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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In 2015, I saw the best demo that you’ll probably never see: the press-only demo of the Microsoft HoloLens. This week, Microsoft celebrates its 50th anniversary on April 4, 2025, and at PCWorld we’ll be spending some time looking back on how it got here. But PCWorld also celebrated something else even more important: the life of our colleague, Gordon Mah Ung. Gordon passed away from cancer last December, and over the weekend PCWorld staff both past and present gathered together to talk about what made Gordon special. For me, it was a time to reflect. My own career began about 30 years ago, about the same time that Gordon moved over from newspapering into technology journalism. Now that he’s gone, it’s made me realize something our society struggles with; asking Gordon about his life would be a tacit acknowledgement that it was ending. It’s a shame. I wish I asked him what PCs, products, and demos made the biggest impact on him over his decades of covering technology in magazines and on the web. What stood the out strongest to a person who saw almost everything tech had to offer this century? In honor of Gordon, and just in time for Microsoft’s 50th, I want to share the coolest tech demo I’ve ever seen: the closed-doors HoloLens hands-on that Microsoft showed off on Jan. 21, 2015. Microsoft The mother of all (Microsoft) demos Microsoft doesn’t often invite journalists to its headquarters in Redmond, Washington, and for me this was my first time stepping foot on its campus. In 1968, Douglas Engelbart gave what’s known as the “mother of all demos,” showing off what became the computer mouse, hyperlinking, and more. For Microsoft, that day was pretty close! Microsoft showed off Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile, the HoloLens, and related apps and services, such as the Windows Xbox app. I was there for the news, but most importantly for the demos: how everything looked, felt and worked. And at the end of the presentation, there was the HoloLens. Thurrott.com’s YouTube channel shows off what the journalists in the room saw: Microsoft made a number of computers, tablets and phones available for us to try out Windows 10 and the new Windows Phone OS, and I remember being pretty impressed with Windows 10 and especially Cortana, a cheery, responsive “AI” who could answer questions and perform a number of tasks. Microsoft’s operating systems usually swung back and forth between a professional business focus (Windows 2000, for example) and excessively consumer-y, such as Windows 8. Windows 10 felt like it took some of the best elements of both worlds. While my memory of that day is a little fuzzy, what I do recall is that the HoloLens wasn’t just available to try on. It was a curated experience, and required signing up for one of several groups. At a certain time, a small cohort of reporters was escorted downstairs into the basement to try out the HoloLens in a series of one-on-one demonstrations. The most important thing for a HoloLens viewer was getting the inter-pupillary distance correctly measured. Looking the HoloLens was a bit like looking through a porthole, as the field of view was limited. Naturally, it was important to get that aligned correctly with our eyes. The demo HoloLens that the world saw that day was the slick, Daft Punk-inspired headset that eventually shipped, but we were strapped into a two-piece visor and NUC-like device, tethered by a cord. This was it: Minecraft magic I chose to highlight a virtual walk on Mars as the highlight of the HoloLens launch event, but what still sticks with me, years later, is the Minecraft (“Holo Builder”) demo. We all know Minecraft. It’s a first-person game, where you walk about and, well, mine and craft weapons and tools and building materials. While the game is randomized, the interface isn’t. You’re just a blocky person with a sword or pickaxe, wandering about. The HoloLens changed all that. I walked into a standard living room: sofa, coffee table, a couple of chairs, maybe a plant or two. The HoloLens turned them into the game. This Microsoft concept art is as close as you’ll see to what I saw. I just remember it being less complex but much more vibrant.Microsoft That blew my mind. I’d never thought of actual physical surfaces as a game board, even for someone who had thought that the “battle chess” holographic setup in Star Wars’ Millennium Falcon was pretty cool. The HoloLens allowed me a godlike view, walking around Minecraft plateaus on the couch — even allowing me to peer through “holes” in the coffee table into the fiery Underworld of the game. Of course, there was TNT — and that blew up, too. Could you flick Creepers into the abyss? I don’t really recall if “I” as a player was represented, meaning that I’m not sure if the perspective allowed by the HoloLens really allowed a “game,” per se. It was a fantastic