Customers have been bringing in printers and multiple computers as they work from cafes. Read...

Maybe it was the sight of Sengled users literally left in the dark by their useless Wi-Fi bulbs, maybe it was another price hike, or just an overall sense that my smart devices weren’t truly under my control. Whatever the reason, I’d developed a growing desire to build a smart home setup that wasn’t a hostage to the cloud.  Specifically, I’m talking about a locally hosted smart home setup, and I’m currently in the process of building one. And while I’m a smart home expert thanks to my six years’ experience here at TechHive, I’m quickly realizing how much I still don’t know as I tackle the steep learning curve of a DIY smart home.  This isn’t a step-by-step guide of how to build your own smart home system—that might come later—but more of a journal about where I am in my self-hosted smart home journey, where I started, and what I’m hoping to achieve. If you’ve been harboring similar thoughts and my story gives you some inspiration, all the better.  I was a complete smart home novice when I started here at TechHive; I’d been writing about computers and technology for 20 years but had never installed a smart bulb before, much less a smart home hub. Over time, my apartment became stuffed with smart devices, from Alexa speakers and Google displays to Philips Hue bulbs and even a Ring video doorbell. My dumb home was rapidly becoming smart.  What I didn’t like was how smart systems I’d grown accustomed to changed when one manufacturer or another would randomly redesign an app, throwing my smart home workflow into chaos. Nor did I like the occasional server outages that left me unable to control my devices, nor the features that were unceremoniously placed behind paywalls. Oh, and don’t forget the price hikes. Stumbling into self-hosted smart home  I stumbled into the self-hosted smart home world by accident. I was experimenting with an unused Raspberry Pi a few years back (this was before I wound up with four of the diminutive computer boards running on my network) and noticed an option to install something called Home Assistant. Sounded kinda cool, so I tried it, and was astonished to have a Home Assistant instance spun up in minutes.  Easy, right? Not quite. Sure, getting Home Assistant—an open-source smart home platform that offers scores of integrations and boasts hundreds of avid contributors—up and running isn’t a big deal. Getting it configured, though, takes gumption, experimentation, and patience, the latter quality being among those I could use more of. Instead of depending on the cloud, my work-in-progress smart home setup runs on this little Raspberry Pi board.Ben Patterson/Foundry See, Home Assistant is pretty good about pinging your local network and seeing which devices, smart or otherwise, can be set up on the platform. But once you add all those products to a default Home Assistant dashboard, it’s up to you to get them organized and working together. Home Assistant gives you tons of freedom to arrange your devices in practically any way you see fit, but the massive range of options—not to mention dozens of drop-down menus and settings with arcane labels—can be intimidating.  Dealing with the learning curve  That’s why every few months or so, I’d give Home Assistant another go, tinkering away at a custom dashboard but eventually getting nowhere. A proprietary smart ecosystem like Philips Hue, in contrast, is incredibly intuitive and a cinch to set up. The downside of Hue, Ring, and other closed platforms is that you’re subject to their ever-changing whims, whereas your Home Assistant setup is yours—provided you can get it set up.  In the past few weeks, though, things have begun to accelerate. I recently migrated my Home Assistant instance to a more powerful Raspberry Pi 5 (my old Pi 3 just didn’t have the horsepower or the RAM to keep Home Assistant stable), and later I acquired some Z-Wave hardware that basically turned my Pi into a Z-Wave hub.  Next, I spun up a Matter server on the Pi and began controlling my Thread devices directly on Home Assistant, right alongside my Z-Wave products. For now, my Thread setup depends on an Apple HomePod mini and its Thread border router, which requires signing into my Apple account; eventually, I plan on adding a dedicated Thread module to my Home Assistant rig to cut that tie to the cloud.  Just a little help from my (AI) friends  Finally, it was time to deal with that pesky dashboard again, but this time I brought reinforcements—you guessed it, we’re talking ChatGPT. I fed the chatbot a lengthy list of all the devices registered on my Home Assistant instance, and the AI dutifully spat out a raw YAML configuration file. (YAML is a programming language, and the acronym stands for YAML Ain’t Markup Language). I plugged in the code, and voilà—a multi-tabbed dashboard appeared with most of my devices and automations neatly displayed. ChatGPT’s work wasn’t perfect; there’s one tab filled with misconfiguration errors, and some of the tabs aren’t laid out exactly as I’d like. But it’s a starting point—and more importantly, I can study ChatGPT’s work and learn how to do it on my own.  Taking the next step  So, what’s next? A Zigbee module, for starters—and then, if I’m really ambitious, I might unpair my Phillips Hue lights from the Hue Bridge (which, naturally, depends on a cloud connection) and re-pair them directly to the local Zigbee hub. Doing so would mean losing all the extra functionality in the Hue app—no more nifty animations, for example, and so long music syncing—but it would also mean not caring about whether the Hue servers are up or down. (To be fair, Philips Hue servers rarely suffer any hiccups at all, or at least not in my experience.) A steeper hill to climb involves using a voice assistant powered by local AI to control my devices. Home Assistant offers integrations for all the big AI providers, including OpenAI and Google Gemini, as well as Ollama, an app that allows local hardware to run large-language AI models.  But configuring local LLMs to deal with dozens of smart home devices has been a surprisingly tricky task. My locally hosted AI models have routinely choked on the more than 100 entities that are exposed to my Home Assistant instance, so my next task will be to pare down and subdivide that total into bite-sized pieces, as well as to craft a system prompt that will help the AI reliably understand the meaning and intention of my typed commands. (Speech-to-text voice control on Home Assistant requires either local processing, which is an awful lot for my local hardware to take on, or an optional $6.50/month cloud subscription.)  So yes, a locally hosted smart home system like Home Assistant isn’t for everyone. For an easier experience, consider Hubitat, a locally hosted but closed-source smart home system that has a large cadre of fans. (I’ve never tried it, but our reviewer deemed it “impractical” in his 2021 evaluation. We’re way overdue for another look at that, as well as a couple of other newish hubs.) But if you’re ever shaken your fist at a smart home manufacturer for redesigning its app, raising subscription fees, or permanently bricking one of your devices, a self-hosted smart home system is the best revenge.  This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart home systems. Read...

