Invented back in 1971, the floppy disk is remembered as one of the most iconic and reliable disk storage solutions. Specifically, it was the 3.5-inch floppy that became a literal icon, one we still use today on buttons meant for saving data (even as Gen Zers scratch their heads over it). Today, the 3.5-inch floppy disk is out of production, but you might have a few in your possession. Can you still use them on modern PCs? Surprisingly, yes! Windows 11 can handle them without too much pain. Here’s what you need to know. Why use a floppy disk? The 3.5-inch floppy disk dominated the disk storage medium for more than a decade, and hundreds of millions of disks were produced. Many of them are still sitting in attics and closets, forgotten to time — and if you ever stumble upon such a cache, it’s fun to take a trip down memory lane. Hosein Zanbori / Unsplash Old floppy disks are also useful for retro PC enthusiasts. It’s possible to upgrade most retro PCs to bypass the need for floppies, but until you make that upgrade, a 3.5-inch floppy remains the best option for transferring data with an ancient machine. Floppies may also be the only way to enjoy retro PC games from back in the day. Buying a 3.5-inch floppy drive today Windows 11 computers don’t come with floppy drives, so if you want to use floppy disks on a modern PC, you’ll need to buy a floppy drive. Fortunately, you can shop online right now and buy a USB-compatible 3.5-inch floppy drive for relatively cheap. Chuanganzhuo Want my recommendation? Here’s the floppy drive I use, which only costs $19 as of this writing. Most USB-compatible 3.5-inch floppy drives are similar, but a few things stand out about this one: It has a drive activity LED. It has reasonably sized cushioned feet. It has a 2-foot USB cord. (Others tend to be shorter.) It has a USB-A-to-USB-C adapter instead of the strange and annoying USB-A/USB-C combo cord that some floppy drives now have. These aren’t exactly headline features, but when you’re choosing between a couple dozen drives that are similarly priced and appear to be identical, it’s the little details that matter. Important note: While Windows 11 does support this particular USB-compatible 3.5-inch floppy drive, it’s only true for x86 and x64 systems. Windows for Arm doesn’t have a floppy driver and modern versions of MacOS also lack a floppy driver. Unfortunately, if you have either kind of system, then a floppy drive isn’t an option for you. Setting up the 3.5-inch floppy drive The 3.5-inch floppy drive you receive will be a plug-and-play device, so it should “just work.” But a few common problems might trip you up. These days, all new USB-compatible 3.5-inch floppy drives rely on USB for power. The label on mine, for example, asks for 5 volts at 500 milliamps (5V/500mA). Any USB port should do it (since the minimum specification requires it), but if you’re using a dodgy USB hub or have a bad port on an older computer, the drive may not work due to lack of power. Matt Smith / Foundry Once plugged in, you’ll need to search a bit to find the drive. It won’t pop up like a typical USB flash drive would, and the drive probably won’t appear in the list of drives in File Explorer. To find it, open File Explorer and navigate to This PC. (Make sure to fully open This PC in the main view of File Explorer by clicking the This PC icon in the sidebar.) Matt Smith / Foundry Still not seeing the A: floppy drive? Open the Settings app, then navigate to Bluetooth & devices in the side panel. Scroll down and click on Devices, then scroll down again to More devices and printer settings. This will open the old-school Devices & Printers view where, hopefully, you’ll see the floppy drive listed under Other Devices. Joel Lee / Foundry Once it’s all set up and working, the USB floppy drive will basically perform like a slow USB flash drive. You can drag-and-drop files into and out of the drive (assuming you have a floppy disk in it). And if you need to create a disk image (which is required for some software installs), you can use a disk-imaging tool like WinImage. Buying 3.5-inch floppy disks today Suppose you want to transfer data from your current PC to an older PC that only has a floppy drive. Not only do you need the USB-compatible 3.5-inch floppy drive for your current PC, but you’ll also need to buy some blank floppies to make that data transfer. Your first (and best) option is to check out any local vintage electronics stores and/or recyclers in your area. These stores typically have used 3.5-inch floppy disks for sale, and you can expect to pay around $0.25 per disk. No more than $0.50 each, else you’re being ripped off. Fredy Jacob / Unsplash If your local store won’t give you a fair deal, or if you don’t have any such local stores in your area, you can check out floppydisk.com. They sell 50-packs of recycled 3.5-inch floppy disks for $20 each or 10-packs of brand-new 3.5-inch floppy disks for $13 each. Alternatively, you can get a 10-pack of new disks on Amazon for $19. If you’re buying, I recommend getting at least several dozen disks because you’re going to need more than you think. Most programs will span at least a few disks, and some larger programs can require more than a dozen on their own. You’ll also need replacements for disks that fail. (The last floppy disk was produced in 2011, so most in circulation are over 20 years old. Expect high failure rates.) Troubleshooting 3.5-inch floppy disks It’s actually pretty amazing that I can pop a disk from the 1980s into a Windows 11 PC sold this year and reasonably expect to read its data. Yet while it’s usually smooth sailing, it isn’t always. You may run into a few common problems when using floppy disks today. Matt Smith / Foundry For example, you might not be able to write to the disk even though the drive is working properly. Check the read-write tab — a small square tab on the edge of the disk opposite the side you insert into the floppy drive — and make sure it isn’t set to read-only mode. (When the tab is “open,” the floppy disk is in read-only mode.) File system formats could also cause problems. Windows 11 can read FAT all the way back to FAT12, so most FAT-formatted floppy disks should work. Older Mac disks can be read with a program called MacDisk. I don’t think any Windows software can read disks formatted for an Amiga, but Amiga Forever lists several workarounds. Upgrading an old PC from floppy disks I hope this guide helps you read and write to floppy disks on your Windows 11 machine. But even if it does, floppy disks are sadly dying off. If you still use an older PC that relies on floppy disks for data transfers, you should consider adopting a modern alternative when you can. An IDE-to-SD-card adapter or SATA-to-SD-card adapter is a good place to start. They’re inexpensive and easy to install. Just plug-and-play into your old PC’s IDE or SATA slot to be able to read SD cards. You can even install an operating system directly on the SD card, bypassing the need for an older (unreliable) mechanical hard disk drive. Alternatively, you can pick up a USB-to-floppy-drive emulator. These are sized to fit within an older PC’s floppy drive bay and physically replace the floppy drive. Once installed, you basically gain a USB port on your PC case and you can plug in USB drives per usual. Any of these options are more reliable than floppy drives, so if you have an older PC and don’t want to be stuck with floppy disks forever, then make the upgrade sooner than later. That said, I won’t fault you if you put it off — it’s always fun to hear that floppy drive whirr away. Further reading: Cheap or free ways to make an old PC run faster Read...