demo, certainly, but that’s all it ever was. But that was part of what made the HoloLens (for the time) so cool; its ability to “scan” your surroundings and apply virtual reality to it. Microsoft did this with several HoloLens apps you likely never saw: a murder mystery that put “clues” in your vision, and a surprisingly fun version of the Conker platforming franchise that allowed you to basically send your character bouncing off desks and stairs. When I had my own HoloLens I literally snuck into an office building and tried playing Conker in an empty room with a staircase and other furniture. Then some lady came out and threatened to call the cops on me, ending that little adventure. Little did she know how close she was to a piece of computing history. The HoloLens would have been a great assistant What sticks with me as the second best demo was the integration of Skype into the HoloLens. Microsoft asked us to rewire a light switch — a real one, with live current flowing through it. As someone who had almost spot-welded a socket wrench while changing a car battery, I had and still have a healthy respect for electricity. What Microsoft had us do was connect to someone who knew what they were doing via Skype, allowing me to share what I was seeing. The remote person then visually highlighted what I needed to do and how to do it. Sure, it was child’s play for someone who knew what they were doing, but it validated all of the “remote assistance” business cases that Microsoft would promote throughout the life of the HoloLens and beyond. Today, how-to YouTube videos have basically replaced this idea, unfortunately, and if you still don’t understand, a handyman or plumber is always on call for a substantial fee. But a decade ago, it seemed like if I could call a call center for assistance, why shouldn’t they be able to remotely help me via the HoloLens? Objects in space may be cooler than they appear One of the people I saw this past weekend was former PCWorld games guru Hayden Dingman, who wrote a superlative series of articles on gaming and the emerging VR space. He and I both loved Tilt Brush, the “painting in space” application that both Hayden and I originally saw in 2015. Microsoft had its own take on Tilt Brush, known as Holo Studio, which allowed you to create 3D objects on the fly, basically allowing you to create them and then pin them various places in virtual space, if I remember correctly. Again, it lacked the emotional resonance that characterized Tilt Brush, and served more as an introduction to showing how the HoloLens could preserve objects in 3D space, even when you weren’t looking at them. Looking back, I’m not really sure why I loved the final demo so much, a HoloLens excursions across the surface of Mars. To be fair, the HoloLens “painted” the ground, preserving the illusion that you were walking on another planet. But peering at virtual rocks and landmarks seems less momentous now than it did at the time. (I still say — as I do every time I think about the HoloLens — that there’s still a fantastic opportunity to recreate Dream Park, the 2017 novel by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes where players LARP an augmented-reality game overlaid over real actors and objects.) Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair A year later, I was in a hotel room in San Francisco, getting an exclusive look at the HoloLens days before Microsoft allowed other reporters to test it out. In 2019, I couldn’t help but bring it out again for a night of playing with it in a darkened office and a retro review. What strikes me, of course, is that the HoloLens ultimately failed, probably doomed by the same lack of applications that ultimately led to the Windows Phone’s demise. Microsoft did produce a HoloLens 2, only to get rid of it, too. Windows Mixed Reality, the offshoot marketed at PC makers, bombed even harder. So did the metaverse. Alex Kipman, the creator of HoloLens, departed Microsoft after allegations of harassment. Ultimately, the HoloLens is the iconic product representing an entire generation of VR failure. I’ve seen early versions of smartphones and computers and consumer electronics, and even prototypes that I agreed not to talk about. One of the only other products that left me dumbfounded was the ability to “pause” live TV during the launch of TiVo and ReplayTV. But really, that was simply because of the instant, transformative effect on culture. The iPhone? No, not even that. For me, the single most mind-blowing tech demo I’ve ever experienced was the ability to peer into a coffee table, light a fuse, and launch skeletons into the air via a virtual block of TNT. I’d love to see something as cool as that yet again. Read...

