detection, and built-in deterrence features—all without the ongoing cost of a cloud subscription. Be sure to factor in the cost of the 8-channel (expandable to 16 channels) Eufy Network Video Recorder S4 ($400), because the camera can’t operate without it. If you’re starting from scratch, Eufy also offers the NVR bundled with four E40 cameras for $800, a $119 discount if you’re planning full-home coverage. Eufy offers bundles with combinations of cameras (e.g., you can buy the Eufy NVR with two bullet cameras and two pan/tilt cams for $1,000). You will need to accept some trade-offs. The PoE requirements mean you might need to do a fair amount of drilling and routing if your home isn’t already set up for it. And if you’re in the Apple Home ecosystem, this camera won’t slot into your setup. If you can work within those limits, the Eufy PoE Cam E40 and Eufy Network Video Recorder S4 are a smart buy. The system is built for long-term use, and it provides the kind of always-on security that’s hard to get from battery-powered, wireless alternatives. Read...

In case of emergency, you will now be able to designate certain trusted people who can gain access to your Proton account. According to yesterday’s announcement post, Proton’s new Emergency Access feature supports up to five trusted contacts… with some caveats. Proton For one, you can only designate people who have Proton accounts of their own, as they’ll need to use their Proton account to access yours. With access granted, a trusted contact can then log into your Proton account whenever you’re unavailable or incapacitated, whether due to travel, illness, or (in the worst case) death. Emergency Access will send you a notification whenever a trusted contact tries to access your account, and if you don’t explicitly respond with a denial, access will be granted. You can choose whether contacts can gain access immediately or whether they need to wait a certain number of days, weeks, or months before access is granted. Proton The other big catch is that Emergency Access is only available to paying Proton customers. Any paid plan qualifies for this feature, so if you want it, go ahead and upgrade your Proton Pass, Mail, VPN, or Drive plans. Alternatively, check out Proton Unlimited for full premium features across all Proton apps and services for just $9.99/month. Read...