The country`s biggest institutions are working on an emerging risk to the security of digital assets and critical infrastructure. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Attractive and approachable design Good connectivity including USB-C with 90 watts Power Delivery Google TV is easy to use and supports many entertainment apps Bright, crisp image Cons Low contrast ratio and modest color performance Bundled speakers are weak HDR doesn’t function in Windows Our Verdict The Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC doesn’t deliver the best image quality, but it’s a good jack-of-all-trades for shoppers who need smart TV features in a small display. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC Retailer Price Asus $399.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Smart monitors (monitors that run a smart TV OS, like Google TV or Tizen) quietly became a trend in 2024 thanks to new releases from Samsung and LG, among others. Most of these monitors are larger, however, and target higher price points. The Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC is a smaller, more affordable alternative that will appeal to people who care more about a smart monitor’s features than its image quality.   Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC specs & features At its core, the Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC is a run-of-the-mill 27-inch 4K monitor. It has a 27-inch IPS display with a native resolution of 3840×2160. While the display panel supports HDR, its specifications are otherwise mundane. It has a 60Hz refresh rate, lacks VESA DisplayHDR certification, and lacks adapative sync. Display size: 27-inch 16:9 widescreen Native resolution: 3840×2160 Panel type: In-Plane Switching Refresh rate: 60Hz Adaptive sync: None HDR: Yes, HDR 10 Ports: 1x USB-C with DisplayPort and up to 90 watts of USB Power Delivery, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.0, 2x USB-A 2.0 downstream, 1x 3.5mm audio out VESA mount: 100x100mm Speakers: 2x 5-watt speakers Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 Operating system: Google TV Remote control: Included, with two AAA batteries Price: $399.99 MSRP While the display panel is basic, Asus packs the monitor with many useful features. It ships with a remote and batteries used to control the Google TV operating system. It also has Wi-Fi (a must for the smart TV OS to work), USB-C with 90 watts of Power Delivery, and a pair of 5-watt speakers. Asus lists an MSRP of $399.99, but it appears to frequently go on sale for $369.99. Further reading: See our roundup of the best monitors to learn about competing products. Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC design The Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC is among the more affordable smart monitors available right now, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at it. On the contrary, it provides a clean, premium aesthetic that should look excellent in any office or living room. From the front, the MS27UC has slim bezels on the top and sides, while the bottom is covered by an attractive grayish-white fabric that blends well with most rooms and lends the monitor an approachable, friendly feel. The fabric covering sweeps around the back of the monitor, where it joins silver plastics that look (but don’t feel) like metal. A remote comes bundled with the Asus MS27UC.Matthew Smith / Foundry The rear of the monitor also boasts a small shelf for rear storage, and Asus provides several peripherals (including the remote bundled with the TV) designed to perch there. While I rarely remembered to use it, this feature could be useful if you like a tidy setup. The monitor has a compact but effective L-shaped stand with a flat base. It takes up very little space on a desk and its compact form factor means the monitor can perch on even smaller surfaces, like a nightstand or cabinet (important if you plan to use it like a small television). The stand’s ergonomic adjustment is limited, however. It only adjusts for tilt and height and its range of height adjustment is a tad more limited than typical at 100mm of total travel.A typical 100x100mm VESA mount is available for attaching the monitor to a third-party stand or mount. The ports are rear-facing instead of downward-facing. While I generally prefer this, as it makes connecting devices a breeze, it could prove tricky if you want to wall-mount the monitor. Fabric accents give the Asus ZenScreen Smart MS27UC a premium feel.Matthew Smith / Foundry Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC connectivity The Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC has a good range of connectivity. Video inputs include USB-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode, DisplayPort, and HDMI, for a total of three video inputs. While I would’ve preferred to see a second HDMI, this arrangement is probably fine for most owners. The USB-C port with DisplayPort Alternate Mode can also supply up to 90 watts of Power Delivery, which makes it useful for connecting and charging a laptop, tablet, or even a smartphone. While this is most useful in a home office, it could also be handy if you want play games on a connected laptop, smartphone, or handheld gaming device. Two USB-A 2.0 downstream ports and a 3.5mm audio-out jack round out the options. A USB-C downstream port would’ve been nice, but the MS27UC’s overall connectivity is good value for money. Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC Smart TV features Asus ships the ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC with Google TV, an Android-based operating system users might already be familiar with, as it’s commonly used by TVs from Sony, TCL, and Hisense, among others. Because it’s a smart monitor with an operating system, the MS27UC requires a bit of setup before it’s ready to use. You’ll need to connect to Wi-Fi, log in to a Google account, and complete a few optional personalization steps. I found this process a bit slower than on competing smart monitors due to several setup load screens that took a minute or two to complete. Still, I had the monitor ready to use in under 10 minutes. Once set up, I found the Google TV operating system familiar and easy to navigate. It really is Google TV, so apps you’d expect to work with a larger television running Google TV will work here. This includes streaming apps like YouTube (of course), Netflix, Amazon Prime, and so on. If you’d like, you can use the MS27UC like a 27-inch smart television without a device connected to a video input. The monitor also supports wireless video connections through standards like Miracast and Chromecast, meaning it’s possible to wirelessly stream video from select phones, tablets, and computers. Note, however, that the MS27UC lacks a TV tuner and won’t be able to connect to a coaxial cable source. This is also true of competitive smart monitors, however. The remote control is large, comfortable, and provides good access to video connections and display options. I found the menu system easier to navigate than those on the Samsung and LG smart monitors I tested the last year. And I had no trouble connecting a PC over HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C. The menu system is ever-so-slightly sluggish at times, but it’s minor and I expect many users won’t notice. However, the menu options are a bit confusing when using the display as a monitor. By default, the monitor switches to PC Mode (and this was used for most of our testing). This mode locks out some adjustments, such as color temperature. HDR also did not function in PC Mode. I also tried using Asus DisplayWidget, a Windows app that can control the settings of most Asus monitors and found it didn’t work with the MS27UC. A pair of 5-watt speakers wrap up the monitor’s smart TV features. They’re okay, but 5 watts isn’t a ton of power, and the monitor lacks a subwoofer to deliver low-end kick. As a result, the monitor’s sound comes across as tinny and thin. The speakers are passable for casual viewing, but owners planning a Netflix binge will want a better sound system.    The image won’t blow your socks off, but it’s bright, sharp, and easy to view in a variety of viewing conditions and with a wide range of content. Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC SDR image quality The Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC has many features but, when it comes to image quality, there’s not a lot to talk about. Aside from a native resolution of 3840×2160, the monitor’s display is a rather basic IPS panel with a 60Hz refresh rate. That shows through in testing. Matthew Smith / Foundry First up, however, is a bit of good news. The MS27UC hits a maximum SDR brightness of 467 nits, which is extremely high for any monitor. An SDR brightness this high isn’t necessary for use in a typical home office, but it makes sense in a smart monitor that might replace a television. I expect the MS27UC will be used in brightly lit rooms, including living rooms and kitchens, where it’s an alternative to a budget smart television. The display’s brightness should keep it comfortable to view in most situations. Matthew Smith / Foundry On the flip side, however, the MS27UC achieved a modest measured contrast ratio of 850:1. That’s not great for a monitor in 2025, and it lands the MS27UC towards the low end of what’s typical. To be fair, most similarly priced monitors with an IPS panel deliver a similar contrast ratio. But those with a VA panel, like the AOC 27G15, achieve a much better contrast ratio that leads to a richer, more immersive image. Matthew Smith / Foundry I was a bit disappointed by the MS27UC’s color gamut, as it achieved just 99 percent of sRGB and 81 percent of DCI-P3. As the graph shows, that’s behind other monitors that are similarly priced, though it should be noted that LG’s smart monitor is listed at $600. Matthew Smith / Foundry Color accuracy is a win for the MS27UC. Although it doesn’t beat the field, all the monitors listed here perform well for the price and ultimately deliver color accuracy capable of a realistic and convincing image. Even users with a discerning eye for color are unlikely to see flaws. The MS27US also did well in gamma, as it achieved the ideal gamma curve value of 2.2. That indicates the image appears around as luminous as it should, which is key to preserving detail in shadows and highlights. Color temperature, on the other hand, was unusually high with a value of 8000K. That means the image appears cool and sterile. This can be a matter of personal taste, and the monitor provides options to change the color temperature through both preset color temperature modes and color calibration features, so users can change the color temperature to a warmer look. Still, a default color temperature this high (in PC Mode, which is flipped on by default when using the monitor with a PC) is a bit odd. Sharpness is a big perk and strength. A resolution of 3840×2160 across a 27-inch panel works out to about 163 pixels per inch and results in a tack-sharp look. The sharpness is equally excellent when viewing YouTube as when navigating an Excel spreadsheet in 8-point font. Look, I’ll be honest: The Asus Zenscreen Smart Monitor MS27UC’s image quality is just okay. But that doesn’t mean shoppers should write it off. A display like this is often built to be functional more than it is attractive, and that is as true for the monitor’s image quality as its features. The image won’t blow your socks off, but it’s bright, sharp, and easy to view in a variety of viewing conditions and with a wide range of content. Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC HDR image quality The Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC supports HDR10, but I wouldn’t recommend buying it for HDR content. The monitor’s maximum brightness is excellent for SDR but insufficient to do HDR justice. It also lacks the color gamut and contrast required to help HDR content stand out from SDR. That’s not to say HDR looks bad. On the contrary, a high-quality 4K HDR clip can look great. This, however, is mostly thanks to the monitor’s sharpness, and HDR’s advantage over high-quality 4K SDR content is rather slim. I also found HDR didn’t work when using the monitor with a PC. Windows didn’t detect the monitor as HDR compatible, and HDR did not appear to engage automatically with compatible content. HDR only flipped on when I viewed streaming apps, like Netflix, through the Google TV interface. While none of this is positive for the MS27UC, it’s important to remember the price. Asus sells this monitor for less than $400. It’s hard to find a good HDR monitor for less than $400, so these flaws are excusable. Shoppers should expect to pay more for good HDR. Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC motion performance The Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC doesn’t include features that might improve its motion performance. It has a 60Hz refresh rate and lacks adaptive sync for smooth frame pacing. That’s not to say it’s terrible. The IPS display panel’s pixel response times are reasonable and its motion clarity is typical for a 60Hz monitor. Ghosting and blur is noticeable on the MS27UC, but tolerable outside of competitive esports games, and no worse than other mid-range monitors. Shopper who aren’t picky about motion clarity will think it looks fine. Still, with 120Hz and 240Hz gaming monitors widely available at lower prices, it’s obvious the MS27UC is not a good choice for shoppers who care about motion performance. Should you buy the Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC? The Asus ZenScreen Smart Monitor MS27UC is a great pick for shoppers who want an affordable smart monitor that’s easy to use, can handle a wide variety of streaming apps, and looks attractive. Though it’s not a bad choice for a home office, the MS27UC is best in a studio apartment, kitchen, guest room, and any other space where a small, versatile display might be needed. The MS27UC is less appealing when used solely or mostly as a PC monitor, as its image quality and motion performance can’t match similarly priced PC gaming monitors that lack smart TV features. Read...

Even if you aren’t a huge techie, you probably know about all the big, mainstream apps that are fundamental to how we use our PCs. I’m talking Word, Outlook, Chrome, Slack, Dropbox, etc. You know, right? But there are many, many, many awesome free apps out there that can seriously improve your PC and your workflows, unlock new tools and features, and just make your PC experience better overall. If you want to wring a little more out of your PC, here are some of the best hidden gem apps that are super useful and available for free. Ferdium for centralizing all the web apps and services you use in one place Ferdium If you have a lot of permanently open browser tabs for all the different web apps you use every day, then you can make things easier for yourself by organizing them with Ferdium. (Have you heard of Rambox or Franz? Ferdium is like those except open-source and totally free.) Ferdium lets you run separate tabs for hundreds of web services, including chat apps (like Messenger, Telegram, WhatsApp, etc.) and social apps (like Slack, Discord, etc.) as well as email apps, calendar apps, media apps, AI chatbots, and more. All of those apps can reside right within Ferdium, letting you consolidate all of that to one place. I love Ferdium for how it fences everything off into its own app. I no longer have to reach for my phone to check WhatsApp or catch up on Teams notifications or pull up Gmail or Google Calendar. It’s all just one click away on my PC and it’s less distracting overall. PDFgear for PDF editing, converting, merging, annotating, and more PDFgear PDFgear is one of those diamonds in the rough, one that we’ve been evangelizing for a while now. But just because it isn’t as well-known as others doesn’t mean it isn’t an excellent PDF editor. If you’ve ever been frustrated by how difficult it is to find a high-quality offline PDF editor that doesn’t charge you for personal use, then PDFgear is the end goal you’ve been looking for. This app is super capable at editing PDFs, whether through annotations or direct file editing. It works with text, images, and graphics. It can merge PDFs together. It can convert PDFs into different file types. It can do just about anything else you’d want to do with a PDF. It even has a built-in AI assistant that can search, summarize, aid with editing, and more. SitApp for developing better posture SitApp If you work or game at your PC for hours at a time, then maintaining good posture and proper back health is something that’s well worth the effort. But maybe all you really need is a gentle prod whenever you start to slouch, in which case you could benefit greatly from SitApp. SitApp is a useful app that uses your webcam to analyze your posture and detect when you’re slouching — and when you are, the app shows a little pop-up reminder to let you know. It also tracks your posture history so you can compete against yourself to see how long you can maintain good posture. My record is 92% over eight hours. How about you? BreakTimer for regular break reminders BreakTimer If you’re always on your PC, good posture isn’t the only thing to worry about. It’s important to get up and walk around, rest your eyes, drink water, stretch, and maybe even exercise. But it’s easy to forget to do all of that, especially if you lock onto a task or get absorbed into a game. BreakTimer sits in the background and periodically reminds you to take a break. You can customize the alerts to whatever frequency you want, however long you want the breaks to be, which days you want them to be active on, and more. It’s simple but life-changing — and free! Mouse Without Borders for using one mouse and keyboard with multiple PCs Wish you could control multiple computers with one set of mouse and keyboard? One way to do that is to buy a KVM switch and go through the hassle of setting it up. Or you could just get Mouse Without Borders. Mouse Without Borders is a Microsoft Garage project that was put together by developer Truong Do during his off-hours, and it works fantastically well for controlling up to four PCs with a single mouse and keyboard. It’s not perfect, but it’s quick, easy to use, and entirely free, making it a great alternative to hardware KVMs. 4K Video Downloader Plus for downloading videos anywhere online 4K Download Lots of video downloader tools have come and gone over the years, useful for when you want to save videos from YouTube, Facebook, and other sites. But most of those tools eventually turn into malware, slow down to a crawl when they gain too many users, or simply die off overnight and leave you dry and forsaken. On the other hand, 4K Video Downloader Plus works almost flawlessly, stays regularly updated, and doesn’t suffer from malware infections, all in a fast and lightweight package. What more could you ask for? Foobar2000 for reliable music playback Foobar2000 Are you in the minority of people who haven’t yet jumped aboard the Spotify train? Do you have a large MP3 collection instead? And are you using Windows Media Player