ScienceLogic unveils new AI features in its platform to enhance IT automation, observability, compliance, and low-code development for IT teams. Read...

Sage unveils AI-driven features in Sage Intacct to streamline finance tasks, speed up processes, and provide sustainability insights for UK and global teams. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Sturdy exterior escutcheon Fingerprint reader is fast and reasonably accurate Very inexpensive Cons Lost its Wi-Fi connection more than once Smart Life app is one of the worst management tools on the market Massive interior escutcheon Our Verdict This inexpensive smart lock covers the basics—and even provides a fingerprint reader—making for a very affordable smart lock if you don’t need any other bells and whistles. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: TCL D1 Fingerprint Smart Lock Retailer Price $89.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices You probably know TCL for its TVs, soundbars, and smart appliances more than its home security devices, but the manufacturer now offers no fewer than six smart locks (and one home security camera, too). One of its most ambitious smart locks—the D1 Pro Palm Vein Smart Lock—was a better value than the even more ambitious TCL D1 Max 3-in-1 Video Smart Lock, which boasted an integrated video doorbell. Both of those devices had their flaws, but if you’re willing to give up palm vein scanning technology and an integrated camera to see your visitors, the far more basic TCL D1 is the better value. This less-expensive alternative retains the PIN pad, fingerprint scanner, and Wi-Fi connectivity in a package that’s available at Amazon for just $90. That makes it one of the least expensive smart locks with a fingerprint reader on the market. Specifications The D1 has a familiar and basic industrial design, with an understated exterior escutcheon that features physical buttons (which illuminate when pressed) instead of a touchscreen, a standard fingerprint reader up top, and a traditional keyhole beneath. The lock carries no ANSI or BHMA certifications (need to know more about those standards? Our guide to smart lock quality and security will tell you everything you need to know.) The TCL D1 Fingerprint Smart Lock is one of the least expensive fingerprint smart locks on the market—it’s an excellent value. Inside the house, the massive interior escutcheon of the D1 Pro remains, measuring a gigantic 6.75 inches inches tall (just slightly smaller than the even larger 7-inch escutcheon on the TCL D1 Max I reviewed in January 2025). This lock is powered by eight AA batteries (not included) instead of a rechargeable cell. TCL says fresh batteries will supply nine months of juice. A USB-C port on the underside of the exterior escutcheon is available for emergency access power. Installation and setup The numeric PIN pad on the TCL D1 Fingerprint Smart Lock consists of physical buttons, but they become backlit when you press one. Christopher Null/Foundry Installation is straightforward and exactly in line with the D1 Pro Palm Vein Smart Lock I reviewed in December 2024. TCL includes a decent manual, but also provides bolts in multiple sizes, so you’ll need to pay close attention to ensure you use the right ones. (Pro tip: You will probably want the smaller ones unless you have a massively thick door.) These bolts attach the interior mounting frame to the door, and the interior escutcheon in turn connects to that frame. As with the D1 Pro, this requires juggling three screws in two different sizes, and features tiny screw holes that are difficult to reach with a standard size screwdriver. Again, I had to dig around for a tool small enough to get the job done and that wouldn’t mar the surrounding plastic housing. As with the D1 Pro, you’ll have to manage the lock in Tuya’s Smart Life app, which has not improved in any meaningful way since my last encounter with it. Onboarding the lock to Smart Life involves pressing a small button on the lock hardware followed by a numeric code to put it into pairing mode, though the manual will guide you through this process well enough if you follow along carefully. Pairing with a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi network was expedient in my testing. As noted, the lock supports electronic access via fingerprint or PIN, in addition to the app. The unit supports a maximum of 50 PINs and 100 fingerprints. User management is done in Smart Life’s “Member management” section, where each user can be assigned PINs, fingerprints, or both. Nothing seems to have changed about this rickety system since I last encountered it, complete with the poor translations and unfortunate design choices that may rightfully make you question whether to put into it the necessary faith required to trust it with your homestead. TCL relies on one of my least-favorite third-party smart home apps and cloud services–Tuya Smart Life–for configuration and control. Christopher Null/Foundry Most of the common options for