This may come as a surprise: Though I work at PCWorld, I don’t build computers. Well, I can. I have. But it’s one thing to buy a few thousand dollars’ worth of parts and then build a desktop on a budget that’s not my own, versus plonking down several hundred precious dollars and messing around inside of a desktop when I have several perfectly good laptops very nearby and might screw it all up. Plus my wife says that I have to run to Costco. Enter the Framework Desktop. If you have the time, money, and desire, you can build a desktop PC from scratch! It’s fun and rewarding. For the suburban parent who will happily change their wiper blades but not their oil, the Framework Desktop offers configurability for little effort. Building an Ikea bookshelf is complicated compared to this. Framework has sold multiple generations of its laptops, all with the same goal in mind: offer the flexibility of a desktop, but inside a laptop form factor. But a desktop poses a different challenge: How do you keep up with a desktop that is already configurable almost down to the screws? Here, I would say that Framework dodged the question. But that’s kind of immaterial, since the result is a highly detailed, simplified process of putting together a desktop PC. The easiest Desktop you`ll ever build Framework Desktop Best Prices Today: $2515 at Framework The Framework Desktop ships in either a pre-built or DIY Edition. I reviewed the latter, and you’ll see more photos and a performance evaluation in a separate article. This story focuses just on the build process, to show you what it’s like to put it together. And it doesn’t get easier than this. Building the Framework Desktop: Out of the box I remain convinced that two opposing forces are always pulling on my psyche: my father’s German ancestry, which finds a deep satisfaction in engineering and then executing the proper solution; and my mother’s Irish roots, which simply asks the question, Does it work? If the answer is yes, then it’s off to the pub. Framework satisfies both. The Framework Desktop is all packed together, with each part encased in a labeled, cardboard box. Note the scannable HTML glyph that links to the manual.Mark Hachman / Foundry For one, Framework has the most well-documented manual I can recall seeing. And that’s weird, because the DIY Edition requires hardly any effort. There’s so little “D” in the “I,” I almost wanted more. Even Framework says that putting it all together should take about 45 minutes. That seems insanely long. I took about 30, not only because I was worried I’d make a mistake but also because I have the manual dexterity of a golden retriever. Essentially, the DIY Edition is a flat-packed PC. All of it ships inside a box, inside which are more boxes: the case, the CPU fan, the side panel, colored tiles, an SSD (assuming you ordered one), the power cable, and that’s about it. Ikea provides an Allen wrench; Framework gives you a long two-headed, reversible screwdriver with a Torx and a Phillips head. On one of the boxes is a link to the manual, which you can leave open on your phone or tablet. (You can follow along what I did, here.) There really aren’t that many parts. Framework even included a prototype handle (center, bottom) which I didn’t use.Mark Hachman / Foundry Each step is almost excessively documented, with multiple photos describing each of the 45 steps. But wait: Framework devotes four steps simply to unscrewing each of the two thumbscrews on the top of the Desktop and removing the top panel. Building a “normal” desktop involves buying a CPU, applying and spreading thermal paste, affixing a cooler of some sort, and more. There’s none of that here. Not only is the CPU already affixed to the motherboard, but Framework pre-installs the motherboard and memory, which comes soldered down. Really, the entirety of the building process involves screwing on the 120mm CPU fan with four screws, plugging it in, inserting the SSD and replacing the heat spreader…and that’s it. The remainder is simply opening up the case, closing it, and installing Windows. That actually takes the most time, as Microsoft downloads updates that can take a while to install. (Framework doesn’t supply an SSD with Windows pre-installed, though it will sell you a Windows license to install yourself — there’s another, well-documented guide to do so.) Virtually all of the hardware also comes with little visual cues: an arrow pointing to the proper position, plus actual “Top” and “Bottom” labels etched into the plastic or metal itself. That’s not necessary, but so very reassuring if you’re uncertain about what you’re doing. Framework ships most of the Desktop pre-assembled. This is right out of the box, with cables tried and the CPU radiator already mounted.Mark Hachman / Foundry Finally, don’t forget the USB-C expansion cards that plug into the chassis base, or the tiles that allow you to customize the front to your own aesthetic. I’ve never been a fan of laptop stickers, but the tiles (with small vents for airflow) are something I didn’t think I’d appreciate as much as I do. Building the Framework Desktop: What I didn’t like Not everything’s perfect. If I were building a PC, I’d prefer to install the SSD into the motherboard, and then the motherboard into the case. Framework asks you to do the opposite. What that means is that you’ll need to unscrew the heat spreader, allowing it to pop up, then insert the SSD, all by poking and prodding at the M.2 slot, way at the bottom of the inside of the case. I’d prefer to connect the SSD first, then place the motherboard inside the case. That’s not an option with the Framework Desktop.Mark Hachman / Foundry That led to a minute or two of chasing the tiny Torx screw around the case after it popped out of the heat spreader and rolled around, until I fished it out with a tweezers. Framework’s screwdriver is very slightly magnetic, enough that it can barely hold the screw in place while I lowered it into the case. I was very much reminded of playing Operation while trying to line everything up. (Framework also solders down the memory, so that you can’t install, replace, or upgrade it.) Framework’s Desktop also includes an optional secondary slot for additional storage on the back of the motherboard, accessible via its own side panel. That panel, like the plastic panels you see here in my photos can be removed easily just by pulling them slightly out and upwards. Framework gives you a choice between an optional translucent plastic side panel or one that matches the black aluminum used on the rest of the chassis.Mark Hachman / Foundry I also wasn’t totally pleased by how the top panel clips on to the case. On one try, it would clip in easily; on another, it would simply refuse to line up properly for a few minutes. Thankfully, we cut that portion from our associated YouTube video, where I’ll give you another look at what’s inside the case and how the Desktop performs overall. Aside from a few moments of feeling like an idiot, I had no issues putting the Framework Desktop together, and I doubt you will, either. The handholding this company is willing to do should make you feel like you’re well taken care of. The thumbscrews on the top of the Framework Desktop must be unscrewed for access to the side panels and the interior. The holes didn’t match up easily with the screw holes in the chassis, one of the few times I felt a little frustrated. Note the small but visible arrows to help you align the panels correctly.Mark Hachman / Foundry The other challenge to be aware of is the software drivers. If you purchase a Windows license, you’ll be asked to install it. Normally, a motherboard includes a set of pre-installed drivers or firmware to help facilitate that process; Framework’s desktop drivers had yet to be validated by AMD, which meant