to listen to it? If so, then I have a gift for you: Foobar2000, a simple and lightweight music player. Windows Media Player has its foibles when it comes to managing large music collections, organizing playlists, customizing the interface, converting between file formats, and offering all kinds of other advanced features. Foobar2000 does it all plus more, and it’s been around since 2002, and it’s been completely free for that entire time. This streamlined music player went from super popular to obscure over the last decade or so, and these days it’s sort of a hidden gem again. Its interface is barebones out of the box, but it also has deep customization options that let you make it truly your own. MPC-BE for hassle-free video playback MPC-BE Back in the day, there used to be an open-source app called Media Player Classic that was a lightweight yet improved alternative to Windows Media Player for playing video files. MPC ceased development in 2006, but the project has been forked a few times since. MPC-BE (short for Black Edition) is my preferred successor. It’s still free and open-source, and it still carries forward the streamlined principles that made Media Player Classic so popular. You don’t have to fiddle around with codecs — it just works and it doesn’t bog down your system. It’s one of the best open-source PC apps. EarTrumpet for controlling volume on an individual per-app basis Jon Martindale / IDG If you consistently find that some apps are way too loud or way too quiet even when your system volume seems fine, then you need EarTrumpet. This quick and easy utility lets you individually adjust the volume of any audio source that’s playing on your PC. From browser windows to social apps, from local audio to online, EarTrumpet gives you fine-tuned control over your PC’s audio output. It can even let you lower the volume of everyone in a Discord chat rather than having to do it one by one. EPKL for changing your keyboard layout or customizing individual keys EPKL Here in the US, nearly every keyboard has the standard QWERTY layout that came out in 1874. But this classic keyboard layout has drawbacks, like inefficient typing and a greater susceptibility to repetitive strain injuries. That’s why people have been moving away from it. Fortunately, even if you have a QWERTY keyboard, you don’t have to use the QWERTY layout itself. Thanks to EPKL, you can easily switch over to Colemak, Dvorak, or whatever other keyboard layout you want without having to buy a special keyboard. Alternatively, you can use EPKL to move specific keys around or even rebind certain keys to perform different actions. And if you’re feeling devilish, you can even use it to prank your friends and make them think their keyboard is borked. (Just be sure to let them off afterwards, as this one could stump the less tech-savvy for hours.) Files for an improved and more effective alternative to File Explorer Files Are you tired of File Explorer’s shortcomings? Then don’t delay and install Files right away. This open-source Windows file manager feels familiar yet comes with several advanced features, like dual-pane browsing, tags for files and folders, a better preview system, custom keyboard shortcuts, seamless cloud integration, and more. Everything for a faster and more powerful way to search your Windows PC Voidtools If you feel like the built-in search in Windows is as ineffective as it is monolithic, you aren’t alone. Fortunately, you don’t have to put up with its subpar capabilities. Everything by Voidtools is a far more capable search tool, able to not only find anything on your system by its name or file type but also by its contents. Content searching takes a lot longer, of course, but it’s super effective — and if you search normally (i.e., by name or file type), it’s significantly faster than Windows’ search. Cryptomater for encrypting your data, both locally and in the cloud Skymatic “Not your keys, not your coins” is a cryptocurrency expression that highlights the importance of protecting your data. If you aren’t careful with your files, you could lose more than you expect — and your personal data is only as safe as you make it. Cryptomator is a free solution that adds an extra layer of security to your files using encryption. It works with any files, no matter where you store them, whether locally on your PC or online in the cloud. It effectively locks down your data so that even if someone were to gain access, they wouldn’t be able to do anything with what they find. Fan Control to control your PC fans Fan Control If you’re like me, you’ve probably used a number of software fan controllers over the years and always found them unintuitive, underwhelming, or frustrating. If so, then I have some good news for you: Fan Control is a breath of fresh air and the app you need. This free app gives you straightforward control over all the adjustable fans in your PC, from the rear exhaust fans to the CPU pump speed to everything in between. You can tie fan speeds to various temperature sensors, apply different fan curves and trigger points, and even integrate with third-party software through plugins. Fan Control’s interface is clean and customizable, but if you need help getting started, the app has an assisted setup that aids in labeling and organizing your fans and their associated sensors. Microsoft PowerToys for unlocking extra features and goodies in Windows Jon Martindale / IDG A worker is only as good as their tools, so why use Windows without making sure you have access to its full potential? There’s something called Microsoft PowerToys, available directly in the Microsoft Store, that freely unlocks new features and goodies. I’ve written about my favorite PowerToys features that are pretty useful, including improvements to File Explorer, a batch renaming utility, an expanded clipboard, a quick-find tool for your mouse cursor, a color palette helper, and so much more. Microsoft PC Manager for simplified maintenance of your Windows PC Microsoft If might not feel as cool to use as some of the other niche third-party or solo-dev projects on this list, but Microsoft PC Manager is a really effective system maintenance tool. It helps you free up storage space, track memory usage, monitor system startup time (which you can speed up with some tweaks), and shows you active apps for diagnostic purposes when things are acting up. WizTree for visualizing your disk space usage and finding large files Jon Martindale / IDG With multiple drives full of large apps and files, it can be hard to understand just how much space you have left on your PC and how much each existing piece of data actually takes up. You can also lose space when giant files are forgotten in corners of your drives. Disk analyzer tools like WizTree are a great way to visualize your system’s data storage, making it easier to understand which apps to uninstall or which files to delete when you need to free up some extra space. It’s fast, effective, and easy to use — as well as being entirely free. DDU for purging old and unused drivers DDU It isn’t easy staying on top of your system drivers. But even if you do keep up with installing new drivers, you probably don’t uninstall your old drivers. Maybe the installer handles that for you… but maybe it doesn’t. Even official uninstallers from AMD and Nvidia can miss them. That means you could have a bunch of old drivers still lingering around on your PC, and when old driver files build up over the years, they can rear their heads at unexpected times and cause stability issues. Most full-blown driver uninstaller tools, like Driver Magician, cost money. But there is one that’s totally free: DDU, which stands for Display Driver Uninstaller. This straightforward utility strips your PC of unused graphics drivers, which can come in handy if you’re running into graphics card issues that are seemingly impossible to troubleshoot. HWMonitor for checking the health of your PC and internal hardware Jon Martindale / IDG Want to keep an eye on your PC components and their general health? You can quickly spot overheating, performance issues, or other odd details with either HWMonitor or HWInfo. Both tools are fantastic for monitoring your PC’s various hardware components and how they’re working. HWMonitor is simpler and easier to get to grips with, while HWInfo is more advanced with a more comprehensive overview of PC stats. If you’d rather just keep an eye on the temperatures of your processor and its cores, check out the ultra-lightweight Core Temp. Parsec for streamlined remote desktop access and control from anywhere Have you ever wanted to use your PC remotely? I mean, even when you’re away from home, it’d be great if you could “remote in” to your PC and use it from anywhere, right? With remote desktop software, you can! Most remote desktop solutions are paid, and the free ones usually aren’t very good. But these days we have Parsec, a remote desktop tool that was originally built to allow for remote gaming but has since expanded to become a low-latency desktop sharing app. In layman’s terms, you can use Parsec to connect to your PC and operate it like you’re there, except you aren’t. It’s equally great for working on your hobby coding project during your lunch break as it is for playing your Steam games from a hotel while traveling. Parsec has a free Personal Use version that doesn’t come with all features, but it does have all the essentials: low-latency 60FPS desktop streaming; support for keyboards, mice, and gamepads; and encrypted connections. Further reading: Great free apps that are already installed on your PC Read...

