The ability of AI services to generate images is well recognized and one of the most common uses of services like ChatGPT. It is also an area that has been surrounded by controversy – photographers, artists and filmmakers are upset that Open AI and other companies have “trained” their AI models on their copyrighted works. In this guide, I gather tips on what you can do and how to get better results. Create images from text The most obvious thing you can use ChatGPT to do with images is to generate something completely new. Just give prompts like “create a picture of two rabbits playing in a meadow” or “make a photorealistic picture of a woman sitting in front of a computer drinking coffee out of a cup that says PC for Everyone” and an image will pop up that you can download and use. In many cases the images ChatGPT generates are really good, or at least good enough to use, but sometimes they don’t match what you asked for, or have obvious errors. Today, errors like too many fingers or an extra hand in a group photo are not as common, but errors that cannot be ignored are still common. When this happens, you can either try to continue in the same chat and try to get ChatGPT to tweak the image until the result is better, or try again with a new or modified prompt. Which works best will vary and you will simply have to try it out. ChatGPT first generated the image on the left. When I asked it to change it so that she is holding the cup in her left hand, I got the image on the right – note that the gaze has been wrong.Bilder genererade av Chat GPT In my experience, the results of small adjustments rarely improve enough to be worth the effort and so-called prompt engineering, where you try out different formulations, is far from an exact science. Even an adjustment that is logically very small, like adding “one of the rabbits has a pink collar” or “she’s holding the cup in her left hand” to the examples above, can lead to totally different results – or be exactly as you hope. 5 tips for better photos with ChatGPT Skärmdump Describe what you are looking forHave a picture in your head of what you want? Describe it as if you were telling someone who can’t see what you see. “A girl with brown hair and pale skin sitting at a piano in an old house with old-fashioned furnishings” is better than “a girl sitting and playing the piano” if that’s exactly how you want the image. If you don’t have a clear picture yourself, ChatGPT has nothing to go on. Sure, it can produce interesting results from time to time to see what happens when the AI is given a freer rein, but if you’re after something in particular, you need to actually say what it is. Avoid overly detailed descriptionsA detailed description is important, but it can also be too much. If you write a whole A4 page with an extremely detailed description, there is a high probability that ChatGPT will lose the thread and produce something unusable. Include the essentials but let the AI fill in the rest. InPixell_Studio “Metadata”Do you want a wide image or a square one? Should it look like a photo or a painting? Should the colors be saturated or faded? How much of the image should the main subject take up? Should the light be warm or cold, sharp or soft? Tell ChatGPT how the picture should be made, not just what it should contain. Try it againDidn’t get it quite right? Ask ChatGPT to try again, or ask it to create some different suggestions. Change the prompt and see if it gives better results. Try a more detailed description – or vice versa, a simpler one, if your original prompt was already very detailed. Start from a sketchIf you can draw a simple sketch that shows the basic composition and content of the image you’re after, you can ask ChatGPT to turn it into a finished image in any style. How well this works varies widely. Common problems include illogical composition, facial expressions that don’t match the sketch, and most of all, people looking in the wrong direction. Editing and improving your own images In addition to generating brand new images, you can use ChatGPT to edit existing images. It’s important to note that this isn’t really editing in the usual sense of the word. Every time you ask it to make a change, it generates the whole image again, it’s just that the algorithm works in such a way that most of the new image will be identical to the original. Skärmdump Once ChatGPT has created an image, you can click on it to open the chatbot’s editing interface. There’s really only one tool here, plus buttons for undo and redo. Click on the edit tool and your mouse pointer will turn into a big circle when you hover it over the image. Click and drag to paint an area that marks the part of the image where you want ChatGPT to make the changes you then ask for. This could be things like removing a distracting object, changing