I don’t know how your tech drawers look, but mine are filled with wires I’ll likely never use again because technology has advanced quite a bit. Thankfully, USB-C seems to be here to stay since there is no wrong way to plug these things in. It’s not just smartphones, tablets, and laptops that use these, however, but also a long list of gadgets. We’ve scoured the market for hidden gems: 12 gadgets that will make you think “Wow, I didn’t know I needed that, but it will make my life so much easier!” Let’s dive in and see what cool devices you’ll be able to use your type-C cables and ports with. Wowstick 1F+ mini electric screwdriver Wowstick If you often have to fiddle around with your computer or other gadgets, this Wowstick mini electric screwdriver may be just what you need. This pen-shaped screwdriver features three LED lights so it’s easier to see what you’re working on and rotates 200 times per minute so you can finish the job faster. The screwdriver has a stylish base so you can hold it on your desk, and a whole collection of 56 aluminum alloy bits. The screwdriver can be charged via USB-C and it can last for hours. This super fun electric screwdriver usually goes for $41. Anker Nano Power Bank Anker One thing you need to have in you bag/pocket/backpack is a power bank because you never really know when your phone will fail you and cry for a recharge. Well, the Anker Nano power bank is tiny enough to fit just about anywhere. It comes with a foldable USB-C connector and a port on the side so you can charge two devices at once if you need to. The 5,000mAh capacity is just about enough for a full phone recharge, so it will be great in a pinch. It’s also only $30, but we’ve seen it as low as $16. Endoscope camera with light Ennovor Although it’s not something you’ll use every day, this Ennover endoscope camera can definitely come in handy. You just plug it in your phone, install and app, and see everything your camera does. Our team swears by it, using it for finding whatever they dropped behind the desk, while working on the car, or looking for pipe leaks. Since it has an IP67 rating, you can even plop it in your aquarium. The camera comes with a 16.4ft semi-rigid cable and several accessories, including a hook, magnet, and a mirror. You can get this one for $23 right now. Blukar flashlight Blukar I don’t care who you are—you need a flashlight. The smaller, the better, because you get to shove it into any pocket. This model from Blukar comes with a built-in 1800mAh battery that you’ll recharge with one of those many type-C cables you have in that tech drawer we were talking about. It can work for up to 16 hours on a single charge, which is pretty decent. There are four different lightning modes to cycle through, including one that will help you signal for help. Plus, one of these is only $10, so no excuse to pass on this one. Heat It insect bite healer Anyone plagued by mosquitoes in the summer will be particularly pleased with this ingenious gadget. This tiny device, which can be easily connected to your smartphone via USB-C, can significantly reduce the itching of bites and stings with targeted heat. You simply charge the small Heat It bite healer via the app and then hold it on the bite. The heat then does the rest, breaking down the proteins in the mosquito bite that cause the area to swell, itch, and hurt. A true must-have for summer, and it costs only $20. A tiny air pump Also perfect for summer is this small air pump from Cycplus, which fits in any bag while on the go. Not only can it inflate a bicycle tire in two minutes at the touch of a button, but it’s also USB-charged. According to the manufacturer, it’s suitable for mountain bikes, road bikes, motorcycles, and even cars! In addition to being an air pump, this practical gadget can also be used as a flashlight or power bank for on-the-go use — all things that come in very handy on a bike ride. And at just $57, it’s highly recommended if you need quick help with a flat tire. USB-C mini fan These little fans are also pretty ingenious; you can easily carry them in your pocket in the summer and quickly use them whenever you need them. Anyone who’s ever sat on a crowded subway train in 30-degree heat and wished for at least a little fresh air will love this gadget. The mini fan, which costs just $20, has a USB-C port and can be easily powered by power banks, computers, laptops, or USB chargers. There are even smaller and cheaper fans available that can be connected directly to your phone, costing under $10 each. But these also provide less powerful airflow, so we recommend the standalone version. Reading light with a book clamp Anyone who enjoys reading a lot, sometimes late into the night, will appreciate this little gadget: a reading lamp that you can simply clip onto your book. It may not be groundbreaking, but with a total of three color temperatures and five different light modes, you can individually adjust how much light you need for reading. The Gritin reading lamp costs just $15 on Amazon and features a 1200 mAh battery that lasts up