If you’re still using WinRAR, you should update to version 7.12 as soon as possible. A vulnerability labeled CVE-2025-6218 was recently discovered in older versions of the popular Windows file compression tool. The security vulnerability in question can reportedly be exploited by hackers to bypass the app’s built-in security features, increasing the risk of malware execution, reports BleepingComputer. The issue was first reported on June 5th, 2025 through the Zero Day Initiative, and WinRAR released a fix for it with version 7.12 beta 1 on June 24th, 2025. The release also addresses two other minor issues. “When extracting a file, previous versions of WinRAR, Windows versions of RAR, UnRAR, portable UnRAR source code and UnRAR.dll can be tricked into using a path, defined in a specially crafted archive, instead of user specified path,” writes WinRAR in its changelog. In other words, files could be secretly extracted to system directories and other sensitive locations, allowing hackers to execute malicious files in unwanted places. Though there are no known instances of this exploit being attacked in the wild, you should update WinRAR immediately to stay safe. Read...

Adding a search field to your spreadsheet can greatly improve data navigation and usability. In this guide, you’ll learn how to create a dynamic search box that filters data based on your input, using Excel’s built-in features and Developer tools. To create a search field in a spreadsheet, you must first activate the Developer tools menu. To do this, go to Options > Customize Ribbon on the File tab. In the Customize Ribbon column, check the box next to Developer tools and select OK. Next, switch to your spreadsheet containing your data. Make sure the first row has header data describing the content of each column. Select all the data and convert it into a smart table by pressing Ctrl + T. Confirm the table area by clicking OK. Then, in the Table Design menu, give your table a name under Table Name, such as Data. Now you can create a search field to filter the data in your worksheet. In this example, it will search the Department column of your data. Use this trick to create a search field in a worksheet. In this example, it can search the Department column of the data above.IDG Switch to an area next to the table and insert the search field there. Go to Developer tools > Insert > ActiveX Control, and select the Text Field icon. (Hover over the icons with your mouse to see their names; in our test system, it’s the fifth icon from the left in the first row.) Place the text field next to your table. Right-click the text field, select Properties, and under LinkedCell, enter the cell behind the search field — for example, B7. Next, click Developer Mode in the Developer tools menu to anchor the new search field. Copy the header data from your table and paste it below the search field. Then, write the following formula in the cell directly below the first header cell: =FILTER(data;data[department]=B7; “Nothing”) The FILTER function follows this pattern: Matrix, include, [if_empty]. Matrix is all the data the filter should output. Include specifies which rows to show based on the condition. [If_empty] defines what to display if there are no matches. In this example, the table is named Data and defined as the matrix. The search filters the Department column, showing only rows where the value matches the input in cell B7. If no rows match, it displays “Nothing”. Read...

Beginning on June 30 of this year, residents in Wyoming are going to lose access to the adult site Pornhub. Earlier this year the Wyoming state legislature passed HB0043, an over-18 age-verification law designed to prevent minors from viewing adult content. Unfortunately, it also stands to compromise the privacy of all legal visitors to the site, as well. The law is set to take effect on July 1, 2025, and Pornhub’s parent company Aylo will begin restricting access to its adult sites for residents in Wyoming in protest on June 30, 2025. Aylo and other privacy advocates claim that these laws violate free speech, and infringe on personal privacy protections. By forcing individuals to hand over personally identifiable information to third parties, it creates the environment for potential government overreach and data misuse. This ban is just the latest following a trend that has seen more than 19 states lose access to the incredibly popular NSFW site. Similar bans occurred in March of last year when access was blocked to residents in Texas, in June when Indiana, Idaho, and Kansas also lost the ability to visit the site, in July for Nebraska, in October for Alabama, and in January of this year when Florida was hit with the ban hammer as well.  For legal-age Wyomingites looking to access the site, this is disruptive to say the least. Fortunately, there’s an easy workaround: using a VPN. Simply download and install your preferred VPN, connect to a server in a state that isn’t blocked, and enjoy the content. Below you’ll find my top picks for VPNs to access Pornhub (or other Aylo owned adult content) if you’re in Wyoming where access will be blocked. And for even more great options, check out my list of the best VPNs overall. NordVPN – Best overall NordVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $3.39 at NordVPN (Monthly) NordVPN is my overall top pick for VPNs. It comes with a ton of great features including wide device support, ad- and tracker-blocking, and plenty of domestic and international servers—with coverage in most U.S. states. It also boasts the fastest connection speeds, meaning you won’t need to lower your video quality to a resolution that makes it look like the important bits are blurred on purpose. NordVPN has one of the widest platform support networks as well, so you’ll be able to view whatever content you wish no matter the device. ExpressVPN – Runner-up ExpressVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $4.99 at ExpressVPN ExpressVPN is a close second to NordVPN, falling a hair behind by being not quite as fast and having a fewer extra features. Those are just minor issues, though, and shouldn’t take away from ExpressVPN still being one of the best VPN services on the market. It also consistently has great speeds, so you can stream in HD to your heart’s content. Plus, it works with nearly every device and has one of the best user-privacy records around. Mullvad – Best for privacy Mullvad Read our review Depending on what you’re looking for from a VPN, Mullvad might actually be your best option. Not only is it in my top five services for overall speed, it most importantly earns top marks for privacy. Mullvad takes every effort it can to know as little about its users as possible. The service won’t ask for an email address or name and it even accepts payments via mailed cash if you want. Plus, it costs a mere $5 per month regardless of the plan you choose. Proton VPN – Best free VPN ProtonVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $9.99 at Proton VPN While I don’t usually recommend that anyone use a free VPN due to their proven security and privacy risks, Proton VPN is one of the exceptions. This service from the well-known Swiss-based Proton brand has to-date a spotless track record for user privacy. It’s also completely free of ads. Just like all free VPNs, there are limitations, but thankfully Proton VPN keeps them relatively manageable. For no cost whatsoever you’ll get a one-device connection limit and access to five servers located in different countries around the world (including the U.S.). It doesn’t impose any speed or data limitations on these free servers either—something that’s unheard of with other free VPNs. Read...