Taiwan is the world’s biggest producer of high-end computer processors and semiconductors. The newly-minted Trump administration has announced its latest series of tariff plans, including a “25 percent, 50 percent, or even 100 percent tax” on chips produced in Taiwan. If implemented, the price of nearly all electronics imported to the US will skyrocket later in the year. President Donald Trump has pursued tariffs as an immediate and dramatic means of achieving his political goals, threatening both US allies and rivals with tariffs to force capitulation to his demands. Notably the Trump administration has immediately threatened America’s biggest and most immediate trading partners, Canada, Mexico, and China, with tariffs on all imported goods if various conditions are not met. Extra charges for finished goods from China are already expected to increase prices on a macroeconomic level, from multi-billion-dollar companies buying fleets of vehicles to consumers buying flash drives. The US Consumer Technology Association estimates that Trump’s proposed tariffs on China would make the price of individual laptops, tablets cell phones, and game consoles rise by multiple hundreds of dollars per unit. And to be clear, that’s China alone, before considering additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods. “In particular in the very near future we’re going to be placing tariffs on production of computer chips, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals to return production of these essential goods to the United States of America,” Trump announced late Monday night. “They left us and went to Taiwan, where, which is about 98 percent of the chip business by the way, and we want them to come back, and we don’t wanna give them billions of dollars like this ridiculous has, give everybody billions of dollars. They already have billions of dollars.” Trump continued, “They’ve got nothing but money, Joe! They didn’t need money, they needed an incentive, and the incentive is they’re not gonna want to pay a 25, 50, or even a 100 percent tax. They’re gonna build their factory with their own money. We don’t have to give ’em money, they’re going to come in because it’s good for them to come in.” Trump is obliquely referring to the CHIPS Act, signed into law under former president Biden in 2022. The program stimulates investment in US domestic semiconductor fabrication, notably including new chip foundries in the United States in New York, Texas, North Carolina, and Arizona, among others. Taiwan produces 70 percent of the global supply of semiconductors, with the industrial giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) accounting for the bulk of that production. TSMC partners with companies like Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, Apple, Arm, Broadcom, and dozens of others to manufacture their chip designs and ship them out to factories for electronics production. Intel is one of the only major companies that doesn’t partner with TSMC for its primary chips, but even an Intel-powered laptop will be packed with components ultimately produced in Taiwan, among other places. Following the CHIPS Act, TSMC has opened two factories in the US in Arizona with production beginning later this year, and a third under construction. While the company has already announced partnership plans with major industrial companies including Apple, the US is only expected to get a 14 percent slice of the semiconductor market by 2032. In the meantime, the bulk of chips for electronics will need to be imported. Tariffs imposed on these chips will inevitably cause prices to rise for consumers and businesses on essentially all hardware, notably including computers, smartphones, vehicles, industrial and medical equipment, and most secondary devices like monitors and headphones. In short, almost everything with a computer chip in it will rise in price. So far Trump has expressed his intentions verbally, but there is no formal declaration of policy by the US federal government. If there’s any hope of reprieve from these intentions, it will come from Trump’s apparently close ties to the US tech industry. The leaders of the country’s biggest technology players have attempted to cultivate a close relationship with the president since his election victory in November, frequently visiting him in his Florida mansion, attending his inauguration and funding it with millions in generous donations. It’s possible that their influence could convince Trump that the fallout of sweeping tariffs, for both consumers and the American tech industry, wouldn’t be worth the alleged stimulus to domestic production. Read...