to 80 hours depending on usage. Afterward, you can easily recharge it via USB. You can swivel the neck of the lamp back and forth as desired, and there’s even a small charging indicator. What more could you want? External DVD Drive Amicool If your laptop is like mine and lacks a DVD drive, then this little gadget will come in handy for you. This Amicool external DVD drive uses a USB-C (or USB-A) to connect to your laptop and give yout he optical drive you sometimes need. It can read and burn DVDs and CDs with ease, allowing you to install software, copy files, back up data, play games, and so on. You won’t even need to install drives as this thing is plug and play. While this thing’s usually $29, you can often get it for around $20, which is an absolute bargain. Samsung flash drive Samsung The vast majority of flash drives have a USB-A connector, but this one from Samsung has a Type-C connector. With transfer speeds of up to 400MB/s, you’ll move files around in no time. The beauty of this thumb drive is that you can even pop it in your smartphone to record 4K vids directly on it. The Samsung Type-C flash drive comes in multiple storage options, starting at 64GB and up to 512GB and they start at $14. The 256GB version, for instance, is $27 at the time of writing. Type-C microSD card reader Ugreen Most laptops nowadays don’t come with a card reader anymore (I know mine doesn’t), so finding other ways to get data off those little buggers is a must. Whether you need to pull data off your dashcam’s card or if it’s from your camera, this tiny Ugreen USB-C microSD reader will work just fine. This reader is tiny enough that you should probably put it on a keychain of some kind. If you’d rather a slightly more versatile version, Ugreen has a model that also works with SD cards and features both USB-C and USB-A connectors. Any of these will cost you less than $10, so they’re worthwhile investments. USB-C to HDMI adapter Anker If your laptop has a USB-C port but you haven’t updated your monitor in ages, your display won’t feature a Type-C port. This Anker adapter fixes this problem for you, enabling you to connect the regular HDMI cable you plug in your monitor with this gadget. The adapter supports resolutions of up to 4K at 60Hz, which is pretty awesome. This is also a nifty way to connect your phone or tablet to your monitor or TV. This thing’s $20, but we’ve seen it as low as $12. Editor’s note: This article was originally published on May 16, but was updated to include additional devices. Read...

Greetings from Maryland, where I’m currently visiting family and using one of the best impulse buys I’ve made in recent memory. I’m taking about those cheap portable monitors that go on sale for about $50 on Amazon, available under a variety of unrecognizable brand names. The one I got is made by BIGASUO (a name I can’t stop saying), but you can find seemingly identical models from the likes of FANGOR and MNN. They all serve the same basic purpose as a travel-friendly way to add an extra screen to your laptop, and they all have the same basic features: 15.6-inch 1080p display USB-C or Mini HDMI input Built-in speakers Audio jack for headphones or external speakers A detachable folio stand Some variants, such as this one by the unfortunately named Dopesplay, have actual built-in kickstands instead of folio cases that double as makeshift stands, but otherwise appear identical. Are these monitors great quality-wise? Of course not. But they’re cheap, light, and versatile. They’re also refreshingly free from a lot of modern tech baggage. I’ve had a great time finding ways to use mine. Allow me to convince you why you should get one of these, too. This column first appeared in Advisorator, Jared’s weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up to get tech advice like this every Tuesday. How does a portable monitor work? These portable screens work a little differently than full-sized monitors, mainly because they don’t have regular HDMI, DisplayPort, or VGA inputs. To connect these monitors, you have a couple options: USB-C to USB-C data cable. This provides power and video to the portable monitor through a single cable, but requires your computer to support video output through a USB-C port. (Modern Macs can do this, and many recent Windows laptops are catching up.) Mini HDMI to HDMI. For computers with HDMI outputs, you can send video to the portable monitor via Mini HDMI, but you’ll need a separate USB-C cable to power the monitor as well. A single USB-C data cable can provide video and power, or you can use the Mini HDMI and USB-C power ports instead.Jared Newman / Foundry Note that these travel-friendly displays don’t have built-in batteries, so they must draw power from either your laptop or an outlet. The lack of a battery makes the monitor lighter, but if you’re using the USB-C to USB-C connector, you’ll likely want to keep your laptop plugged into its own power source for lengthy computing sessions. My BIGASUO monitor included all the necessary cables, but they’re on the short side. To lengthen the