Not all browsers are created equal, especially for gamers. If you game while browsing, use Discord, watch Twitch, or check out new games often, you need more than just speed. That’s where Opera GX comes in. This free specialized browser comes with a range of clever functions that are specifically tailored to gamers, from a resource manager to an integrated streaming sidebar. We present the five best tips and tricks for Opera GX. Note: You can download Opera GX (for free!) for Windows, macOS, and even mobile. 1. Tame resources with one click With Opera GX, you can set an upper limit for resource consumption directly in the browser.Foundry We’ve all been there: the voice chat is open, a game is running in the background, a YouTube video is playing in the browser tab, and suddenly things get jerky because the system is running out of steam. Many browsers consume significantly more resources in the background than gamers would like. This is especially critical when a demanding game is already fighting for CPU and RAM. Opera GX solves this problem with a built-in function called GX Control. This allows you to define exactly how much RAM and processor power the browser is allowed to use. The whole thing works via two simple controllers, one for RAM and one for the CPU. Once the limit is reached, the browser automatically slows down its processes so that the game continues to run smoothly. How to activate GX Control: Click on the GX Control icon at the top left (it looks like a speedometer). Activate the RAM limiter and/or the CPU limiter. Use the slider to select the desired upper limit. A small diagram shows you in real time how busy the browser currently is, and you can counteract this directly if necessary. This is real life insurance for gamers with only 8GB RAM or older systems. You can also activate a network limiter at this point. 2. Free games, deals, and release dates at a glance GX Corner shows the latest gaming news, free games and new releases at a glance.Foundry Opera GX thinks for you, even when you’re not playing games, but are looking for new titles or favorable gaming deals. That’s what the GX Corner is for: a central information hub directly in the browser that clearly lists free-to-play games, current deals, and upcoming releases. You can find the GX Corner directly in the sidebar. Click on the small game pad at the top left (next to the GX symbol). You’ll then find it in a new window: A list of free games from stores such as Steam, Epic Games, or GOG A clear calendar with the most important gaming releases Top news from the world of games, e-sports, and hardware Practical: The range of free games is updated automatically, so you won’t miss any more promotions. And, if you’re looking for new releases, you can filter by platform (e.g. PC, Xbox, PS5, Switch, or mobile games). What we particularly like about the GX Corner is that it’s completely ad-free. Instead of banners and pop-ups, curated content awaits us here: compact, up-to-date and without annoying distractions. If you regularly browse gaming stores anyway, this feature can save you a lot of time. 3. Whatsapp, Discord, Twitch–keep everything in the sidebar Opera GX lets you keep an eye on chats and streams, even while gaming.Foundry Want to game, browse, and chat simultaneously without constantly switching windows? No problem. Opera GX can anchor the most important gaming services directly in the sidebar like Twitch and Discord. (Note: Twitch is already integrated by default in the current version of Opera GX) How to activate the integration: Click on the three-dot icon at the bottom of the left sidebar (sidebar settings). Tick the boxes for the services you want to use, such as Whatsapp and Discord. Now log in to the services (click on the icon in the sidebar)–done. What happens next is virtually seamless social media access via the sidebar: Twitch shows which channels are live in real time, including a preview. Discord allows quick access to servers, chats and channels directly in the browser window. This means you no longer have to switch back and forth between apps or tabs. This is particularly helpful if you are in a gaming session and still want to quickly clarify something in the chat or respond to a stream. The sidebar remains visible even when browser tabs are active, which is perfect for multitasking. Tip: Telegram, Messenger, TikTok, or Spotify can also be integrated into the sidebar for maximum control with minimum distraction. 4. Hot Tabs Killer: Put an end to those background memory hogs With the Hot Tabs Killer, we find and close performance-hungry tabs immediately.Foundry Many browsers suffer from the same problem: the more tabs you’ve got open, the slower the system runs. This gets annoying fast, especially when individual pages continue to run happily in the background. With the Hot Tabs Killer, Opera GX provides an in-built task force against precisely this phenomenon. The tool shows you at a glance which tabs are consuming a particularly large amount of RAM or CPU, and allows you to close them directly. You get to reclaim computing power without having to guess which tab is the culprit. How to use the Hot Tabs Killer: Click on the GX Control icon in the sidebar. Scroll down to the Hot Tabs Killer section. There you will see all active tabs, sorted by resource consumption. Click on the “X” to close the memory guzzlers immediately. Tip: Opera GX automatically sorts tabs according to resource requirements. This means we don’t have to search long to identify system slowdowns. This is ideal for gaming sessions on older laptops, streaming with lots of tabs in the background or for multitaskers who like to have 20 tabs open at the same time. The Hot Tabs Killer is basically the task manager for your browser. Only simpler and with gaming flair. 5. Custom sounds, skins, and effects We can give the GX Browser a real gaming setup with personalised sounds and your own style in no time at all.Foundry Features matter, but they’re not everything. With Opera GX, style isn’t overlooked, it helps set the mood and it’s done especially well here. The browser is highly customized, from color themes to background music and click sounds. GX Design is more than just cosmetics, it transforms the browser into a real gaming interface. You can customize it: Color scheme: Choose your favorite color as a theme, from neon blue to toxic green and magenta. Background music: A subtle synth soundscape provides focus while browsing and can be quickly switched off again with a click. Sound effects: Tab changes, keystrokes, or new messages can trigger your own sounds. Wallpapers & themes: Set your own backgrounds or use gaming themes that are updated regularly. How to activate your customized design: Click on the GX menu at the top right (three dashes). Go to “Appearance.” Choose colors, sounds, and effects to suit your taste–everything can be changed in real time. If you prefer a quieter look, you can also switch off design options. But if you want to feel a bit like you’re in the start menu of Cyberpunk 2077 as soon as you start your browser, Opera GX is the right choice for you. Conclusion: Perfect for gamers who value performance and style Opera GX is ideal for gamers who value performance and style. The browser conserves resources, provides useful gaming news, and looks cool. It also offers many clever features such as GX Control, GX Corner, Twitch and Discord integration, Hot Tabs Killer, and a customizable design. In short, function meets style without compromising the system. Read...

