Let’s face it: your home office probably deserves a lot more love than you give it. But who has the time (or funds) to deck out a home office as it deserves? Well, one thing you can do without breaking the bank is replace that clunky traditional power strip with a much better one like this Anker 8-in-1 USB charging station—and now’s a great time to grab one because it’s on sale for $19.99 (was $25.99) on Amazon. This charging station features four three-prong AC outlets oriented in opposite directions so your bulky plugs don’t get in the way of each other. And you know how all your USB power adapters take up so much room on your power strip? This solves that problem with built-in USB ports along the bottom edge—two USB-C, two USB-A—so those AC outlets can be reserved for importance stuff (like monitors). As far as power, the main USB-C maxes out at 20W, the secondary USB-C at 15W, and the USB-A ports at 12W. When multiple ports are used at the same time, they typically max out around 15W shared (except for the USB-As, which max out at 12W shared). While that’s far from “super fast” charging speeds, it’s still plenty speedy for a budget-friendly charging station that’s meant to be used while you’re at home for a while. I also love this charging station’s flat profile—measuring 4.72 x 3.15 inches and only 0.71 inches thick—and the AC outlets recess when you aren’t using them, so the whole thing takes up less space than your typical power strip and feels quite sleek. The power cord is 5 feet long so you can position it almost anywhere, and the end plug is flat and angled so you can easily reach it behind furniture hassle-free. You can’t go wrong with this, especially at this price. Get this 8-in-1 Anker charging station for just $19.99 before this killer deal expires! Replace your clunky power strip with this sleek, modern upgradeBuy this Anker charging station for $19.99 Read...

Even the best-made storage drives will stop working one day, even if you take good care of them. Yes, it’s true that hard drives and SSD don’t last forever. Unlike hard drives that give audible warning signs that they’re on their last legs, SSDs can fail at a moment’s notice without any kind of overt sign. Sometimes you can notice the signs of a failing SSD. For instance, the once-quick transfer speed slows to crawl, there are frequent program or system crashes, or file system access errors or SMART errors occur. If you notice these things, especially in combination, there’s a good chance your SSD is on its way out. In that case, it’s time to prepare for the worst and do the following: Back up critical files It goes without saying that the first thing you’ll want to do if you think your SSD is on the blink is to back up your critical data. Backups should be done regularly anyway, but even if you’re doing that, you’ll still want to make a new backup of your critical files at this point to have them ready to go should your SSD suddenly die. See our roundups of the best Windows backup software and best online backup to learn our recommendations. Diagnose any problems Once you’ve backed up everything, you’ll want to run some diagnostics to confirm that the SSD has problems. CrystalDiskInfo is a helpful free utility that can provide insight into your SSD’s health. We wrote a guide about how to use it that’s worth checking out. You should also try running these commands at the command prompt: wmic diskdrive get status and wmic / namespace:\root\wmi path MSStorageDriver_FailurePredictStatus. If the failure predict status is False, then no issues were found with the drive. If True, then you have some issues associated with the drive. If you have your manufacturer’s SSD utility, you can also run that to get SMART data and for guidance on what to do if issues are found. Dominic Bayley / Foundry Attempt software fixes If you’ve found some errors, it doesn’t necessarily mean the drive is about to fail. There are some fixes you should try before you write off the issue as being too big to fix. Try reinstalling the driver or searching for a firmware update. Glitchy firmware can appear like a failing drive and updating it can often resolve those issues. Additionally, try checking the SSD for bad sectors. To do that, at an Administrator command prompt type: chkdsk /f /r /x [drive letter]. But ensure your data is backed up before you try this. Consider the hardware If you’re still having issues, it’s probably confirmation that your SSD is on its last legs. You should contact the SSD manufacturer for troubleshooting advice and to fulfill the terms of the warranty for a replacement. You might also like to try a soft reboot of your SSD using the power cycle method. That’s only likely to be a temporary fix, so again, a backup is recommended. Acer/Amazon Source a replacement Ideally, you’ll want to source a replacement before the drive dies, so that you are ready with a backup and don’t lose any data. You’ll also want a drive of the same or similar capacity to have the same level of functionality as you had before. If you intend on buying the same brand and model SSD, be sure you’re not just buying another problem — a replica with an inherent manufacturer fault. As a rule, you should try to get a longer warranty period in a replacement to ensure you have something to fall back on should your new SSD start to die. See our roundup of the best SSDs for recommendations. Related content Benchmark your SSD: These free tools do it all No, Windows isn’t wrecking SSDs. But these mistakes will kill your drive 8 mistakes that will kill your SSD early How long does an SSD last? It’s a tricky question to answer Read...