that I had to install a package of beta drivers alongside the Windows installation. If for some reason those drivers aren’t available, it’s not that big of a deal. You can install Windows without needing to connect to the internet, then add the license key later. You can also do what I did, which was to discover that I had forgotten to install the Wi-Fi driver, so I simply connected an Ethernet cable instead and added the driver afterwards. Don’t forget the tiles, which come in a variety of designs and colors.Mark Hachman / Foundry Everything worked perfectly, though AMD later provided an updated driver that really unlocked the processor’s performance potential. Given that Framework ships its products in batches — and those batches may take a few weeks to process — I’d expect those issues to be worked out well before you receive your finished Desktop. Building the Framework Desktop: Looking ahead One of the strengths of the Framework experience is that the company is looking forward to the day not when you buy a Framework device, but when you upgrade it. Though Framework hasn’t published a guide to upgrading the Desktop’s mainboard, it almost certainly eventually will. It already offers you a guide to removing the Desktop’s mainboard and installing it in another mini-ITX case, after all. After inserting the tiles, you can slide in the I/O expansion cards, too. The gray latch on the underside of the chassis helps secure them.Mark Hachman / Foundry Eventually, AMD will manufacture a successor to the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ processor, and you may want to swap the existing “Strix Halo” processor out and replace it with AMD’s latest chip. And that’s the foundation of Framework’s platform: You may be able to pick and choose from future upgrades, but you’ll choose to remain within Framework’s framework. There’s a lot to be said for that approach. We live in a world where so many companies are building in fine print and gotchas, service charges and subscriptions and labyrinthine contracts. Instead, Framework goes out of its way to be as simple and helpful as it can, and that’s something I can relate to. I’ve reviewed many, many products over my years as a technology reporter, and I can’t think of a single one that goes to such lengths to document how to use it as much as Framework does. Framework’s Desktop gives off a vibe of “helpful nerds who enjoy explaining technology” — which is very much what I think PCWorld has always tried to achieve. The point is that you don’t have to be a nerd to buy a Framework Desktop, however, and that’s one of its best features. Read...

Microsoft has shared a video in which David Weston, who holds the title of Corporate Vice President of Enterprise & Security, shares his vision of how Windows will work in 2030. Here’s what his vision looks like: As it turns out, the use of AI agents will mean that we’ll no longer need keyboards and mice for our computers. According to Weston, keyboards and mice will feel “as alien as DOS” to Gen Z (which seems an odd statement given that Gen Z is already between 13 and 30 years old). Judging by the comments on the video, few are interested in the future being painted. For example, many users say they would rather switch to Linux or Mac than run Windows without a keyboard and mouse. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Extremely powerful and granular selection criteria Support for legacy and modern storage — including online Excellent performance Anti-ransomware monitoring Cons No disaster recovery Not always easy Minor bugs Pricey given the missing features Our Verdict Retrospect 19 Solo shares many excellent features with its Desktop sibling, including ransomware protection and new support for cloud storage. But it lacks disaster recovery, which is a bit of a gotcha for pay backup software. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Retailer Price Retrospect $49 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Retrospect Solo Retailer Price Retrospect $49 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Retrospect 19 Solo shares a lot of useful features with its pricey Desktop sibling — including ransomware protection and fantastically powerful selection criteria. However, what it doesn’t share is arguably the most important feature of pay backup software: disaster recovery. Windows offers several backup tools that take care of data, but its disaster recovery tools are unreliable. Yeah, go figure. The pricier Desktop version of Retrospect 19 does offer disaster recovery. Hint, hint. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best backup software for comparison. What are Retrospect 19 Solo’s features? Retrospect Solo is a stripped down version of a venerable enterprise-level backup program that is sold to smaller businesses and end users. The Desktop and enterprise versions offers features well beyond the scope of most consumer backup products. Solo does not — with one or two exceptions. The most welcome new feature in Retrospect 19 Solo is cloud storage support. This includes third-party services such as Amazon S3 and S3-compatibles, Dropbox, Wasabi, Google cloud, Azure, and even Retrospect’s own (using Wasabi as the back-end). Retrospect 19 now supports cloud storage services. Unfortunately, support for the popular OneDrive and Google Drive have been omitted. Why Dropbox and not those? Don’t know. But the lack is exacerbated by Retropect pricing its own online storage well above the mean. More on that below. On the plus side, there is a new granular compare function that let’s you see the actual differences between your existing data set and a backup. This gives you a bird’s eye view of changes that could indicate suspicious activity, aka ransomware activity. If Retrospect sees a troubling pattern, it will flag it as a possible ransomware attack. More on that later. Features and options include: compression and password–protected encryption; extremely granular scheduling; pre- and post-backup operations; filtering (including a copious helping of presets for common file types); differential, incremental, full, and block-level (only changed portions of a file) backups; deduplication (not backing up copies of the same file); notifications, and most of the bells and whistles found in the backup space. Retrospect features vary by the license you purchase. Alas, Solo lacks many of them. That’s all well and good, but Solo’s lack of disaster recovery is a major issue, dwarfing the lack of backup from NAS, or network locations; and the inability to back up using tape drives. Few users will care that Solo can only run two backups simultaneously, whereas Desktop can run four and some of the Enterprise versions 16. Two is more than most of us need! Not all these types of media are supported by every version of retrospect 19, but they are all supported at some price point. This capture is from the Desktop version, not the affordable Solo, which doesn’t support tape. As to Retrospect 19 Solo’s anti-ransomware features — ransomware is no joke. I was attacked while hosting my website on a local NAS box with an outdated version of WordPress (yes, I know…). A recent local backup (hint, hint…) saved my tuchus, but geez Louise was it a wake-up call! Retrospect’s local anti-ransomware features aren’t real-time like a true anti-malware, anti-data tampering background application such as Acronis True Image, Macrium Reflect, or Windows Defender. Instead, before Retrospect starts backing up, it checks to see how much the data has changed and in what ways. If the number of new or altered files exceeds a user-definable percentage, it cries foul and alerts you; meanwhile not overwriting anything in an existing backup. This is referred to as anomaly detection. If you’re not familiar, most ransomware