I’ve decided to test a radical change to my living room streaming setup. For years, I’ve used an Apple TV 4K for streaming, and while it’s been a great device overall, I’ve always wanted to try swapping it for a home theater PC. In my early cord-cutting years (circa 2010), I used a cheap Intel Atom-powered Lenovo nettop (now obsolete) to access Hulu’s website (still free at the time) and avoid its subscription fees on connected TV devices. Plugging a cheap mini PC into your TV today could yield similar advantages. This experiment could fail for a variety of reasons, and I’ve already hit some snags in my initial setup. But if it works, it could offer a lot more control over the streaming experience along with some potential cost savings over time. The case for a home theater PC (in 2025) I’m going into this mini PC experiment with a bunch of use cases in mind: Ad-skipping powers: With a desktop web browser, I can use MultiSkipper to fast-forward through commercials on Hulu, Peacock, Tubi, and other ad-supported streaming services, and I can use uBlock Origin to avoid ads on YouTube. This could save a lot of money as ad-free streaming subscriptions get more expensive. The MultiSkipper browser extension.Jared Newman / Foundry Password sharing: Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing doesn’t apply to website or mobile app use, presumably because it’d be tricky to block out-of-home use on portable devices. Watching on a PC could make account-splitting easier, especially as more services follow Netflix’s lead. Unrestricted multiview: Picture-in-picture is a mess on streaming platforms, with inconsistent support across apps and devices. That’s not an issue on PCs, where you can just open up more browser windows or use the handy picture-in-picture Chrome extension. This could really come in handy during March Madness. Watching two videos at a time is no problem on desktop web browsers.Jared Newman / Foundry Unlocked playback speeds: Some videos just don’t need to be watched at regular speed, but with the exception of YouTube, most video services don’t let you speed up playback on smart TVs and streaming devices. By contrast, Netflix’s web version has built-in speed controls, while the Video Speed Controller extension works across a broad range of sites. Streaming guides galore: While most streaming platforms offer guide features for tracking shows and finding new things to watch, they don’t work with every streaming service and they tend to be loaded with ads and upsells. On a PC, you can take your pick of streaming guide sites such as Reelgood, JustWatch, Trakt, and Plex Discover. More entertainment options: With a mini PC setup, I’m looking forward to using some apps that aren’t available on an Apple TV, such as Nvidia GeForce Now and Plexamp. The hardware The Beelink Mini S12 Pro’s HDMI outputs connect direclty to the TV.Jared Newman / Foundry I didn’t want to spend a lot on this endeavor, nor did I want a noisy desktop PC that takes up a lot of space. That led me to Beelink’s Mini S12 Pro, whose $169 street price is only a little higher than the nicest streaming players, and its footprint isn’t much larger either. While its Intel N100 processor is lightweight, it supports 4K HDR video, comes with Windows 11, and includes a fairly generous 16GB of RAM and 500GB of storage. Similar products abound from other mini PC vendors, but I’ve had a positive experience using a slightly pricier Beelink SER5 Ryzen-based PC as my everyday computer and decided to stick with a brand that I know. One caveat: The Mini S12 Pro doesn’t support HDCP 2.2, which Netflix requires for 4K HDR video. The SER5 doesn’t have that limitation, but I stuck with the cheaper model for reasons I’ll explain below. The trade-offs While I’ve barely started using this new setup, I’ve already encountered a few issues. The biggest problem is inconsistent 4K HDR video support on streaming sites. Netflix technically supports 4K HDR in Microsoft’s Edge browser, but even on Beelink’s higher-end SER5, it refused to budge beyond 1080p. Amazon Prime and Max don’t support 4K or HDR on PCs at all. That said, I only upgraded to Netflix’s Premium tier with 4K HDR (which costs $25 per month, instead of $18) for testing purposes. Max charges extra for 4K HDR as well, and vast swaths of other streamers’ catalogs are limited to 1080p anyway. Surround sound can also be an issue on streaming sites, but my living room setup is stereo-only anyway. Using an air mouse may be as close to the remote control experience as it gets.Wechip The other obvious issue is usability. Keeping a mouse and keyboard in the living room is out of the question, and while I’m looking into air mouses with small built-in keyboards, like this one, navigating a desktop interface will be less ideal than clicking around on a real remote. This will take some finagling, and the rest of my family will likely need to switch over to the Apple TV or the Google TV software built into our television. Follow up! I solved my TV streaming problems with this $30 keyboard In other words, this won’t be an ideal solution for everyone, and it might not even work out in the Newman household. If this whole TV experiment fails, I’ll likely repurpose the little Beelink PC as a cheap way to play with some Linux distributions; if it succeeds, it could be much a more liberating way to access streaming content. I plan to report back soon with new tips and findings either way. Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Nice-looking design and good build quality Fine desktop performance Could be a great deal on sale Cons Display is on the dull side Low battery life Low graphics performance Speakers disappoint Our Verdict The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 has a chassis that feels good to hold, but the display and the internals disappoint. At $769, it just feels too expensive for this experience. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 is a 15-inch budget touchscreen laptop, and we tested a $769 configuration available through Costco. I’m generally a fan of Lenovo laptops, but this one isn’t up to the standard I expect from them. While this laptop does have a nice design and solid build quality, it feels like so many corners have been cut — and the price has crept up enough — that the resulting product isn’t a great deal. This is the kind of product that makes ‘budget’ feel like a warning, and here’s why. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3: Specs The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 has an Intel Core 5 210H CPU. While this is an Intel Core (Series 2) processor, it’s based on last year’s Raptor Lake hardware rather than this year’s Lunar Lake hardware. That means you won’t find a neural processing unit (NPU) for Copilot+ PC features and other AI tasks here. You also won’t find the improved power efficiency and dramatically boosted integrated graphics Lunar Lake delivered here, either. Model number: 15IRH10R (83K4000RUS) CPU: Intel Core 5 210H Memory: 16 GB DDR5 RAM Graphics/GPU: Intel Graphics NPU: None Display: 15.3-inch 1920×1200 IPS display with 60Hz refresh rate and touch screen Storage: 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD Webcam: 1080p webcam with physical privacy shutter Connectivity: 1x USB Type-C (USB 5Gbps), 2x USB Type-A (USB 5Gbps), 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x combo audio jack, 1x SD card reader, 1x power connector Networking: Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 Biometrics: IR camera for facial recognition with Windows Hello Battery capacity: 60 Watt-hours Dimensions: 13.52 x 9.43 x 0.74 inches Weight: 3.59 pounds MSRP: $769 as tested The design and build quality are nice, but the price of $769 just feels too high for a machine where nothing really shines. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3: Design and build quality IDG / Chris Hoffman The laptop’s design is quite nice. It’s made of plastic — no metal chassis here — but that smooth plastic feels fine and there’s nothing creaky or low-quality feeling here. In its “Cosmic Blue” color scheme, it’s a nice dark hue that has more of a blue scheme in the light. It’s a modern Lenovo design that looks a lot like higher-end Lenovo laptops. The hinge feels solid and opens to 180 degrees if you want to lie the machine flat, although I need both hands to open the laptop. It’s a perfectly serviceable design. It doesn’t look cheap. This being a budget-priced consumer laptop, there are a few popups right out of the box — but you can uninstall McAfee antivirus, for example, and dismiss the other notifications. Those help keep the price down. It’s annoying out of the box, but it’s fine. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3: Keyboard and trackpad IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 has an okay keyboard complete with a number pad at the right — I like having that number pad on larger laptops like this one, but some people may prefer skipping the number pad. It has a backlight, too. The keyboard feels reasonable. Lenovo laptops tend to have good keyboards, and this is comfortable enough, but it’s also a little mushy for a Lenovo keyboard. While typing, I notice the plastic around the keys pushes down into the chassis as I bottom out the keys. It contributes to that slightly mushy feeling. It’s fine for a budget laptop, but I eye that price and wonder whether this is truly in the budget price range. The trackpad feels nice. It’s more to the left than it is on many laptops, but that centers it below the primary keyboard area. The surface is nice and smooth, but of course it’s plastic — a glass trackpad just feels smoother. The click-down action feels good to me. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3: Display and speakers IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3’s 15.3-inch 1920×1200 IPS display is the weakest part of the experience. At 300 nits of brightness, it’s on the dim side on paper. But the display feels unusually dim — and not just dim, but the colors feel rather dull. I cranked it up to 100 percent brightness and still feel like I want to have it brighter. The anti-glare coating does work well. But a higher resolution would be nice at this size — or at least a panel with more vibrant colors and better contrast. The 60Hz refresh rate here is also rather low-end, but it’s the least of my concerns with this display. This is a touch-screen laptop — the touch screen works well, of course. A touch screen is always nice to have. The speakers are also lacking. They’re on the quiet side, and the audio quality is rather tinny. I listen to both Steely Dan’s Aja and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky on Spotify when I review laptop speakers. Both the instrument separation in Aja and the bass in Get Lucky were unusually bad for laptop speakers. While the build quality and design are good, this is a budget laptop through and through. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3: Webcam, microphone, biometrics IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 has a 1080p camera with a physical privacy shutter — which is great to see. The webcam itself doesn’t feel particularly special — the colors feel washed out. Still, it’s a perfectly serviceable webcam if you need the occasional video meeting. I’ve seen people in surprisingly senior positions use much worse webcams in their meetings! The dual-array microphones here don’t impress, either — they picked up my voice fine, but the sound quality wasn’t particularly great. The Lenovo IdeaPad 3 slim has an IR camera for facial recognition with Windows Hello, so you can sign in with your face. This works well! And I’m pleased to see facial recognition hardware here. