Microsoft mainly supplies Windows in two different editions: Home and Professional. Windows 11 Home is pre-installed on many PCs, while the Pro edition is often installed on business devices. This is because Windows 11 Pro can be integrated into a company’s network infrastructure (Active Directory), whereas the Home edition cannot. However, this feature is not necessary for private users who are unlikely to operate a Windows server in their home network. Nevertheless, the Windows Pro edition has some features that are of interest to everyone. Saving tip 1: Buy Windows 11 Pro legally for just $79 instead of $199 Saving tip 2: Buy a Windows 11 Pro upgrade for just $59 instead of $99 If you want to take advantage of this, you can perform a Pro update for a fee. For details, see the box “Upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Pro.” Home or Pro? Users of the Home edition receive most of the additional Pro functions free of charge. Additional tools provide what is missing in the cheaper Windows edition. IDG But an upgrade from Windows Home can also be completely free: Almost all Pro functions can be replaced by free software. It is even possible to unlock two Pro functions in the Home Edition, which we describe in more detail in this article. See also: Windows survival skills: 8 things every PC user should know how to do The differences between Windows Home and Pro There are actually only a few points where the two editions differ. Here are the most important and relevant for private users: Bitlocker encryption, which can be used to secure the entire drive or USB sticks, is reserved for the Pro edition. Bitlocker is particularly useful for laptops so that nobody can access your data if the device is lost. However, Microsoft has added a similar function to the Home edition of Windows 11 24H2 with device encryption (point 3). This requires you to log in with a Microsoft account. Users who do not want a Microsoft account or use Windows 10 can use alternative methods (points 4 and 5). Hyper-V is software that can be used to virtualize operating systems. For example, you can install Linux or Windows in Hyper-V while Windows is running and use it as a virtual second system. We describe how Hyper-V can be activated in the Home edition and what the alternative Virtualbox offers in points 6 and 7. The remote desktop enables remote access to the desktop of another Windows computer via the network. The Home edition only offers remote support, where a user must first invite a helper before they can access the other PC. Both methods are only suitable to a limited extent for spontaneous help via the internet. Remote access only works if the necessary ports are open in the router firewall. This is not necessary for other remote assistance programs (see point 8). Group policies offer centralized management of user rights. They are mainly used in larger company networks in which functions can be restricted or specified on all PCs via the central server. Local group policies are a variant for computers that do not belong to a Windows domain. The editor for this can be activated in the Home edition, or an alternative tool can be used (see box “Configuring Windows with group policies”). Encryption with Windows on-board resources With the Home edition of Windows 10 and 11, you cannot encrypt drives with Bitlocker. However, it is possible to integrate encrypted external hard drives or USB sticks into the file system. Encryption must be carried out on another PC on which the Pro or Enterprise edition is installed. If no other computer is available, use a virtual PC (point 6 or 7). Security for external drives: Encrypt the drive with Bitlocker under Windows Pro. Although the Home Edition cannot create it, it can still integrate it into the file system.Microsoft Go to “Settings” (Win-I), search for Bitlocker and click on “Manage Bitlocker.” Click on the desired drive and then on “Activate Bitlocker.” Tick the box “Use password to unlock the drive” and enter a sufficiently secure password. After clicking on “Next,” save the recovery key in a file, for example. Follow the further instructions of the wizard. A drive encrypted in this way can also be used with the Home edition. If you open it in the file manager by double-clicking on it, Windows will ask you for the password. Device encryption of Windows 11 24H2 Microsoft has equipped Windows 11 24H2 Home with a new function that can be used to encrypt the system drive. Bitlocker provides the basis, albeit with fewer options than the Pro edition. Windows login with a Microsoft account is also required. In Windows 11 24H2 Home: Activate “Device encryption” in the “Settings” if you want Windows to encrypt the system partition. A Microsoft account is required for this.Chris Hoffman / IDG If you are using version 24H2, you should check the option in the “Settings” under “Privacy and security > Device encryption.” If “Device encryption” is not displayed, the system requirements for Windows 11 are probably not met. Then check in the firmware settings of the PC whether TPM and Secure Boot are activated. If you activate device encryption, you should save the associated recovery key. You can determine the key via account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey after logging in with your Microsoft account. The recovery key is required so that you can access your data via a rescue or secondary system in the event of Windows or hardware problems. See also: How to make Microsoft Windows services work for you Encrypt drives with Veracrypt If you don’t want to or can’t use Bitlocker or device encryption, Veracrypt is an almost equivalent alternative. The tool also has the advantage that it is available for Linux and Mac OS. You can also use it to integrate encrypted Windows drives under these systems. In terms of security, it is difficult to compare Bitlocker and Veracrypt. With the open source tool Veracrypt, you can examine the source code and check the code quality and implementation of the algorithms. This is not possible with Bitlocker. Neither method can promise 100 percent security — ultimately, the use of any software is a question of trust. A study conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT) in 2020 is entitled “VeraCrypt with minor flaws.” No serious vulnerabilities were found. Veracrypt is not as well integrated into the system as Bitlocker. It is somewhat cumbersome to use and you have to enter the password for decryption every time you restart Windows. For security reasons, the password should be more than 20 characters long and sufficiently complex. If this is too much effort for you, you should consider whether you really need to encrypt the entire hard drive. Perhaps the solution presented in point 5 will suffice. Please also note that Veracrypt only requests the password on a restart. When reactivating after “Sleep,” only the Windows password is requested by default. If you want to encrypt the system partition, proceed as follows: Step 1: The use of Veracrypt is considered secure. Nevertheless, it is advisable to create a complete backup of the Windows partition or at least the personal files. If, for example, the power fails during encryption, the files on the hard drive will no longer be readable. Also have a USB stick ready that is formatted with the FAT32 file