configuring temporary access are available in Smart Life, though one-time restricted access must be set to expire at the end of the day, rather than at a certain time. Oddly, temporary passwords for non-recurring users can, however, be set to expire at a given time, or, with the strangely named “dynamic” password, after five minutes. The “special password” feature from the D1 Pro is also available here. This feature lets you choose a separate PIN that users can enter if they are under duress. Tapping in the “special password” sends a push notification to the administrator to this effect. You can also designate a different fingerprint to be used as for duress incidents. It’s not the most elegant setup, with notifications like “${username} may be hijacked. Please act now!” But it does at least work mostly as intended. The Smart Life app is pretty dumb I remain baffled over Smart Life’s logging, which records all lock opening events, but not lock closing or failed opening attempts, both of which may be vital for some users. I also encountered several instances where the lock abruptly lost its Wi-Fi connection; the only foolproof way I found to quickly reconnect it was through removing and replacing the batteries—that’s hardly ideal if you’re trying to remotely manage the lock. This was probably the most troubling concern I had with this lock, as it renders the app unusable for a time (as there’s no Bluetooth backup in the event Wi-Fi is offline). Lock operations are smooth and reasonably quiet, with all actions verbally announced. The physical buttons offer a satisfying but not overly loud click when pressed, along with an electronic beep. The location and vertical alignment of the fingerprint reader aren’t ideal, but its accuracy is fine provided you keep your finger aligned the same way it was scanned, and it works quickly. Smart Life’s advanced settings for the D1 are minimal. Auto-locking can be configured from 5 to 900 seconds, and audio volume controls are robust. Some Googling will be required to figure out what certain options like “sleep time” are for (turns out this disables the app, but not PINs and prints, and prevents it from opening the lock during the set interval). Simple support for Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa is included, but you’ll need Smart Life to manage credentials and perform most other functions. Should you buy the TCL D1 Fingerprint Smart Lock? Again, the price of the device is its strongest selling point by far: just $90, and apparently in free-fall as TCL prepares to release an updated model. I’ve not found any other reputable products with a fingerprint reader at that price point, though a few come close. If you’re looking to spend less and don’t need a fingerprint reader, take a look at the TP-Link Tapo DL100, a Wi-Fi smart lock with a PIN pad but no fingerprint reader that’s going for just $60. As with TCL’s other smart locks, the TCL D1 mostly gets the job done while being rough around the edges. If you have a door where “good enough” protection will suffice, give it a look. This review is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart locks. Read...

Every so often, I find a gaming laptop deal that puts my jaw on the floor. Today is one of those days, thanks to this Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 that’s $1,350 at Best Buy, a whopping $450 off its original $1,800 price. That’s a lot to pay for a laptop, but it’s a solid deal once you see what’s inside. The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is a gorgeous 14-inch laptop that runs on a powerful AMD Ryzen 9 270 processor supported by 16GB of LPDDR5X memory and a spacious 1TB of SSD storage. That’s an okay config—nothing too exciting yet, but certainly enough to handle Windows 11, your apps, and your browser tabs without choking. Here’s where it gets interesting: it comes with a cutting-edge Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 graphics card, granting you access to DLSS 4 and all the other newest Nvidia features. This is a pricey GPU, so it’s surprising to see it available in this range. (Normally you’re getting an RTX 4070 at this price!) This card will keep your laptop future-proofed for quite some time. But the other key highlight here is the OLED display with its crisp 2880×1800 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. That’ll look great whether you’re playing games or watching Netflix. It’s also equipped with a USB4, a USB-C, two USB-A, and an HDMI, plus a 3.5mm audio jack—plenty of connectivity for all your peripherals—and Wi-Fi 7 support. If you’ve been wanting an RTX 50-series gaming laptop, you know how expensive they can be. Jump on this chance to get this Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 for $1,350 at Best Buy before this hot deal expires! But if you need something a little cheaper, check out our roundup of the best budget gaming laptops that offer a lot. Save $450 on this RTX 5060 laptop with a beautiful OLED displayBuy now at Best Buy Read...