the details of something (like changing the print on a jumper visible in the image) or adding something new. If you want to make more general changes, you can do so directly in the prompt without selecting anything. “Remove background” often works well in its simplicity, but other changes may need a bit more detailed descriptions. Anders Lundberg Sometimes ChatGPT gets itself to make more changes than requested. Then you can try to specifically tell it not to change anything else. For example: “Change the color of the umbrella to red. Do not make any other adjustments or changes to the image.” “Zoom, enhance” A very common trope in films is that a detail is needed from a blurry photo or still from a surveillance film, and all a “computer person” needs to do is zoom in on the image and click an Enhance button. Sometimes a high-resolution version showing the necessary details pops up instantly, but sometimes the story requires it to take time, and then the computer can keep thinking for a long time. Often part of the image is shown at a time and the tension is unbearable as pixel after pixel appears on the screen. This is science fiction, of course. Information that doesn’t exist can’t be ‘recreated’ no matter how advanced an algorithm or how powerful a computer. But with AI, it can be faked. Any feature that removes distracting objects or people and fills in the background uses machine learning of some kind, whether it’s called AI or not. Older techniques like Photoshop’s content-aware fill use simpler algorithms while some newer ones use the same algorithms that AI chatbots do when generating new images. I asked ChatGPT to enlarge and fill in the missing details in this photo.Anders Lundberg The result ChatGPT spat out – not too bad.Genererad av Chat GPT Enlarging an image works in a similar way, but instead of guessing what fits to fill in a larger gap, the algorithm guesses how many small gaps to fill in so that the image is sharper (shows more detail). Since some of the information is already there, the risk of the AI coming up with something completely wrong is much lower. If you can already see what a sign says in a low-resolution image and the AI just makes the text clearer, it hasn’t lied, although it can’t be said to have recreated lost information. The result will never be identical to what it would have been if the image had simply been taken at higher resolution or better sharpness, but in most cases that difference is an academic question – what matters is whether you can use the image at the size you want without it looking blurry. ChatGPT is particularly good at making people sharp.Anders Lundberg Another thing you can try is to ask ChatGPT to sharpen a blurred image, for example a photo where the camera focused wrong. This can work really well if the image is only slightly blurry, but if it’s very blurry it guesses wildly and then the person in the photo can look like someone else entirely. Apply a certain style to images ChatGPT has become known for being good at a particular kind of editing – turning a photo or other image into a picture with a particular style. You’ve probably seen examples of the trend to ask ChatGPT to make images in Studio Ghibli style, that is, with a cartoon style similar to films directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It’s very good at it, but be aware that the creators you make it mimic have in most cases been sharply critical of the move. Some have sued Open AI for copyright infringement. Less controversial is asking ChatGPT to change the image to a style that is not that of any individual artist, for example “turn this photo into a watercolour painting”, or asking for a style that belongs to a long-dead artist like Rembrandt. Foto: Anders Lundberg, målning genererad av Chat GPT You can also upload an existing image to have as a reference and ask ChatGPT to remake other uploaded images to match the style of that image. A trick you can try if this does not give satisfactory results is to upload the example in a new chat instead and ask ChatGPT to “generate a description of the image that could be used to ask ChatGPT to apply the same style to another image”. Paste the results into the chat where you have uploaded the image(s) you want to change the style of. Skärmdump Gallery In the top left column of ChatGPT, under New Chat and Search Chats, you will find the Gallery feature. It’s a repository for all the images you’ve generated with ChatGPT (technically only with the GPT-4o model, not images generated with the older Dall-e model). It makes it easier to find specific images you have generated, so that you can, for example, continue working or look up how you wrote the prompt at the time. Click on an image and then on Open in chat in the top right corner to go to the thread where the image was generated. Skärmdump