At a GlanceExpert`s Rating Pros Excellent speeds Well-designed interface Unblocks all streaming services Great security and privacy practices Cons More expensive than other VPNs A little light on extra security features Our Verdict ExpressVPN provides an exceptional service with fantastic speeds, easy-to-use apps, transparent privacy practices, and solid security. Very few other VPNs right now can match it. It’s pricier than many other services, but you sure do get a lot of VPN for your money. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today When you think of VPNs, ExpressVPN is likely one of the first names that pops into your head.  That’s no surprise as the company has grown into a household name over recent years and become synonymous with online privacy. It is, and has been, one of the most trustworthy and notable VPN providers on the market from the very beginning. And with each successive year the service just keeps improving. Since our last review, ExpressVPN has undertaken two more independent security audits, launched post-quantum encryption for all apps, and added its own suite of identity-theft protection tools. It has become a one-stop privacy and security powerhouse. Further reading: See our roundup of the best VPNs to learn about competing products. ExpressVPN in brief: P2P allowed: Yes Simultaneous device connections: 8 Business location: British Virgin Islands Number of servers: 3,000+ Number of country locations: 105 Cost: $12.95 per month, or $99.95 for a year What are ExpressVPN’s features and services? ExpressVPN homescreen. Sam Singleton When you first open ExpressVPN, it has a simple single-panel interface with a connected/not connected button in the center, and the country selection below it. Then below that it shows the best smart location based on your geo data. The interface looks about the same as it has for a few iterations now and that’s because it’s simple and effective—if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. When connected, the screen remains largely the same except that ExpressVPN will now show a selection of shortcuts to websites and internet-connected apps such as Google, Wikipedia, and Gmail. You can edit these shortcuts to customize them for your uses.  If you click the drop-down menu in the upper-right corner, you can access additional things such as VPN Locations, Options, and Help & Support. The Options menu is where the meat of your settings are located. Here ExpressVPN offers a decent variety of customizable features, the highlights being a kill-switch, split-tunneling, and ability to switch protocols. All of these are fairly standard across all VPN services.  Notably, however, ExpressVPN does not offer a multi-hop feature to allow you to further obfuscate your connection by chaining it through multiple VPN servers rather than just one. This is unfortunate as many competitors already offer multi-hop connections and it’s a useful privacy enhancing feature for users. For a service as robust as ExpressVPN to not have multi-hop is disappointing—it feels like someone didn’t get the memo. ExpressVPN also offers an optional ad- and tracker-blocking service. Sam Singleton Additionally, under the Options menu, you can enable ExpressVPN’s own ad- and tracker-blocking service called “Threat Manager.” There is also the option to turn on parental controls to block adult sites in case your kids are using the service as well. This addition of extra security features on top of the VPN is something that a lot of the top VPN providers such as Surfshark and NordVPN are offering now too. It’s certainly nice to have and you won’t find me arguing against it, but at this point there are likely better stand-alone security suites that offer better blocking and protection. It’s also worth mentioning that while I focused on the Windows app for the purposes of this review, ExpressVPN does offer incredibly broad device and browser support. Besides Windows, it’s available for MacOS, iOS, Android, Linux, ChromeOS, Fire Stick, Android TV, capable routers, and most recently Apple TV. Not to mention that ExpressVPN’s browser extensions from Chrome and Firefox let you fully control the app from the browser instead of acting as simple browser-only proxy connections. How much does ExpressVPN cost? ExpressVPN offers three different subscription options for its service: a monthly plan, a 1-year plan, and a 2-year plan. The monthly plan costs $12.95 per month, which makes it one of the most expensive VPNs on the market if you subscribe month-to-month. The 1-year plan becomes a bit more reasonable at $6.67 per month and throws in an extra three months for free for subscribers. The 2-year plan becomes the most affordable option—if you’re okay paying the sum total upfront—as it drops to $4.99 per month and you get an extra four free months upon sign-up. ExpressVPN offers a 7-day free trial for new members as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee on all subscription plans if you decide that it isn’t for you.  Subscriptions can be paid for via credit card, PayPal, or Bitcoin. How is ExpressVPN’s performance? When testing how fast a VPN is, I rate the service’s speeds across servers in six different countries all around the world over the course of a few days and then compare them to my baseline internet speed during that time.  In my testing, ExpressVPN server speeds were once again excellent. Across all locations tested, the average download speed was 70 percent compared to the base speed and the average upload speed was an equally impressive 80 percent compared to the base. That firmly puts it into our top five fastest VPNs, up there as one of the speed kings—the Ferrari to NordVPN’s Red Bull, if you will. The speeds this time around did drop about 1 percent from last year’s tests, but that shouldn’t be cause for concern as internet speeds are notoriously fickle. It’s still a lot faster than most services we’ve evaluated and is more than sufficient to accommodate a home user’s online activities. You aren’t likely to notice much, if any, buffering issues while streaming or lag while gaming.  ExpressVPN has long promised that it will unblock Netflix and that still holds true. In fact, it not only unblocked Netflix, but also any other major streaming service that I tested including Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney Plus, and AppleTV. As far as user privacy is concerned, there aren’t many better VPNs out there than ExpressVPN. How is ExpressVPN’s security and privacy? ExpressVPN offers two different VPN protocols: OpenVPN and its proprietary Lightway protocol. It uses this proprietary Lightway protocol to connect by default—this can be changed under the Options menu if you wish. In just the last year, ExpressVPN has made significant upgrades to the Lightway protocol, upgrading it to DTLS 1.3 for better encryption. Along with this comes post-quantum protection across all major platforms, future-proofing the VPN’s encryption standard against quantum computers. ExpressVPN offers its own Lightway and OpenVPN protocols.Sam Singleton The Lightway protocol is also open source and you can find it on GitHub. It has also undergone a security audit by the penetration testing firm Cure53. For those who don’t want to use Lightway, there is the option to use OpenVPN instead. IKEv2 and L2TP/IPSec protocols are available as well depending on your operating system. Another added privacy feature that ExpressVPN implemented recently is ShuffleIP. This feature, active by default, automatically changes your IP address for each website you visit rather than remaining static like many other VPNs. This privacy-enhancing feature makes it much more difficult for potential third parties to track your online activity. As far as user privacy is concerned, there aren’t many better VPNs out there than ExpressVPN. It claims not to log any of your browsing history, or other personal data such as DNS queries, IP addresses, connection timestamps, or session duration. It does keep diagnostic and crash reports, but one thing that I really like is that ExpressVPN’s app on Windows asks you up front if you want to contribute this data. More of these options in the future, please. The service is remarkably upfront about what it does and doesn’t track and it backs up its claims too with numerous independent audits. In 2022 alone, ExpressVPN underwent 12 audits on various parts of its service. In 2023, it undertook an additional audit and most recently in 2024 it completed two more—the latest being in June by Cure53 of its browser extension.  Surely, the sheer number of independent audits makes ExpressVPN unmatched among all VPN providers. It’s a level of transparency that can only be applauded. Furthermore, ExpressVPN is located in the British Virgin Islands which is not subject to any international signals intelligence-sharing alliance or data-retention requirements. Meaning it’s much more difficult for any government to force ExpressVPN to share any data about users or servers. Turkey even forcefully seized ExpressVPN servers in 2017 and still came up with nothing anyway—I call that the ultimate independent audit. Is ExpressVPN worth it? The short answer is, absolutely. In fact I don’t think that there are many VPN services out on the market today that rival ExpressVPN. Its combination of excellent speeds, ability to unblock every streaming service, and dedication to user privacy hits all of the right notes. Add to that an interface that is dead-simple to use and broad device support and you get a VPN that ticks just about every box. It might lack some tweakable power-user security features and other services may offer a larger catalog of nonessential security addons, but most of us won’t even notice these things. ExpressVPN isn’t the cheapest option available, but for everything that it does offer, the higher price is more than worth it. Practically everything about this service is top-tier and as a whole, ExpressVPN is still quite simply one of the best VPNs around. Editor’s note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article. Read...