Philips Hue appears to be teeing up a new, more powerful hub that can turn Hue bulbs into motion sensors, according to leaked details and images that briefly appeared on Philips Hue’s own website.  The unannounced products, which have since been yanked from the “New on Hue” page, included the “faster” Hue Bridge Pro as well as a wired video doorbell, a refreshed and more efficient A19 bulb, permanent and globe-style versions of Hue’s Festavia outdoor string lights, a gradient light strip, and the ability to control your Hue lights with the Sonos voice assistant.  No pricing details were included in the leaked details, which were live on the Hue website for several hours Wednesday. The leaked products on the Hue website were initially spotted by users on Reddit. I’ve reached out to Philips Hue for comment.  Philips Hue generally rolls out its big product releases during the annual IFA conference in Berlin, with this year’s show slated to kick off on September 5, just a few weeks from now. It’s entirely possible that the leaked devices represent Hue’s upcoming IFA product lineup, but that hasn’t been confirmed. The highlight of the leaked Hue devices is the Hue Bridge Pro, which is “faster, has more capacity,” and offers “ultra-fast response times” along with “advanced AI features” and “expanded capacity,” according to the since-deleted marketing copy on Hue’s website.  Even better, the Hue Bridge Pro boasts “built-in MotionAware technology” that can “turn your smart lights into motion sensors,” the Hue leak said.  The Hue description didn’t include any additional details about its MotionAware feature, but I’ve previously written about Ambient Sensing, a technology that allows Zigbee devices, such as Philips Hue lights, to work together as motion sensors.  Such functionality would dovetail nicely with Philips Hue’s entry into home security, and it would also mirror the Wi-Fi-oriented SpaceSense feature offered by Hue’s sibling company, WiZ. (Both Philips Hue and WiZ brands are owned by the same parent company, Signify.)  Filling in some of the blanks is HueBlog, which reports that the Hue Bridge Pro will boasts a whopping 8GB of RAM (up from just 16MB in the existing Bridge) and a Wi-Fi module that allows for a wireless connection to your home router. The current Bridge needs a wired ethernet connection.  The “expanded capacity” of the Hue Bridge Pro is another interesting detail from the Hue leak. The current Hue Bridge has a soft device cap of about 50 products, a restrictive number for those with many Hue lights, sensors, and cameras in their homes. (You can go over the 50-device limit, but the Bridge’s performance may suffer as a result.) A new “pro” Bridge with an expanded capacity would be a lifesaver for those with large Hue collections, not to mention a better solution than trying to juggle multiple Hue Bridges on your network.   Circling back to the home security theme, the Hue leak also revealed what would be Hue’s first video doorbell, a wired unit that offers a “crisp 2K video stream” (up from the 1080p video support on Hue’s existing security cameras) as well as “instant” motion alerts and two-way audio.  This image of an unnanounced wired Hue video doorbell was live on the Hue website for several hours Wednesday.Philips Hue Also in the leak were details of support for Sonos Voice Control, which would allow users to “give simple commands to your Sonos devices to switch Philips Hue lights on and off, dim or brighten, change their color, or select a light scene.” Rumors of Hue lights gaining support for Sonos’s voice assistant began circulating earlier this month.  Meanwhile, Philips Hue’s workhorse A19 smart bulb seems poised to get an update, with the Hue leak describing a revamped A19 light that consumes 40 percent less power while offering the “widest range of tunable white tones.” An image of the revamped A19 bulb that breifly appeared on Philips Hue’s website. Philips Hue Other features for the unannounced A19 bulb detailed in the leak included “ultra-low” dimming and ChromaSync technology for “precise, consistent color-matching.” Hue’s ChromaSync functionality previously appeared in Hue’s Twilight table lamp. Additional leaked products included Festavia outdoor lights that can be mounted permanently on the outside of your home (many of Hue’s competitors have already released their own permanent outdoor lights) as well as globe-style Festavia string lights, with each bulb boasting “an inner tube that perfectly balances color and brightness.”  Finally, a new gradient indoor/outdoor light strip will arrive with the same ChromaSync technology as the A19 bulb, along with “ultra-bright, true white light” and OmniGlow, a “superior strip light that’s made to be a visible feature in any room,” according to the Hue leak.  This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart lights. Read...