Generate video with Sora In addition to image generation, Open AI has developed algorithms that can generate video, and is offered as a separate service called Sora, with its own website and app. Sora is not embedded in ChatGPT mainly because the service requires a more advanced user interface, and Open AI wants to keep ChatGPT’s simple interface. Sora is exciting and can create scarily realistic videos. Going through everything you might find useful about video generation would take up more space than I have in this guide. But you can start from the same basic tips as for image generation. My second tip is to try and play around with the service. But keep in mind that you can create a maximum of 15 10-second clips a day unless you have an expensive Pro subscription. Skärmdump Projects and GPTs Just like with text, you can use projects to keep all of your chats organised and add files and instructions to accompany any new chats in that project. This is ideal if, for example, you’re using ChatGPT to create image resources for a website or anything else where you want to stick to a consistent style. If you pay for a Plus subscription, you can also use the GPT feature to create customised versions of the chatbot, not to mention accessing GPTs created by other users, like the upscaling GPT I mentioned above. Read more about the benefits of projects and GPTs here. AI-generated images and copyright If you let ChatGPT or another AI service generate images for you, you have no copyright on them. It doesn’t matter how detailed your description was or how much you fiddled with the prompt. This means that others can copy ‘your’ images and use them, without asking you and without you being able to do anything about it. It is also illegal to claim that you own the copyright to an AI-generated image. However, if you take an AI-generated image and make major changes to it using a program such as Photoshop, it can become a “work of authorship”, which gives you the copyright to it. The same applies if you paint an image that the AI has generated – then it is your painting that you have the copyright to, not the generated original. The US Library of Congress has a good guide to AI and copyright, which also warns of the risk of an AI infringing someone else’s copyright. If you’re just using the images for personal use, there’s a low risk of you being sued, for example by Studio Ghibli if you’ve made a portrait of yourself “Ghibli-style”, but for those running a business, it’s more important to be careful. Read...

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At a glance Top AMD mini PC deal picks Acemagician S3A—$429 (20% off on Amazon) Acemagician Kron K1—$279 (12% off on Amazon) Bosgame P3—$440 (20% off on Amazon) Top Intel mini PC deal picks Acemagic V1—$259 (19% off on Amazon) Geekom GT2 Mega—$1049 (19% off on Amazon) Beastcom M1 Mini—$145 (19% off on Amazon) Whether you’re looking for a productivity mini PC, something for gaming, or just a budget-friendly machine with a small footprint, we’ve got you covered. The team at PCWorld continually sorts through all of the daily mini PC sales and puts together a curated list of the best deals available. Finding the right deals can be tricky, however, because there are so many things to consider, from the configuration to the price. Fear not! I’ve been covering mini PC deals for a long time — and PCWorld has tested thousands of PCs over four decades — so let me help you out. I select our favorite deals by thoroughly examining the list of specs, overall design, user feedback, and general value. The RAM, SSD, and CPU all matter significantly in mini PCs, and if you’re not careful, you may select a “bare-bones” rig that makes you bring your own memory and storage. All of the picks below are hand-selected for not only their performance, but most importantly, their value. I’ve also included some helpful answers to common questions about buying a computer at the bottom of this article. If you’re considering a laptop instead, be sure to check out our best laptop deals, or for more desktop choices check out best computer deals roundup instead—each are updated daily. Updated Dec 8, 2025 to reflect the latest deals and prices. Best deals on AMD mini PCs Amazon Acemagician S3A, AMD Ryzen 7 8745HS/16GB DDR5 RAM/512GB SSD/Radeon 780M iGPU/triple 4K support—$429 (20% off on Amazon) If I were to pick a single mini PC deal right now, I’d go with the Acemagician S3A for $429 because that’s a great price for the specs. It’s more than capable of handling your daily workload, browsing, streaming, and even light gaming thanks to the Radeon 780M integrated graphics. Acemagician Kron K1, AMD Ryzen 5 7430U/16GB DDR4 RAM/512GB SSD/triple 4K support—$279 (12% off on Amazon) The Acemagician Kron K1 is a great budget deal right now for only $279. With 