By now, you’ve heard of the U.S.’s decision to levy tariffs on imports—all goods made in China, as well as select materials worldwide, like steel and aluminum. At the time of this article’s publishing, taxes on products coming from Canada and Mexico also were likely to begin early April, with additional tariffs proposed for more materials and products worldwide. I covered the details about these tariffs in a FAQ, as well as a set of highlights for a shorter way to get up to speed on the situation. I also created a breakout of sample cost increases so you could better see what actual purchases could look like. But most news has focused on the immediate dollars-and-cents effect of these new taxes. What’s been talked about less are the other ways tariffs will impact the tech industry—consequences that could dampen or even drive back certain aspects that we currently take for granted. At best, we’ll see a temporary blow. At worst, we could feel this hit for years to come. Harder to obtain Technology has become more available to the masses over time. Long ago, personal computers were a rare luxury, found only in homes of enthusiasts or the well-to-do. But as popularity rose, devices and hardware became easier to get. People wanted to spend their money on fresh gear—and so supply became more plentiful. Remember when EVGA made graphics cards? Yeah, they don’t any longer, after looking at the cost of that part of their business. Let’s hope the tariffs don’t cause other companies to make similar moves within tech.Brad Chacos / Foundry But when prices go up, demand goes down. Companies already have an incentive to slow the rollout of new products due to the economic instability brought about by the tariffs. If you add on a weakened appetite from consumers for discretionary purchases, vendors have reason to pull back on the production. They may become slower to release successors to products or even a wider variety of products. In particular, smaller companies decide to pause or stop product lines.  Industry insiders expressed this very sentiment to me when discussing the tariffs and their effect. Without the ability to make accurate forecasts, businesses have to proceed with more caution. They’ll either produce less of their usual devices or hardware—or opt out of selling certain items altogether. After years of ever-growing options for consumers, shrinking down to fewer choices will be a sad step backward. Price stagnation (or even increases) Intel’s Kaby Lake Core i7-7700X launched just a couple of months before AMD’s first-generation Ryzen CPUs, sporting a 4-core, 8-thread processor. By fall, its Coffee Lake Core i7-8700K successor had added two more cores and four more threads. Competition makes a difference.Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry Innovation and competition help lower costs for technology. Manufacturing becomes more efficient, growing demand spreads production costs over a wider field, and/or the tech is succeeded by something even fresher. But if tech gear becomes less varied and harder to get, those factors won’t be as dependable as an influence on price. How much you’ll pay for a laptop, phone, or piece of hardware will likely stick where it is—or go up. As my colleague Gordon Mah Ung loved to point out, Intel sold consumers 4-core, 8-thread CPUs for years, always at similar MSRPs. And when Team Blue launched its first 10-core processor, the suggested price was a staggering $1,723. Fast forward a year, after AMD released its first generation of Ryzen chips, and Intel’s top consumer chip had inched up in core count, with the $359 Intel Core i7-8700K sporting 6 cores and 12 threads. Its closest rivals? The $329 Ryzen 7 1700 and $399 Ryzen 7 1700X, both of which sported 8 cores and 16 threads. This history lesson shows that consumers get less value when fewer options exist. Companies can charge whatever they want when faced with less pressure to keep pushing the envelope. Slower release of new products Should early adopters become more reluctant to try out new gadgets, companies could stop trying novel new form factors, like this tri-fold smartphone.Luke Baker If you’re a company facing economic uncertainty, how much would you want to invest in different products? Likewise, if you’re a consumer looking at devices with fewer or smaller upgrades that cost as much as the previous model, will you want to buy anything new? It’s a bit of a standoff, and one that the tariffs could spark. For example, let’s say you’re used to buying a replacement phone every two years. But if the features don’t change dramatically, and prices remain high (especially for flagship models), perhaps you’ll stick to what you’ve already got in your pocket. Companies might then not push novel form factors as hard, like tri-fold phones and other variants. Similarly, Nvidia and AMD could continue to delay their attention to budget gamers, instead choosing to focus on graphics cards that will bring in more cash. Sure, Intel is the lone holdout for the budget range, but its market share remains low, and its launches aren’t as regular. Budget gamers might then continue to hold out, biding their time with progressively