Black Friday may be a time of rampant consumerism. But I treat it as an opportunity for savvy consumerism—if this period of sales is baked into the system, we may as well take advantage of it. I try to shop smart. Unfortunately for me (and everyone else), the definition of “smart” is a lot harder to figure out this year. Memory prices have risen, for starters. In the past few weeks, the cost of DDR5 RAM shot up by 100 percent or more, depending on the kit. DDR4 trailed not far behind. (Yet one more thing AI is ruining.) Module vendors won’t be increasing supply much either, which is apparently causing PC manufacturers to buy up as much as they can. Also, delays in the release of new RAM kits. Meanwhile, the full effect of the U.S. tariffs looms in the background, too. After the holiday retail rush, experts anticipate that businesses will have run out of goods stockpiled at lower prices. Which means come 2026, building a PC (or buy any tech gadget) may become financially rough. Painfully expensive RAM is the start. Next will be higher prices for graphics cards, followed by even slower release of new mid-range GPUs. I could see next year and beyond feeling worse than 2021’s dark combo of pandemic shortages and cryptomining. So I keep asking myself what tech I should buy this month.  Not just PC parts, but everything. I’m weighing what else could quickly change in availability or cost—and how fast it could change. I’m thinking over my small inventory of goods and their ages, and how much life they have left. I’m racking my brain for items I never think about but would hate to replace at exorbitant cost. Storage is also going up in price, though not as fast as memory. I’m very likely picking up a drive or two during this Black Friday.Foundry And I’m asking myself what I think would hold up, especially if tech starts to slow or even stagnate with its releases, due to high production costs. Components usually aren’t cost effective to buy and hold, for example—you lose money for the privilege of holding them in storage. But if they become more expensive and scarce, and their performance holds? That changes the calculus. So extra RAM and SSDs? With how I operate, I’ll need them down the line. But my Ryzen 5000-series build that I only use periodically for encodes? I can make that stretch. As for my laptop situation, where I squeak by with a few old ones ranging from 8 to 11 years old, I’m resigned to eventually moving to Linux until the hardware finally feels too slow. Honestly, shopping this Black Friday feels like a grocery store run—juggling what I want, what’s good for me, and what will help me use up what I’ve already got on hand. Deal hunting is less entertaining as a result, but I prefer that to the prospect of paying 50, 100, 140 percent more (or even greater) for items I’ll need in the future. In this episode of The Full Nerd  In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Will Smith answer everyone’s questions during a Q&A blitz. Well, not everyone, since we can’t podcast for the entire day (sadly). But we did tackle the Steam Machine (again), Windows subscriptions, AI making us stupider, and a heck of a lot more. A lot of Xbox talk more. I may have also dug deep into my thoughts on the Steam Machine. (I’m still so bummed to have missed the discussion last week when Steve and Sean were around.) Also, we dunked on the idea of Windows as an agentic OS. As is proper. 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! 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 pocketful of nerd news After last week’s Steam Machine announcement, the news feels comparatively quiet—but no less interesting. I definitely uttered a phrase I can’t repeat here after seeing the bit about the tape storage standard and the 100TB of compressed data it will hold. hito_hiro7265/Twitter Silverstone is now serving up a smaller dose of nostalgia: I’m still not as sold on this retro case’s looks as the rest of the PCWorld staff—though that’s definitely not Silverstone’s fault. (Some things I just wish to leave in the past.) But if I were to do a sleeper build, it’d be in this littler mATX box. Respect to an OG: Tape storage isn’t just still alive and kicking, it’s thriving. A new standard that can hold 100TB of compressed data on a 40TB cartridge? Daaaaaaamn. File under ‘Don’t need it, but want it’: Mike Crider reviewed another nifty Raspberry Pi-powered writer’s gadget. I don’t need it, since I use my phone with a Bluetooth keyboard for