connection distance, you’ll either need an HDMI extender or a USB-C to USB-C cable with 10 Gbps transfer speeds. (A basic USB-C charging cable won’t suffice for video connections.) What is a portable monitor good for? The most obvious use for a portable monitor is the main one: while using a laptop on the go, you can attach the portable monitor, prop it up with a stand, and have two screens instead of one. If you’ve never used a dual monitor setup before, this can be a revelation in itself. It’s nice being able to reference a document on one screen while writing on the other, or use one screen just for things like email and Slack while freeing up the main screen for more important tasks. I’ve also managed to prop up my BIGASUO monitor in portrait mode, which can be a bit precarious at times but does make my mobile workspace a bit more compact. (You can rotate the monitor orientation in system settings on both Windows PC and Mac.) Beyond the dual-screen setup, I’ve also experimented with: Turning a phone into a computer: Paired with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, your phone can become a makeshift portable desktop. Samsung’s Galaxy phones are especially well-suited with Samsung DeX, which launches a desktop-like environment when the phone connects to an external display. (You can even use the phone screen as a touchpad.) Plugging a separate USB-C charging cable into the monitor will send a charge back to the phone so you don’t waste battery life. A Samsung Galaxy Fold7 running DeX mode on the monitor, with the phone as a touchpad.Jared Newman / Foundry An extra (or alternate) desktop display: You don’t have to use a portable monitor on the road. I’ve been plugging mine into my desktop gaming PC in the basement while my son occupies the TV with the PlayStation 5. (We have plans to play Fortnite together this way but haven’t gotten around to it yet.) A bigger portable video screen: I’ve connected the portable monitor to my Steam Deck for a bigger view of the action, and I can envision plugging it into a phone or tablet to watch movies in bed or on a plane. A portable monitor just works In the past, I’ve written about using a tablet as an external monitor—and that’s still a viable option. Portable monitors are larger than most tablets, though, and they’re also less finnicky to set up. Not to get overly philosophical here, but portable monitors also remind me why I get excited about technology to begin with. Unlike so many other tech products today, a portable monitor is a no-fuss device that just works when you plug it in, asking nothing of you in exchange. There’s no pairing process, no login procedure, and no privacy policy to accept. I often hear folks pining for a dumb alternative to modern smart TVs—if you ask me, that idea is alive and well in portable monitors. But the biggest endorsement I can offer is this: my wife, after borrowing my portable monitor a couple days ago, now wants one of her own. This column first appeared in Advisorator, Jared’s weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up to get tech advice like this every Tuesday. Read...

Windows 11 users who installed the September 2025 update might think that it doesn’t really change much. After all, update KB5065426 is just a small patch that Microsoft is rolling out to everyone. But there’s more happening in the background than you might think. Apparently, the update secretly removes two programs that were still part of the operating system for some users. The two programs are PowerShell 2.0 and Windows Management Instrumentation Command-Line (WMIC), which were of particular interest to power users and admins. Why were these programs removed? PowerShell 2.0 is, as the name suggests, a tool with which admins could access a special Windows command line for power users. However, the program is now considered insecure and outdated, which is why Microsoft has decided to phase it out for good. (PowerShell is still around, though, and sits at version 7.5 as of this writing.) WMIC is a web-based tool that enabled Windows Enterprise customers to retrieve information about PCs on their network. Like PowerShell 2.0, this tool is also considered obsolete and is therefore being removed if it’s still present on certain Windows 11 PCs. According to Microsoft, both tools are hardly used any more and represent security risks. Instead, users should use the latest version of PowerShell, which combines the features of both tools. Preparation for Windows 11 25H2 With this past update, Microsoft is also preparing Windows 11 PCs for the delivery of the big 25H2 update that’s expected in October. If you’re curious and want to try it out ahead of time, you can take a peek at the preview version of the major update. In the future, admins will have more control over which programs are installed on Windows 11 computers and which aren’t. Microsoft even allows AI features and system apps to be removed via group policies in order to make PCs leaner and less bloated. Further reading: I can’t stop using Windows 11’s hidden God Mode Read...