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3: Connectivity IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 does have a decent selection of ports for a budget laptop. On the right side, this machine has a USB Type-A port and a full-size SD card reader. On the left side, Lenovo includes a power connector (this machine doesn’t charge via USB-C, like many other laptops) along with a second USB Type-A port, an HDMI 1.4 out port, a USB Type-C port, and a combo audio jack. It’s nice to see HDMI out along with multiple USB Type-A ports and an SD card slot. This machine supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 — no future-proof Wi-Fi 7 or Bluetooth 5.4 here. While this is certainly enough for many people, it all feels a bit low-end when so many laptops are shipping with support for Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1 out, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3: Performance The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 performs fine in day-to-day tasks like browsing the web, using Office apps, listening to music on Spotify (assuming you have headphones,) and using other typical Windows desktop apps. While the Intel Core 5 210H processor here isn’t a speed demon, it’s more than good enough for typical Windows desktop use. As always, we ran the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 through our standard benchmarks to see how it performs. IDG / Chris Hoffman First, we run PCMark 10 to get an idea of overall system performance.  With an overall PCMark 10 score of 5,763, the IdeaPad Slim 3 comes a decent way behind more expensive laptops with high-end CPUs. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run Cinebench R20. This is a heavily multithreaded benchmark that focuses on overall CPU performance. Since it’s heavily multithreaded, CPUs with more cores have a huge advantage. The IdeaPad Slim 3 produced a multi-threaded score of 3,270 here. The Intel Core 5 210H with its eight cores (four performance cores and four efficiency cores) didn’t produce big numbers on this multithreaded benchmark — which doesn’t represent real-world use unless you have a demanding and multithreaded CPU-heavy workload. IDG / Chris Hoffman We also run an encode with Handbrake. This is another heavily multithreaded benchmark, but it runs over an extended period. This demands the laptop’s cooling kick in, and many laptops will throttle and slow down under load. The Intel Core 5 210H in this machine finished the encode process in 2,330 seconds, which is nearly 39 minutes. That’s a long time — but again, this isn’t the kind of machine you buy if you’re looking to run intensive CPU-heavy workloads. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptop, but it’s still good to check how the GPU performs. We run 3Dmark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance. Meteor Lake’s integrated Intel Graphics here really dragged this machine down. With a score of 3Dmark Time Spy score of 1,164, this is three to four times slower than modern laptops with Intel Lunar Lake’s Arc graphics hardware. If you want to play the occasional game or run a GPU-intensive app, this aging platform is a major drawback. Overall, while the IdeaPad Slim 3 did a fine job of running typical desktop applications, its performance doesn’t shine. The multithreaded performance isn’t a big deal here, but the low integrated graphics performance hurts. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3: Battery life The Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 has a 60 Watt-hour battery, which isn’t particularly huge but is reasonable — Lenovo could’ve gone down to a 50 Watt-hour battery to save on cost. IDG / Chris Hoffman To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat on Windows 11 with airplane mode enabled until the laptop suspends itself. We set the screen to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmark. This is a best-case scenario for any laptop since local video playback is so efficient, and real battery life in day-to-day use is always going to be less than this. The machine lasted for an average of 561 minutes — that’s nearly nine and a half hours — before suspending itself. That may seem like an impressive number, but it means that it has no hope of making it through an eight-hour workday in real use. The combination of the less power-efficient Raptor Lake hardware and a 60 Watt-hour battery life sees to that. But this machine looks less impressive because Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm have made huge strides in power efficiency since Raptor Lake’s release. This used to be normal. But by mid-2025, you can do much better. Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3: Conclusion When I review laptops, I like to ask “Who is this for?”. Even if a laptop doesn’t make sense for most people, there’s usually someone who will love it. But when I look at the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3, I really don’t get it. The design and build quality are nice, and it offers reasonable desktop performance and a better-than-average port selection, unless you scrutinize the specs too closely. But the price of $769 just feels too high for a machine where nothing really shines. If the display looked better or at least wasn’t so dull, I think I could see the argument for this machine. When I look at PCWorld’s list of the best laptops, I see both budget laptops that are much less expensive — and laptops in a similar price range that offer a better experience. On the other hand, if you don’t need all that much from your PC and you find this on sale for less, it’ll do okay. But I can’t recommend the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 at its retail price. Read...