distraction-free writing. (Don’t know why it works for me, but it does.) But gosh, this looks so neat. The internet went spotty because of one file: I’m glad that for once, a major internet outage (this time, it was Cloudflare’s servers that barfed) is due to good old-fashioned, simple human error. I needed a break from all the security attacks this year. Are NPUs already dead in the water? PCWorld contributor Chris Hoffman neatly dissects the state of “AI PCs” and how GPUs still eclipse NPUs for local AI computing. “It’s not a matter of if the capacitors will fail, simply when”: Still own a Voodoo 2 card? You may want to perform some elective surgery on it to help preserve its longevity. Tyler Keillor / Fossil Lab ‘Dinosaur mummies’ would make a great band name: I think it’s metal as heck that living creatures can die and leave impressions in the environment so detailed, you can see the texture of their skin in clay millennia later. Don’t get scammed during Black Friday! Worried about your loved ones and scams during this holiday shopping period? I got you. You can just pass along these tips on how to stay safe during this chaotic time of year. Love that efficiency: As someone who watches her utility bills like a hawk, I dig this concept out of the UK: Build a server shed in a person’s yard, then take the heat generated and repurpose it to warm up homes. I’m all about that repurposing. Heck yeah, I want Firefox custom shortcuts: I love Firefox, and I advocate its usage to anyone who’ll bother listening to me. (Its reader mode is A+.) I also love custom keyboard shortcuts, so I’m looking forward to the marriage of these two things. Redstone Redstone Redstone: Part of AMD’s new FSR Redstone technology already launched with Call of Duty 7, but more is still to come on December 10. I expect The Full Nerd crew will chew hard on whatever info comes to light. Uh, guess I’m getting my flu shot ASAP: Chalk this up as a general PSA. In case you were thinking of delaying this year due to previous milder flu seasons (or even outright skipping), perhaps reconsider. As I am. Catch you all next week—I’ll be in the thick of covering Black Friday sales on PCWorld, in addition to whatever deals we chat about on the show. That includes a live blog on Black Friday proper (November 28) helmed by yours truly, from about 9am to 12pm Pacific (and Brad before that).  If you see nothing but “Yo, get this HDMI cable for $4,” “Hey, this very decent office chair is $130,” and “This insanely badass router dropped to $280,” well, you already know the reason behind my laser focus on boring stuff. Alaina Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Large touchpad compared to alternatives 16-inch 1200p display at a low price Lots of physical connectivity Good battery life for a budget gaming laptop Cons Sub-par CPU performance Terrible audio quality from built-in speakers Wireless connectivity stuck on the Wi-Fi 6 standards Slightly more expensive laptops offer better value Our Verdict  The Acer Nitro V 16 AI is a budget gaming laptop with ok game performance and good battery life (for a gaming laptop). Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Acer Nitro V 16 AI Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices Shoppers looking to buy a laptop with Nvidia RTX 50-series graphics for around $800 or less have few options—one of which is the Acer Nitro V 16 AI, which retails for about $799 online. Although it provides acceptable performance for a budget machine, its day-to-day usability and battery life are what sets it apart from the pack. Acer Nitro V 16 AI: Specs and features as-tested The Acer Nitro V 16 AI’s specifications make the laptop feel like a vessel for the RTX 5050 8GB GPU. The AMD Ryzen 5 240 CPU is among the least capable in AMD’s line-up, and the laptop makes do with only 16GB of RAM as well as a 512GB solid state drive. Model: ANV16-42 CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 240 Memory: 16GB LPDDR5-5600 Graphics/GPU: Nvidia RTX 5050 8GB NPU: Up to 16 TOPS Display: 16-inch 1920×1200 180Hz IPS-LCD display Storage: 512GB M.2 PCIe 4.0 solid state drive Webcam and microphone: 720p webcam with dual-array microphone Connectivity: 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x USB-C with DisplayPort and Power Delivery, 2x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, 1x USB-A 3.1 Gen 1, 1x microSD card reader, 1x Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45), 1x 3.5mm combo