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, you’ll be able to accomplish all of your productivity needs. It would also work well as a streaming or multimedia device as well as a smart home hub—giving you centralized control without breaking the bank. Bosgame P3, AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS/32GB DDR5 RAM/1TB SSD/triple 4K support—$440 (20% off on Amazon) If you’re looking for a bit more juice, the Bosgame P3 for $440 is the mini PC to go for. Not only does it pack 32GB of RAM and a generous 1TB SSD, but the Ryzen 7 processor is ready to handle more intensive tasks should you need it. The fact that the RAM is DDR5 at this price point makes it even more of a great deal. GMKtec M7, AMD Ryzen 7 Pro 6850H/16GB DDR5 RAM/1TB SSD/quad 4K support, Oculink—$420 (25% off on Amazon) Personally, I think the GMKtec M7 deal here is a sneaky bargain. Sure, it comes with less RAM than the Bosgame above and a slightly weaker CPU, but it makes up for it with additional 4K and Oculink connectivity—meaning you can easily hook up an external GPU should you decide to get your game on. GMKtec M5 Plus, Ryzen 7 5825U/32GB RAM/1TB SSD/triple 4K support—$368 (8% off on Amazon) As an alternative to the M7 model, you could opt for the GMKtec M5 Plus deal for $368 instead. You won’t get the same gaming capabilities, but more RAM—even if it is DDR4—for less money is always a plus, especially if you’re looking to use it for work or productivity tasks. Plus, it comes with expansion slots for RAM and storage if you want to upgrade it even further in the future. Geekom A9 Max, AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370/Radeon 890M/32GB DDR5 RAM/2TB SSD/quad 4K support—$1,100 (8% off on Amazon) For a top of the line mini PC packed with powerful components, go with the Geekom A9 Max for $100 off. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 is a very powerful CPU that is not only capable of 1080p gaming combined with the 890M GPU, but also breezes through AI tasks. Ample RAM and SSD storage along with excellent connectivity complete the package. It’s still expensive, but $100 off is better than nothing, right? Best deals on Intel mini PCs Acemagic V1, N150/16GB RAM/1TB SSD/dual 4K support—$259 (19% off on Amazon) This deal for the Acemagic V1 is just a good overall bread-and-butter mini PC deal. The N150 processor and 16GB of DDR4 RAM means it’s powerful enough to handle your productivity and everyday work tasks. It comes with enough SSD storage to save just about everything you need—and includes an additional M.2 slot in case you want to upgrade later. It might not be fancy, but this is a good price for a mini PC that’ll be sufficient for most everyone’s needs. Geekom GT2 Mega, Intel Core Ultra 9 285H/Arc 140T/32GB DDR5 RAM/2TB SSD/quad 4K support—$1049 (19% off on Amazon) If you’re looking for an Intel mini PC that can do it all, then the Geekom GT2 Mega is the one to buy. Packed with a Core Ultra 9 processor, DDR5 RAM, and ample 2TB of onboard SSD storage, this will easily handle everything you throw at it. It’s a full desktop replacement with a smaller footprint and cheaper price tag. Plus, thanks to the Arc 140T GPU you can do all of the esports gaming you want or even play modern AAA games at 1080p with decent frame rates. Beastcom M1 Mini, N100/16GB RAM/512GB SSD/triple 4K support—$145 (19% off on Amazon) True to its name, the Beastcom M1 Mini mini for $145 is, well, a beast—an entertainment beast at least. Its triple 4K support is practically unheard of at this price. This is meant to be an entertainment mini PC thanks to its ultra-small footprint and excellent connectivity options. However, those looking for a productivity or work mini PC should probably look elsewhere. GMKtec K10, Core i9-13900HK/32GB RAM/1TB SSD/2.5G LAN WiFi6/quad 4K support—$600 (17% off on Amazon) The GMKtec K10 deal for $119 off is a solid bargain thanks to its powerful i9 CPU. Plus, the addition of a 2.5G ethernet port and Wi-Fi 6 support means it is adept at handling most networking tasks you might throw at it. To top it all off, it can support up to four 4K displays, one of which is a DisplayPort 1.4 capable of 8K as well. IdeaCentre Mini, Core 5 210H/16GB RAM/1TB SSD/dual 4K support—$600 (25% off on Lenovo) To the naked eye, this IdeaCentre Mini deal for $600 might not seem like a good value. But it comes with a couple of hidden extras that make it worth the higher price. Support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and DDR5 RAM are just some of the advantages. Add to that the reliability and high build-quality of Lenovo machines and suddenly this becomes a more than worthwhile mini PC deal this week. Mini PC deals FAQ 1. What should you look for when buying a mini PC? The first thing you have to check off your list is just what configuration you need