I don’t know how your tech drawers look, but mine are filled with wires I’ll likely never use again because technology has advanced quite a bit. Thankfully, USB-C seems to be here to stay since there is no wrong way to plug these things in. It’s not just smartphones, tablets, and laptops that use these, however, but also a long list of gadgets. We’ve scoured the market for hidden gems: 12 gadgets that will make you think “Wow, I didn’t know I needed that, but it will make my life so much easier!” Let’s dive in and see what cool devices you’ll be able to use your type-C cables and ports with. Wowstick 1F+ mini electric screwdriver Wowstick If you often have to fiddle around with your computer or other gadgets, this Wowstick mini electric screwdriver may be just what you need. This pen-shaped screwdriver features three LED lights so it’s easier to see what you’re working on and rotates 200 times per minute so you can finish the job faster. The screwdriver has a stylish base so you can hold it on your desk, and a whole collection of 56 aluminum alloy bits. The screwdriver can be charged via USB-C and it can last for hours. This super fun electric screwdriver usually goes for $41. Anker Nano Power Bank Anker One thing you need to have in you bag/pocket/backpack is a power bank because you never really know when your phone will fail you and cry for a recharge. Well, the Anker Nano power bank is tiny enough to fit just about anywhere. It comes with a foldable USB-C connector and a port on the side so you can charge two devices at once if you need to. The 5,000mAh capacity is just about enough for a full phone recharge, so it will be great in a pinch. It’s also only $30, but we’ve seen it as low as $16. Endoscope camera with light Ennovor Although it’s not something you’ll use every day, this Ennover endoscope camera can definitely come in handy. You just plug it in your phone, install and app, and see everything your camera does. Our team swears by it, using it for finding whatever they dropped behind the desk, while working on the car, or looking for pipe leaks. Since it has an IP67 rating, you can even plop it in your aquarium. The camera comes with a 16.4ft semi-rigid cable and several accessories, including a hook, magnet, and a mirror. You can get this one for $23 right now. Blukar flashlight Blukar I don’t care who you are—you need a flashlight. The smaller, the better, because you get to shove it into any pocket. This model from Blukar comes with a built-in 1800mAh battery that you’ll recharge with one of those many type-C cables you have in that tech drawer we were talking about. It can work for up to 16 hours on a single charge, which is pretty decent. There are four different lightning modes to cycle through, including one that will help you signal for help. Plus, one of these is only $10, so no excuse to pass on this one. Heat It insect bite healer Anyone plagued by mosquitoes in the summer will be particularly pleased with this ingenious gadget. This tiny device, which can be easily connected to your smartphone via USB-C, can significantly reduce the itching of bites and stings with targeted heat. You simply charge the small Heat It bite healer via the app and then hold it on the bite. The heat then does the rest, breaking down the proteins in the mosquito bite that cause the area to swell, itch, and hurt. A true must-have for summer, and it costs only $20. A tiny air pump Also perfect for summer is this small air pump from Cycplus, which fits in any bag while on the go. Not only can it inflate a bicycle tire in two minutes at the touch of a button, but it’s also USB-charged. According to the manufacturer, it’s suitable for mountain bikes, road bikes, motorcycles, and even cars! In addition to being an air pump, this practical gadget can also be used as a flashlight or power bank for on-the-go use — all things that come in very handy on a bike ride. And at just $57, it’s highly recommended if you need quick help with a flat tire. USB-C mini fan These little fans are also pretty ingenious; you can easily carry them in your pocket in the summer and quickly use them whenever you need them. Anyone who’s ever sat on a crowded subway train in 30-degree heat and wished for at least a little fresh air will love this gadget. The mini fan, which costs just $20, has a USB-C port and can be easily powered by power banks, computers, laptops, or USB chargers. There are even smaller and cheaper fans available that can be connected directly to your phone, costing under $10 each. But these also provide less powerful airflow, so we recommend the standalone version. Reading light with a book clamp Anyone who enjoys reading a lot, sometimes late into the night, will appreciate this little gadget: a reading lamp that you can simply clip onto your book. It may not be groundbreaking, but with a total of three color temperatures and five different light modes, you can individually adjust how much light you need for reading. The Gritin reading lamp costs just $15 on Amazon and features a 1200 mAh battery that lasts up to 80 hours depending on usage. Afterward, you can easily recharge it via USB. You can swivel the neck of the lamp back and forth as desired, and there’s even a small charging indicator. What more could you want? External DVD Drive Amicool If your laptop is like mine and lacks a DVD drive, then this little gadget will come in handy for you. This Amicool external DVD drive uses a USB-C (or USB-A) to connect to your laptop and give yout he optical drive you sometimes need. It can read and burn DVDs and CDs with ease, allowing you to install software, copy files, back up data, play games, and so on. You won’t even need to install drives as this thing is plug and play. While this thing’s usually $29, you can often get it for around $20, which is an absolute bargain. Samsung flash drive Samsung The vast majority of flash drives have a USB-A connector, but this one from Samsung has a Type-C connector. With transfer speeds of up to 400MB/s, you’ll move files around in no time. The beauty of this thumb drive is that you can even pop it in your smartphone to record 4K vids directly on it. The Samsung Type-C flash drive comes in multiple storage options, starting at 64GB and up to 512GB and they start at $14. The 256GB version, for instance, is $27 at the time of writing. Type-C microSD card reader Ugreen Most laptops nowadays don’t come with a card reader anymore (I know mine doesn’t), so finding other ways to get data off those little buggers is a must. Whether you need to pull data off your dashcam’s card or if it’s from your camera, this tiny Ugreen USB-C microSD reader will work just fine. This reader is tiny enough that you should probably put it on a keychain of some kind. If you’d rather a slightly more versatile version, Ugreen has a model that also works with SD cards and features both USB-C and USB-A connectors. Any of these will cost you less than $10, so they’re worthwhile investments. USB-C to HDMI adapter Anker If your laptop has a USB-C port but you haven’t updated your monitor in ages, your display won’t feature a Type-C port. This Anker adapter fixes this problem for you, enabling you to connect the regular HDMI cable you plug in your monitor with this gadget. The adapter supports resolutions of up to 4K at 60Hz, which is pretty awesome. This is also a nifty way to connect your phone or tablet to your monitor or TV. This thing’s $20, but we’ve seen it as low as $12. Editor’s note: This article was originally published on May 16, but was updated to include additional devices. Read...