lower graphics settings and frame rates. (But real talk, if your GTX 970 still does it for you, keep rocking that GPU until its well-deserved retirement.) So while engineers will continue to announce newer protocols and standards (think Wi-Fi 7 or PCIe 7.0), the time to an actual launch may be much further in the future than we’re used to. And that pace change could feel like a screeching halt compared to the boom of the past couple of decades, depending on how big a slowdown is. Unpredictable pricing A close up of a circuit board. Copper is often used in circuit board traces.Michael Schwarzenberger / Pixabay Until recent years, technology’s progress also often resulted in a predictable routine for prices, too. Current devices got cheaper, and the stuff that replaced them often stayed the same price or even lowered, thanks to improved manufacturing or higher demand. Before the tariffs, that reliability in pricing trends started to waver due to factors like rising production costs. And now with these additional taxes dropped on top, we consumers may no longer be able to trust in steady pricing. First, as companies shift manufacturing locations, their logistical costs will increase. But how much is still to be determined, based on resources (e.g., new staff hiring, training, etc.) and the ability for a business to absorb current tariff costs. Some larger corporations may take a hit in an effort to keep their part of the industry more stable, for example. Additional tariffs could also cause sudden changes to MSRPs. Given how the current U.S. import tariffs were enacted, more could be announced very suddenly as well, with a notice of just a few days. Graphics cards enthusiasts (and just PC gamers in general) know how painful supply shortages can be, especially when it comes to street prices.EVGA The prospect of new tariffs looms large, too—in February, the U.S. executive branch proposed a 25 percent tariff on all semiconductors, with the intent to sharply raise the tax over time. More recently, a 25 percent tariff on copper was suggested. (You’ll find copper in circuit boards, wiring, and a lot more related to tech.) If these tariffs stack on top of the existing 20 percent on all Chinese-made goods, you could see a sharp rise in costs for products with multiple components affected by these additional taxes. Another wrinkle: When I last spoke with industry insiders, multiple sources told me they were still learning exactly how the tariffs would be applied. So they themselves are scrambling to adjust and adapt. Finally, if costs go up and availability decreases (as discussed above), you may have more trouble predicting actual retail prices. Street prices could go a bit wild, too. We can look at the GPU market for a glimpse into that chaotic, terrible universe: Few cards are available at the announced price, and any remaining stock is higher due to partner cards adding on extras. Any other cards are only available through resellers at huge markups. Before the pandemic, you could easily shop for devices and hardware, with the expectation of regular sales or discounts. Now surplus budgeting may be a requirement whenever you’re preparing for a new purchase. Read...

The bells are ringing for Windows 10, and many users who have waited are now choosing to update to Windows 11. If you’re one of them, congratulations on continued security updates and new features, but also on an operating system that has received a lot of criticism since its launch in 2021 — sometimes justified, but often exaggerated. Because when you look beyond the glassy surface with its rounded corners and the Start menu in its strict position, the differences are not that insanely big actually. It’s not like switching to Mac or Linux, not by a long shot. In many cases, these are fairly small changes that you can quickly get used to. In many cases, it’s even possible to restore or mimic old behavior, and new additions you don’t need can often be turned off or hidden. We recommend: Windows 11 Pro Relax and enjoy the ride and everything will be easier, right? Microsoft has become a bit more like Apple in one area in recent years. Where the company used to make an effort to step aside and let users choose how they want to use their computer, it now prefers you to do certain things in a certain way. Foundry The most obvious example is that you’re almost forced to sign in with a Microsoft account instead of a traditional local account. For example, it is not normally possible to choose a local account when installing the system. This can be circumvented fairly easily, but Microsoft keeps harping on about all the benefits of its account. In a way, the company is right. With a Microsoft account, for example, you don’t have to worry about registering Windows because the licence key is linked to the account and it’s easy to reactivate if you make changes to the hardware. I find this very useful as I sometimes boot my Windows installation