Small-but-important tasks never come to me when I’m actually typing my daily to-do list. Instead, they always hit me when I’m doing something else: taking a walk, commuting to work, or other “dead times” when my brain is free to wander.
One habit of truly organized people (I’m not one of them, sadly) is to fire up a voice memo app and just talk. That’s often when your best ideas come…
Water-cooling systems look spectacular inside a PC. But do you really need them? For most gamers, the honest answer is… no. At least not if the sole aim is to squeeze more performance out of your machine. In many cases, a good air-cooling system is perfectly adequate and…
For a year or two in my childhood, the Sega Dreamcast was the future. Not just of video games, but of everything. It had 3D graphics better than anything on the market. It had an internet connection for online gaming. It had Crazy Taxi. In 1999, the Dreamcast was the…
I have a headache from dealing with Secure Boot this past week. I’m also now worried about the future of security on PCs, given the economy right now.
Let’s rewind. On June 24, security certificates for a very important Windows feature began expiring. (This actually affects Linux too, but I’m focusing on Windows since most people use it.) You can read more about Secure Boot in this guide…
Xbox isn’t doing so hot, and you don’t think an MBA to see that. Its console hardware sales are in a distant third place behind Sony and Nintendo, even as the prices of those boxes keep going up. Microsoft’s software side isn’t exactly tearing up the sales charts…
If you’re currently experiencing problems with storage space on your Windows 11 PC, it may not be your own fault—even if you’re hogging a massive number of files and/or apps. You might actually be affected by a system bug that can take up as much as 500 GB of…
What is Windows Secure Boot? Here’s what to know
July 6, 2026
Most people don’t spend time thinking about Secure Boot. (Not even the staff at PCWorld.) But this Windows security feature provides a vital protection against dangerous malware—one some PCs have just lost.
So what is Secure Boot, exactly? And why should you pay attention to all the recent news about it? The situation is more complex than you might guess. It also requires a little manual work…
This is the eighth year running that I’ve written a roundup of the best new games for low-power PCs. And before now, I felt like it might be losing its relevance. After all, the Steam Deck doesn’t have a discrete graphics card, and plenty of new laptops are coming out…
For a time, it seemed as though the Windows world was going to have to admit defeat at the hands of Apple’s almighty silicon. Apple M-series chips are shockingly efficient, which tends to give MacBooks an edge in portability and performance in thin, light laptops.
However…
Are Microsoft’s core productivity apps — Word, Excel, and PowerPoint — endangered by the rise of AI?
That’s the point that Bloomberg and its sources addressed in coverage this week, noting that Microsoft is being buffeted by AI disruption as its stock plunges. “Whether Microsoft Word or Excel will be rendered obsolete by AI remains to be seen,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment…