to get your job done. Are you going to use your new mini PC for browsing only? Then a cheap budget-friendly device with a decent CPU and 16GB of RAM will do the trick. Do you want it to be able to juggle a bunch of apps and not choke on 50 browser tabs? Then a more powerful CPU and at least 32GB of RAM would be better. Do you want to do some light gaming in your downtime? Look for a device that comes with a GPU or Occulink connectivity to hook up an external GPU instead. Are you looking to utilize the mini PC as a home server? Your priority then should be a large SSD—2TB or more. There are devices for each and every one of these scenarios, and they’re all quite affordable. The best part is that mini PCs are… well, small, so they can be placed practically anywhere depending on your intended use and available space. They also support multiple monitors out of the box, which makes it easy to replace your old, larger desktop and you won’t even need to pay for extra hubs. 2. Can a mini PC replace a desktop computer? For most people, the answer is “yes”! Mini PCs are definitely powerful enough to replace desktops for most users, especially if you’re going to use it for work, browsing, or streaming movies. If you want something for photo and video editing, or even gaming, there are models that allow you to do that, but they’ll cost a bit more. If you’re into hardcore gaming, however, you’re still better off with a proper gaming PC or laptop. 3. Can a mini PC run modern games? Mostly, yes. But it will ultimately depend upon the mini PC you buy and which modern games you want to play. Some high-performance mini PCs can run modern AAA games. You might not be able to run them at the highest settings though, and performance will depend heavily on the specific hardware. If you do want to game on a mini PC, look for powerful models with dedicated discrete GPUs such as an Nvidia RTX or AMD Radeon rather than integrated graphics. Alternatively, you can opt for cloud streaming services to game on less powerful mini PCs, which bypasses the need for high-end hardware. 4. Which mini PC brands are reliable? Some of the most reliable mini PC brands are Minisforum, Beelink, GMKtec, and Geekom. Of course Apple’s Mac minis are also excellent computers if you prefer using macOS. Brands such as Asus, Lenovo, HP, and Dell all make high-quality smaller-footprint PCs, but they might not fill the same niche and/or they are typically more expensive. Read...

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Nvidia is reactivating a feature that many of you may have already written off: The new Game Ready driver 591.44 brings back PhysX support for selected older games. For owners of a GeForce RTX 50 graphics card, this is a very relevant change — especially if you enjoy playing classic games with elaborate physics effects. Why PhysX is important – and why it was removed PhysX has been a mainstay in PC gaming for many years, creating realistic effects for fabrics, smoke and particles in titles such as “Borderlands 2” and “Batman: Arkham City.” But Nvidia cancelled PhysX support at the beginning of 2025: New RTX-50 series graphics cards could no longer accelerate PhysX calculations in 32-bit games via GPU. As a result, the calculations landed entirely on the CPU — with significant performance losses compared to prior generation GeForce cards. Some gamers reacted with a hilarious, yet totally functional workaround: They plugged an older Nvidia card into their computer just to be able to continue using PhysX effects. Driver 591.44: PhysX returns – but only for select games With the current driver, there is now a turnaround. Nvidia is introducing a so-called “Custom Support” level. This is not a complete return of the old 32-bit support, but rather individually created profiles for a hand-picked selection of particularly popular PhysX titles. These nine games now benefit from GPU acceleration again: Alice: Madness Returns Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Batman: Arkham City Batman: Arkham Origins Borderlands 2 Mafia II Metro 2033 Metro: Last Light Mirror’s Edge Nvidia has announced additional support for “Batman: Arkham Asylum” for the first half of 2026. Whether other games will follow remains to be seen. Nvidia writes that it has initially focused on the most popular classics that are still frequently played today. PhysX technology originally comes from Ageia, which developed its own physics processor unit (PPU) around 20 years ago. Nvidia took over Ageia in 2008 and integrated PhysX calculations directly into the CUDA cores of its own GeForce graphics cards. This made the additional PPU card superfluous, but also tied the effects firmly to Nvidia hardware. Driver also brings optimizations and bug fixes In addition to the return of PhysX, Nvidia’s new Game Ready driver offers further improvements: Optimizations for “Battlefield 6: Winter Offensive” and “Call of Duty: Black Ops 7”, especially in conjunction with DLSS 4. Fixes for graphics artifacts in “The Witcher 3”. Stability fixes for Adobe Premiere Pro. Driver 591.44 is available for download as usual via the Nvidia app or the Nvidia website. If you play classic games with PhysX effects, the update should bring noticeable improvements — often significantly higher frame rates and reactivated graphical effects. If, on the other hand, you only play modern titles, you will primarily benefit from the general optimizations and bug fixes. Read...