TL;DR: Save over 60% on this AI-powered video editing suite, now less than $36 for lifetime access. Looking for a do-it-all video tool that won’t slow you—or your PC—down? VideoProc Converter AI has just landed with a lifetime family license deal for only $35.99 (reg. $119.90). Whether you’re trimming gameplay footage, compressing large files, or using AI to enhance old video clips, this powerhouse software covers it all in one clean interface. Built for Windows users, VideoProc stands out with its full GPU acceleration, meaning smoother, faster performance even when working with massive 4K or HD files. It’s compatible with over 420 formats and supports AI-powered features like video upscaling, noise reduction, and frame interpolation—perfect for upgrading legacy footage or tweaking YouTube-ready content. The “family license” part? That lets you install it on up to five PCs—great if you’ve got a battle station at home, a work laptop, or want to hook up a sibling (or three). This one-time purchase to VideoProc gives you a lifetime license, so there are no recurring fees or surprise renewals. If you’re into editing, streaming, or just want to batch-convert old files without a fuss, this deal is worth grabbing while it lasts. Grab your VideoProc lifetime license for just $35.99 while supplies last. VideoProc Converter AI: Lifetime Family License (For Windows) See Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

Beginning on June 30 of this year, residents in South Dakota are going to lose access to the adult site Pornhub. Earlier this year the South Dakota state legislature passed House Bill 1053, an over-18 age-verification law designed to prevent minors from viewing adult content. Unfortunately, it also stands to compromise the privacy of all legal visitors to the site, as well. The law is set to take effect on July 1, 2025, and Pornhub’s parent company Aylo will begin restricting access to its adult sites for residents in South Dakota in protest on June 30, 2025. Aylo and other privacy advocates claim that these laws not only violate free speech, but will infringe on personal privacy protections. By forcing individuals to hand over personally identifiable information to third parties, it creates the environment for potential government overreach and data misuse. This ban is just the latest following a trend that has seen more than 19 states lose access to the incredibly popular NSFW site. Similar bans occurred throughout last year for residents in Texas and Florida, among others. Both Wyoming and Georgia are also set to lose access beginning this July, with North Dakota following shortly thereafter. For legal-age South Dakotans looking to access the site, this is disruptive to say the least. Fortunately, there’s a simple solution: using a VPN. Simply download and install your preferred VPN, connect to a server in a state that isn’t blocked, and enjoy the content. Below you’ll find my top picks for VPNs to access Pornhub (or other Aylo owned adult content) if you’re in South Dakota where access will be blocked. And for even more great options, check out my list of the best VPNs overall. NordVPN – Best overall NordVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $3.39 at NordVPN (Monthly) NordVPN is my overall top pick for VPNs. It comes with a ton of great features including wide device support, ad- and tracker-blocking, and plenty of domestic and international servers—with coverage in most U.S. states. It also boasts the fastest connection speeds, meaning you won’t need to lower your video quality to a resolution that makes it look like the important bits are blurred on purpose. NordVPN has one of the widest platform support networks as well, so you’ll be able to view content no matter the device. ExpressVPN – Runner-up ExpressVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $4.99 at ExpressVPN ExpressVPN is a close second to NordVPN, only losing out due to the fact that it isn’t quite as fast and comes with a few less extra features. Those are just minor issues, though, and shouldn’t take away from ExpressVPN still being one of the best VPN services on the market. It also consistently has great speeds, so you can stream in HD to your heart’s content. When you also consider that it works with nearly every device and has an excellent record for user-privacy, you can see why we like ExpressVPN. Mullvad – Best for privacy Mullvad Read our review Depending on what you’re looking for from a VPN, Mullvad could actually be your best option. It’s in my top five services for overall speed, but more importantly, it earns top marks for privacy. Mullvad takes every effort it can to know as little about its users as possible. The service won’t ask for an email address or name and it even accepts payments via mailed cash if you want. Plus, it costs a mere $5 per month regardless of the plan you choose. Proton VPN – Best free VPN ProtonVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $9.99 at Proton VPN Free VPNs can carry security and privacy risks, but Proton VPN is one of the exceptions. This service from the well-known Swiss-based Proton brand has to-date a spotless track record for user privacy. It’s also refreshingly free of ads. Sure, it has limitations, just like any free VPN, but thankfully Proton VPN keeps them relatively manageable. For no cost whatsoever you’ll get a one-device connection limit and access to five servers located in different countries around the world (including the U.S.). It doesn’t impose any speed or data limitations on these free servers either—something that’s unheard of with other free VPNs. Read...