Keeping yourself safe online can feel like an increasingly difficult challenge. One solution is to use a VPN to encrypt your data when online, but this isn’t as simple a fix as it first sounds. Here’s a quick guide on how to improve your online safety and make sure your data stays secure. What is a VPN? A Virtual Private Network is software that creates an encrypted ‘tunnel’ through which your data flows when using the internet. This makes it very hard for hackers to track your activities online or steal your data. Getty Should I use a free VPN? The idea of a free VPN might be tempting, and there are certainly some reputable examples available, but choosing the wrong one can open up you and your data to significant risks. For example, a recent academic paper entitled Hidden Links: Analyzing Secret Families of VPN apps found that groups of VPNs on the Google Play Store shared the same code and security vulnerabilities, making them easier targets for hackers. Security analysts Cyfirma also reported on malware masquerading as a free VPN which, once installed, would steal user data. Another example from Koi Securities revealed that a popular free VPN Chrome extension was secretly taking screenshots of users’ activities that could then be uploaded to the company servers. Free VPNs can often be data capped too, feature weaker encryption than premium products, and have fewer servers around the world. While it’s not true that all free VPNs are unsafe, there is a risk involved when signing up to one if you don’t know how it operates. Which VPNs are safe to use? When it comes to security, you’ll want to use a VPN from a known and trusted brand. Norton is a name synonymous with data security, and its Norton VPN is built to continue that legacy. Norton also runs a no-log policy, which has been audited multiple times by independent third parties, so none of your browsing activities are stored on its servers or seen by its staff. It also uses IP rotation and Double VPN technology to ensure your privacy when online. With over 100 locations across the world and a built-in ad blocker to speed up and simplify your browsing experience, Norton VPN not only makes your time online safer, it’s also more enjoyable as you’ll face less interruptions. Getty Norton VPN – money well spent Don’t take the risk of using a free VPN that might watch what you do online. Instead, sign up to Norton VPN and get the peace of mind that comes with knowing your privacy and security have protection. Sign to to Norton VPN today! Subscriptions start at a low cost of £29.99 for the first year for the Norton VPN Standard plan that covers up to five devices, while Norton VPN Ultimate for available at £39.99, for the first year, covers up to ten devices, and also includes AI-powered scam detection, 50GB of cloud storage for Windows, as well as parental control tools. Read...

It’s that spooky time of the year again! Amazon knows just how much we all love Tim Burton’s cult classic film The Nightmare Before Christmas, so it’s bringing back the Jack Skellington Echo Dot and Sally Echo Dot bundles. The best part? They’re 28% off, meaning you can grab each one for just $64.98 (was $89.98). Or get both for $129.96! These are full-blown 5th-gen Echo Dot smart speakers with limited-edition themed covers, meaning you can take them off once the holiday season is over and use these Echo Dots like normal. This isn’t the first time we’re seeing the Jack Skellington cover, but it is the first time we’re seeing Sally! And she’s looking just gorgeous. Echo Dots have improved a lot over the years, and these are the latest model so you’re getting crisp vocals, impressive bass, and overall great audio performance. Alexa integration makes it easy to play music, search the web, control other smart home devices, and more. (Learn more about why we recommend smart speakers as a first step for beginners!) If you don’t have a smart speaker yet, this is a great opportunity. Don’t miss your chance to order the Jack Skellington Echo Dot or Sally Echo Dot bundles for just $64.98 each—or both for $129.96. Get the Jack Skellington Echo Dot for $64.98 (28% off)Buy now on Amazon Get the Sally Echo Dot for $64.98 (28% off)Buy now on Amazon Get both Jack Skellington and Sally Echo Dots for $129.96 (28% off)Buy now on Amazon Read...