A decade ago, smart drivers would always carry jumper cables and maybe a tire patch kit in their trunk. Now, in 2025, I’ve made sure that our vehicles carry two cheap but critical gadgets instead. I now carry a portable, battery-powered jump starter in each vehicle, as well as a separate portable, battery-powered air compressor that can be used to fill a leaky tire. What’s amazing is that some innovative manufacturers are now combining both products into a single unit. A dead battery can increase your stress levels at a minimum, and can be genuinely life-threatening if your battery fails in a remote area outside of cellular coverage. What a portable car charger does is provide enough power inside of a small battery pack to get you on your way, and includes short cables to connect to each terminal on your car’s battery. A portable jump-starter isn’t one-size-fits-all. Larger vehicles require more charging power. Most portable chargers are rated for a specific size of engine, so the Scatach 011 jump starter (on sale for 47 percent off at $36.99 at Amazon) will accommodate a 9.0-liter gas engine. What I look for are what’s known as “spark proof” reverse polarity protection, so even if you accidentally connect the cables incorrectly, it shouldn’t spark or even discharge. Most, like this one, include a flashlight or some other bonus feature. Zevso’s battery-powered jump starter is a cheap lifesaver when your car won’t start. You can solve the problem in just a minute or two and be on your way.Amazon (Be a little cautious of claims that these battery jump starters can handle 20 or 30 jumps at a time. This ZEVSO starter, 37 percent off or $58.99 at Amazon notes that you’ll need to charge it fully to charge a completely dead battery. But it also includes ports to charge your smartphone in a pinch, so you can let relatives know where you are.) The other gadget I’ve come to appreciate is a portable, battery-powered air compressor. I live on a hill, and my driveway slopes slightly in such a way that my car sits at an angle. Over time, I’ve found that exacerbates any slow leaks. Although I can refill my car’s tires for free in California, the gauges at the service station aren’t always accurate. I bought this Avid portable air compressor last year for $89.99, and it’s been worth every penny. Right now, it’s on sale for $56.08 at Amazon, a deal that takes 38 percent off. What’s great about it is that you can run it off the car’s internal power (the “cigarette lighter”) or off the compressor’s integrated battery pack. Even better, you can simply dial in your preferred PSI rating using a digital readout. Connect the inflator, press the trigger, and the compressor will automatically inflate the tire to the specified pressure, then shut off. Naturally, you can inflate basketballs and other inflatables with the included tips. It’s smart, easy, simple, and cheap — what I want in a gadget like this. I had a slow leak in a tire on the day I wrote this. I hooked it up, and the tire was ready to go after three minutes.Amazon I wasn’t aware of a new breed of hybrid “combo” devices that add both a portable battery charger and air compressor to the same package, but a number of those exist, too. The most popular of these seems to be the VTOMAN X1 (34 percent off or $66.49 on Amazon), which offers all of the features of the standalone devices mentioned above. Some customers have mentioned that the device can overheat if the compressor is used repeatedly and extensively, but VTOMAN simply recommends pausing the inflation until it cools off. If this makes you nervous, there are also some big-name brands in the space at big-name prices: a DeWalt DXAEPS14 for $199, and a Stanley J5C09 on sale for $117.52 which charges with an extension cord. Whatever you end up buying, just simply haul them out every so often and make sure that they have a full charge. That usually means just tapping one of the buttons to light up the display. If you do jump your vehicle, recharge the battery as soon as you get home. Sure, you can always call AAA, or a kind neighbor or friend. But gadgets like these can get you on your way in a few minutes, rather than waiting hours for a tow truck. I think they’re a good investment for my vehicles, and I think they’re a must-have for yours. Scatach`s portable jump starter is under $40 at Amazon!Buy It at Amazon The portable power compressor I own is on sale for $56Buy it at Amazon Combo jump starters/air compressors are just $66Buy it at Amazon Read...