After years of hinting at better sound quality, music streaming service Spotify has finally launched lossless audio. And the cherry on top is that lossless audio will be available to all Spotify Premium subscribers and won’t be locked behind a higher-tier plan as some thought. It will now be possible to play music in 24 bits and 44.1 kHz with Spotify’s free lossless audio codec on mobile phones, computers, and tablets. It will also be possible to play lossless music on speakers from Bose, Samsung, Sennheiser, and Sony via Spotify Connect, with support for Amazon and Sonos speakers coming next month. Spotify You can instruct Spotify to play lossless audio only on downloaded songs, when you’re connected to Wi-Fi, or when you’re on a mobile network. However, Spotify recommends that you only use lossless audio when connected to Wi-Fi and using wired headphones, or connected to a speaker with a connection other than Bluetooth. Bluetooth connections simply don’t have the bandwidth needed for lossless audio. Lossless audio is already rolling out to Spotify Premium subscribers, but the rollout will take place throughout September and October. Premium subscribers in Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the US, and the UK have already started getting access. Read...

Yesterday was Patch Tuesday for September, and Microsoft provided security updates that address 80 new vulnerabilities. Microsoft categorized eight of the vulnerabilities in Windows and Office as critical, but none of them have been exploited for attacks in the wild yet. Sadly, Microsoft provides sparse details on the security vulnerabilities for self-searching in the Security Update Guide. The next Patch Tuesday is scheduled for October 14th, 2025. That’s also the long-awaited date of Windows 10’s end of support. Don’t wait until it’s too late! Learn what your options are going forward. Critical Windows vulnerabilities A large number of the vulnerabilities—58 this time—are spread across the various Windows versions for which Microsoft still offers security updates: Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server. Windows 7 and 8.1 are no longer getting security updates, so they remain as vulnerable as ever. If you’re still on these versions and your system requirements allow for it, you should switch to Windows 11 as soon as possible to continue receiving security updates. Microsoft has categorized 7 security vulnerabilities in Windows as critical, including four remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities. Five of these critical vulnerabilities are in graphics components. It can be enough to open an infected image file (say, loaded from a website) to execute malicious code. The CVE-2025-53799 data leak vulnerability stands out because its exploitation can only expose a small part of working memory. It remains unclear why this one’s considered critical. Microsoft has also fixed 5 security vulnerabilities in Hyper-V, one of which (CVE-2025-55224) is categorized as critical. The others are elevation of privilege (EOP) vulnerabilities. CVE-2025-54918 in the NT LAN Manager is also an EOP vulnerability classified as critical. An attacker with user rights can obtain system authorizations via the network, and it’s simple enough that it could be used as part of a targeted attack. Other Windows vulnerabilities The vulnerability with the highest vulnerability score is CVE-2025-55232 in the High Performance Compute (HPC) Pack. An attacker could remotely inject code without a user account and execute it on their own. This makes the vulnerability potentially wormable within an HPC network. As a rule, it only affects clusters of high-performance computers that are already secure. Microsoft recommends blocking TCP port 5999. Microsoft has eliminated 10 vulnerabilities in the Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) this month, compared to 12 last month. This time there are only two RCE vulnerabilities, the rest are data leaks. All are categorized as high risk. In the Windows Firewall service, Microsoft has fixed 6 EOP vulnerabilities that are considered high risk. An attacker with user rights could use these to obtain the authorizations of a local system account in order to execute malicious code. Critical Office vulnerabilities Microsoft has fixed 16 vulnerabilities in its Office product family, including 12 remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities. One of these RCE vulnerabilities (CVE-2025-54910) is labeled as critical because the preview window is considered an attack vector. This means that an attack could occur simply by displaying an infected file in the preview, even if the user doesn’t click on it or open it. Microsoft categorizes the other Office vulnerabilities as high risk. Here, a user must open an infected file for the exploit code to take effect (“open to own”). There are 8 fixed RCE vulnerabilities in Excel alone. Browser security updates The latest security update to Edge 140.0.3485.54 was released on September 5th and is based on Chromium 140.0.7339.81. It fixes several Chromium vulnerabilities as well as an Edge-specific vulnerability. Google has since released a new security update, which Microsoft will have to respond to later this week. Read...