Building a gaming PC is one of those activities where restraint can be difficult. Naturally, you want to get the best PC that your money can buy. But in the decision-making process it’s easy to overstretch and end up spending way more than you need to. Here I list five of the most common ways PC builders waste money when building a gaming rig. Don’t go too big with the power supply It’s easy to over-spec your power supply and go too big. That doesn’t mean you don’t want to upgrade when you need more power. For example, say you have a less powerful graphics card like an AMD 7600 XT running on a 500W power supply, but later on you find a good deal on an Nvidia RTX 3090 and want to swap that in. Because that card needs a lot more power than your power supply can support, you’ll need a bigger one. That’s a legitimate change that’s going to be worthwhile. But it’s easy to go too big. If you look at the difference in price between a 500W power supply and a 1,000W power supply, it can be substantial, so you should just use the power supply that matches your power needs at any time. Don’t over-spec the RAM Typically, you don’t need huge amounts of RAM in a gaming PC. Some games utilize more RAM than others, but for the most part you can get away with 16GB of DDR4 running at 3800MHz and be perfectly fine for years to come rather than splurging on the latest DDR5 RAM in a super-quick and large module. The price difference between the different speeds of RAM increases exponentially. If you take the difference between RAM running at 5,200MHz and RAM running at 7,200MHz, it can often be double the price. What you’ll often find, too, is that the RAM running at a higher transfer speed has a slower timing than the RAM with the slower transfer speed, so it doesn’t always make good sense to go for the RAM with the faster transfer speed and the higher price. Resist gaming editions or specialist hardware Manufacturers found out eons ago that if they put “gaming edition” or “founders’ edition” in front of a piece of hardware, it can be very tantalizing to buyers. That doesn’t mean the hardware is any better than the standard version, it’s usually just an aesthetic difference that gives that impression, like RGB for example. That said, gaming edition hardware usually costs a premium. So, if you’re shopping for anything and you see the words “gaming edition” or “founders’ edition” in the name, it doesn’t necessarily mean the item is bad, just don’t be fooled into thinking it’s going to give you an edge in performance — i.e., your cash can go further with a less expensive option. Avoid RGB components As well as buying expensive founders’ edition hardware, you may be tempted to buy gaming gear decked out with RGB. But if you really want to save money, you should avoid it. The truth is that your PC games are going to run the same regardless of whether you have RGB or not in your hardware, so buying more expensive RGB components isn’t a good idea. RGB truly is for show purposes unless it’s for keyboard backlighting, so carefully consider whether your money could be better spent on parts that deliver more bang for the buck. Pexels: Atahan Demir Don’t over-spec the storage If you look at two SSDs from different generations — PCIe Gen 3 and Gen 5 — you’ll notice a huge difference in price, in some cases upwards of $200. That would make you think there is going to be a significant performance difference between them, and under controlled conditions there is, but I guarantee you that you won’t notice the difference when you’re gaming and surfing the web and just using your PC for general computing. Even a high-MB transfer rate of 12,400MB/s is going to be hard to notice compared to a slower 3500MB/s transfer rate. To notice the difference, you’d need to be moving a large file from one location to the next, which unless you’re a professional that deals with large files, you’re not going to be doing. So, know that you can get away with a PCIe Gen 3 or PCIe Gen 4 SSD for gaming and don’t necessarily need a PCIe Gen 5 SSD. Related content Why PC gamers shouldn’t waste money on a PCIe 5.0 SSD 6 reasons to skip RGB lights in your PC Best SSDs: From SATA to PCIe 5.0, from budget to premium Read...