attacks work by encrypting your files to new ones, deleting the old ones, then ransoming the encryption key. That entails a whole lot of changes, and what Retrospect is looking for. ProactiveAI protects backups if too many changes are registered. Of course, this approach is passive and relies upon your backing up regularly so you can restore the un-ransomed, unencrypted versions of your files. As Retrospect Solo has granular scheduling, I recommend daily as the minimum. The other half of Retrospect’s anti-ransomware solution is interfacing with the immutable data option offered by services such as Backblaze, Wasabi, S3, etc. Immutable data is data that a storage service won’t allow to be altered or deleted for a set period of time — even by known entities, unless specifically disabled. How much does Retrospect 19 cost? Retrospect 19 Solo is $49. That’s a perpetual license for a single computer (Solo). You can also get Annual Support and Maintenance (ASM), which includes more than rudimentary support and updates to new whole number versions should they appear, for an additional $80. Ahem. I should note that some of the competition such as Acronis and Macrium no longer offer perpetual licenses. Hence, over time, Retrospect 19 Solo might be a relative bargain. A Retrospect 19 Solo perpetual license retain all functionality and will receive any dot upgrades — i.e., it’s not subscription software that goes into restore-only mode if you stop paying as do Acronis True Image and Macrium Relfect X. Retrospect Solo is the most affordable version of the program; however, it’s missing some key features such as disaster recovery media. If you want a more detailed breakdown on the differences between versions of Retrospect, check the comparison chart on the Retrospect site. As you can see below, the Wasabi-powered Retrospect cloud storage is a bit pricey for the average user. Did I say a bit? I meant a whole lot. In point of fact, it’s three times Wasabi itself, which was $7 per TB per month at the time of this writing. Err… Retrospect Cloud Storage is Wasabi- based and somewhat pricey. Even though Retrospect Solo 19 makes it a tad difficult to use third-party online storage, I can’t recommend a service that’s three times the cost of others. Even if it’s slightly easier to use. As to that… Is Retrospect 19 Solo easy to learn and use? Retrospect 19 Solo’s interface is a bit dated in appearance, but the major learning hurdles come from it operating differently from most backup programs. Everything makes sense in the end and the power and versatility of pricier versions can be worth it, but the program’s approach simply makes for a steep learning curve. A good long look at the Retrospect 19 users guide is almost a necessity. Thank me later. As to some of the particulars… First off, the program’s vernacular is off the beaten path. Data repositories to be backed up are defined as “Volumes,” which can be drives, per normal nomenclature, but also clients on other computers, or files and folders, which are added under “Subvolumes,” and “Defined as volumes.” Destinations are “Backup sets,” which makes sense when it comes to sets of media you might rotate (which Solo does not help with), but isn’t intuitive to the average user. BTW, rotating means swapping out multiple discrete media according to a schedule — say, employing seven hard drives, optical disc/tape “Devices,” and using each only on a specific day of the week. This is really an enterprise deal where carousels and tape libraries are still common. “Selecting” is where you find the filters that skip or include various types of files. This is an area where Retrospect really shines — you can apply any number of rules or criteria about what to back up and what to skip. It’s also likely overkill for the average user. Jobs are “Scripts,” which aren’t created until you schedule a job created with Backup Now. Extremely efficient but not entirely intuitive. Scripts are not found under the Backup, but the Configure section of the function tree at the left of the main window. You can apply any number of rules or criteria about what to back up and what to skip. Scripts are created when you add a schedule to a Backup Now task. Retrospect uses discrete catalogs, aka indexes, for its backups and these are stored separately (with the rest of the program data) from the backup. Most backup programs store indexes inside the backup container, or along with it. Discrete catalogs have a great advantage in speed when retrieving data from a slow medium such as tape. Solo does not support tape, so catalogs could be seen as an unnecessary adjunct for mainstream users. You can, of course, rebuild the catalog from the backup should you somehow lose the original — however, this can be a rather lengthy procedure. I had to do it once with tape. Never again. The company recommends that you back up these catalogs to external media for access in case you need to perform a full system recovery from a crashed computer. These are just some of the myriad options available within Retrospect. Retrospect is decently easy to use once you know it, but it’s obvious that functionality was removed from Solo without proper adjustment to the interface. The program will actually let you select a network resource to back up (see above), but then not back it up, with an error in the log that basically says “not allowed by license.” Sloppy. Adding a cloud destination requires either providing keys from your storage provider, or signing in to the service via web access. However, this must be done for every different backup. Perhaps this is more secure, but it’s most certainly a pain during setup. Most backup programs retain their storage service connections. So, no, Retrospect 19 Solo is not easy to learn, but yes, once you know it, it’s easy enough to use. It is extremely versatile and powerful, but if you’re looking for simplicity then Retrospect 19 Solo is quite likely not your cup of tea. How does Retrospect 19 perform? To confirm that Retrospect’s backup engine hadn’t gone AWOL after 30 years (it hasn’t), I ran a host of backups: full, differential, and several incrementals, targeting a 10Gbps USB SSD, the network, and internal NVMe SSDs. As expected, Retrospect purred like a kitten during those backups and the subsequent restores. Even with two backups going at once. Indeed, the only times I’ve ever had an issue with a Retrospect backup, it was a problem with the media — back in the days of, yes, tape. I also tested the anomaly detection by altering and renaming files in various numbers, and Retrospect detected those changes as advertised. While it is nice that you can select network sources with the Desktop version of Retrospect, this is the Solo version, and the folder I selected was never backed up. Retrospect 19 Solo was perfection when it came to both the backup and restore operations that it supports. Faster than most, glitch-free, and with accurate feedback on the progress of backups — something not a lot of backup programs provide. I have zero qualms about Retrospect 19 Solo’s reliability and performance, it’s merely a matter of value. Should you buy retrospect 19 Solo? Honestly, no. The steep learning curve, but most especially the lack of disaster recovery makes it largely an unnecessary expenditure. You can do roughly the same thing using Windows File history. Retrospect 19 Desktop is a different kettle of fish. It’s initially pricey at $169 for the perpetual license, but it has the disaster recovery, network backup, and extensive hardware support that Solo lacks. But there are plenty of more affordable (some free) options than either Retrospect version out there. Easeus Todo Backup, Aomei Backupper, and Minitool ShadowMaker to name a few. Check out the best backup software hub for even more choices. Read...