At a GlanceExpert`s Rating Pros Flawless setup and client interface Fast, glitch-free performance Syncing briefcase with online editing (Pro version) or separate service Unlimited backup Cons Mac Client requires third-party software for briefcase functionality Our Verdict The adjective that Livedrive inspires is “smooth”: Smooth signup, smooth setup, and smooth operation. Offering unlimited storage backup with online/device sync, we also find the pricing more than reasonable. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Retailer Price Livedrive $119.88 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Livedrive online backup Retailer Price Livedrive $119.88 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket After two tire-kickings of the Windows version of Livedrive, I struggle to find anything about the service that isn’t first-rate. Signup was a breeze, the client installed quickly, and operation proved easy to both understand and use. Most importantly, Livedrive never glitched. In fact, it never even hinted at glitching. That inspires confidence — something that’s essential when trusting your precious data to an online backup service. It also proved far faster than I expected for a service with its data centers overseas. Sweet.  See how well Livedrive compares to the competition in our big online backup roundup.  Note: For more about data backup, see our best Windows backup software roundup. What are Livedrive’s features? While I’ve already praised Livedrive for its operational solidity, the attention to detail in the interface is also outstanding. If I had a dime for every poorly rendered, scaled, or translated GUI element I’ve seen in the backup arena, I’d be well on my way to being rich. Obviously, there’s someone at the company other than backup programmers. That said, it does use the British “centre,” rather than the American “center.” God save the Queen! (Err, King.) Live drive running on Windows 11. Though Livedrive automatically selects everything most users want to back up (read: the User folder), you can alter the selections on your own. That’s a good thing for me as I have almost 1TB of VMs, ISO, and storage test files on the desktop — few of which really need to be backed up. Yes, Livedrive provides unlimited backup, but for speed’s sake, you should always skip anything you can easily recreate and limit backup to anything that will produce negative emotions if lost. Livedrive backups may be scheduled as granularly as every hour, or in multiples of hours. There’s also a daily option that should be sufficient for most users, depending on what you’re backing up. If your data set changes more often, use the hourly. In the event you need to restore data, you my use the client software as shown below, or download the data via Livedrive’s web portal. Livedrive’s restore page. Livedrive (Pro Suite or separate) also offers sync in the form of the Briefcase, which is where backups from your mobile devices reside. It is accessed via a virtual network drive invoked by the Open Briefcase button on the Briefcase page of the client software. You may add local folders to the Briefcase via drag-and-drop or create new ones. Folders dragged in are copies of the original folder, not shortcuts — i.e., you’re not syncing the original folder as is the case with folders created inside the drive. The Livedrive Briefcase mounted as a virtual network drive in Windows. A Briefcase-related feature is LAN transfer. This is used to sync the Briefcase among computers on your network running Livedrive. This requires the Pro Suite version, or more than one seat license, and bypasses the overhead of downloading the folder from the Livedrive online repository. Probably my only complaint about Livedrive is that the Mac client requires the installation of macFuse for the Briefcase to function. It’s not alone in using that extension, but it does complicate the dead-easy vibe you get in Windows. Other Livedrive options include excluding files and folders, file-type priority (which files transfer first), bandwidth allocation (performance), proxy server support (VPNs), and an integrity check (comparing local and online files). The Livedrive client’s settings page. For security, Livedrive uses transfer layer security (TLS, the successor to the NSA-supported SSL) and two-factor authentication. The service also ensures that data is distributed across multiple locations and obfuscated so it can’t be linked to an individual account. It conforms with all EU privacy laws for Britain’s continental brethren. How this fares in light of Brexit, we can’t say. But Livedrive is secure. Livedrive also provides Android and iOS apps so you can keep your mobile devices backed up. See below The iOS Livedrive client. How much does Livedrive cost? Livedrive’s base pricing is reasonable at $10 a month for unlimited data backed up from a single PC, though it was on sale for $8.33 at the time of this review. There’s also a standalone Briefcase sync service (think iCloud, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.) with a generous 2TB of space for $17.58 a month (currently on sale for $14.66 per month). The Pro Suite offers both Backup and Briefcase as well as five seat licenses for $27.50 a month ($22.08 on sale). Nicely, according to the company, the sale prices are also the rollover prices so there’s no unexpected bump in cost when your plan renews. Note that I evaluated the Pro Suite version which also includes five seat licenses. Livedrive pricing. The non-sale prices are up just slightly from those we saw at our last look in 2021. The Briefcase options are rather pricey considering the aforementioned alternatives, many of which are free for smaller data sets. Online backup competitor iDrive offers sync as part of its standard backup plan.  Nicely, the sale prices are also the rollover prices so there’s no unexpected bump in cost when your plan renews. How fast is Livedrive? I was pleasantly surprised by the 5- to 10MBps upload rate I saw from Livedrive. The company’s data storage facilities are in the United Kingdom so it’s traveling a ways from San Francisco, CA, U.S. where I reside. Of course, that speaks as much to continual improvements in internet infrastructure as the company’s operations, but the bottom line is that you don’t have to worry about backup speed as you might have once. Livedrive starting a backup. It completed successfully in case you were wondering. Nor do you have to worry about the backup’s impact on system performance. Livedrive had backed up 34.5GB of a 250GB backup without my even noticing it. Backups that don’t disturb your computing day are nice.  Should you pay for Livedrive? Yes. Its flawless setup, minimalist interface, and smooth operation make for a superior experience. If you value impeccability, Livedrive is an excellent choice for online backup. That said, it would be nice if the client provided a secondary backup to local storage — restore from local media, when available, is far faster.   Editor’s note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article. Read...

Phones have replaced many things: computers, calculators, cameras and maps, but returning to an old-fashioned alarm clock instead of your phone might help you get up and go in the morning. Read...

I’m old enough to remember when consoles were getting seriously powerful and people were starting to wonder if PC gaming’s days were numbered. Turns out, no. Far from it. According to a recent professional survey, a shocking 80 percent of game developers are actively working on games for PC, more than double the percentage for the next platform. That’s according to the 2025 State of the Game Industry report at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). When asked, “Which platforms are being used for your current project?” About 80 percent responded with PC, followed by 38 percent for PlayStation 5, 34 percent for Xbox Series X/S, 29 percent for Android, and 28 percent for iOS. Just 23 percent were working on Mac (though it’s worth pointing out that Mac computers have access to the iPhone/iPad App Store) and 20 percent were working on the Switch. But there are a few qualifiers to put this data in perspective. Due to the Game Developers Conference being located in San Francisco, it skews attendance towards American developers and those interested in the latest PC hardware tech. (Nvidia and AMD are both just down the road in Santa Clara.) A small indie developer based in Japan and focusing on Switch games is unlikely to spend all that money to attend, especially when most of the information is made available online later. But even within that context, a definite trend is emerging. The percentage of developers answering “PC” to this same survey question has jumped up rapidly — from 56 percent in 2020 to 58, 63, 65, and 66 percent in the following years, as PC Gamer reports. Even so, the jump this year is notable, likely driven by the spread of the Steam Deck and its competitors. “When asked to name other platforms that interest them, almost half (44%) wrote in Steam Deck,” says the GDC report. The report also said that an alarming 11 percent of game developers were laid off last year. It’s not entirely unexpected since basically every major developer and publisher announced some kind of large-scale layoffs in 2024 despite the gaming industry continuing to grow at a rapid pace. On top of that, some gamers will probably be dismayed to hear that one-third of developers working for a AAA company said they’re actively developing a live service game. Read...