directly and sometimes in a virtual machine — even though the hardware is completely different, the system has no problem with activation. Windows 11 Home can encrypt the local storage with Device Encryption, but it requires a Microsoft account to store a copy of the recovery key — so if you want to use a local account you need a Pro license to encrypt the disk. Further reading: Windows 10 will hit end of life in 2025. Here’s what to expect Other benefits include synchronization of settings and applications installed from the Microsoft Store between computers and automatic authentication for all other Microsoft services and applications. If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription for Office, it will be much easier if you are logged into Windows with the same Microsoft account. But if you don’t subscribe to Microsoft 365, don’t use OneDrive, have no need for disk encryption, and rarely or never change hardware, there’s no practical gain from a Microsoft account. If you prefer, you can then opt for local account anyway, even with Windows 11 Home. Create local account with Rufus Rufus The easiest way to do this when reinstalling the system and not updating from an older version is by creating an installation media with the Rufus program. Download an .iso file of Windows 11 from Microsoft and select it in Rufus. Select a connected USB stick of at least 16 gigabytes that has nothing important on it (all current files will be deleted) and click Start. In the dialog box that pops up, tick Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account. You can also tick Create a local account with username and fill in the account name you want, so you don’t have to do it during installation. The Start menu Microsoft The most visible difference in Windows 11 from its predecessor is that the Start menu and program icons have been centered in the Taskbar instead of being on the far left as in all previous versions. But it’s a quick thing to change if you prefer to have it the way it used to be (go to Settings > Customization > Start and change to left-aligned). The big difference lies in the content of the menu. As soon as you click on the Start icon, it is obvious that it is not the old familiar Start menu. There is no list of installed programs, but instead a number of preselected “favorites” are listed in a grid under the heading Pinned. Below these is an area called Recommended, where you can find recently opened and added programs, files, and more. Further reading: Windows 10 support ends soon. Here’s how to upgrade to Windows 11 You can switch off all these recommendations, but the section will still be there. Microsoft hasn’t made it easy, but at the time of writing there is a method that works in the latest version. It requires three additions to the registry. You can save the below code in a plain text file with a .reg extension and import into the Registry Editor. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Start] `HideRecommendedSection`=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Education] `IsEducationEnvironment`=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer] `HideRecommendedSection`=dword:00000001 After a reboot, the pinned items area fills the entire center section of the menu. Foundry With a trick, you can get rid of Recommendations and get a cleaner Start menu. What you can’t do anything about, however, is that the Start menu doesn’t show a list of all installed programs. You can still access such a list by clicking All in the top right, but there doesn’t seem to be any hidden setting to make it open that list automatically. In the narrow strip at the bottom you will see the on/off button and an icon for your account, but you can also add other shortcuts in Settings > Customisation > Start > Folders. The Taskbar Aside from the default placement in the center, the big change in the Taskbar is that programs group all their windows behind one icon instead of one icon per window. But just like the placement, you can easily restore the old behavior. You can find the different settings in Settings > Customization > Taskbar (or Taskbar Behaviors). The Explorer Foundry In Windows 11, Microsoft has given Explorer an updated interface with a modern, airier design. If you have a small screen, it can be distracting to have fewer icons. You can change that by choosing View > Show > Compact view. The menu tab area that existed before has been replaced by a narrow toolbar with only a few common functions. Other functions can be accessed via the context menu — click on Show more options to display the old context menu with all options. You won’t miss the fact that functions like copy and paste have become icons. A big improvement is that the program now has built-in tab support, so you can have multiple folders open without having multiple separate windows. Ctrl+T opens a new tab just like in browsers, and you can drag and drop a tab from the tab bar