So many people haven’t been able to upgrade their older Windows computers to Windows 11 because of the latter’s TPM 2.0 hardware requirement. (Learn more about why you need TPM 2.0 for Windows 11, why TPM 2.0 makes PCs better, and why Microsoft is adamant about not letting older PCs without TPM 2.0 run Windows 11.) Some users, however, are saying that they’ve been offered upgrades to Windows 11 on older PCs that don’t meet the TPM 2.0 hardware requirements, reports Neowin. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher since Microsoft hasn’t announced anything official about lowering the system requirements for Windows 11, but this isn’t the first time the company has offered Windows 11 upgrades on incompatible computers that don’t meet the requirements. get windows 11 pro for cheap Windows 11 Pro It’s highly likely that this is a bug or an exception. Some users have reported that their system theoretically had TPM 2.0 but was manually disabled it before the update was offered. Whether Microsoft makes a distinction here, however, is questionable. So far, Microsoft has not deviated from its strict hardware requirements for Windows 11. However, users who want to receive an additional year of security updates on Windows 10 can now sign up for the ESU program. If we hear anything official about relaxed requirements, we will inform you accordingly. Until then, however, you should assume that TPM 2.0 will continue to be a requirement for all Windows 11 PCs. Read...

Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardcore hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. Missed the hot-burning topics our YouTube show or latest news across the web? You’re in the right place. Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website! Recently, I chatted with Hyte about case design—not just the genesis of the company’s imminent X50 and X50 Air, but the drive behind what ultimately lands on our desks. And since that discussion, a provocative quote from Rob Teller, Hyte’s product director, has been on my mind: “When I look at computer cases, I really look at them as fashion, far more than I look at them as technology as this point.” Teller isn’t new to the industry. His history includes stints at NZXT and Alienware before his time at Hyte. He’s had a front-row seat to design shifts over the past 20 years. And for that reason, his words lodged in my brain as quiet but revolutionary. I’d never before considered a world where PCs don’t look like computers. Is that playing around with semantics? A little. But I’d argue we all collectively buy into the idea that a computer can be identified on sight—an attitude created with the first personal computers and carried through the decades since. Systems like the IBM PC, the first computer I ever used, had distinctive boxy styling. The PC that replaced that squat white-and-gray Intel 8088 machine was even bigger, a thick slab with double floppy drives, an Intel 286, and an intermittent whine I fixed with varying levels of percussive maintenance. I lost most of my desk space to each of those PCs, but I accepted their footprints. Their bulk represented progress. Wikipedia Today, boxiness and bulk still signal that you’re looking at a computer. Consider the landscape: Mid-tower ATX cases dominate. E-ATX implies a build aiming to absolutely rip in performance. Meanwhile, color and size options remain constrained. Designs that stray into unique territory are generally the work of modders. Even the living room gaming PC I’m building right now stands out as such. The case is a Jonsbo C6, a small black cube that I think is cute. But it’s not going to match anything of my friend’s decor. I wonder if The Full Nerd crew’s polarized reactions to the Hyte X50 stems from this embedded perception of a computer’s looks. Adam hated it—too bubbly, too round. I liked that it could blend in with a whole home’s vibe, even if you could immediately recognize it as a PC case. A clash perhaps between what we think the future should look like (currently clean lines and minimalist) versus realizing what it could look like. Don’t get me wrong, I loved messing around with that IBM PC, even if I never could program in BASIC to save my life. But I have no need to hang on to its aesthetic to believe in the future. That’s the job of the hardware inside. In this episode of The Full Nerd… Willis Lai / Foundry In this episode of The Full Nerd, Alaina Yee, Will Smith, and special guest Nathan Edwards of The Verge chat about malware sneaking into Steam games and what makes for an ideal custom keyboard. As was likely inevitable with a reunion of former Maximum PC editors, we end up zigzagging often during the conversation, with tangents galore. My favorite tangent of a tangent of a tangent: Nathan’s explanation of how to revive a PC from death, after being submersed in flood water for three days. Also useful, though not a tangent: Nathan’s top recommendations for mechanical keyboard kits under $150. Tangent. We even talked ergo keyboards during the show! (Pictured here: the Keychron Q11.)Alaina Yee / Foundry Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real-time!  