system. About 5MB of free space is sufficient and you can also use the stick for other purposes. In Veracrypt you will have to create a sufficiently long password for an encrypted drive to be used every time you restart your computer. Veracrypt Step 2: In Veracrypt, go to “System > Encrypt system partition/system drive.” Follow the easy-to-understand instructions of the wizard. You can accept the defaults almost everywhere. When entering the password, please note that the Veracrypt bootloader works with the U.S. keyboard layout. The program takes this into account and switches the keyboard layout when entering the password. Tick the “Show password” box to see the actual password. Step 3: The wizard prompts you to create a rescue data carrier. By default, Veracrypt saves the required file under the name “VeraCrypt Rescue Disk.zip” in your “Documents” folder. Unzip the file and copy the “EFI” folder it contains to your FAT32-formatted USB stick. After clicking on “Next,” the wizard will check whether the folder is present. Step 4: In the “System encryption pre-test” step, click on “Test.” Read the description, which is best printed out. Click on “Yes” when you are prompted to restart the PC. Type in the password and confirm with the Enter key. If Veracrypt does not accept the password, for example if it is entered incorrectly, press the Esc key. Windows will then start as usual from the previously unencrypted hard drive and you will have to configure the encryption again. Otherwise, Windows will start after you enter the password. After Windows logon, the “Pre-test completed” window appears automatically, in which you click on “Encrypt.” Veracrypt then starts the encryption process, which may take some time. A window will inform you of the progress. Step 5: Try booting from the rescue drive. You may need to change the boot sequence in the firmware setup. The rescue system offers a simple menu that can be used to repair the Veracrypt boot loader, load an alternative boot loader, or decrypt the system partition. Upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Pro The Home edition can be converted to a Pro edition without reinstallation. All you need is a new product key. Microsoft currently charges $99 for the upgrade in the official store. In the PCWorld shop, however, you can get the official upgrade for just $59. If you have purchased a Pro key, go to “System” in the “Settings” under Windows 11, click on “Activation” and then on “Update Windows Edition.” Click on “Change” after “Change product key” and enter the new product key. Foundry Encrypted container with Veracrypt If you encrypt your Windows partition, you no longer have to worry about the security of individual files. On the other hand, it is not particularly convenient to have to enter a long and complicated password when restarting the system. For more security, only encrypt the files that are really worth protecting. To do this, use Veracrypt to create an encrypted container file that holds the sensitive files. Secure container: Create an encrypted container file with Veracrypt. Store sensitive and important documents in it. The file can be stored on any drive.Veracrypt Step 1: In Veracrypt, go to “Volume > Create new volume.” Leave the first option “Create encrypted container file” and click on “Next” and again on “Next.” Step 2: Specify the storage location and file name after clicking on “File.” Follow the further instructions of the wizard. Step 3: In the “Volume password” window, enter a sufficiently complex password with 20 characters or more. If you tick the “Show password” box, you can check the entry. Step 4 (optional): You can also use a short password or a PIN if you also create a key file. To do this, tick the box next to “Use key file” and then click on “Key files.” Click on “Create key file(s)” and generate the entropy by moving the mouse. Enter a name for the key file, click on the “Create and save key file(s)” button and select the storage location. Save the file to a USB stick. The container cannot be unlocked without the stick or the key file in combination with the password. Close the window, click on “Add files,” select the key file you have just created, and click on “OK.” Continue with the wizard. Step 5: In the Veracrypt main window, click on a free drive letter, go to “Volume > Select file” and specify the file created in Step 2. Then click on “Volume > Mount volume” and enter the password. If you created a key file in step 4, tick “Use key file,” click on “Key files,” and specify the file via “Add files.” Step 6: For faster access to the encrypted container, right-click on the (virtual) drive in the Veracrypt main window and select “Add to favorites” in the context menu. Tick the box “Mount selected volume at login” and confirm with “OK.” Veracrypt then automatically opens a window for entering the password after the Windows logon. If you are using a key file, you should specify this via “Settings > Default key files.” Otherwise, you will have to select the file each time in the password entry window. You can specify the same key file when creating further data containers. Virtual second PC with Virtualbox Virtualbox is open source software and therefore available free of charge for all Windows editions. The range of functions corresponds roughly to Microsoft’s Hyper-V. Install Virtualbox and the Virtualbox extension package, which is required for some functions, such as remote access and encryption of virtual hard disks. Click on the “New” button to start a wizard for setting up a virtual machine in Virtualbox. You enter the ISO image with the installation system and specify the operating system and the size of the RAM and virtual hard drive. After completing the wizard, click on “Start” and install the operating system as usual. Configure VMs with Virtualbox: A wizard supports you with the installation of the system. You will need the ISO file of the Linux or Windows installation system, for example. Oracle In the virtual machine window, go to “Devices > Insert guest extensions” and install the guest extensions from the virtual DVD drive. The optimized drivers ensure better graphics performance, for example. Remote access or remote maintenance via the network Remotely control another PC: The free Rustdesk enables access to a remote desktop. This works in the local network and also over the Internet without further configuration. Rustdesk You do not have to rely on the remote desktop connection of the Pro edition for remote access. There is plenty of software for this task. For example, the open source solution Rustdesk is free of charge. The program does not require a firewall configuration. The connection is established in encrypted form via the provider’s switching server. The program works without installation — the people involved only need to start it. The person seeking help tells you the ID and password displayed. You then establish the connection, which the person on the other PC must confirm. Actions that require increased rights must also be confirmed. For convenient use, however, you should install Rustdesk using the button at the bottom left of the window. This also enables unattended access to a computer. You must set a password for this in the settings under “Security.” Further reading: Every Windows operating system, ranked Read...