The government has ordered Sports NZ to scrap work on the guidelines and they`ve been removed from its website. Read...

An 18-year-old Auckland baseballer is off to the US on a sports scholarship after posting training videos online, one of which sparked a flood of offers. Read...

Netflix has thousands of videos in its mammoth streaming catalog. Yet, picking just the right show for a given night isn’t the chillaxing experience it should be. Indeed, the busy Netflix interface frequently pushes the same recommendations over and over, leaving the false impression that instead of having heaps of videos to choose from, you have just a dozen or so. But once you know what you’re doing, you can take a deep dive into Netflix’s collection of movies and TV episodes, slicing and dicing its categories to pinpoint the perfect video for the moment. You can also help Netflix make better guesses at what you’ll like. Finally, you can easily save your picks for later, making it easy to fire up a favorite flick with a minimum of fuss. Filter by genre We all know the feeling of scrolling aimlessly through one Netflix category after another, from “Reality TV” and “TV Dramas” to “Thrillers” and “Suspenseful Movies.” If you’d rather not just passively browse through the categories that Netflix chooses to serve up, try this. Click “Genres” to see a list of Netflix genres to browse.Ben Patterson/Foundry If you’re accessing Netflix on the web, click either TV Shows or Movies at the top of the Netflix homepage. Once you do, a Genres pull-down menu will appear. The process varies for other platforms; on iOS, for example, you can tap Categories on the Netflix home screen. Clicking or tapping the Genres or Categories button will reveal a selection of about 20 genres, from “Action” and “Documentaries” for movies and “Anime” and “Stand-Up & Talk Shows” on the TV side. Further reading: Don’t miss our in-depth reviews of the best media streamers. Browse more refined categories Browsing Netflix’s genres is a good first step toward finding the perfect video, but the categories listed in the genres menu are much more broad than the sliced-and-diced collections listed in the main Netflix interface. What if you’re in the mood for, say, a spy movie, a western, a classic musical, or a sports drama? There’s a way to pick and choose between dozens of niche Netflix categories, but it requires a little legwork. On your desktop, browse to Netflix-Codes.com. No, we’re not talking discount codes here; instead, the site lists scores of codes that you can paste into a Netflix URL. Just plug in the code (or, even easier, just right-click the code on the webpage) to jump any number of laser-focused Netflix categories, from “Comic book and superhero movies” and “Film noir” to “Deep sea horror movies” (seriously) and “Food & travel shows.” It’s a great way to uncover some of Netflix’s hidden gems. In the mood for a western? Netflix-Codes.com makes it easy to browse Netflix’s impressive collection of that and other niche categories.Ben Patterson/Foundry Filter by year The vast majority of shows and movies that appear on the Netflix homepage hail from the past five years or so. If you want to see something from the 1990s or earlier, you’ll need to dig. And while you can sort Netflix’s listings by year from the desktop Netflix interface (click TV Shows or Movies, click the grid icon in the upper-right corner, and then select Year Released from the drop-down), you’ll need to scroll and scroll to get past the 2010s—and no, you can’t reverse sort by year. Reelgood lets you filter Netflix search results by year, perfect for finding classic movies or TV shows.Ben Patterson/Foundry Luckily, there are plenty of third-party options to help you zero in on classic movies and TV shows. Reelgood, for example, boasts sliders that let you filter Netflix search results according to year. Just start browsing for movies or TV shows, click the Filter button, then adjust the “release year” slider. You can also filter by user and IMDb ratings while you’re at it. Reelgood isn’t the only service that will let you filter Netflix’s