If you’re reading this, you’re likely one of the billions of people who work on computers all day long. Whether that’s from home or in a corporate office, the result is the same: too many hours spent each day sitting at a desk and staring at a computer screen. This can have adverse effects on your physical and mental wellbeing. Fortunately, there are some simple, healthy habits you can adopt to stay relatively healthy — and you really should adopt them sooner than later, before you’re in agony and trying to rewind time. Invest in the right setup from the start The first thing to get right is your setup, otherwise you’ll be fighting a losing battle from the start. Your setup includes everything you use while working on a PC: desk, chair, monitor, keyboard, and mouse. If you’re working in a corporate office, your options are likely limited as you’ll be stuck with the equipment provided by your company. But even then, you can always make some adjustments that improve your setup and make it better-suited to your individual needs. Tim van der Kuip / Unsplash You should make sure that your monitor is positioned correctly with the top of the screen level with your eyes. You should also invest in an ergonomic mouse that minimizes wrist stress, and you should make sure your desk, chair, keyboard, and mouse are positioned to maintain good posture throughout the day. In a nutshell, your feet should be flat on the ground, your head directly over your hips, your knees and elbows bent at 90 degrees, with your elbows touching the sides of your rib cage. If you work from home and need to kit out your own office, be sure to invest in the best equipment you can afford. Don’t cheap out on your office chair. (It’s true, those pro-tier office chairs are worth it.) It’s essential that every part of your chair is adjustable to fit your body frame and posture, especially the lumbar support for your spine. The importance of ergonomics in preventing pain and physical disorders can’t be overstated. For in-depth guidelines, check out New Hampshire’s Workplace Ergonomics Reference Guide (PDF). Maintain a proper posture Even with the right workstation setup, you still have to consciously maintain good posture at all times. The more you slack, the more you train your body into accepting bad habits. As someone who has worked from home for almost 20 years, believe me when I say this is crucial. There are plenty of times throughout the day when you probably feel like slouching your shoulders, reclining back in your chair, or even putting your feet up on your desk. But you must resist the urge! All of that will build up and lead to bad posture, even injury. Sitting like this will wreak havoc on your back, shoulders, and neck over time.Studio Republic / Unsplash The best way to maintain good posture at all times is to establish an ergonomic setup (see the previous tip) that organically encourages you to sit properly. Sitting in your chair should automatically put you in a good posture with your spine supported, your arms bent at the elbows, and the top of your monitor positioned at eye level. If your back hurts and you find yourself always slouching and leaning and sitting in bad posture no matter what you do, consider switching to a standing desk. It’s an investment, but it’s one of the best things you can do to curb back pain as a desk worker. Keep your workspace uncluttered The old adage “tidy home, tidy mind” suggests that living in a clean and well-organized environment is beneficial to mental health — and the same applies to keeping your workspace clean and tidy. Robert Bye / Unsplash According to Harvard Business Review, research suggests that maintaining a clean, tidy, and well-organized workspace can help you both physically (fewer germs and dust means you’re less likely to get sick from your work environment) and mentally (organized workspaces have been shown to reduce stress and increase productivity). Stay hydrated at all times Staying hydrated is important no matter what you’re doing, but it’s especially key when you’re trying to focus. When working at a desk all day, it’s easy to forget the need to replenish fluids. Staying hydrated generally means drinking water, but can also include tea and coffee as long as you don’t overdo the caffeine intake. Sarah Dorweiler / Unsplash Again, while proper hydration is non-negotiable no matter what you’re doing, it’s especially crucial for concentration. As numerous studies have shown, even mild dehydration can make you groggy, irritable, unfocused, unproductive, and lead to physical ailments. Take regular breaks throughout the day Taking regular breaks feels counterintuitive, but your body needs them. While you might be inclined to power through the day to get done as much as you can, you’d likely get more done with a few strategic breaks sprinkled in throughout the day. There’s conflicting advice when it comes to how many breaks you should take and how often you should take them, but don’t take that to mean nobody knows what they’re talking about. All the experts agree on this: a sedentary lifestyle shortens life and decreases quality of life. Computer workers are quite literally sitting themselves to death. Vitaly Gariev / Unsplash I do two specific things to protect myself while working on my PC: First, I schedule two extended breaks that split my day up into three blocks. Both breaks are spent away from my desk, and if possible, I try to take them outside to ensure I get some fresh air into my lungs. Second, as soon as I feel any kind of strain on my body, I stand up and move around for a minute or so. This doesn’t have to be anything too strenuous. Just the act of standing up and walking around can limber up your muscles/joints and get your blood circulating. Stretch and exercise regularly During your regular breaks, you shouldn’t be zoning out and doing nothing. Sure, grab a glass of water and hit the bathroom if you need to, but most breaks should involve stretching and exercise of some kind. Do exercises that work your abs, upper back, glutes, and hamstrings to encourage good posture and prevent muscular imbalances. Take a short walk and get those legs moving. Stretch out your hips, legs, shoulders, chest, and neck before they get too stiff. Exercises and stretches go a long way to helping you maintain fitness and flexibility. Studio Romantic / Shutterstock There’s a host of good advice online about specific stretches to do while working at your desk and how to avoid work-related injuries. But you should also supplement them with real exercise, either before or after work. That could mean going to the gym, or you could focus on bodyweight exercises from the comfort of your home. You might even try an exercise bike desk that also charges your devices. Follow the 20-20-20 rule for your eyes Here’s one aspect of health that many white collar workers often overlook, especially when you’re younger (e.g., in your 20s). You need to protect your eyes and minimize computer vision syndrome (also known as digital eye strain). G-Stock Studio / Shutterstock The 20-20-20 rule works by forcing you to relax your eyes. Your computer screen is only two or three feet from you, and it can strain your eyes to focus at that distance for extended periods. By focusing on something 20 feet away, your eye muscles can relax — and doing this regularly can help prevent tiredness, blurry vision, and headaches/migraines. It’s worth doing whether you have perfect vision or wear vision correction. Be aware of lighting and brightness levels Good lighting is a necessary element of any good workspace. This applies to both environmental lighting and the light being emitted by that screen you’re staring at for hours and hours every day. For environmental lighting, try to maximize natural light (i.e., sunlight) and supplement it with lamps if needed. Avoid going too bright or too dark, as both extremes will force your eyes to work harder. Try to position your light sources off to the side, not behind your monitor (so you aren’t staring into more light) and not behind you (so it doesn’t cast a glare on your screen that could strain your eyes). Zhyar Ibrahim / Unsplash As for your monitor brightness, there are two factors to consider: first, try to match its brightness to ambient brightness (i.e., not too dim and not too bright), and second, make sure it’s comfortable to your eyes. The best brightness for you will depend on your circumstances, and it might even change depending on the time of day. If your operating system has adaptive brightness or if your monitor has auto-brightness, consider using those features — but it’s possible they may not work well for you. If your eyes are still suffering and uncomfortable, switch to manual control and adjust your lighting as needed. Further reading: Tech gadgets that’ll supercharge your home office Read...