Carmack: `Power tools` like AI are `central to all the progress in computers.` Read...

In the mid-1990s, Microsoft DOS dominated most PCs. Those who were a step ahead might’ve been using Windows 3.1, but even that was a superimposed user interface on top of MS-DOS. Windows was still pretty darn unfamiliar to people back then, so in 1995, Microsoft came up with a more user-friendly interface called Microsoft Bob (codename Utopia). Bob was a complete replacement for Windows 3.1, changing the way users interacted with their PCs. Instead of “windows,” you interfaced with a digital house with all files, folders, and features represented as parts of the house. For example, there was a room for mail and one for the calendar, plus furniture and animated characters (like the dog Rover), all in a welcoming cartoony look. The intent was to lower the usability barriers for PC beginners and make computers easier to navigate. However, user enthusiasm was limited and critical reception was poor. Hardly anyone bought Bob—only about 30,000 copies were sold—and it made high demands on the hardware, requiring 8MB of RAM, which was a lot in 1995. Microsoft discontinued Bob about a year later, around the time Windows 95 came out, but that wasn’t the end for Bob. Microsoft Bob makes a comeback… sort of With Windows XP’s release in 2001, the failed Microsoft Bob made a curious comeback. When Microsoft put Windows XP on installation CDs, they discovered that there were still 30 MB free on those discs—so Microsoft decided to fill up that space. With what, you ask? With an encrypted form of Bob, of course! Former Microsoft employee and Windows developer Raymond Chen explained the reasoning in a 2008 issue of TechNet Magazine: “The result was a rather feeble attempt to slow down the people who like to make illegal copies of Windows. Somebody decided to fill that extra capacity on the CD with dummy data and to have the Windows Setup program verify that the dummy data was still there. This, the logic went, would force people downloading a copy of the CD image to download an additional thirty or so megabytes of data. Remember, this was back in the day when ‘broadband’ hadn’t yet become a household word and mainstream users were using dial-up connections. Having to transfer an additional thirty megabytes of data over a 56Kb modem was a bit of an obstacle to slow users down—not that it would slow them down much by today’s standards.” But why Bob’s code of all things? Chen continues: “The person who was asked to implement this check needed a source for the dummy data. Now, he could have just called the CryptGenRandom function to generate 30 megabytes of cryptographically random bytes, but where’s the fun in that? Instead, he dug through the archives and found a copy of Microsoft Bob. He took all the floppy disk images and combined them into one big file. The contents of the Microsoft Bob floppy disk images are not particularly random, so he decided to scramble up the data by encrypting it. When it came time to enter the encryption key, he just smashed his hand haphazardly across the keyboard and out came an encrypted copy of Microsoft Bob. That’s what went into the unused space as ballast data on the Windows XP CD.” And so, everyone who bought Windows XP also (unknowingly) received a copy of the totally flopped Microsoft Bob. It’s kind of funny in the grand scheme, considering we once named Microsoft Bob as one of the worst tech products of all time. Still, little Easter eggs like this are expected and unavoidable when you have a history as extensively storied as Microsoft does. Read...

If you haven’t been paying attention to the news, heads up—prices for tech gear are set to skyrocket. Tariffs are now in effect for goods imported from China, and they’ve quintupled (and then some) since their original announcement. The U.S. government is now imposing a staggering 54 percent tax, instead of the original 10 percent. Name any kind of tech device, and it’s affected: laptops, desktop computers, PC components, monitors, smartphones, e-readers, and much more. An overwhelming majority of electronics are produced in China. When the first tariff was announced, big retailers warned about imminent price hikes. The CEOs of both Best Buy and Target commenting on the breadth and immediacy of the tariff effects. Here at PCWorld, I wondered specifically about the impact on computers (surprise!)—laptops and desktop PCs are both major interests of our readers. To answer my own questions—as well as those of readers, friends, and family—I reached out to industry contacts to better understand what these tariffs mean for the cost of PCs, and what to expect in the coming days. Those who responded manufacture laptops, prebuilt desktop machines, and PC components. Much of this information is generally applicable to electronics overall. The short answer: Expect pain at the cash register. Businesses won’t be able to shield customers from these increases. As Falcon Northwest president Kelt Reeves said to me back in March, “[The] PC industry is infamously low margin, so no one can afford to ‘cushion’ 20 percent. Prices already went up incredibly fast on almost every component we buy to build a PC. Stock that was already here vanished, as anything new will be minimum 20% more.” Now in April, the tariffs on Chinese imports have shot up to 54 percent. It’s going to hurt. For a fuller grasp of the situation, read on. I’ve broken things down into a series of questions and answers, so you can more quickly find the info you most want to know. Also, if you’re Canadian, I’m sorry to inform you—this affects you too. What is a tariff? First, a quick recap so we’re all on the same page. A tariff is a type of tax that governments impose on goods either entering (import) or leaving (export) the country. They can be fixed or variable, and they apply when goods enter the U.S. Essentially, the tariff must be paid in order for the shipment to be released by customs to the business. On their face, import tariffs are meant to help protect a country’s domestic industries. Let’s say a country wants to nurture its almond production. It could impose a tariff on imports of almonds from other countries, so that they become more expensive to buy—thus encouraging the purchase of domestically grown almonds instead. In practice, tariffs can become complicated. Other countries can respond with their own tariffs, kicking off what’s known as a trade war. Economists widely view tariffs as problematic, as they can cause slowed economic growth, damage to domestic industries, and rising costs for consumers without much return benefit. What are these tariffs? On February 1, 2025, the executive branch of the United States government announced tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, to take effect on February 4. The tax was set at 25 percent for Canada and Mexico, with a lower 10 percent levy on Canadian energy resources (e.g., gas). For China, the rate was set at 10 percent. On February 4, the import tariff for China began. Those for Canada and Mexico were delayed to March 4. On February 27, the U.S. government announced an intention to raise the tariffs on Chinese imports to 20 percent. On March 4, the higher tariffs for Chinese imports kicked in, as did the original tariffs for Canada and