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Do you know what happens to the data and traces you leave behind on your PC and smartphone during your online activities? If not, you are in good company. The majority of people fear losing track of their personal data. But instead of just burying your head in the sand, take back control. Our guide takes a pragmatic approach: you should by no means give up online use, but rather bring back previously used services and functions from the cloud to your local IT at home. After all, much of what you have set up online for convenience at some point can be replaced again with virtually no restrictions. Time to say goodbye to the cloud! Windows without a Microsoft account, only log in to the apps For some time now, Windows setup has required an online account with Microsoft; in fact, the company no longer wants you to be able to use your PC without one. The online requirement not only affects data protection, but can also lead to problems if you want to use Microsoft apps with a second account. But you can do without it. When reinstalling the operating system, the mandatory online link can be deleted using the command oobe\bypassnro or a USB installation stick modified with Rufus. Our online guide to how to use Windows 11 without a Microsoft account explains, in more detail, both ways to do this. It’s also possible to switch from online to local login later. Important: Before permanently deleting the Microsoft account, it’s always a good idea to back up the documents, images, and other content stored in it. Tip: Even if you use your computer with a local account, you don’t have to completely do without Microsoft apps that require an online account. If you cannot use an app without logging in, first start to log in to it. In the next window, click on the Microsoft apps only option instead of Next and the system will continue to work locally. The plural in “Apps” should be taken literally here, as signing in to a Microsoft app also applies to all other apps, including the cloud storage OneDrive. To remove the apps-account link later, click on Accounts > Email and accounts in the Windows settings and on Remove > Yes under your online account on the right. Secure access to all data at home without online storage Cloud storage from Dropbox, Google, Microsoft and others is extremely practical because it synchronizes local files over the internet, making them available across all devices. Everything is always up to date automatically and in the background. However, what happens to the data stored there is difficult to keep track of. This is particularly true for the cloud-based image analysis of Google Photos, for example. As an alternative to US providers, choose a cloud service that is guarantees personal data protections or one that is based in the EU that is subject to the strict European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Protection against unauthorized access to sensitive content—and therefore also against the cloud providers themselves—requires end-to-end encryption. It encrypts the files locally before they are transferred to the online server. Unlike the previously popular Boxcryptor, Cryptomator also supports multiple cloud storages in parallel in the free version. The open source tool Cryptomator can also be used to encrypt data in Dropbox, Google Drive, or Microsoft Onedrive cloud storage.Cryptomator The open source tool is easy to set up and use. To encrypt data stored online, select a directory in the cloud provider’s local synchronization folder as the storage location when setting up the vault. You can also use a network hard drive (NAS) for online access to the data stored on it and the apps running on it. The device manufacturers usually offer a separate option for NAS access without having to worry about firewall configuration or port forwarding. Using a virtual private network (VPN), you can also remotely access the entire home network at home, including your smart home. Upload photos from your mobile phone automatically on your computer without the cloud What Microsoft offers for synchronizing smartphone images to a Windows PC beyond the clouds of Apple, Dropbox, Google, Microsoft and Co. is cumbersome, slow and therefore not very practical. The classic transfer via cable works quickly, but not automatically. There’s no getting around plugging in the connection and transferring it on your mobile phone. Tip: It is more convenient to transfer the recordings with the PC app Windows Photo Viewer using the “Import” function than via the file explorer. In principle, wireless image transfer is also