Vintage-style LED smart bulbs have been a thing for a while, but I haven’t seen one quite like this new one from Savant’s GE Lighting division. The all-new Cync Clear Full Color Direct Connect A19 Smart Bulb—now there’s a mouthful—features a spiral LED filament in a clear glass globe. The Edison-style smart bulb can be programmed to glow from a palette of millions of colors as well as a variety of white color temperatures. Don’t let this photo fool you. The Cync Clear Full Color Direct Connect A19 Smart Bulb is made of clear glass, but it can glow in your choice of millions of colors.GE Lighting The new bulb connects directly to your Wi-Fi network, and it supports Matter, rendering it compatible with Amazon Alexa, Apple Home, Google Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings. But as with several other smart lighting products we’ve tested lately, setting it up using anything other than the Cync app will limit the features that are exposed. Set up the bulb using the Cync app, for example, and you’ll unlock its entire feature set. You can control the bulb with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, set schedules and operate the bulb while you’re away from home, change the color (and the color temperature of white light), activate preset light shows, and personalize the Cync app. But if you set the bulb up to use Matter, you’ll only be able to make basic color changes, and you won’t be able to change the color temperature at all. The light-show presets in the Cync app will also be off limits. On the other hand, Matter enables you to control the bulb with either Apple Home or Samsung SmartThings in addition to the other two smart home ecosystems. As you can see from the chart above, you’ll want to use the Cync app to expose all the features of the Cync Clear Full Color Direct Connect A19 Smart Bulb–unless you have a professionally installed Savant smart home system, that is.GE Lighting There is also a third option—integrating the bulb into a Savant smart home system—but that requires a professional installer. Savant’s smart home systems can access the full range of the bulb’s capabilities apart from Apple Home and Samsung SmartThings integration, which wouldn’t be relevant if you went the pro-install route anyway. The  Cync Clear Full Color Direct Connect A19 Smart Bulb is available for purchase now at Target for $16.99. The new bulb will be available at Amazon and at the GE Lighting online store in July. This news story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best smart lighting. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros An all-around capable laptop Lunar Lake on a budget Solid value Cons Battery life could be better Worse multithreaded performance than last year’s model Touch screen isn’t standard Our Verdict The Dell 16 Plus is a solid laptop with great real-world performance at a good price — especially if you can catch it on sale. But Intel’s Lunar Lake chip drags down multithreaded performance. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Dell 16 Plus Retailer Price $1,119.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The Dell 16 Plus is a 16-inch laptop that delivers good performance and a solid all-around experience at a reasonable price. The Dell 16 Plus is a laptop designed for the real world — it’s well-designed, but it clearly won’t turn any heads or win any awards for expensive high-end touches. If you’re looking for a 16-inch workhorse, it’s a good choice. That’s especially true because you’re getting Intel’s latest Lunar Lake processors here, while other laptops at this price range will often have previous-generation CPUs. In 2025, Dell axed its XPS, Inspiron, and Latitude brands. Now, it’s all consolidated everything under a single brand. The Dell 16 Plus seems like it’s the spiritual successor to last year’s Dell Inspiron 16 Plus. Dell 16 Plus: Specs The Dell 16 Plus is a 16-inch laptop with an Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) processor — Intel’s Lunar Lake hardware, in other words. Our review model had an Intel Core Ultra 7 256V processor along with 16 GB of RAM and Intel Arc 140V graphics. Since this is Lunar Lake, you get a neural processing unit (NPU) for AI tasks and Copilot+ PC features in Windows. Dell says this model retails for $1149, but the Dell online store is selling it for $799 as I’m wrapping up this review. Dell has also pointed out this PC has been on deeper sales recently, going for as low as $699 on Dell’s online store. That’s a serious value considering this machine has a modern Intel Lunar Lake processor, while other laptops in that budget range will usually have previous-generation hardware. This machine is also available with a variety of other CPU configurations — from an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor up through an Intel Core Ultra 9 288V processor. You also have different RAM, storage, and display options. While our review model didn’t have a touch screen, this machine is also available with a touch screen. Model number: DB16250 CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 256V Memory: 16GB LPDDR5x RAM Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140V NPU: Intel AI Boost (up to 48 TOPS) Display: 2560×1600 IPS display Storage: 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 SSD Webcam: 1080p webcam with physical privacy shutter Connectivity: 2x USB Type-C (One Thunderbolt 4, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2), 1x USB Type-A (USB 3.2 Gen 1), 1x HDMI 2.1 out, and 1x combo audio jack Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Fingerprint