audio Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 Biometrics: None Battery capacity: 76 watt-hours Dimensions: 14.2 x 10.9 x 0.92 inches Weight: 5.38 pounds Operating System: Windows 11 Home Price: $899 MSRP / $629 to $799 typical retail This is a common strategy for a budget gaming laptop. Most competitors, from the Asus ROG TUF line to the Lenovo LOQ 15 and Dell G15, also rely on entry-level CPUs and have 16GB of RAM alongside a 512GB solid state drive. You’ll usually need to pay about $1,000 if you want 1TB of storage (in a laptop with an Nvidia RTX 50-series GPU, at least). The Acer Nitro V 16 AI is a respectable budget gaming laptop that provides decent game performance and surprisingly good battery life. Acer Nitro V 16 AI: Design and build quality Foundry / Matthew Smith The Acer Nitro V 16 AI doesn’t make much of an impression. It’s a black laptop with a subtle metallic luster adorned only with a chrome “N” on the lid, which is the logo for Acer’s Nitro sub-brand. Besides that, there’s not much to say about the laptop’s style. It’s simple but inoffensive. Opening the laptop will reveal a couple subtle touches, though none are all that attractive. The Nitro logo is engraved into the palm rest, along with the phrase “Victory starts here” engraved just below the numpad. Build quality is acceptable. Quickly opening the laptop’s lid reveals obvious display flex, but the lower chassis is solid when the laptop is picked up from a corner or edge. Keyboard flex can be found if you try but it’s not a problem in normal use. As with most budget gaming laptops, the Nitro V 16 AI isn’t small. It measures over 14 inches wide, nearly 11 inches deep, and almost an inch thick at its thickest point. It also weighs 5.38 pounds. With that said, most gaming laptops of this size are at least this heavy (over six pounds is not uncommon). Acer Nitro V 16 AI: Keyboard, trackpad, mouse Foundry / Matthew Smith I found the Acer Nitro V 16 AI’s keyboard to be merely functional. The laptop’s size provides a good amount of room, which Acer uses to squeeze in a numpad. However, the spaces between each key are large, which in turn means the keys are smaller than you might expect. This is most noticeable for the right side Shift key, and left-side Tab and Control keys, which are tiny. Annoyingly, the Microsoft Copilot key is one of the largest keys on the keyboard. This is odd because, despite its name, the Acer Nitro V 16 AI doesn’t qualify as a Microsoft Copilot+ PC. Though the key layout does the keyboard no favors, it’s balanced by the fundamental advantages of a larger, thicker laptop. Keys have a good amount of key travel, the overall size of the keyboard is spacious, and the palm rest offers a good amount of room. I was able to hammer out a few thousand words in comfort. The touchpad is an advantage. It measures about five inches wide and a little more than three inches deep. Alternatives like the Lenovo LOQ 15 and Dell G15 have noticeably smaller touchpads that feel cramped by comparison. Acer Nitro V 16 AI: Display, audio Foundry / Matthew Smith The Acer Nitro V 16 AI ships with a 1920×1200 resolution IPS-LCD display that can achieve a refresh rate up to 180Hz. The 16-inch 1200p display is worth special mention. Most budget gaming laptops still use a 15.6-inch 1080p display. Compared to these, the Nitro V 16 AI provides a slightly taller display with more usable space. It’s not a big deal in games but it makes the laptop more enjoyable for web browsing and work. IPS-LCD displays tend to have lackluster contrast and color when compared to OLED alternatives. That translates to relatively dull, flat image quality. With that said, the IPS display is good enough in most situations. The contrast issue only becomes obvious when the laptop is used in a dark room, as darker scenes appear gray and hazy. The image is sharp and bright and the display has a semi-gloss coat that resists reflections. You may still find the display difficult to see if you sit near a large sunlit window, however, and outdoors use isn’t comfortable even with the display at its maximum brightness. The same is true for other budget gaming laptops. Motion performance is decent. The 180Hz refresh rate provides fluid, responsive motion when games render at a frame rate close to the panel’s maximum refresh rate. Motion clarity is decent with good detail across a scene, but small elements like fonts or HP bars can still be difficult to make out. G-Sync is absent, unfortunately, which means you’ll