And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds. This week’s unusual nerd news Adam’s on vacation this week, which means I had no one to relay word to about more scented thermal paste. Who would have known other people agree with him about this need in our lives? Why a single-slot RTX 5090? Again, the perennial answer: Why not?Inno3D You can store data on a bird: Is Dan Brown still writing novels? Because this seems like the perfect opener for his kind of plots. PC Gamer says this controller shouldn’t exist: I’m not going to say the sentiment is wrong. But at the same time, if it were to exist, someone would immediately try to correct for its (glaring) flaws. I would want to see that. I might even put money toward that. A single-slot RTX 5090? Sure, why not: The whole point here is the excuse to flex on everyone with your custom cooling skill, yes? Yes. Microsoft Copilot now has a face: I said a lot of things aloud at my desk when I read this. I can’t repeat them here. Let’s just file this under, “Who asked for this?” I might be down for blossom-scented thermal paste: Don’t tell Adam I said this. Can you spot fake AI images? (The answer is no): As it turns out, we humans are not as good as we think at identifying fake content. Oh dear.Reddit Please science, save us all: I actually think periodically about our fresh water supplies, and what that could look like in the coming decades. So hearing even preliminary good news about transforming saltwater into drinkable water is comforting. I believe the answer is ‘no’: Okay, first—kudos to this Redditor for asking other people’s opinions. I fully commend that instinct. It’s a good one. That said, this picture of this GPU slotted into a machine gave me a mild nightmare. Literally. I read this post just before bedtime. Have threads, will rip: Steve Burke over at Gamers Nexus released the team’s review of one of AMD’s newest Threadripper chips, the 64-core 9980X. I bet myself how fast I’d find comments about watching the gaming benchmark results first. I both won and lost. Roblox’s CEO needs a reality check: No. Nobody wants Roblox to start a dating service within the game. Meanwhile, Valve’s president administers a reality check: Gabe Newell’s take on following your passion is surprisingly solid life advice. That’s so even before considering a massive gaming company’s head honcho doled out this advice while the games industry is painfully contracting. Catch you all next week—when I’ll likely be exhausted from fighting everyone during the return of the Hardware Hall of Fame. Don’t forget to submit your nominees for award contention! You can share them with us on our Discord server, via email at thefullnerd@pcworld.com, or giving me a holler over on Bluesky. Alaina This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld. Read...

I don’t know how your tech drawers look, but mine are filled with wires I’ll likely never use again because technology has advanced quite a bit. Thankfully, USB-C seems to be here to stay since there is no wrong way to plug these things in. It’s not just smartphones, tablets, and laptops that use these, however, but also a long list of gadgets. We’ve scoured the market for hidden gems: Ten gadgets that will make you think “Wow, I didn’t know I needed that, but it will make my life so much easier!” Let’s dive in and see what cool devices you’ll be able to use your type-C cables and ports with. Wowstick 1F+ mini electric screwdriver Wowstick If you often have to fiddle around with your computer or other gadgets, this Wowstick mini electric screwdriver may be just what you need. This pen-shaped screwdriver features three LED lights so it’s easier to see what you’re working on and rotates 200 times per minute so you can finish the job faster. The screwdriver has a stylish base so you can hold it on your desk, and a whole collection of 56 aluminum alloy bits. The screwdriver can be charged via USB-C and it can last for hours. This super fun electric screwdriver usually goes for $41. Anker Nano Power Bank Anker One thing you need to have in you bag/pocket/backpack is a power bank because you never really know when your phone will fail you and cry for a recharge. Well, the Anker Nano power bank is tiny enough to fit just about anywhere. It comes with a foldable USB-C connector and a port on the side so you can charge two devices at once if you need to. The 5,000mAh capacity is just about enough for a full phone recharge, so it will be great in a pinch. It’s also only $30, but we’ve seen it as low as $16. Endoscope camera with light Ennovor Although it’s not something you’ll use every day, this Ennover endoscope camera can definitely come in handy. You just plug it in your phone, install and app, and see everything your camera does. Our team swears by it, using it for finding whatever they dropped behind the desk, while working on the car, or looking for pipe leaks. Since it has an IP67 rating, you can even plop it in your aquarium. The camera comes with a 16.4ft semi-rigid cable and several accessories, including a hook, magnet, and a mirror. You can get this one for $23 right now. Blukar flashlight Blukar I don’t care who you are—you need a flashlight. The smaller, the better, because you get to shove it into any pocket. This model from Blukar comes with a built-in 1800mAh battery that you’ll recharge with one of those many type-C cables you have in that tech drawer we were talking about. It can work for up to 16 hours on a single charge, which is pretty decent. There are four different lightning modes to cycle through, including one that will help you signal for help. Plus, one of these is only $10, so no excuse to pass on this one. Heat It insect bite healer Anyone plagued by mosquitoes in the summer will be particularly pleased with this ingenious gadget. This tiny device, which can be easily connected to your smartphone via USB-C, can significantly reduce the itching of bites and stings with targeted heat. You simply charge the small Heat It bite healer via the app and then hold it on the bite. The heat then does the rest, breaking down the proteins in the mosquito bite that cause the area to swell, itch, and hurt. A true must-have for summer, and it costs only $20. A tiny air pump Also perfect for summer is this small air pump from Cycplus, which fits in any bag