We always knew that consumers preferred Windows PCs over Macs, but the numbers now back it up. HP topped Apple as the most preferred PC maker in the 2025 iteration of the American Customer Satisfaction Survey — though general consumer satisfaction with PCs fell slightly compared with 2024 sentiments. Big names, like Microsoft, suffered in the eyes of their consumer critics. Customers polled by the survey, however, said that the overall design of computers has improved, and that they marked that aspect as the best of the computing experience. The worst? The agony of calling and then navigating through a call center to receive customer support. ACSI, which runs the study, said that it sent out thousands of email surveys to random customers, and the 16,205 completed surveys it received were used as the foundation for its 2025 report. Customers were asked about their experiences with the largest customers as well as an “all other” category. The ACSI received customer inputs on expectations, quality perceptions, and perceptions of value and used them as inputs to generate a score. The biggest slips in perceived quality were Apple, Microsoft, and Acer, all of which lost three points in the ACSI rankings. Last year, Apple topped the charts with a score of 85. Yet its score of 82 placed Apple second; Dell’s ACSI score also decreased by a point compared to 2024. However, ACSI assigned Dell a score of 83, making it the most popular computer company for 2025. ACSI Household Appliance and Electronics Study 2025 / American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC. The ACSI also included tablets in this category, and added Amazon to its list of manufacturers. Tablet satisfaction scores plunged, from 81 in 2024 to 77 in 2025. In general, computer satisfaction declined across every PC maker save Dell, which saw an increase in the satisfaction score from 2024’s 80 score to its 2025 score of 82. ACSI measured several aspects of the computing experience — design, availability of software, ease of operation, graphics and sound quality, and more — and generally found that customers ranked them essentially the same as in 2024. Customers expressed the least satisfaction with a computer’s ability to prevent crashing, the general state of “features” like the OS or preloaded software, and call-center satisfaction. (They apparently hadn’t moved past our first review of Windows 11.) ACSI Household Appliance and Electronics Study 2025 / American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC. “The service experience may be a factor in the deviating levels of satisfaction between desktops and tablets,” the ACSI found. “Manufacturers continue to expand their repair networks to connect users with convenient outlets for service, but high repair costs and inconsistent parts availability continue to hinder the service experience for some.” Interestingly, customers ranked the desktop experience higher than that using a laptop, though aspects like “website satisfaction” should have been mostly thee same for both. ACSI Household Appliance and Electronics Study 2025 / American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC. Still, the category with the most need for improvement isn’t PCs, but tablets. Amazon clearly has its work cut out for it. Read...