need to use a game’s V-Sync setting or risk unsightly screen tearing. Audio quality is a problem. The built-in speakers aren’t loud even at maximum volume. Despite that, I often noticed an unpleasant rattling sound caused by vibrations in the laptop chassis when the speakers were at high volumes. Acer Nitro V 16 AI: Webcam, microphone, biometrics You’re not going to want to take video calls on the Acer Nitro V 16 AI. The laptop has a barebones 720p webcam with a soft, grainy image. It’s a basic experience excused only by the fact most competitive budget gaming laptops also have a 720p webcam. The dual-array microphone is a bit more usable, but not by much. It picks up audio that’s crisp, clear, and loud enough to be usable on Zoom or Google Meet. But, once again, this is a minimalist experience. Biometric login is not supported. This, once again, is typical for a budget gaming laptop. Very few offer a fingerprint reader or IR camera for facial recognition. Acer Nitro V 16 AI: Connectivity You’ll find plenty of ports lining the Acer Nitro V 16 AI’s flanks. The left side provides Gigabit Ethernet, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port, 3.5mm audio, and a microSD card reader, while the right side offers two more USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports. The rear includes HDMI 2.1, USB-C with Power Delivery and DisplayPort, and a barrel plug connector for the bundled 135-watt power brick. The USB-C port can be used to charge the laptop, though it doesn’t provide as much power as the 135-watt power brick. While the Nitro V 16 AI’s physical connectivity is solid, it’s not unusual for the category. Most budget gaming laptops have a similar number and configuration of ports. The microSD card reader is the only physical connectivity option that’s unexpected. Wireless connectivity is disappointing, as the Acer Nitro V 16 AI only supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3. This puts it two generations behind the latest Wi-Fi standard and a generation behind the latest Bluetooth standard. I wouldn’t call it an immediate problem, as Wi-Fi 6 is still rather quick and new standards are backwards-compatible, but this could make the laptop’s Wi-Fi connectivity feel outdated more quickly as new standards emerge (Wi-Fi 8 is already announced). Acer Nitro V 16 AI: Performance The Acer Nitro V 16 AI that I received for review had an AMD Ryzen 5 240 CPU. It’s a low-end CPU in AMD’s current line-up. It has the AMD Zen 4 architecture (a step behind the latest Zen 5) and a total of six CPU cores with hyper-threading for a total of 12 threads. The maximum boost clock is 5GHz. That’s paired with the Nvidia RTX 5050 with 8GB of VRAM and a maximum graphics power of only 95 watts—fairly low for a modern Nvidia mobile GPU in a dedicated gaming laptop. 16GB of DDR5-5600 memory and a 512GB PCIe 4.0 solid state drive round out the specifications. Foundry / Matthew Smith First up is PCMark 10, a holistic system benchmark. Here the Acer Nitro V 16 AI provides a good result of 7,259. That defeats the Alienware 16 Aurora and older HP Victus 15. On the other hand, there’s still a huge difference between the Acer Nitro V 16 AI and alternatives with a more power-hungry processor, such as the Lenovo Legion 5i with the Intel Core i7-14900HX. Foundry / Matthew Smith Cinebench 2024, a heavily multi-threaded CPU benchmark, reaches a modest score of 685 on the Acer Nitro V 16 AI. That’s not a huge surprise because, as mentioned, the AMD Ryzen 5 240 is towards the lower half of AMD’s product stack. Still, there’s significant gap between the Ryzen 5 240 and other CPUs you might find in budget gaming laptops, such as the AMD Ryzen 7 250 and Intel Core 7 240H. Foundry / Matthew Smith Handbrake is another multi-threaded CPU benchmark, but one with a longer duration. This test once again puts the Acer Nitro V 16 AI towards the bottom of the pack, though the margin of its defeat is smaller than it was in Cinebench 2024. I think it’s clear the AMD Ryzen 5 240 is not a performer in CPU tests. It’s fine, but it’s easy to find a gaming laptop with a faster CPU even in the sub-$1,000 price bracket. The Acer Nitro V 16 AI is aimed at gaming, however, so how does Nvidia’s RTX 5050 8GB perform? Foundry / Matthew Smith 3DMark places the RTX 5050 where I would expect it. The Acer Nitro V 16 AI is a fair bit quicker than the HP Victus 16 that PC World tested with an RTX 4050. However, new laptops with an RTX 5060 prove quicker. The margin