Mexico. However, the levies on Canadian and Mexican goods were later delayed again. On April 2, the U.S. government announced a 10 percent tariff would apply to most worldwide locations, including two small islands not inhabited by humans. (Currently, the penguins and seals there do not export any goods.) Higher tariffs have been set for select countries, including Vietnam (46 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (34 percent), and Taiwan (32 percent). Imports from European Union countries currently face a new 20 percent tariff, in addition to those applied to steel, aluminum, and cars. China also gets a new tariff of 34 percent that stacks on top of the existing 20 percent, for a total of 54 percent. These taxes phase in starting April 2, and finish taking effect by April 9. You can read this BBC overview for a full tariff timeline, but the basic takeaway is that tariffs on Chinese products always start immediately. Accordingly, prices already began rising in February, when the first tax was announced. Now they will jump even higher, possibly even astronomically. Which tech devices are affected by these tariffs? These tariffs are particularly unusual in that they broadly apply to all imports from the named countries. Previous tariffs during the last Trump administration hit more selectively. When I spoke with SilverStone, a Taiwanese vendor that manufactures an array of hardware for PC building, a representative from their U.S. office emphasized this point, saying, “Almost everything we sell are affected: cases, power supplies, coolers, fans, cables, expansion cards, adapters, etc.” Last time, the impact fell primarily on power supplies. So a overwhelming majority of electronics are affected—most companies have their devices and/or hardware produced in China. Those imports are all subject to the 54 percent tariff. Additionally, products made in the United States could be affected as well. If a domestic company can’t find an alternative source for materials or components made in China, the cost of those items will rise now, too. These days, most things we buy are global products—far fewer are made top to bottom within a single country. That’s especially so for anything related to tech. Are only U.S. residents affected by these tariffs? Nope. If you live in another country, but are purchasing through U.S., the cost increases will spread to you, too. For example—SilverStone’s U.S. office said to me that because Canadian customers buy through its U.S. office, they have to pay the higher price as well. (Sorry, Canada.) However, some companies may be able to still keep costs down for other international customers, so long as they can export directly to their other offices across the globe. If you live outside of the U.S. and know (or suspect) what you’re purchasing could route through the U.S., you may want to look into alternative territories you could buy from. Are the price hikes equal to the size of the tariffs? Not necessarily.  When the tariffs first were announced in February, Acer’s CEO described their effect as “straightforward” on the retail price of laptops—a direct 10 percent jump.  In contrast, just a month later, I couldn’t get a precise percentage from most people I spoke with. Many avoided naming any figure. For example, a source who asked to remain anonymous said only, “Price changes will vary based on components and market demand, but we’re doing our best to minimize the impact and are exploring strategies to mitigate these effects.” The ones who did give numbers generally used a range, because the calculus is so variable. In March, the spokesperson from SilverStone’s U.S. office told me Chinese-made products would “increase on average of 12 to 18 percent” starting March 10. When I spoke to the same spokesperson again in April, I was told that another round of price increases were expected, as SilverStone’s production costs would be affected by the end of the month. Meanwhile, as I noted at the start of this article, U.S.-based Falcon Northwest believes that the hardware it buys for its custom PCs will start at a minimum of 20 percent more, and now will go up to 54 percent. “There’s almost no part of a PC that’s immune anymore,” says president Kelt Reeves—a reference to the fact that countries like Japan and South Korea, which produce parts like SSDs and memory, are also now affected by tariffs. Why the differences in response? SilverStone sells its computer components primarily to partners, like retailers. Falcon Northwest sells fully built PCs (both laptops and desktops) to consumers. Basically, the ultimate price effects we’ll see as consumers is a mix of: How much of the product is made in China The relationships the vendors have with their partners The retailer’s ability to absorb part of the tariffs Why can’t the companies absorb these costs? As mentioned above, the PC industry is considered “low margin.” For consumer gear, profit made on components can be as low as single-digit percentages, and often don’t extend above 20 percent.  Think under 10 percent for motherboards, and 10 to 15 percent for power supplies. These numbers climb a bit for premium hardware, but not enough to ever rival the margins seen in, say, software. There, you can see as much as 70 to 80 percent. Without a big cushion, companies can’t cut deeply into their profits to shield customers (be they consumers or fellow businesses) from the tariff hikes. The higher costs get passed on more directly. In March, multiple industry contacts said they were working to spread the hit and lighten the load on consumers. Tech vendors know that increased prices mean fewer sales. My anonymous source told me they’ve already seeing sales slow and are trying not to pass on more any costs than necessary, saying, “We only raised prices to cover the tariffs we’ve paid.” That’s another important detail—these companies must pay these tariffs to get their products onto U.S. shores. They can’t sell anything otherwise. The same anonymous contact said to me, “As importers ourselves, we have to pay the tariffs upfront.” They can’t float the cost until sales happen. As the tariffs have increased, though, expect to see far less help from the manufacturers in shouldering the new taxes. With as much as a 54 percent jump in April, manufacturers can’t stomach the bulk of it and still survive. As for the retailers we buy from, you may see some variation in price due to their operating costs and margins. But consumers shouldn’t much help on that front, especially given the initial stark warnings made by Best Buy and Target’s CEOs about price increases. When do prices increase? Will it happen all at once? The first round of tariffs on Chinese goods went into effect on February 4, at 10 percent. The leap to 20 percent began on March 4. Then on April 2, the number rose again to 54 percent. How fast that’ll be felt depends on the product. If a retailer has a decent amount of stock brought to the U.S. before the tariffs started, then their prices may not rise just yet. Most industry contacts I spoke with avoided naming an exact timeline, but SilverStone’s U.S. office estimated this latest ramp up would last until the end of April, at best. However if there’s little stock left in the channel, then the price jump may be immediate. Are there any