reader and IR camera for Windows Hello Battery capacity: 64 Watt-hours Dimensions: 14.05 x 9.87 x 0.67 inches Weight: 4.12 pounds MSRP: $1,149 as tested The Dell 16 Plus is a laptop designed for the real world — it’s well-designed, but it clearly won’t turn any heads or win any awards for expensive high-end touches. Dell 16 Plus: Design and build quality IDG / Chris Hoffman The Dell 16 Plus is well designed and solid. It’s a little on the heavy side at 4.12 pounds, but it’s also a little on the larger side at 16 inches, so that makes sense. The 0.67-inch thickness is very reasonable, and the laptop doesn’t feel particularly thick. The chassis is made from a combination of materials — aluminum on the lid and base and plastic on the palm rest and bezel. The plastic feels nice — it has a slightly matte texture. The hinge works well, and it opens to 180 degrees so you can lie this machine flat. As you rotate the hinge open, the back of the laptop (the part near the hinge) tilts up, and that angle helps you type comfortably. The “Ice Blue” color scheme here looks a lot like silver to me — with a bit of a blue sheen in the right lighting. This machine has good build quality — there’s nothing bad about it. But it doesn’t have the high-end touches (all metal, or super lightweight carbon fiber or ceramic-based “ceraluminum“) that high-end, more expensive machines deliver. Dell 16 Plus: Keyboard and trackpad IDG / Chris Hoffman The Dell 16 Plus has a good keyboard. The key travel feels good and there’s a crisp “clicky” action when I press down on them. It’s responsive and nothing feels mushy. There’s also a white keyboard backlight you can use. The inclusion of a full-size number pad at the right side of this 16-inch laptop keyboard always feels a little divisive. On the one hand, many people choose 16-inch laptops so they can have a full-size keyboard with a number pad, and that input method is particularly useful for certain workflows — if you spend a lot of time using spreadsheets or otherwise entering numbers. On the other hand, some people aren’t fans of the number pad and may prefer a laptop without one. Personally, I like to see a number pad on a 16-inch laptop where there’s room for one. The touchpad is nice and large, and it feels responsive. I do think a nice glass-surface touchpad feels smoother to glide your finger over — this is a plastic surface — but it’s a large and responsive touchpad. The model we received doesn’t have a touchscreen, so keep that in mind — if you want that, you’ll have to hunt down a Dell 16 Plus model that does have one or choose a different laptop. I do prefer having a touch screen — just as an option — but I know many people don’t care. Dell 16 Plus: Display and speakers IDG / Chris Hoffman The Dell 16 Plus we reviewed has a 16-inch 2560×1600 IPS display with an anti-glare coating and up to 300 nits of brightness along with a 120Hz refresh rate. That’s a good resolution and I was pleased to see a higher-than-60Hz refresh rate here. The anti-glare coating works pretty well, and it helps make up for the slightly dim display. But it’s perfectly readable inside. Even with harsh sunlight, the anti-glare coating does a good job and ensures you don’t need to crank up the brightness just to see the screen. The display looks fine — it’s a perfectly serviceable display. But it’s an entry-level display. For this review, Dell also provided me with a Dell 16 Plus model with a higher-end display so I could compare the options. Specifically, they loaned me a model with a touchscreen and a mini-LED display with 600 nits of minimum brightness — model number DB16250. This model looks great: The colors were noticeably more vivid, and it was noticeable even on the default desktop background. However, that’s a pricier display, and it also has a glossy coating that produces more reflections. The Dell 16 Plus has a dual-speaker setup that produces clean, clear audio with a fairly loud maximum volume. I don’t hear any distortion at the maximum volume, so this is a good speaker setup. It isn’t a high-end speaker configuration, naturally: I test all the laptops I review with both Steely Dan’s Aja and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky. The instrument separation in Aja wasn’t as crisp as you’d hear on the kind of speakers audiophiles love, and the punchy bass in Get Lucky was lacking. But that’s standard for laptop speakers, and these are solid speakers for the price range. I always want to pair a good pair of headphones or external speakers with my laptops. Dell 16 Plus: Webcam, microphone, biometrics IDG / Chris Hoffman The Dell 16 Plus has a 1080p webcam with a physical webcam shutter, and that’s always a great privacy feature to see! The webcam itself is clear enough — there’s more visual noise than I’d expect to see on the kind of high-end webcam you often see on business laptops, but it’s more than good enough for online meetings and video calls. Dell says the dual-array microphone setup here has AI noise reduction. In practice, the microphone sounds unexpectedly good, with clear audio and solid noise cancellation of PC fans whirring away in my office. The Dell 16 Plus model we reviewed has both a fingerprint reader at the top-right corner of the keyboard and an IR camera for facial recognition. Having access to both types of biometrics is particularly impressive at this price range. Dell 16 Plus: Connectivity IDG / Chris Hoffman The Dell 16 Plus’s connectivity is decent but a little lacking. On the right side, this machine has a combo audio jack along