of victory for the RTX 5060 is often slim, though, depending on the laptop used for comparison. The Lenovo LOQ 15 leaps ahead, but the Alienware 16 Aurora with RTX 5060 is only about 10 percent quicker in 3DMark benchmarks. Foundry / Matthew Smith Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an older game that just about any modern gaming laptop can handle, and the Acer Nitro V 16 AI is no exception. It achieved an average of 120 frames per second. As the 3DMark test results suggested, the Acer Nitro V 16 AI is not as quick as RTX 5060 laptops, but has an advantage over the older RTX 4050. Foundry / Matthew Smith Metro Exodus, though also an older game, remains extremely demanding if the Extreme preset is used. The Acer Nitro V 16 AI can’t even crack an average of 40 FPS. To be fair, though, most RTX 5060 laptops also barely exceed 40 FPS. And the Nitro V 16 AI once again shows a decent lead over the HP Victus 15 with the older RTX 4050. Foundry / Matthew Smith We round out things with Cyberpunk 2077. While the Nitro V 16 AI is definitely less capable than RTX 5060 machines, the RTX 5050 allows Acer’s budget gaming laptop to hit an average of 72 FPS at 1080p and the Ultra preset. In general, a pleasant 1080p/60 experience is possible on the laptop even without the use of DLSS, which was not active for this test. The Acer Nitro V 16 AI’s overall results are about what I would expect. Nvidia’s RTX 5050 8GB is an entry-level part and, predictably, it doesn’t quite match the performance available from an RTX 5060—though the two are often close. If you’re upgrading from an older RTX 3050 or RTX 4050 laptop you will see a noticeable improvement. Pricing doesn’t work to Acer or Nvidia’s favor, however. Laptops with the RTX 5060 are barely more expensive than the Acer Nitro V 16 AI. Lenovo’s LOQ 15 is a good example of this, as it can retail as low as $809.99. Acer Nitro V 16 AI: Battery life and portability The Acer Nitro V 16 AI has a 76 watt-hour battery. That’s a modest size for a gaming laptop (though typical for one priced below $1,000). You might expect battery life to be awful, but here the Nitro V 16 AI is able to pull off a surprise. Foundry / Matthew Smith Our standard battery rundown test, which loops a 4K file of the short film Tears of Steel, ran for over 12 hours before the Nitro V 16 AI had to call it a day. As the graph shows, that’s a much better result than is typical for a gaming laptop—at any price. Several factors combine to help the Nitro V 16 AI pull this off. It has support for Nvidia Optimus, which turns off the discrete GPU when it’s not needed. This transfers work to the AMD Ryzen 5 240, which is a miserly chip for a gaming laptop. I suspect the 1200p IPS LCD also helps, as it should draw less power than the higher-res OLED display you’d find on a more expensive gaming laptop. While this result is excellent, remember that battery life will vary depending on how the laptop is used. Gaming on the laptop will engage the Nvidia GPU, which in turn can drain the battery in under two hours if you’re playing a demanding game. Real-world use will also tend to be less than the benchmark suggests, depending on what you’re doing. Still, I experienced real-world battery life of roughly eight hours in a mix of web browsing and writing in LibreOffice. That’s not bad for a budget gaming laptop. Acer Nitro V 16 AI: Conclusion The Acer Nitro V 16 AI is a respectable budget gaming laptop that provides decent game performance and surprisingly good battery life. I also like the laptop’s 16-inch display with 1200p resolution, which is a step up from competitors with a 15.6-inch 1080p display. Other advantages include a wide range of physical connectivity and a decent touchpad. However, the AMD Ryzen 5 240 doesn’t post great results in CPU tests and the laptop has to make do with just 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The built-in speakers are a miss, too. I recommend the Acer Nitro V 16 AI over most of the budget gaming laptops I’ve tested or used in 2025. It’s among the more affordable entries in this arena and manages to avoid issues (like short battery life and a sub-par display) that impact competitors including the Lenovo LOQ 15 and HP Victus 15. Also keep a sharp eye on price. Though it has an MSRP of $899, the Acer Nitro V 16 AI is currently $629 on Walmart, compared to $799 on Amazon. The Nitro V is worth an extra half-star when on sale below $700, as it’s a great value at that pricing. Read...