The popular AI tool generates ten second long realistic-looking videos from simple text prompts. Read...

Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. Missed the latest topics on our YouTube show or burning news from across the web? You’re in the right place. Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website! I never thought I’d think on laptops with envy. But here I am, writing these words. It comes on the heels of Intel’s deep reveal of Panther Lake, which is what Adam, Will, and Mark were learning about last week. (Such is the super sekret life of tech journalists.) Mark’s quick rundown of the facts is extensive, as overviews go—there’s just that many details to cover. I highly recommend reading his deep dive as well, but among the highlights: Three chip families represented by one 8-core and two 16-core processors, with a claim of 50 percent better multithreaded performance over previous generations. The top-tier 16-core CPUs pack juggernaut-level integrated graphics, including dedicated support for ray-tracing. Said integrated graphics take the form of Xe3 GPU cores touted as 50 percent faster on average compared to last gen. Multiframe generation support (yep, “fake frames”).  Intel is also cramming in upgrades to the “image processing unit” in its integrated laptop processors to boost clarity and color fidelity of video during webcam calls. Inaccurate skin tones and grainy low-light calls should be less of a problem on a Panther Lake chip. But the feature I want in all chips, including desktop? Auracast, which not only lets you wirelessly play videos across two devices simultaneously, but also use the onboard Bluetooth radio to triangulate the location of a lost item—whether the laptop itself or a connected device, like earbuds. So why the envy, when desktop could get Auracast (and likely will)? When kickass integrated graphics matter less, given the flexibility for discrete GPU support? When desktop processors outstrip performance on laptops? Memory issues. I mean of course the ominous reports of anticipated shortages and sharper rising costs for memory. In a recent interview, Phison’s CEO thought that demand from AI data centers for NAND-based products could create a dearth lasting as long as 10 years. A whole-ass decade. Blake Patterson It’s not just NAND, either. DRAM is also expected to suffer from the same shortages and price hikes as demand skyrockets. (You can read Luke James’s excellent article over at Tom’s Hardware for more of a dive into the factors contributing to this bleak outlook.) Here’s my thinking: CPUs and GPUs will continue to improve on desktop, yes. It’s likely features like Auracast will come to desktop processors, yes. But what good will that do me if I can’t afford to build a PC around those chips? These days, I think of storage and memory as basic staples among hardware components—no different than the potatoes, rice, or bread of a meal. The idea of RAM and SSDs becoming both scarce and expensive makes me start to question what I can take for granted about desktop PCs and DIY building. I wonder if interest in DIY building will slow a bit, due to the extra burden on budgets. If that will then lead to an equal slowdown in consumer CPU and GPU innovations. If that then increases the withdrawal from DIY building, leading vendors to pull back on the innovation and variety in cases, fans, and other such components. I’m not predicting a death spiral, but I fear a period of dormancy that returns us to the mood and vibe of past eras—when desktop PCs were boring, bland, and not highly performant unless you had serious spare cash to drop. For now, I’m preparing for austerity even as I look forward to seeing what else could come from Intel’s Panther Lake, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite and Elite Extreme, and future laptop processors. I love the idea of powerful mobile chips. I hate the idea that they could supplant desktop PCs as the only reasonable option for consumers. In this episode of The Full Nerd In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Will Smith, and special guest Edward Crisler, NA PR Manager at long-time GPU maker Sapphire Technology, discuss the current state of GPUs, including manufacturing challenges and benchmarking changes. I should talk more about the actual episode here, but honestly, Ed always has great insights and you should definitely check out the whole conversation. More to the point, I’m still extremely preoccupied by the lollipop scorpions that Adam brought back as a souvenir for Willis. Surely…that’s an HR violation? Isn’t it? Wouldn’t it be? (Willis, be careful!) Willis Lai / Foundry Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd Network YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real-time! Don’t miss out on our NEW shows too—you can catch episodes of Dual Boot Diaries and The Full Nerd: Extra Edition now! (Adam just dropped a new episode of Extra Edition related to Panther Lake!) And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds. This week’s packed nerd news Intel’s Panther Lake chips definitely made the biggest waves in tech news this week, but other interesting, quirky, and downright unsettling tidbits popped up, too. I’m predictably wary after reading a new report about AI models being easily corrupted, but balancing out the scales is a rather delightful DIY take from Google on a keyboard. Also, we got word of it a few weeks ago, but now it’s time to bring out the bugle—AOL’s dial-up service is now officially dead. Rest in peace, old friend. It’s unusual, but I want one.Google Expect Thread Director changes in Intel’s Panther Lake: Mark wasn’t the only one who dug deep into Panther Lake while at the press briefings in Arizona. Will took a dive with Intel Fellow Rajshree Chabukswar into the upcoming improvements Intel is making to Thread Director for Panther Lake, too. Xbox Game Pass site chokes as flood of gamers rush to unsubscribe: Perfectly balanced, as all things should be. (If you want to try to load up on the previous, more reasonable price for Ultimate while you still can, try these methods.) The only RAM config that PC gamers need? This advice from our colleagues over at PCWelt takes the pressure off to spend more to get better performance. But will the internet agree to a sensible take? AI can figure out conversations based on…mice vibrations: Right out of a spy novel. I hope I’m never a high-profile enough target for this. (Also, I guess this justifies my use of a crappy cheap mouse.) Keep it secret. Keep it safe: Google’s allowing end-to-end encrypted emails to be sent to non-Gmail recipients. It’s only available to Workspace users, but I like what it could mean for personal accounts down the road. You can play real Game Boy games in a LEGO Game Boy: My current favorite modder is back with this dope LEGO GameBoy tweak. I definitely smiled when I read about this and saw who was behind it. I love Natalie_The_Nerd’s work.Natalie the Nerd I’d try this rotary dial keyboard: It would be slow, yes. But I like what it could mean for accessibility options. (Though maybe voice typing is faster. Assuming it recognizes what you’re saying with any accuracy. And it’s not always necessarily as private as I’d like.) So it doesn’t take much to corrupt AI models: Cool cool cool. At least one Starlink satellite per day is falling and burning up: The good news is the debris won’t kill anyone. The bad news is that these occurences will contribute to global warming, which indirectly causes death worldwide. Microsoft keeps trying to kill off local accounts in Windows 11: I’m really grumpy about this. Seriously, Microsoft, who do you think is bothering to open the Command Prompt during setup? It sure isn’t most folks. ‘Interstellar interlopers’ makes a great band name: As always, much appreciation for the fine folks at Ars Technica, keeping the wonder and mystery of space alive for us all. Catch you all next week—if I manage to escape the boxes I’ll be swimming in, after taking inventory of my October Amazon Prime Day purchases. None of it is exciting, but I’m excited that I got a good deal on “boring” stuff. Yeah, I’ve reached that age. ~Alaina This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld. Read...