Earlier this week, Microsoft released the mandatory Windows 11 update KB5063878 for August, which included some improvements and new features like Quick Machine Recovery, which allows IT administrators to remotely troubleshoot and reboot faulty PCs. However, it appears that some users are already having trouble with the patch—even getting it to install in the first place. Various forum threads and Reddit posts contain reports of failed installations, which often occur with error codes 0x80240069, 0x80240031, or 0x800f0922. Microsoft is aware of the problem and has listed it as a known error in this support document, which states that users who get Windows updates via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) are particularly affected. WSUS is mainly used by companies, which is consistent with the reports from system admins who have commented on these difficulties. It also seems to make no difference whether it’s a newly installed Windows system or one that has already received several updates. This makes the search for a solution a little more difficult. What you can do if you’re affected Microsoft currently offers affected users the following temporary solution: perform a “Known Issue Rollback,” which allows you to undo a Windows update that’s causing problems. There’s also a temporary workaround for the problem that involves making changes to the Windows registry or running a PowerShell script, as detailed by Windows Latest. Afterwards, if you don’t want to wait for Microsoft to fix the issue and want to reinstall ASAP, you can try downloading the patch via Microsoft’s Update Catalog and installing it manually. Further reading: Microsoft says Windows 11 24H2 is the “most reliable” version of Windows ever Read...

Manchester City`s jersey features a raindrop graphic over a grey background, taking inspiration from the city`s wet weather. Read...

Windows PCs are incredibly powerful and flexible, and that’s true even before you install any apps. As it turns out, Windows itself is chock-full of useful features that few people actually know about. If you’re a college student who wants to take your college laptop to the next level, here are several obscure Windows features that’ll help you whether you’re taking notes, researching projects, or otherwise. Related: The best laptops for college students Live captions Chris Hoffman / IDG Windows 11 has a feature called Live Captions that listens to audio and automatically generates readable captions on the fly. It works when you’re watching a video, but it also works with audio captured by your microphone. So, whether you’re sitting in class during a lecture or watching a recorded video, Live Captions can use speech-to-text technology to transcribe what you hear into readable text. To get started, just search for “live captions” in the Start menu and launch the Live Captions app. This app is available on all Windows 11 PCs and requires an internet connection to work. If you have a Copilot+ PC, the Live captions feature can actually work offline and also supports live translation between different languages. Clipboard history Joel Lee / IDG Whenever you copy and paste, you might think you’ve overwritten the previous thing you copied — but that’s not true. Windows 11’s Clipboard History feature keeps track of all the text and images you copy. Normally, when you paste, you just paste the last thing you copied. But you can choose from previously copied items by using the Windows key + V shortcut (rather than the usual Ctrl + V shortcut). You’ll be prompted to enable the Clipboard History feature if you haven’t already done so. Clipboard History even allows you to “pin” items so that they’re always available and conveniently accessible for easy pasting in the future. It’s one of the many useful productivity features on Windows. Handwriting to text input Ashkan Forouzani / Unsplash Some Windows laptops ship with support for capacitive pens. These pen-enabled PCs are a great choice for college students because they make it way easier to write handwritten notes, mathematical equations, diagrams, and more in excellent note-taking apps like OneNote. But with Windows 11, pen input works in any app thanks to handwriting recognition. You can write directly on any text field with your pen and Windows will instantly convert it to text. Dictation Chris Hoffman / IDG Windows 11 has built-in support for dictation, which means you can speak your thoughts aloud and they’ll be transcribed on the fly as text. In other words, you can type using your voice — just like on a phone. To open the Windows 11 dictation tool, use the Windows key + H shortcut. If you’re using a PC with a touch screen, you can also tap the microphone button on the touch keyboard to launch it. Related: I used Windows Dictation to write this article with my voice Web apps as desktop apps Joel Lee / IDG These days, many apps are actually just websites that run in the browser. Hate having to keep dozens of tabs open with all of the webpages and web apps you use? Well, there’s