Online security used to be simple. All you needed was a good password and, in the early days, you didn’t need a ton of numbers, letters, and special characters to achieve that goal. No need for antivirus software to verify you were logging into legitimate sites, either. Privacy also wasn’t quite as fragile as it is today. Your email wasn’t constantly being lost to yet another data breach. But AI has helped hackers and criminals become sneakier with their attacks, so now the recommendations for best security practices have become more sophisticated, too. Currently, experts recommend the use of unique, random passwords (and the more characters, the better) plus two-factor authentication as a strong baseline. (Passkeys also work great.) But you can go further—and companies on the frontlines of cybersecurity have made that easier.  the best ANTIVIRUS SUITE Norton 360 Deluxe Read our review One such step is called masked email. (You may also hear it referred to as email masks or email masking.) It formalizes a long-available feature known as email aliases as a privacy and security measure. A randomized email address is created to hide (aka mask) your true email address for an online account. Any correspondence sent to the masked email address gets forwarded to your actual inbox. The sender doesn’t know about the email’s final destination. They’ll only find out if you accidentally reply to a message as your main account. The benefits are twofold. You get better privacy, because the more you use different masked email addresses (ideally, one per online account), the more you limit the potential damage of the information leaking in a data breach. That email address won’t work on other websites as a login ID or for a password reset. Nor can someone take over the address as they could with an actual account. It’s just a forwarding address, and a disposable one at that. Masked email vs email aliases Masked email is a more specific (and automated) take on email aliases. Mozilla / PCWorld If you already filter your incoming email and/or guard against spam by using email aliases, masked email may sound like an empty marketing term for a familiar feature. But there is a slight difference—email masking is a narrower use of email aliases, with a particular style in how the aliases are created. With masked email, the focus is on auto-generated random, unique identifiers. Think 4k9xkeo@emailservice.com or even siftflask.3242@emailservice.com. You don’t need to come up with your own aliases, thus streamlining their use. The suggested aliases also completely obscure your email address, unlike with inserting periods into your username (e.g., random.username@gmail.com) or adding a + sign and an extra phrase (e.g. randomusername+alias@gmail.com) don’t achieve. You should also get streamlined controls to block incoming mail or disable the forwarding address if it gets flooded with unwanted email. The result is a faster, easier way to maintain anonymity in your contact info—and for sites that default to email addresses as usernames, your login info too. With the added benefit of integration with some browsers and password managers, email masking saves time and reduces the hassles of the DIY route. Ways you can start using masked email Some email providers offer masked email as part of their plans. Fastmail takes that one step further by offering integration with password managers like 1Password and Bitwarden for super-simple creation and storing of aliases.PCWorld Two common ways to get email masking is through an email provider or a dedicated service. Email providers offer the feature as an integrated part of the service. Access often requires a subscription, though. Only a few providers offer masked email, typically bundled into paid plans (e.g., Apple iCloud+, Fastmail, Proton Mail). That said, Proton Mail does offer basic hide-my-email aliases for free to all users, and prices otherwise start as low as $0.99 USD per month (iCloud+). a password manager that supports email maskS 1Password Read our review Dedicated services can be used with any site, main email address, browser, password manager, etc. You create an account using the email address you want to receive the forwarded email, and then create masks through the web interface or a browser extension. Some services also offer premium plans that allow sending and replying from an email mask, support larger file attachments, and generate email masks for multiple email addresses. All email masks are managed through the service, which is less convenient than with an email provider. You won’t have a single spot to control your direct and forwarded email. To really simplify using email masks, choose a service that integrates with a password manager. Once you connect your email account or masking service, you’ll be able to create the email masks directly within the password manager. It eliminates the need to copy and paste the new forwarding address when saving login info. Currently 1Password has a partnership with Fastmail, and Bitwarden has relationships with Fastmail, SimpleLogin, Addy.io, DuckDuckGo, Forward Email, and Firefox Relay. Apple users can use the company’s Hide My Email feature; email masks automatically save to iCloud Keychain if you actively use the latter. Alternatively, you can pick a password manager like NordPass or ProtonPass that directly handles email mask generation. Free email masking services SimpleLogin is the most generous with the features available to free users. SimpleLogin / PCWorld While getting masked email through an email provider usually costs money, dedicated services usually offer a free plan. They’re more limited in scope but still a great start. SimpleLogin offers 10 free forwarding addresses. There are no bandwidth limitations, and forwarded emails can be up to 25MB each. The service also allows you to reply to email from an alias, too. Firefox Relay lets you create just five free forwarding addresses, with a 10MB size limit per email and no bandwidth limitations. You can’t reply to email on the free tier, however. This