When upgrading from Windows 10 to 11, most users focus on technical questions: Will my existing computer meet the increased hardware requirements? Will I find my way around the new interface? Are there suitable drivers for my peripherals? Equally important, but often overlooked, is the question of a valid license (get a new Windows 11 license for 50% off on the PCWorld Software store): Can I transfer my Windows 10 license to Windows 11, or do I have to buy a new one? Is it possible to run Windows without a license, or does that make you liable to prosecution? And what happens to my existing Windows 10 license if I buy a new computer for Windows 11? Don’t worry, in most cases, the upgrade from 10 to 11 is not only technically, but also legally, completely problem-free and largely automated. This is because the Windows update checks in the background whether your computer’s hardware is suitable for Windows. If this is the case, Windows prompts you to perform the upgrade with a message in the taskbar corner. If you agree, Windows 11 will be installed almost entirely automatically and will also take over the existing license. You don’t need to worry about anything and the upgrade is free of charge. How the Windows upgrade works thanks to a digital license The so-called digital license is responsible for this mostly smooth upgrade. This was created automatically when Windows 10 was installed and stored on the Microsoft servers. The license code includes a hash value that Windows generates from an analysis of the computer’s hardware. There is also the product key. Minor changes to the hardware, such as a new mouse or keyboard, a new screen, more RAM or even replacing the graphics card, have no effect on the digital license code. However, if you change the motherboard, you must expect Windows to ask you to enter the product key after installation. In the Windows settings under “System -‘ Activation” you can see whether your Windows version is already running with a valid license or whether it still needs to be activated.Sam Singleton You can easily check whether the transfer of the digital license has worked and the previous code is still valid once the installation is complete. To do this, open the “Settings” via the start menu and click on “System -> Activation”. Next to “Activation status” you will see whether Windows has been activated. If you click on the small arrow pointing downwards, you can also find out whether your activation is linked to your Microsoft account, i.e. whether it has been saved online. To do this, you must of course have such an account and log in to Windows with it. Windows without a licence If you want to install Windows but do not have a license for the operating system, you can still use it for 30 days without restrictions. After that, a watermark will appear in the bottom right-hand corner of the desktop that cannot be removed. In addition, some personalization options in the settings will be greyed out and can no longer be accessed. Although it’s still possible to use the operating system, this is not legally permitted. Upgrade to Windows 11 when changing components If your current computer does not meet the hardware requirements of Windows 11, the operating system does not offer an upgrade and therefore no automatic transfer of the digital license. You now have three options. Firstly, you can install Windows 11 on older, officially unsupported hardware using the freeware Rufus. Once the operating system is installed, you can license it as described in the next section. Secondly, and this is the better medium-term solution, you can modernize your computer and install a motherboard with the latest CPU and a TPM chip in version 2.0. Before you do this, use Rufus or Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool to create a boot medium with Windows 11, from which you can start your computer and then reinstall Windows 11. You can find out the version of the TPM chip on your motherboard in Windows 10 and 11 by entering the tpm.msc command after the “Specification version” entry. Sam Singleton Thirdly, you can also buy a completely new computer for Windows 11. New PCs are often sold with a pre-installed operating system, so you get a second Windows license. This has the advantage that you then have two computers with an officially licensed operating system that you can use in parallel. The disadvantage, however, is the higher price. If you want to save yourself the additional expense, you can also buy a computer without a pre-installed operating system or assemble one and then use your existing Windows 10 license to set up Windows 11. New PC: Requirements and the preparatory work When setting up Windows 11 on a computer with a new motherboard or on a newly purchased computer, you can in principle take the Windows 10 license with you from your old computer. However, some requirements must be met: You have a retail version of Windows 10, which means you bought Windows 10 independently of your PC. The other option would be an OEM version (Original Equipment Manufacturer), which is sold pre-installed together with the computer and cannot be transferred to a new computer at a later date. You have purchased Windows 10 and have not upgraded from Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 free of charge. You can find out whether you have a retail or OEM version of Windows via the command prompt. Type cmd in the taskbar input window and click on “Run as administrator” in the Start menu window. Enter the command slmgr -dli and press the Enter key. If it is a retail version, the confirmation “Description: Windows (R) Operating System, RETAIL Channel” appears after a short pause. Use a command in the Windows command prompt to determine whether you are working with a retail or an OEM version of the Microsoft operating system. Sam Singleton Please also note that you can only upgrade a 64-bit version of Windows 10 to 11. As there are no longer any 32-bit versions of Windows 11, you cannot upgrade from Windows 10 in the 32-bit version. It’s also not possible to switch from a Home version of Windows 10 to Windows 11 Pro, for example. Important note: Before you start installing Windows 11, you should definitely back up your important data and documents. Buy a Windows 11 license If you are installing Windows 11 but do not have a digital license or product key, the