a better way. Windows 11 lets you turn webpages and web apps into Windows “apps” with their own taskbar icons and windows. They feel almost identical to usual desktop apps, and it’s a particularly convenient trick for single-page web apps you keep open 24/7 (e.g., Gmail, Spotify, Slack). To do this in Google Chrome, navigate to any website and click the three-dot menu > Save and Share > Install page as app. In Microsoft Edge, navigate to a website and click three-dot menu > Apps > Install this site as an app. (Mozilla Firefox doesn’t offer this feature.) Sticky notes Microsoft Microsoft OneNote is a great note-taking application, but it might be a little too complex for your needs. If all you want to do is jot down quick notes here and there, try the Sticky Notes app instead. Windows 11 has a built-in Sticky Notes app that you can launch by searching for “sticky notes” in the Start menu. This app can keep notes pinned to the desktop or kept in a simpler list format, and the notes can be synced between your PC and other devices. When syncing Sticky Notes with your phone, your notes are accessible via OneNote Mobile, Microsoft Launcher for Android, and Outlook for Windows. Emoji menu Chris Hoffman / IDG Windows has a convenient built-in quick insertion tool for emojis. To access it, you can use either the Windows key + Period or Windows key + Semicolon keyboard shortcuts. You can browse all the emojis included with Windows and insert them into any application or document. You can also start typing right after pressing the keyboard shortcut to search for a particular emoji. Text editing shortcuts 76 / Unsplash The Ctrl key provides so many essential keyboard shortcut tricks for editing text. My favorite part, though, is that it makes many keyboard actions apply to entire words instead of individual characters. Here’s what that means: Normally, when you press Backspace, you delete the a single character of text. But if you use the Ctrl + Backspace keyboard shortcut, you delete the entire previous word. This works with lots of shortcuts, including the Delete key. Another example is text selection. You can hold Shift and press the left or right arrows to select individual characters. But if you use the Ctrl + Shift + left or right arrow keyboard shortcut, you can select entire words at a time. And if you use Ctrl + Shift + Home or End, you can select entire lines of text with a single keystroke. Dynamic locking Joel Lee / IDG Whether you’re on a laptop or PC, you should be locking it whenever you aren’t using it, especially when you’re on campus. You’re probably already doing it with a keystroke (Windows key + L) or with a setting that automatically locks whenever your system goes to sleep. But there’s a better way in Windows 11: use the Dynamic Lock feature, which detects when your phone moves away from your computer and automatically locks when it does. You can set this up in Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options > Dynamic lock. Presence-based locking Ernest Ojeh / Unsplash Newer laptops with Presence Sensors don’t even need to involve your phone. They can detect when you move away from your computer, then automatically lock when you do — and they can automatically unlock when you sit back down. If you’ve set up Windows Hello with facial recognition, they can even sign you back in automatically. Further reading: The best webcams for Windows Hello Focus timers Joel Lee / IDG Have you heard of the Pomodoro technique? It’s a method that helps you stay focused and get more done in less time. The key is to work in half-hour bursts with short breaks in between — and most people use timers to know when to switch between work and breaks. Windows 11 has a built-in Pomodoro timer. You can access it by opening the Clock app in the Start menu, then activating its Focus sessions feature. You can configure your focus session, during which all notifications and app alerts will be stifled. You can also link your Spotify account so the right music plays while you’re focusing. Do Not Disturb mode Joel Lee / IDG Windows has a Do Not Disturb feature that quiets down noisy notifications while you’re trying to focus. While Do Not Disturb has long been a popular feature on smartphones, Windows PCs didn’t actually have this sort of thing for many years. To enable Do Not Disturb mode on Windows 11, press Windows key + N to open the Notification Center, then click the bell icon with Z’s at the top-right corner. On Windows 10, you’ll need to activate a setting called Focus Assist to temporarily disable notifications. Sync with your phone Microsoft Windows makes it easy to access or control your phone right from your PC, but the process is different depending on whether you have an iPhone or Android phone (and each one’s functionality is different). If you have an iPhone, install the iCloud for Windows app. After you set it up, you’ll be able to link iCloud Photos to the Photos app and browse from within Windows. You’ll also get to integrate with iCloud’s other features, including