service makes the list for a couple of reasons: It works across devices, and upgrading to the paid tier with unlimited addresses and the ability to send email from aliases is just $12 per year. (You will need to switch to Firefox if you want to use the browser extension for maximum ease of use, but that’s not a bad thing given Firefox’s greater commitment to privacy.) Addy.io allows you to create unlimited “standard” email masks. These are based on your Addy.io username, however—so if you want more privacy, you can then use one of your 10 free shared domain email masks. You can send and reply from your aliases, too. The catch: You’re limited to 10MB (yes, megabytes) of bandwidth per month. The company estimates that to be roughly 140 emails max. (Start adding in attachments and that drops very, very fast.) Live exclusively in Apple’s ecosystem? Sign in with Apple is a free way to get started with the company’s take on email masking.PCWorld Apple users also have an alternative option called Sign in with Apple. For apps and websites that allow you to sign in with your Apple ID, you get access to a limited form of Hide My Email, the company’s email masking service. Apple will generate a random forwarding email that will pass messages from the site or app to your Apple ID’s linked email address. Unlike the version of Hide My Email that comes with iCloud+, you can’t change the generated aliases or create ones independently. Also, as a general security note, signing in with this method can carry risk, since anyone with access to your Apple account could also then access linked services and apps, too. P.S.—Unique user IDs help online privacy and security, too The general concept behind masked email can be applied to creating user IDs, too. For sites that ask you to create a dedicated username (e.g., randomuser1), going with a new identifier each time makes it harder for people to track you across the web. Unauthorized access to your other accounts is less likely, too, when your username and password are different for every site and app. And you can combine masked email with a unique user ID so that you’re really hard to trace—useful when signing into sites that have yet to implement passkeys, a more secure alternative to passwords. (Or when, in the name of saving your future bacon, you still keep a username/password combo as secondary method of logging into an account with passkeys enabled.) Sounds complicated? This is why a password manager is so handy. It lets you continually level up your security with very little mental burden, especially if you pick one with support for email masking and passkey storage. Choose a paid password manager or a free one—either will make life easy. Read...

OPINION: If I’m guilty of anything, it is having bad general knowledge. And that is better than being a cheat, writes Monty Panesar. Read...

Eight new MPs have been elected to Tonga`s parliament in the general election amid a continuing decline in voter turnout. Results released by the electoral commission overnight show six people`s... Read...

OpenSSF has welcomed Target, Thread AI, and OSTIF as general members, enhancing efforts to improve security across the open source software ecosystem. Read...

Voting continues for the general public to elect 17 people`s representatives, who will join their nine noble counterparts in the Legislative Assembly. Read...

The online storage service Internxt secures data with encryption in accordance with the AES-256 standard, ensuring strong protection for sensitive files. The tool is based on open source technology and is available on GitHub. According to the provider, it’s GDPR-compliant. The internet storage has also been verified by Securitum and is said to be 100 percent secure. The service includes a free plan with one gigabyte of storage capacity and the option to share sensitive data with encryption via the cloud. Internxt Drive online backup Read our review Best Prices Today: Free at Internxt Here’s how it works: On the service’s website, go to registration via the blue Select Storage button. Scroll down on the following page and you will find the Internxt Free option. Now click on Select Plan and confirm the free offer in the following pop-up. Enter a valid e-mail address and a password in the field. You’ll then be taken to the interface of your online drive. Switch to your e-mail inbox and confirm your registration there. Use the cogwheel icon in the top right-hand corner of the browser window to configure your workspace. Under General, you can change the language for the interface, if desired, and use it to determine the design. In the Account section, you can customize your avatar and user name. Below this, you can see how much of the free storage space you’re already using. Next, switch to the Security category on the left, enter your password there, and download your key for restoring your account to your computer under Backup Key. This is essential in case you forget your password. Due to data encryption, Internxt passwords cannot be reset in the conventional way by e-mail or security code. You can now upload your first file to the cloud via the user interface. In the file selection, navigate to the directory on your computer, select one or more files, and confirm the transfer by clicking Open. Alternatively, install the Internxt Drive desktop software. There are also mobile apps for Android and iOS. Files can also be moved to folders in the web version using the mouse; this works with individual entries and multiple selections. To create a new folder, simply right-click in the interface, and select New Folder. Alternatively, use the folder icon with the plus sign in the top right-hand corner. By right-clicking on a file, further functions appear. These include renaming and previewing information or moving to the recycle bin. When sharing the data, enter the e-mail addresses for the recipients in the new window. Internxt users then receive a direct message, while users without an account are automatically sent an invitation e-mail by the service. Read...