I don’t use Microsoft Excel all that often, so it remains a bit of a mystery to me. I can enter text and create graphs and that’s basically it. That’s why I’ve set myself a goal to learn one new Excel trick every week. This week, I’ve learned how to successfully copy data from a PDF table into a spreadsheet. It sounds easy and straightforward, but it’s not. The few times I’ve attempted this in the past were a disaster. It turns out that I tried to do what most people do — that is, I tried to copy and paste directly from the PDF itself. But that just results in the text being copied over with formatting all askew. No, a better way to do it is to use Excel’s built-in data copying feature. Not only is it simple and easy to do, but the data will be copied over with perfect formatting as well. What to do: Open the PDF document and make a note of where the table with the data is located and the number designation for the table. For this exercise, I’m using a PDF of a review guide for a laptop I reviewed. Now open Microsoft Excel. Also open a new Excel document by selecting File > New > Blank Workbook. In the top menu of Excel select Data > Get Data > From File > From PDF. Browse your files and select the PDF with the table in it. Now select Import. Choose the table from the list that appears and click Load. The table you want will now load into the Excel document with perfect formatting. Dominic Bayley / Foundry I hope you’ve enjoyed adding an extra string to your Excel bow. That’s all for this tip. If you want more helpful tips like this one delivered to your inbox twice weekly, be sure to sign up to our PCWorld Try This newsletter. Read...