possible via Bluetooth. However, this is slow due to the large amounts of data involved, repeatedly falters, and is therefore not recommended. You can find the function after pairing the PC and smartphone in the Windows settings under Bluetooth and devices > Devices > Send or receive files via Bluetooth > Receive files. The faster WLAN alternative via the Smartphone Link app integrated in Windows again requires a Microsoft account though. My Phone Explorer does this better; the tool transfers all images from the Android smartphone locally, offline, and quickly via WLAN. The prerequisite is that the mobile phone and Windows PC are on the same network (also via LAN cable) which thankfully, is practically always the case at home. With just a few settings, you can configure the MyPhoneExplorer tool so that it automatically synchronizes new pictures from the smartphone to the Windows PC at home.Sam Singleton This is how it works: After installation on the computer, start My Phone Explorer and click on the blue Sync button. In the setup wizard, activate the options Phone with Google Android-OS and WiFi and confirm with OK. On the smartphone, install the My Phone Explorer Client app from the Google Play Store and authorize data access and display via other apps. Start the mobile app and tap the QR code button in the top right-hand corner. Scan the QR code displayed on the PC in the setup wizard, authorize PC access to the phone and confirm again with OK. The two devices are now permanently linked. To use My Phone Explorer to automatically transfer your photos from the smartphone to the computer, click on File > Settings in the PC program. Here you activate the the option on starting MyPhoneExplorer. On the left under Multi-sync”, also activate the Sync photos entry and finish by clicking OK. Every time you now start your computer, My Phone Explorer transfers the new photos to the picture directory on the local hard drive. Further synchronization options can be found under Settings > Multi-sync > Sync files. Streaming devices, fitness watches, surveillance cameras and more Thanks to the apps provided by the device manufacturers, a network hard drive can be used for functions including playing locally stored music and videos. Without a NAS, the media center software Kodi (formerly XBMC) is a good alternative. Kodi runs on various platforms, including Windows PCs and Raspberry Pi. The Android app Gadgetbridge works entirely without the cloud and replaces the manufacturer apps of many sports, fitness and smart health devices such as the Amazfit Band 7 (right). IDG Whether smart home devices can be operated without the cloud depends on the specific device and manufacturer. Surveillance cameras that record images and videos locally are available from Eufy, Reolink, and TP-Link, among others. Many smart home or smart health devices, which involve particularly sensitive data, also work without a cloud, even though the manufacturer does not intend for them to do so. On Android smartphones, the Gadgetbridge app replaces the official apps and therefore often replaces the cloud requirement. Gadgetbridge processes all data locally on the mobile device and even allows you to change devices thanks to the import and export function. Remember, the best way to avoid personal data on the internet is to not publish it in the first place, or at least to publish it sparingly. Smartphones without Google Because smartphones can now be used for almost everything and most people have them with them all the time, comprehensive user profiles can be created using the data collected: on interests, purchasing behavior, communication, movement, and much more. “De-Googled” systems aim to prevent Android devices from sending data to Google so that you retain control over your data. An easy-to-use alternative to the Google operating system is /e/OS. The system offers its own app store and can be installed on over 200 phones, with the so-called Easy Installer available for some models. There are even some smartphones with pre-installed /e/OS are also available to buy. Another alternative—curiously only for Google’s own Pixel smartphones—is Graphene OS. The current version is based on Android 15 and moves apps that require Google’s Play services and therefore extensive rights to the protected “Confidential profile” area. If the confidential profile is only activated when necessary, the included apps do not run and therefore cannot send any data. Both systems require some familiarization; their installation and operation are well documented on the Internet though if you wish to take the time to educate yourself. Read...