If you’re wondering whether to cancel YouTube TV in favor of a cheaper live TV streaming package, your options are better than they used to be. Getting local channels, news, and even sports no longer requires a big bundle, with skinnier packages selling for less than YouTube TV’s $83 per month asking price. Smaller packages are also available for folks who don’t care about sports, some of which even include popular streaming services at no additional charge. Even though the carriage dispute between YouTube TV and Disney is now over after dragging into a second week, now’s the time to look at alternatives. You might be better off taking your business elsewhere. If you need sports I’ve already written a whole other article about sports-streaming options that are cheaper than YouTube TV, but here’s a quick rundown: Fubo Sports ($56/mo.): Includes ESPN, Fox Sports, Tennis Channel, NFL Network, Tennis Channel, and most local channels, but does not include NBC or TNT/TBS; and the only included cable news channel is Fox News. DirecTV MySports ($70/mo): Includes local channels, ESPN, Fox Sports, TNT/TBS, NFL Network, MLB Network, NBA TV, NHL Network, USA, Golf Channel, and the major cable news networks. You can add regional sports in some areas for an extra $20 per month. You don’t need a satellite dish and can stream via the DirecTV app on connected TV devices. Xfinity Sports & News ($70/mo.): This one’s for Comcast internet customers only, but it includes local channels ESPN, Fox Sports, Turner channels, USA, Tennis Channel, and Golf Channel; plus, the big three cable news networks. It also includes Peacock, and you can stream using the Xfinity app—no cable box needed. Hulu + Live TV ($90/mo.): It’s not any cheaper than YouTube TV, but it does include Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select and an otherwise similar channel lineup. It’s also on sale at $65 per month for the first three months right now. Sling TV Blue or Orange (starts at $46/mo): Sling can be an odd choice due to its patchy local channel availability, but its combination of cable news, national sports networks, and general entertainment are worth considering–especially if you use an antenna for local channels. Cheaper news and local-channel options If you don’t watch a lot of sports but still want local channels or cable news, have a look at these options: DirecTV MyNews ($40/mo.): Despite the name, this package is actually the cheapest way to get local channels without an antenna. It also includes major cable news networks. Local channels can vary by market, though, so check your zip code on DirecTV’s website. Sling Select ($20/mo. and up): This is a weird one. Depending on where you live, this package will either include no local channels or some combination of ABC, Fox, and NBC. The price increases to $25 per month in markets with at least two of those channels, and $30 per month in markets with all three. (CBS is excluded no matter what.) In all cases, the package includes 11 other cable channels including Fox News, FS1, FX, NFL Network, and MeTV. Check local channel availability here. Notable non-sports options If you don’t need local channels—or you can get them with an antenna—these options could save a lot of money: DirecTV MyEntertainment ($35/mo.): Includes more than 60 entertainment channels, the big three cable news networks, and free access to Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max (with ads). DirecTV MyKids ($20/mo): Offers more than a dozen kids channels—including Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network—and access to Disney+. Philo ($33/mo): Includes more than 60 entertainment channels, plus access to HBO Max, Discovery+, and AMC+ (with ads). Frndly TV ($9/mo): A super-skinny bundle anchored by Hallmark and surrounded by mostly rerun-centric channels. The price jumps to $11 per month if you want DVR service. Maybe you don’t need a bundle at all Between ESPN Unlimited, Fox One, Peacock, Paramount+, HBO Max, CNN All Access, and Disney’s various bundles, much of the content that once required a pay TV package is now available in a somewhat a la carte form. I’m not saying you should subscribe to all of those services simultaneously—if you do, you might be better off with some of the bundles above—but you might be able to find two or three that meet your needs for less than a traditional pay TV package. And unlike with YouTube TV, there are no carriage disputes to worry about. If a company like Disney decides to raise rates, it’ll have to reckon directly with customers like you instead. This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best TV streaming services. Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice. Correction: This article previously said that DirecTV MySports includes Tennis Channel. It does not. Read...

Official support for Windows 10 was discontinued last month, but despite that, there are features from the older OS that are still missing from Windows 11. One such feature? The detailed calendar view in the taskbar. Fortunately, this one’s coming soon! Microsoft announced during yesterday’s Ignite 2025 presentation that it will be adding a new “Agenda view” to the taskbar calendar that helps you streamline your day and prepare for meetings. The Agenda view will give you a quick chronological overview of upcoming events in your calendar, and you’ll be able to hop into meetings directly from this new view. Windows Insiders will be the first to get access to the Agenda view starting in December. Microsoft did not mention when the feature is expected to come to the general public. Read...