other price increases coming? Potentially. In mid-February, President Trump announced an intention to impose a 25 percent tariff on semiconductors, with the intent to continue to raise the rate “substantially higher over a course of a year.” Such a move would impact PC CPUs and GPUs. Specific countries subject to this import fee have not yet been revealed. (As of early April, Taiwan is still spared from this particular hit, even despite the new 32 percent tariff on its other goods.) But if the tariff becomes applied broadly, chips shipped from fabrication plants in Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and other locations will be subject to that hefty new tax—not just those from China. Talk of applying a 25 percent tariff on copper was made in mid-March as well. Copper is a common metal found in PC components. Will prices come down if the tariffs are dropped? Costs often stay higher once tariffs are enacted. My SilverStone contact confirmed this when asked about any price reversals should tariffs end, saying, “As to your question on reversing prices, that’ll happen more slowly than it is to raise prices. As a business, we have to be careful with reducing prices across our product line.” Remember, even after a tariff lifts, any stock that arrived in the U.S. during the tariff still carries a higher cost to a manufacturer or vendor. And due to the lower margins of PC hardware, they are still limited in how much of said cost they can absorb on behalf of the consumer.Basically, costs can come down, but don’t expect to see any shift until the channels clear of previous stock. Even then, if the chance of future tariffs looms, companies will have less logistical and financial incentive to cut prices. How big is the impact on laptops and desktop PCs? Between the comments made by Acer’s CEO and Falcon Northwest’s president, you could assume a 20 percent increase at minimum.  Such an even application would put a serious dent in consumer buying power. If you apply that 20 percent as a straight increase, here’s what the prices would look like for laptops that PCWorld has reviewed just before the tariffs: Original MSRP10% tariff increase20% tariff increase54% tariff increaseLenovo Legion 5i$1,399$1,539$1,779$2,155Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition$2,519$2,771$3,023$3,880Lenovo LOQ 15$799$879$959$1,231Asus Vivobook S 14$1,199$1,319$1,439$1,847Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro 360$1,699$1,869$2,039$2,617Lenovo Chromebook Duet$399$439$479$615 You’ll pay $220 more now for a previously $500 laptop after this new tariff. In that price range, that’s a sizable increase and can push a machine out of someone’s budget. On the flip side, other sources declined to state a figure, and I’ve yet to receive comment from large corporations like Dell. We likely have to wait for time to tell—much is up in the air, as I was repeatedly told. How big is the impact on PC components? The answer to this question is more complicated than for laptops and prebuilt desktop PCs. Component vendors sit more in the middle of the chain that leads to a computer you can sit down and use. As I covered above when discussing price, the specific impact will vary. Besides cost, consumers should also be prepared for less availability of parts. One contact told me that a “pressing concern is that several major AIB partners are reducing shipments to prevent costly overstock.” Basically, higher prices on hardware often means less interest, and no one wants to be left with excess stock they can’t sell. What hidden effects will the tariffs have? Besides ongoing price chaos, DIY builders should prepare for possible longer wait times to acquire parts. Likewise, those buying a prebuilt desktop PC made from off-the-shelf components may need more patience as well. Also, as Falcon Northwest said to me, list prices (MSRP) for components will likely become even more aspirational. Street prices will fluctuate as businesses continue to respond to unpredictable changes to U.S. economic policy—and if availability reduces, demand could cause even higher leaps in cost. Why can’t companies give more concrete answers? More than one person I spoke with referenced the tariff situation using words like “uncertainty,” and “unpredictability.” The short of it is, businesses are scrambling to react to these policy changes. Remember, the 20 percent tariff on Chinese-made goods was only announced on February 27th, just three days before it took effect. The tax’s size and its abruptness caused a lot of disruption. The new 34 percent tariff that stacks on top went into effect immediately on April 2. And as of April 8, the U.S. government threatened a yet additional 50 percent tariff on China, as its response to Beijing’s retaliatory set of tariffs on U.S. goods. So right now, companies are still working out their responses to the tariffs. Discussions with partners and reassessing both financial and logistical impact takes time. An additional wrinkle is that vendors don’t know what to expect in the future, which complicates planning. Kelt Reeves, the Falcon Northwest president, says, “This is just a chaotic climate to try and run a business in.” Will vendors stop producing goods in China? Before the new additional tariffs on locations like Vietnam, some companies intended to shift production across borders. AsRock, which produces PC components like motherboards and graphics cards, has gone on record with its plan to move manufacturing to other countries. My contact at SilverStone’s U.S. office initially said in March that a couple of its power supplies are made in Vietnam, and the company would “continue to transition more in the future.” But when asked again in April, my same contact said that if the governments in alternative locations can’t work out a deal with the U.S., then production could transition back to China…provided that Beijing and Washington D.C. don’t end up imposing monumental tariffs on the other. If production does end up transferring to other countries, the shift won’t happen quickly—with the sheer amount of manufacturing China does, ramping up in alternative nations can’t happen overnight. For example, 90 percent of SilverStone’s products are made in China. Facilities that can handle the capacity for a wide-scale switch will take time. Can’t the U.S. just produce electronics on domestic soil? In a word, no. The infrastructure doesn’t exist—for now. The Biden administration did begin the U.S.’s attempt to reduce its dependence on China for production of key electronics, namely processors. The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 set aside $280 billion to facilitate the building of new chip foundries on U.S. soil.  However, building such facilities takes time, and their ability to ramp up output also can’t happen immediately. TSMC’s new Arizona fabrication plant is already booked out until 2027. And more importantly, domestic production may never get a chance to take off—President Trump just proposed killing the CHIPS act, which would gut its funding. That could delay or even suspend the overall effort to ramp up the US’s self-sufficiency. Editor’s note: This article originally published on March 7, but has been updated with additional info and clarifications as further tariff developments occur. Read...