Drive, Passwords, Contacts, Calendar, and Bookmarks. If you have an Android phone, open the Phone Link app from the Start menu. After you set it up, you’ll be able to text from your PC, manage your phone’s notifications, browse photos in your camera roll, and even copy-paste photos to your PC. Screenshots and screen recording Chris Hoffman / IDG Modern Windows PCs have powerful built-in screenshot tools. On Windows 11, it’s called the Snipping Tool, which is as easy to launch as pressing the Windows key + Shift + S keyboard shortcut (or the Print Screen key if you have that on your keyboard). Once the Snipping Tool is opened, you’ll see an overlay bar at the top of your screen. Use it to select the type of screenshot you want: Rectangle, Window, Full screen, or Freeform. Then, click or drag to select what you want to capture and you’ll get a notification. (You can click the notification to edit the screenshot before saving it.) Related: How to take smarter screenshots in Windows 11 The Snipping Tool also includes the ability to record video of your screen. Switch to the video camera icon in the overlay bar at the top of the screen, then draw a rectangle over the area you want to capture. Past versions of files Chris Hoffman / IDG Windows offers multiple ways to retrieve an older version of a file. If the file is synced to Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage, you can locate it in File Explorer, right-click it, and select OneDrive > Version history. For files that are only stored on your PC and not synced to a cloud storage service, you can set up the File History feature to regularly back up selected files and folders to an external drive. Then, you can restore previous versions of the file from there. Lost laptop tracking Chris Hoffman / IDG If you’re at college and using a laptop, you should always have a contingency plan in case your laptop is lost or stolen. One option is to use the built-in laptop tracking feature of Windows, which also lets you lock your laptop remotely. It won’t be as useful as similar features available on smartphones because your laptop probably doesn’t have a cellular connection. The tracking requires your laptop to be connected to Wi-Fi, and your laptop can’t be in sleep mode. Even so, it’s still useful even if it isn’t perfect. If you lose your laptop on campus, it’ll probably stay connected to Wi-Fi and be traceable. But the key is making sure the feature is active before you lose your laptop. Turn it on now by going to Settings > Privacy & security > Find my device and activate the Find my device option. Then, use Microsoft’s account devices page to track down your laptop. Further reading: Laptop security guide for college students Advanced calculators Chris Hoffman / IDG The built-in Calculator app on Windows is more powerful than it looks. Open the app’s menu and you’ll find different calculator modes, including a scientific calculator, a graphing calculator, and tools for converting currencies and units of measurement. Quick video trimming Joel Lee / IDG Windows comes with Microsoft’s Clipchamp video editor, but there’s actually another useful video tool buried within the operating system. With this feature, you can quickly trim video files and clip sections to save as their own smaller video files. You can do this by right-clicking on a video file in File Explorer, then selecting Open with > Photos. When the Photos app opens up with the video loaded, click the blue Trim button on the toolbar and select the part of the video you want to save. Further reading: How to use the free Clipchamp video editor Quick photo editing Joel Lee / IDG You’d be surprised by how capable the built-in Photos app can be. It’s not just a photo viewer — it’s also a good photo editor when you’re in a pinch or just need some simple crops and edits. After opening an image in Photos, click the blue Edit button in the toolbar to access the image editing tools. You’ll see options for cropping the image, marking it up, adjusting lighting, applying filters, and even using AI effects to erase elements and remove the background. Laptop battery drain statistics Joel Lee / IDG Everyone always wants more laptop battery life. If you find your laptop dying much faster than you think it should, you’ll want to look into which apps are the biggest battery drains — and Windows keeps track of that for you, making it easy to investigate and troubleshoot. On Windows 11, head over to Settings > System > Power & battery. Then, scroll down and expand the Battery usage section to view battery usage by app. On Windows 10, go to Settings > System > Battery to find these same details. Once you know which apps are killing your battery life, you can make informed decisions on what to do. (Battery stress is one of the common mistakes killing your laptop’s lifespan.) Further reading: Is it bad to always leave your laptop plugged in? Read...

The Princess of Wales was speaking as part of her Mother Nature video series, which features on social media and was started in May. Read...