Smartphone manufacturers have been omitting the power bricks (you know, the wall plug adapters for USB cables) from their packaging for a while now, and it can suck at times. The silver lining there is that you can grab yourself a much better, much faster one—and it won’t cost you all that much if you wait for a sale like this one. Today, you can score this Baseus Enercore 100W charger block for 20% off on Amazon, bringing its price down from $59.99 to a more affordable $47.99. But that’s not all! With this special promotion, you can also get a fast 100W USB-C charging cable included for free. (That’s a $15 value!) On the promo page, add both products to your cart and you’ll see the discounts applied at checkout. The Baseus Enercore is a wall plug adapter that delivers up to 100W of power, meaning it’s super fast at charging devices like phones, tablets, and earbuds, and it’s fast enough to work with most laptops as well. The charger block itself has a built-in retractable USB-C cable, which you can pull out and connect on demand, then push back in when you’re done. It’s really convenient, especially with its 2.6-foot length. On top of the retractable USB-C cable, this charger block also has two other ports—one USB-C, one USB-A—that you can use to charge other devices. That’s up to three devices at once. (Note that the total 100W of charging power gets split up when multiple ports are being used. When used on their own, the retractable cable and the USB-C port both reach up to 100W max while the USB-A tops out at 22.5W.) I also mentioned a free USB-C cable with your purchase, right? This Baseus promo tosses in a 3.3-foot 100W cable with a right-angle plug for free at checkout. You can never have too many cables on hand. Don’t miss out on the chance to get this Baseus Enercore wall plug adapter with a free USB-C cable! Make sure to add the charger to your cart, then use the promo page to add the cable to your cart too. This 100W Baseus charger block comes with a free USB-C cableClaim this deal on Amazon Read...

If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an RTX 50-series gaming rig and you need to keep it portable, then you should really check out this Asus TUF Gaming A16 laptop that’s on sale at Best Buy. It’s got a powerful configuration that’s well worth it with this huge $350 discount, knocking it down to a much more affordable $1,349.99. What’s under the hood here? A brand-new 2025-era AMD Ryzen 9 270 processor, a hefty 32GB of fast DDR5 RAM, and a speedy 1TB Gen 4 SSD that all come together to zip through any task you need to handle. It’ll boot up in a flash, won’t struggle with Windows 11, move enormous files in minutes, and run games as smoothly as butter. (It has two memory slots and can be expanded up to 64GB of RAM, by the way.) And don’t forget that just-released Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card that future-proofs this laptop for several years at least. It unlocks Nvidia’s latest gaming features, including DLSS 4, and you’ll love how it plays on the 16-inch IPS screen with 1920×1200 resolution and 165Hz refresh rate and Nvidia G-Sync support. It offers more connections than most modern laptops, too, with dual USB-A on the right side plus USB4, USB-C, USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and a 3.5mm audio jack on the left side. Use it for up to 10 hours on a single battery charge, and other nice bits include a 1080p webcam, backlit keyboard, and a CPU that qualifies it as a Copilot+ PC for AI features. Best Buy has this listed as a “Techtober Deal” that ends on (or around) October 12th, so don’t miss it. Snag the Asus TUF Gaming A16 for just $1,349.99, this weekend only! Or if it isn’t the right laptop for your needs, look through our best gaming laptop picks for more options. Get the Asus TUF A16 laptop for $350 offSave $350 on this Asus TUF Gaming A16 laptop Read...

SquareX has won the 2025 Browser Security Solution of the Year award for its innovative platform that protects enterprises from complex browser threats. Read...