Unless you’re a real stickler for the finer points of the consumer tech industry, you might not know the history of the Vaio laptop series. But to miss the chaos unfolding from the Trump regime’s massive tariffs, you’d have to be living under a rock, under a penguin, on an uninhabited island in the Indian Ocean. The current owner of Vaio is leveraging this chaos to sell a few “tariff free” laptops. To address the first point: Yes, Vaio (stylized VAIO) laptops are still a thing, originally launched by Sony back in 1996 but spun off into an independent Japanese manufacturer when Sony exited the laptop business about a decade ago. It’s currently majority-owned by Japanese retailer Nojima. At the moment, Vaio offers three different series—the SX, SX-R, and FS—in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes. The designs are unremarkable and don’t often get spotted even on big retailers, but it looks like they’re getting some love from Costco as a US sales partner. According to Tom’s Hardware, the Vaio brand sent out emails to some customers hoping to lure them in with “Tariff Free Inventory.” While it doesn’t go into specifics, this is undoubtedly a reference to US president Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs on nearly every country that supplies finished goods and raw materials to the United States. This sent stock prices and other economic indicators into a tailspin, in what’s already being referred to as “the 2025 stock market crash.” For the Japanese Vaio brand, which manufactures all its current models in a Nagano factory, the relevant tariff is the 24 percent tax on products from Japan, according to Reuters. Depending on how the tariffs are implemented on specific components, the 34 percent tax on goods from China and 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan may also come into play for laptops sold in the US. In the best-case scenario, Vaio’s cheapest laptop at the moment will jump from $1,100 to $1,364, assuming Vaio passes the cost directly onto retailers and final buyers. For the SX-R mentioned in the “tariff free” email, the starting price would jump from $2,200 to $2,728 for the same model. For more estimations on how tariffs will affect consumer electronics prices, check out this breakdown. The prices on the Vaio website as of April 7th don’t seem to have changed much since January, as seen on the Internet Archive. It seems like a safe assumption that Vaio is promoting prices for current inventory held within the United States, which can be sold at today’s prices without fear of tariffs affecting profitability. It’ll be a few weeks before the latest round of tariffs imposed on goods being imported to the United States start impacting finished items being sold to consumers. If you’re in the market for a new laptop in the US, you might want to look for one right away. As Vaio demonstrates, there’s only a limited amount of computers in current supply line that can be sold at pre-Trump prices. Read...

If you haven’t heard, Windows 10 is coming to an end on October 14, 2025. Well, sort of. You’ll still be able to use your Windows 10 PC even after that date, but Microsoft won’t be supporting it anymore—no more updates, no more security patches, no more help if things go awry. We don’t recommend sticking with Windows 10 without support, and neither does Microsoft. You’ll be leaving yourself increasingly vulnerable to malware, hackers, and compatibility issues. So, what should you do? The “best” option going forward would be to upgrade to Windows 11, but not all computers meet the requirements for Windows 11. Get Windows 11 Pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro Microsoft’s advice to users who can’t upgrade their Windows 10 PC? According to a newly published support page, you should check if it has trade-in value towards a brand-new Windows 11 PC. If it doesn’t, you should recycle it responsibly according to local regulations. Of course, these aren’t your only options. Microsoft fails to mention that you could conceivably install an operating system other than Windows to keep your PC going for a few more years, for example. Be sure to check out our guide to all the ways to save your Windows 10 PC. Don’t feel like installing a new OS? Consider selling it. You can probably fetch an okay price on sites like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or even OfferUp. Otherwise, you can donate it to someone in need or reuse some of the parts to build a new computer. Further reading: The most eco-friendly ways to dispose of a laptop Read...