catalog by year; JustWatch is another option, as is Trakt. Rate as many videos as you can Netflix can have some strange ideas about the videos it thinks you’ll want to watch, but you can help nudge its algorithms in the right direction. You can review, change, or even wipe the ratings that you’ve assigned to Netflix videos.Ben Patterson/Foundry Whenever you can, be sure to click one of the thumbs–either thumbs down, thumbs up, or two thumbs up–on the title page of a Netflix video. The more movies and TV shows you rate, the better Netflix’s recommendations will become. Don’t be afraid to rate a video you haven’t seen; if, say, torture movies aren’t your bag, just click thumbs-down on sight. You can also review all your previous ratings, which is handy if you’ve changed your mind about a given title. In a web browser, hover your mouse over your profile icon in the top-right corner of the Netflix homepage, click Account, Profiles, select your own Netflix profile, then click Viewing Activity (don’t forget to click the Ratings tab at the top). Once there, you can click another thumb to change an old rating, or click the currently selected thumb to wipe the rating completely. Find related videos One of the easiest ways to find a movie or a TV show you’ll like is by checking the related videos of your favorites. Depending on your platform, however, Netflix does a spotty job of recommending movies and shows based on the videos you’re browsing. The “More Like This” section can be essential for finding your next Netflix video, provided you’re on the right platform.Ben Patterson/Foundry The Netflix on my Apple TV, for example, doesn’t show related videos at all, while the Netflix iOS app has a “More Like This” section prominently placed on the title page of a video. If your Netflix app of choice isn’t serving up related video, just visit Netflix on your desktop, hover over a title, click the down-arrow that appears on the bottom, and then click More Like This. Rediscover your queue So, you’ve found some Netflix videos you’re dying to watch. Now what? Well, those of us who were loyal Netflix-by-mail subscribers will remember the vaunted Netflix queue, a place where we carefully curated the list of scores or even hundreds of movies and shows we wanted to watch. As it began its slow shift away from DVDs and toward streaming, Netflix seemingly tired of the queue, eventually renaming it “My List” and shuffling it into a hard-to-find row in the main interface. Netflix only offers limited options for managing your queue.Ben Patterson/Foundry While the queue—er, My List—eventually found its way back to the main Netflix UI, it lost much of its functionality along the way. On a desktop browser, you can’t rearrange your queue at all, while on the iOS version of Netflix, you get some basic filters (TV shows, movies, “started,” and “haven’t watched”) and sorting options (like alphabetically, date added to list, release date, or “top matches” according to Netflix), and that’s it. If you really want to take charge of your Netflix queue, you’re probably better off ditching it in favor of one of the third-party services we mentioned previously, like Reelgood, JustWatch, or Trakt. Yes, it’s annoying to have to switch apps, but the sad truth is that Netflix’s My List just doesn’t cut it anymore. Read...

Orewa College is seeking answers before getting the police involved. Read...

CM Punk tells Wide World of Sports he will make the trip to Perth later this year for WWE Crown Jewel. Read...

CM Punk speaks to Wide World of Sports about his second run with WWE, putting almost a decade of bad blood behind him. Read...

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee has effectively barred transgender women from competing in women’s sports in an update that falls in line with US President Donald Trump’s executive order. Read...

The committee told the federations overseeing swimming, athletics and other sports it has an “obligation to comply” with Donald Trump’s executive order. Read...

The High Noon Express chairlift has a vertical rise of 398m, offloading at 2322m. Read...