while on the go. Not only can it inflate a bicycle tire in two minutes at the touch of a button, but it’s also USB-charged. According to the manufacturer, it’s suitable for mountain bikes, road bikes, motorcycles, and even cars! In addition to being an air pump, this practical gadget can also be used as a flashlight or power bank for on-the-go use — all things that come in very handy on a bike ride. And at just $57, it’s highly recommended if you need quick help with a flat tire. USB-C mini fan These little fans are also pretty ingenious; you can easily carry them in your pocket in the summer and quickly use them whenever you need them. Anyone who’s ever sat on a crowded subway train in 30-degree heat and wished for at least a little fresh air will love this gadget. The mini fan, which costs just $20, has a USB-C port and can be easily powered by power banks, computers, laptops, or USB chargers. There are even smaller and cheaper fans available that can be connected directly to your phone, costing under $10 each. But these also provide less powerful airflow, so we recommend the standalone version. Reading light with a book clamp Anyone who enjoys reading a lot, sometimes late into the night, will appreciate this little gadget: a reading lamp that you can simply clip onto your book. It may not be groundbreaking, but with a total of three color temperatures and five different light modes, you can individually adjust how much light you need for reading. The Gritin reading lamp costs just $15 on Amazon and features a 1200 mAh battery that lasts up to 80 hours depending on usage. Afterward, you can easily recharge it via USB. You can swivel the neck of the lamp back and forth as desired, and there’s even a small charging indicator. What more could you want? Samsung flash drive Samsung The vast majority of flash drives have a USB-A connector, but this one from Samsung has a Type-C connector. With transfer speeds of up to 400MB/s, you’ll move files around in no time. The beauty of this thumb drive is that you can even pop it in your smartphone to record 4K vids directly on it. The Samsung Type-C flash drive comes in multiple storage options, starting at 64GB and up to 512GB and they start at $14. The 256GB version, for instance, is $27 at the time of writing. Type-C microSD card reader Ugreen Most laptops nowadays don’t come with a card reader anymore (I know mine doesn’t), so finding other ways to get data off those little buggers is a must. Whether you need to pull data off your dashcam’s card or if it’s from your camera, this tiny Ugreen USB-C microSD reader will work just fine. This reader is tiny enough that you should probably put it on a keychain of some kind. If you’d rather a slightly more versatile version, Ugreen has a model that also works with SD cards and features both USB-C and USB-A connectors. Any of these will cost you less than $10, so they’re worthwhile investments. Editor’s note: This article was originally published on May 16, but was updated to include additional devices. Read...

With apologies for contradicting the weird stickers and meme-obsessed teenagers you’ve been seeing for the last few years, birds are actually quite real. They aren’t robots built by the government to spy on you. But, at the risk of contradicting myself, their brains are computers. Let me explain—or rather, let me sum up since there is too much. You probably know that birds are smarter than we give them credit for. Corvids like crows and ravens can be as smart as human children, with a shocking capacity to retain information. YouTuber and audio scientist Benn Jordan knows this, and he knows that the sounds birds make to communicate between themselves can be incredibly complex. But is it complex enough to retain and transmit digital information? The digital information of an image made and encoded by humans, perhaps? Turns out, yes! Over a few months, Jordan studied several species of birds to find complex birdsong, settling on the European starling for its intelligence and impressive ability to mimic sounds with the specific structure of its lungs and larynx. Specifically, he visited The Mouth, a semi-domesticated rescued starling owned by Sarah Tidwell, who has been around humans his whole life. Almost as a goof, Jordan drew a simple photo of a bird in a spectral synthesizer. (This is an extremely basic way of representing audible sounds as a 2D image.) Jordan then played the sounds corresponding to the image to The Mouth (the starling). While Jordan didn’t immediately hear the bird repeat the sequence of sounds corresponding to the image during his visit to Tidwell’s home, after analyzing the recordings of his visit, he spotted something strange in the visual graph of the recordings. Benn Jordan’s original image and The Mouth’s audio recreation, visualized. Benn Jordan There was the bird drawing. The one that Jordan had drawn in the synthesizer days or weeks previously, reproduced in the starling’s song, and showing up in a completely different visualization of the data. While the reproduction isn’t digitally perfect, Jordan estimates that The Mouth effectively retained and re-transmitted 176 kilobytes of data in audio format. Not enough to replace your SSD, perhaps, but more than enough to transmit, say, a large text file. Oh crap, maybe the birds are spying on us after all. Bird mimicry isn’t anything new, of course. And again, we’ve known for a while that birds can be much more intelligent than we previously assumed, especially when you expand the definition of “intelligence” beyond a human standard. But the ability of The Mouth to so accurately retain and then transmit data is incredible, and Jordan’s video is such a vivid, literal illustration of that ability. Read...