operating system offers you the option of purchasing a license from the Microsoft Store under “Settings -‘ System -‘ Activation”. The Home version costs $139, the Pro version $199. The prices are significantly lower in computer shops and online retailers. The System Builder versions are cheaper than the standard versions of Windows 11 and are therefore also recommended. You only have to do without Microsoft support, everything else is identical. Sam Singleton In addition, some online shops are already selling Windows 11 for less than five euros. Although such offers are not prohibited per se, the licenses offered there harbor the risk of Microsoft declaring them invalid at some point and blocking them. These are often retail licenses that were supposedly no longer needed by the original owners and were therefore released. If the Windows version for which the license was originally purchased is no longer used, the resale is legally permissible. However, this cannot be verified so proceed at your own risk. You can never be sure that the original owner will not reactivate the product key. This means that your Windows version will only run for a transitional period. System Builder versions of Windows 11 are therefore recommended. They are identical to the regular full versions, but the customer is not entitled to support from Microsoft. These versions are often sold under the name OSB, which stands for OEM System Builder. However, they are actually retail versions that can be sold independently of the hardware. Transfer and save the previous product key Now you need to find out the product key for your Windows 10 license. It can be found in the confirmation email you received after purchasing Windows or on a label in the Windows box. If you can no longer find the email or the box, read the product key directly from your old Windows 10 installation. You can use the free Zebnet Windows Keyfinder tool to do this. Windows Keyfinder reads the Windows product key from the registry. Because of the similarity to Windows 10, Windows 11 will appear as “Windows 10 Pro”.ZebNet We also recommend linking the product key to your Microsoft account. In Windows 10, you can do this in “Settings” under “Update & Security -> Activation”, in Windows 11 under “Settings -> System -> Activation”. Windows can then identify you during installation using your email address. As soon as you have logged in to your Microsoft account, the operating system will automatically retrieve the product key from there. The final step is to reinstall Windows 11 on the PC Once you have completed all the preparations, you can start the installation. If you have an upgraded PC, there is a good chance that Windows 10 will start again straight away despite the hardware changes. Otherwise, delete the Windows partition and create a new one using the setup program. During installation, Windows 11 will ask for the product key. You can skip this step by clicking on “I don’t have a product key”. You can use Windows for 30 days without entering a product key. This is permitted as long as you have a license. As soon as the setup is complete, go to “System -> Activation” in the “Settings”, click on “Change” under “Change product key” and enter the key. Windows 11 should accept the old product key from version 10. Transferring the Windows 10 license to a new computer with Windows 11 is exactly the same as after upgrading the hardware. You only need to note that once you’ve set up the Windows 11 PC, you may no longer formally use the previous computer with Windows 10. This is because a Windows license may only be used on one computer at a time. What the activation status means In the Windows 11 Settings app, under “System -> Activation”, you can check whether the operating system has already been activated and linked to your Microsoft account. Windows distinguishes between four different cases. Windows is activated: Windows has been activated, but the license is not linked to a Microsoft account. Windows has been activated with a digital license: Windows has been activated, but the digital license is not linked to a Microsoft account. Windows has been activated by a digital license linked to your Microsoft account: Windows has been activated and the digital license is already linked to a Microsoft account. Windows is not activated: Windows has not yet been activated. An error message is displayed for this reason. You may need to purchase a new license for the operating system. Read...

Small things are cute. That’s practically the entire business plan behind everything from Polly Pocket to Reese’s Pieces. And it holds true for desktop PCs, where small form factor builds are all the rage now. Over at the PCWorld Labs, Adam and Will are going hog wild on a bunch of different designs, including the Teenage Engineering “$0” plastic case, the Framework Desktop, the LiquidHause ISO Chassis, and more. In this over-three-hour-long build video, the duo waxes poetic on all the ins and outs of building computers in itty bitty spaces, comparing tons of different layouts and design philosophies. It makes great background watching for a long gaming session or some housework. (Yeah, we know what you guys are doing with these.) If this is your jam, be sure to subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube and check out our weekly podcast The Full Nerd. Read...

One of the hottest apps for Windows users right now is Flyoobe, a free tool that can be used—among other things—to install Windows 11 on computers that don’t meet Microsoft’s official requirements. As of today, version 1.10 of Flyoobe is now available, just four days after the previous 1.7 release from last Thursday. Version 1.7 brought improvements to the OOBE (Out-of-Box Experience) page that now lets you disable AI features in Windows upon installation. With it, you can disable Copilot and other AI features from the get-go. Version 1.10 is a major update, bringing a much improved navigation flow to the OOBE, an improved interface that’s more familiar for Windows users, improved AI detection, fixes to bugs and edge cases, plus new extensions that let you customize the OOBE (such as Windows 11 Honest Mode that reveals what the OS is running in the background). You can start using Flyoobe for free right now. All you have to do is grab the latest version from its GitHub releases page. Read...