with a USB Type-A (USB 3.2 Gen 1) port. On the left side, it has an HDMI 2.1 out port along with two USB Type-C ports — one of them supports Thunderbolt 4 and one supports USB 3.2 Gen 2speeds. While the ports are clearly labeled and it’s nice to have Thunderbolt 4 as an option, it would be nice if they were both Thunderbolt 4 ports. This machine charges via USB-C. Since that’s the case, you’ll always have to plug the charger into a port on the left side. That’s a little annoying. You’d have more flexibility if Dell had put a USB Type-C port on each side. All in all, this is a limited port selection for a 16-inch laptop. It’s not hard to imagine that many people would want more ports — for example, a second USB Type-A port or even a microSD card reader. You can always get a dongle or dock, but be aware that you may have to if you need a lot of peripherals. Thanks to Lunar Lake, this machine is future-proof with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 support, which is great to see. Dell 16 Plus: Performance The Dell 16 Plus provided good performance in desktop productivity apps — Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Word, Slack, and all the usual apps I find myself using all day. Lunar Lake systems deliver good performance in real-world desktop usage. As always, though we ran the Dell 16 Plus through our standard benchmarks to see how it performs. IDG / Chris Hoffman First, we run PCMark 10 to get an idea of overall system performance. With an overall PCMark 10 score of 7,229, the Dell 16 Plus delivered solid performance — lower only than systems with faster CPUs. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run Cinebench R20. This is a heavily multithreaded benchmark that focuses on overall CPU performance. Since it’s heavily multithreaded, CPUs with more cores have a huge advantage. That’s what we saw here — systems with Lunar Lake CPUs come in behind. Unfortunately, this is substantially lower multithreaded performance than last year’s Dell Inspiron 16 Plus with its Meteor Lake CPU. IDG / Chris Hoffman We also run an encode with Handbrake. This is another heavily multithreaded benchmark, but it runs over an extended period. This demands the laptop’s cooling kick in, and many laptops will throttle and slow down under load. That may be what happened here — the encode process took 1,773 seconds (nearly 30 minutes) to complete the encode process. It lags behind other Lunar Lake-powered systems we’ve tested. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run a graphical benchmark. This isn’t a gaming laptop, but it’s still good to check how the GPU performs. We run 3Dmark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance. With a score of 3,978, the Intel Arc 140V graphics here delivered excellent graphics performance for integrated graphics. Overall, the Dell 16 Plus delivered perfectly usable desktop productivity performance thanks to Lunar Lake. But Lunar Lake’s big downside — low multithreaded performance in heavy multithreaded workloads — is on full display here. This machine seems to be a bit behind other Lunar Lake-powered systems, and it’s far behind last year’s model on this benchmark. Dell 16 Plus: Battery life The Dell 16 Plus has a 64 Watt-hour battery, which is on the smaller side for a 16-inch laptop. Still, since this machine packs power-efficient Lunar Lake hardware, we’d expect to see it deliver some serious battery life. IDG / Chris Hoffman To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat on Windows 11 with airplane mode enabled until the laptop suspends itself. We set the screen to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks. This is a best-case scenario for any laptop since local video playback is so efficient, and real battery life in day-to-day use is always going to be less than this. The Dell 16 Plus lasted 856 minutes, or just over 14 hours. That’s on the lower side for a Lunar Lake-powered machine, but it’s likely that the combination of a smaller battery and perhaps a display that is sucking more power is contributing to that — it’s tough to say. While you’ll get lower battery life than this in the real world, I don’t think this is a serious issue — a 16-inch laptop that’s over four pounds feels designed to be used at a desk a lot of the time. You can get plenty of time away from an outlet. Dell 16 Plus: Conclusion I like the Dell 16 Plus a lot. But when it comes to value, the price is a big factor: At $1,149 retail, I’m a lot less excited than the $799 or less price I see right now! It’s not just about the internals: Decisions like including both a fingerprint reader and an IR camera show Dell going above and beyond what it needs to at this price range. Looking over the benchmarks, I wasn’t as thrilled as I expected to be: Lunar Lake is all about battery life improvements, but the base Dell 16 Plus uses that efficiency upgrade to drop the battery size. I reviewed last year’s Dell Inspiron 16 Plus with Meteor Lake, which was packing a larger 90 Watt-hour battery, and that machine delivered longer battery life along with stronger multithreaded performance. (Of course, last year’s model is heavier and this new Lunar Lake-powered system has better graphics performance.) It’s true that this system does have an NPU for Copilot+ PC AI features, but Microsoft hasn’t made those a must-have upgrade yet. I wish Intel’s Lunar Lake was more of a no-brainer upgrade. Still, this is a solid PC. At a sale price of $799 or so, none of these concerns feel like they matter. Read...

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