Remote access to another PC via the internet can be a blessing, solving many IT problems quickly and easily. The helper can get a clear picture and often solve the problem immediately, even without being physically present. It also avoids the often frustrating process of troubleshooting over the phone. A surge in support needs is expected around October 14, when Microsoft stops providing free updates for Windows 10. Millions of users will have to upgrade their computers to Windows 11 unless they pay for further support. Supporting others remotely is efficient and easy. This saves travel time and costs, and lets you spread support over multiple sessions. And, if you have to send an installation stick by mail, it can take a few days to get things moving. Best to get started while there’s still time. While Microsoft frequently displayed the Windows 10 end of support notice last year, it has only appeared once on our systems in recent months. IDG Our guide explains how to prepare, walks you through the upgrade process, explains how to bypass the installation lock on older PCs, and shows you how remote maintenance works even if Windows is not yet running before a new installation. After all, it’s not easy to start every computer from a USB setup stick instead of the “normal” way from the hard drive. Without video support and control, this can certainly fail. For this, we’ve chosen TeamViewer Remote, a remote maintenance tool that’s free for personal use, works reliably, and makes things easy for the person you’re helping. With the TeamViewer QuickSupport variant, all you have to do is click on a link sent to you by email and you’re ready to go. How to prepare for remote support Probably not every Windows 10 user realizes what the imminent end of support really means: namely, that continuing to use the PC as usual (without security updates) will become extremely risky. It’s crucial to start by raising awareness about the need to switch to the new operating system for security reasons—by mid-October at the latest! It’s also important to check whether the existing computer is compatible with the current Windows 11, version 24H2, or whether new hardware needs to be purchased. The next steps will depend on that. The requirements for remote PC maintenance are minimal: both computers need an internet connection, and you should also be able to talk to each other during the support session, either by phone or via WhatsApp. This makes it easier to ask questions and explain what’s being done. If you’re the one providing help, install the client version on your computer (TeamViewer Remote) and start the tool. Confirm the license terms and wait briefly until the program interface appears. If available, log in with your existing TeamViewer account and click on the “Trusted Devices” confirmation link in the email sent by TeamViewer. Otherwise, create a new account via “Create Account.” TeamViewer QuickSupport runs without installation, and its simplified interface makes remote support easy: just share your ID and password by phone, and you’re ready to go.IDG Now to your counterpart: It’s easiest for them if you send the download link for TeamViewer Quicksupport by e-mail: https://download.teamviewer.com/download/TeamViewerQS_x64.exe All they then have to do is click the link, download the tool, and double-click to start it. No installation required. The QuickSupport interface is very minimal, showing just two fields: “Your ID” and “Password.” The ID identifies the computer to be accessed and remains fixed. The password, on the other hand, is newly generated each session for security reasons. Both are sent to you by the person you’re supporting, either by phone or via e-mail using the clipboard button on the right. As the helper, enter the remote PC’s ID in your TeamViewer client in the “Participant ID” field, click on “Connect,” enter the password in the next window, and confirm with “Log in.” The connection starts automatically without the other person having to do anything. They’ll know you’ve taken over their PC by the darkened desktop background. You now have full control of their mouse and keyboard. If necessary, adjust the desktop display in TeamViewer via “View” > Scale. In most cases, the “Original” option works best. Upgrade compatible computers from Windows 10 to 11 Check the status: If the other PC is running Windows 10 and you don’t know the hardware in detail, use Microsoft’s PC Integrity Check app to see whether the computer fulfills the system requirements of the new operating system. If it doesn’t, the app will tell you why. Otherwise, if it says… This PC fulfils the requirements of Windows 11 You can simply carry out the installation via Windows Update. However, please consult with the other person briefly beforehand, as they’ll need to be comfortable working with the new system afterwards. The upgrade from Windows 10 to 11 takes a maximum of around 30 minutes, depending on the hardware. Since all programs, data, and settings are retained during the upgrade, you can continue working on the new system right away. In most cases, existing Windows 10 license usually remains valid for Windows 11, which means you don’t have to buy a new one. If Windows Update shows this message instead of the Windows 11 upgrade option, you can still force the upgrade remotely.IDG Force upgrade: If Windows Update doesn’t offer the Windows 11 upgrade despite compatible hardware, you can force the upgrade using the Windows 11 installation wizard or the Media Creation Tool. The upgrade usually starts with one of these Microsoft programs, so you can save yourself the trouble of searching for the cause. Here too, Windows 11 takes over all existing programs, data, and settings. What to do if the upgrade fails due to system requirements It’s more difficult if the Windows 10 PC doesn’t meet the hardware requirements for Windows 11. However, you can bypass the setup lock on most PCs from the past ten years using an installation stick modified with Rufus. This stick must be inserted into a bootable USB socket on the remotely maintained PC, so you’ll need some help. Depending on the other person’s skill level, video calls via smartphone can be helpful. PC Integrity Check: If a computer doesn’t meet Windows 11 hardware requirements, the installation can be forced using a modified setup stick.IDG Tip: Video support is smoother with the TeamViewer Assist AR app (Android and iOS). This allows you to show your partner exactly what needs to be done and where on their smartphone using a live camera feed. However, AR support places high demands on your mobile device. Alternatively, you can configure the USB stick at home so that Windows 11 also runs on hardware that’s not formally compatible and then send it by mail. Even then, the stick must be plugged into the computer before you can remotely start the installation by double-clicking the Setup.exe file via TeamViewer. Setting up a computer from scratch Remote support gets more difficult when replacing an old PC with a new one running Windows 11. In theory, the existing system can be migrated one-to-one to the new hardware using an image and cloning tool such as Easeus Todo Backup, then upgrade to Windows 11. However, this process takes time due to large data transfers, requires an external hard drive, and other various steps. Explaining it on the phone can be tedious. It might be easier to do this onsite or have the old PC sent to you for setup at home. Sending a PC is definitely a practical option. Easeus Todo PC Trans Free transfers data and software between PCs, but the free version limits you to five programs per transfer.IDG As an alternative to cloning, you can migrate your data and programs from the old PC to the new one, especially since Windows 11 comes pre-installed. If there’s a large enough hard drive available, back up all important data using AomeiBackupper via TeamViewer and transfer it to the new computer. Once again, minimal support is required when moving the computer. Easeus Todo PC Trans Free also helps transfer the programs and data. Using the “Backup & Restore” option, the tool saves the applications, data, accounts, and settings from the Windows 10 system. This backup is then saved on a data carrier, a network share, or in the cloud, and restored from there to the new PC. The free software version is limited to two gigabytes of data and five programs. The unlimited Pro version costs just under $50. For installing new freeware in bulk, you can use the “Package Bundle” function in UnigetUI, which serves as an interface for Windows’ built-in Winget package manager. Unattended Windows installation If you’re installing Windows 11 from scratch, an installation disc and manual boot on site are unavoidable. Booting from a USB stick or DVD can’t be done via remote access, but you can still help. First, look up the computer-specific key for calling up the boot menu and then guide the user through the setup process. Use an online unattended generator to configure a USB stick for automatic Windows 11 installation with all desired settings—no confirmation needed.IDG You can make things easier for your counterpart with an unattended installation that skips the setup prompts, data protection, and more. Configuring the setup stick with Rufus already handles part of this. For complete automation, use an unattended generator. It creates an Autounattended.xml file based on your specifications, which you copy to the top level of the installation stick. The setup then runs automatically. Read...