Do you primarily use Windows 11 but want to have a quick look at a Linux distribution like Linux Mint? Well, booting from a live DVD or USB stick is a convenient solution. The advantage of this is that nothing needs to be installed, and your Windows configuration remains unchanged. When you remove the DVD or USB stick, your PC will restart normally into its installed operating system. Live system: Start Linux Mint from a USB stick or DVD to try it out without making any changes to your PC. IDG If you want to have the full Linux Mint experience, then a virtual computer is the way to go. A virtual computer behaves more or less like a real PC, allowing you to exchange data with the host system (usually your Windows computer) or other devices in the network. However, since virtual Windows or Linux guests are isolated from the host and network by default, it’s primarily suitable for software tests and surfing potentially dangerous websites. One major advantage is the ability to freeze the system and restore it to a previous backup with a single click. Another option is the parallel installation of two or more operating systems on a hard drive or SSD, otherwise known as multibooting. Installation: If Linux Mint is installed in parallel with Windows, select the desired system when booting. IDG Once you’ve booted up the PC, select the operating system in the boot manager. This lets you use Windows 11 and Linux Mint at the same time, allowing you to access stored data whether it’s on your local drive or a network share. For an in-depth look at how virtualization works, check out our guide here. Advantages and disadvantages of virtual PCs Virtualization technology has been a part of everyday life in company networks and data centers since the 2000s. It allows the number of dedicated computers to be reduced and the existing hardware to be optimally utilized. Many other virtual servers can run independently of each other on a host server, which ultimately saves energy and administration costs. For home users, desktop virtualization solutions offer a sophisticated way of testing different operating systems, using Linux under Windows or even Windows under Linux without a large PC base. The biggest advantage of virtualization is that you always have a clean guest system, no matter what you do with it. Ideally, your host system remains completely untouched in the event of accidents and infections in the virtual machine. You can also make changes to the settings within the virtual machine to your heart’s content. With one click, you can return to the original state. On a real PC, a major crash can result in costly repair work. That said, virtualization has its limits. Virtual PC: Whether live system or installation – Linux Mint runs isolated in a Virtualbox environment. IDG While virtualization environments can translate the commands of the guest operating system to CPUs and memory with little loss of speed, this is not so easy with other hardware components. The graphics performance is not sufficient for complex games, as the memory is usually limited to 128 MB in the virtualization software, even if much more is available. Advantages and disadvantages of multiboot With a multiboot setup–whether with a live system or a permanently installed operating system–you can take advantage of your PC’s resources. The processor, RAM, and graphics memory are available without restriction. The same goes for other hardware components such as the printer, webcam, and scanner. A multi-boot system can be used in combination with Windows 11 and Linux Mint, for example, if the installation of Windows 11 fails due to the lack of hardware requirements. It also allows you to divide different tasks, effectively keeping work and personal use separate on the same machine. However, the disadvantage here is the double administration effort. Read...

By now, you’ve heard of the U.S.’s decision to levy tariffs on imports—all goods made in China, as well as select materials worldwide, like steel and aluminum. And recently, yet additional taxes on products from all countries were imposed in early April. Many items now face a minimum 10 percent tariff, with those from China spiking to an unprecedented 54 percent. Hefty fees will fall upon Taiwanese and Vietnamese-made items, too (32 and 46 percent, respectively, with an exception for Taiwan’s semiconductors). More tariffs are proposed for the future as well. I covered the details about these tariffs in a FAQ, as well as a set of highlights for a shorter way to get up to speed on the situation. I also created a breakout of sample cost increases so you could better see what actual purchases could look like. But most news has focused on the immediate dollars-and-cents effect of these new taxes. What’s been talked about less are the other ways tariffs will impact the tech industry—consequences that could dampen or even drive back certain aspects that we currently take for granted. At best, we’ll see a temporary blow. At worst, we could feel this hit for years to come. Harder to obtain Technology has become more available to the masses over time. Long ago, personal computers were a rare luxury, found only in homes of enthusiasts or the well-to-do. But as popularity rose, devices and hardware became easier to get. People wanted to spend their money on fresh gear—and so supply became more plentiful. Remember when EVGA made graphics cards? Yeah, they don’t any longer, after looking at the cost of that part of their business. Let’s hope the tariffs don’t cause other companies to make similar moves within tech.Brad Chacos / Foundry But when prices go up, demand goes down. Companies already have an incentive to slow the rollout of new products due to the economic instability brought about by the tariffs. If you add on a weakened appetite from consumers for discretionary purchases, vendors have reason to pull back on the production. They may become slower to release successors to products or even a wider variety of products. In particular, smaller companies decide to pause or stop product lines.  Industry insiders expressed this very sentiment to me when discussing the tariffs and their effect. Without the ability to make accurate forecasts, businesses have to proceed with more caution. They’ll either produce less of their usual devices or hardware—or opt out of selling certain items altogether. After years of ever-growing options for consumers, shrinking down to fewer choices will be a sad step backward. Price stagnation (or even increases) Intel’s Kaby Lake Core i7-7700X launched just a couple of months before AMD’s first-generation Ryzen CPUs, sporting a 4-core, 8-thread processor. By fall, its Coffee Lake Core i7-8700K successor had added two more cores and four more threads. Competition makes a difference.Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry Innovation and competition help lower costs for technology. Manufacturing becomes more efficient, growing demand spreads production costs over a wider field, and/or the tech is succeeded by something even fresher. But if tech gear becomes less varied and harder to get, those factors won’t be as dependable as an influence on price. How much you’ll pay for a laptop, phone, or piece of hardware will likely stick where it is—or go up. As my colleague Gordon Mah Ung loved to point out, Intel sold consumers 4-core, 8-thread CPUs for years, always at similar MSRPs. And when Team Blue launched its first 10-core processor, the suggested price was a staggering $1,723. Fast forward a year, after AMD released its first generation of Ryzen chips, and Intel’s top consumer chip had inched up in core count, with the $359 Intel Core i7-8700K sporting 6 cores and 12 threads. Its closest rivals? The $329 Ryzen 7 1700 and $399 Ryzen 7 1700X, both of which sported 8 cores and 16 threads. This history lesson shows that consumers get less value when fewer options exist. Companies can charge whatever they want when faced with less pressure to keep pushing the envelope. Slower release of new products Should early adopters become more reluctant to try out new gadgets, companies could stop trying novel new form factors, like this tri-fold smartphone.Luke Baker If you’re a company facing economic uncertainty, how much would you want to invest in different products? Likewise, if you’re a consumer looking at devices with fewer or smaller upgrades that cost as much as the previous model, will you want to buy anything new? It’s a bit of a standoff, and one that the tariffs could spark. For example, let’s say you’re used to buying a replacement phone every two years. But if the features don’t change dramatically, and prices remain high (especially for flagship models), perhaps you’ll stick to what you’ve already got in your pocket. Companies might then not push novel form factors as hard, like tri-fold phones and other variants. Similarly, Nvidia and AMD could continue to delay their attention to budget gamers, instead choosing to focus on graphics cards that will bring in more cash. Sure, Intel is the lone holdout for the budget range, but its market share remains low, and its launches aren’t as regular. Budget gamers might then continue to hold out, biding their time with progressively lower graphics settings and frame rates. (But real talk, if your GTX 970 still does it for you, keep rocking that GPU until its well-deserved retirement.) So while engineers will continue to announce newer protocols and standards (think Wi-Fi 7 or PCIe 7.0), the time to an actual launch may be much further in the future than we’re used to. And that pace change could feel like a screeching halt compared to the boom of the past couple of decades, depending on how big a slowdown is. Unpredictable pricing A close up of a circuit board. Copper is often used in circuit board traces.Michael Schwarzenberger / Pixabay Until recent years, technology’s progress also often resulted in a predictable routine for prices, too. Current devices got cheaper, and the stuff that replaced them often stayed the same price or even lowered, thanks to improved manufacturing or higher demand. Before the tariffs, that reliability in pricing trends started to waver due to factors like rising production costs. And now with these additional taxes dropped on top, we consumers may no longer be able to trust in steady pricing. First, as companies shift manufacturing locations, their logistical costs will increase. But how much is still to be determined, based on resources (e.g., new staff hiring, training, etc.) and the ability for a business to absorb current tariff costs. Some larger corporations may take a hit in an effort to keep their part of the industry more stable, for example. Additional tariffs could also cause sudden changes to MSRPs. Given how the current U.S. import tariffs are being enacted, more will likely be announced abruptly as well, with a notice of just a few days. Graphics cards enthusiasts (and just PC gamers in general) know how painful supply shortages can be, especially when it comes to street prices.EVGA The prospect of new tariffs looms large, too—in February, the U.S. executive branch proposed a 25 percent tariff on all semiconductors, with the intent to sharply raise the tax over time. More recently, a 25 percent tariff on copper was suggested. (You’ll find copper in circuit boards, wiring, and a lot more related to tech.) If these tariffs stack on top of the now 54 percent (!) laid on all Chinese-made goods, you could see a sharp rise in costs for products with multiple components affected by these additional taxes. Another wrinkle: When I last spoke with industry insiders, multiple sources told me they were still learning exactly how the tariffs would be applied. So they themselves are scrambling to adjust and adapt. Finally, if costs go up and availability decreases (as discussed above), you may have more trouble predicting actual retail prices. Street prices could go a bit wild, too. We can look at the GPU market for a glimpse into that chaotic, terrible universe: Few cards are available at the announced price, and any remaining stock is higher due to partner cards adding on extras. Any other cards are only available through resellers at huge markups. Before the pandemic, you could easily shop for devices and hardware, with the expectation of regular sales or discounts. Now surplus budgeting may be a requirement whenever you’re preparing for a new purchase. And you may have to go far longer between replacement or upgrades. Read...

Neowin reports that the latest figures from Statcounter reveal that in March 2025, Windows 11 closed in further on its predecessor. If the trend continues at the same pace, in a few months Windows 11 could finally sit on the throne as Microsoft’s biggest operating system by market share. As it turns out, March was a particularly bad month for Windows 10. The aging operating system saw its biggest drop in user base to date, a whopping 4.43 percentage points. Windows 10 is now running on 54.23 percent of Windows computers worldwide. On the other hand, Windows 11 saw its biggest user growth in three years. The share of Windows 11 users grew by 4.53 percentage points, to 42.66 percent of all Windows desktop users. That’s still significantly behind Windows 10, but it’s the rate that’s important here. It seems Microsoft’s constant alerts about Windows 10 reaching end of support in October are finally showing results. With just six months to go, users are running out of time. If you’re still on Windows 10, you’ll need to upgrade to Windows 11 or pay to extend Windows 10 support. If you do neither, you’ll stop receiving security updates and your PC will become increasingly vulnerable to malware, hackers, and other threats. Read...

With Meshnet, the VPN service NordVPN offers a function for securely connecting multiple devices. If Meshnet is activated in the desktop app on the PC and on in the app on a mobile device, it works like a secure LAN connection. Up to 10 of your own devices or up to 50 other NordVPN users can be connected directly to each other. This makes Meshnet suitable for sharing files, teamwork, and multiplayer games, for example. With just a few taps, you can send a document, photo, or video from your smartphone to other users and devices — securely and encrypted directly. The action must be confirmed there and the file is saved locally moments later. Once set up, Meshnet works like a secure local area network (LAN): It connects PCs, smart phones, tablets, and other devices directly with each other via an app.NordVPN There are no restrictions on the size or type of file that can be transferred. On Windows computers, the Meshnet function is also available directly via the context menu from File Explorer. The function is part of all paid NordVPN subscriptions. NordVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $3.39 at NordVPN (Monthly) Meshnet is also useful for online gamers. The gaming VPN can offer maximum speed with low latency. The lower the ping time, the better the gaming experience. If several gamers have connected to a multiplayer game via Meshnet, a secure, encrypted, and optimized connection is established between the computers. Further reading: I swore ExpressVPN was the best. Then I switched to NordVPN Read...