at the top to detach it into its own window. Tab layouts and tab groups Foundry Hover over the maximize button at the top right of an application window and you’ll soon see a small menu of options to quickly adjust the size of the window to take up, say, half or a third of the screen. These are called tick layouts, and if you fill the screen with two or more programs using the feature, they are automatically lumped together in something called a tick group. You can quickly view such a group of programs either by hovering over one of the included programs in the Taskbar and selecting the group there, or by clicking on the new Task View button to the right of the search button and selecting there. Foundry Unfortunately, pinned groups do not save after a restart and if you switch off one of the included programs, the group disappears. A quicker way to pin a window to one half of the screen is to grab it and hold it against the edge of the screen on the side you want it. If you already have an application taking up, say, a third of the screen, the next window will be two-thirds instead of half. Widgets and Copilot Foundry On the far left of the Taskbar (if you have the Start Menu centered — otherwise on the far right before the System Tray) is a new icon which normally shows the current weather in your location. It may also show news headlines of various kinds. Hover over or click it to reveal Windows 11’s new widget feature. To be honest, it sucks, so it’s a good thing Microsoft has made it easy to switch it off. Go to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar and turn off Widgets. Another new feature that is now also included in the latest version of Windows 10 but has been included for longer in Windows 11 is Copilot, which in a way replaces the old voice assistant Cortana. Microsoft The Copilot icon is located in the Taskbar next to the Task View icon (which shows all open windows and virtual desktops), and opens a spartan web-based interface that looks exactly like copilot.microsoft.com. The company has been criticized for not developing a proper Windows application but settling for a web view. But Copilot is one of the more competent free AI chatbots, so you can still use it to brainstorm ideas, proofread texts, and more. If you have a subscription to Copilot Pro, you can log in to access the more advanced features, but otherwise you can skip it. Unlike in Word and Excel, for example, the system doesn’t automatically log you in with the same account you log in with in Windows, but that account should show up as a preset when you try to log in. Updated classics If you come to Windows 11 today and not right after the launch, you will notice a change that has come with updates to the system. Microsoft has gone to great lengths to update some of the oldest but still most used programs in Windows: Paint and Notepad. In addition to an updated, modern interface, both programs have been enriched with AI features. It’s not that the Copilot chatbot itself has been baked in, but specific features for each program. Microsoft In Paint, you can use a new tool to remove distracting objects or blur the background of images. Users with a Copilot Plus computer can also use generative fill to add new objects to images. Notes have been given more features for rewriting text. For example, you can ask Copilot to rewrite in a formal tone or in the form of a poem. The AI can also expand or shorten text. Soon, a function for writing summaries of texts will also be added. Microsoft Other examples of applications you might not recognize are Clock — which has a new design and new features — and the brand new Media Player application, which replaces the old Windows Media Player. Key settings and where to find them Joel Lee / Foundry Microsoft has redesigned the Settings application in Windows 11. Not only have many more settings that were previously in Control Center moved into the modern application, but it also has a new interface that makes it easier to browse settings. In Windows 10, Settings had a separate list of different settings on the left for each category, and to go to a different category, you had to first go to the home screen and then click into that category. In Windows 11, the left-hand column is instead filled with a list of categories, and a menu of different kinds of settings under each category appears on the right. Click on one of these to open the settings included in that sub-category. For example, Bluetooth & devices > Devices where you will find related settings. Some more advanced settings may be hidden in another level of submenus and others behind expandable groups. For example, in Display, the Color Profile and HDR settings are in submenus, while the Multiple monitors settings are expandable. The search function in Settings is really good and if you’re looking for a particular setting and can’t remember exactly where it is, it’s often the quickest way to find it. Read...