Arguably the most incredible feature of Start11 is the ability to change the Windows 10 start menu to one that looks almost identical to Windows 11‘s. It’s quite a nice-looking upgrade from the Windows 10 start menu if you’re a fan of the Windows 11 style. If you’re using Windows 11 already, Start11 has tons of features for you, as its primary purpose is to tweak the start menu on the latest version of the OS....
Point-and-Shoot vs. Smartphone Cameras Point-and-shoot cameras make up a pretty broad category, which encompasses everything from the $150 Canon PowerShot ELPH 180 to the $1,300 Sony RX100. They were much more popular before smartphones took over the world, but they still have a place in many photographers’ pockets. There are two major problems with smartphone cameras: They’re small, and thus have to use small image sensors. All else being equal, larger sensors mean better image quality....
What Is a VPN Kill Switch? A VPN kill switch is a safety measure designed to protect you when a VPN connection disconnects. When you connect to a VPN, all of your internet traffic is funneled through an encrypted connection. Anyone attempting to snoop on you will see obfuscated encrypted data rather than whatever it is you’re doing online. Since a VPN is a connection like any other, it can fail from time to time....
What Exactly Is BGP Anyway? Several very apt metaphors have been used in recent articles to explain BGP. People have likened it to everything from an air traffic controller to a constantly evolving map of the internet. It’s even been called “the duct tape of the internet.” And they’re all right. BGP is the protocol that tells data requests what path they need to take to reach the server. If, for example, you log in to Facebook or open the app to pull up your feed, BGP is what guides your data packet along the fastest route to retrieve that data for you from Facebook’s servers....
Bringing HDR10+ to Games HDR or high dynamic range is one of the most exciting features to make its way to 4K and 8K TVs. It allows televisions and monitors to display more lifelike and accurate colors. But there are multiple competing standards for HDR. While HDR10 is the baseline HDR and is present on every display that claims to support high dynamic range, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision are advanced HDR formats that come with dynamic metadata to tell displays how to adjust brightness levels on a frame-by-frame or scene-by-scene basis....
HTTPS, the lock icon in the address bar, an encrypted website connection—it’s known as many things. While it was once reserved primarily for passwords and other sensitive data, the entire web is gradually leaving HTTP behind and switching to HTTPS. The “S” in HTTPS stands for “Secure”. It’s the secure version of the standard “hypertext transfer protocol” your web browser uses when communicating with websites. How HTTP Puts You At Risk When you connect to a website with regular HTTP, your browser looks up the IP address that corresponds to the website, connects to that IP address, and assumes it’s connected to the correct web server....
There are many reasons your Internet connection might appear slow. It could be a problem with your modem or router, Wi-Fi signal, signal strength on your cable line, devices on your network saturating your bandwidth, or even a slow DNS server. These troubleshooting steps will help you pin down the cause. Narrow Down the Problem With Multiple Websites and Devices If your speed test confirms your internet is slow, you should try connecting to multiple websites and using multiple devices in your home if your Internet connection is slow....
Microsoft has been pretty generous with Windows 11 information, with the notable exception being the release date. However, the company may have inadvertently revealed an October release window, thanks to some Intel and Microsoft support documents discovered by BleepingComputer. Windows 11 Could Arrive Very Soon Original reports indicated that Windows 11 would likely drop late in 2021 (there’s a beta of it now), though they predicted that we’d see it in November or December....
A lot of M1 Mac users were hoping they’d be able to run Windows 11 on their computers. While the preview versions of Windows 11 ran with Parallels Desktop, it doesn’t look like the final release will be supported. Microsoft recently told The Register that running the ARM version of Windows 11 on M1 Macs is not “a supported scenario” for the operating system. Not a supported scenario means it won’t work officially, but there’s always a chance some creative people could figure out a way to make Windows 11 work on an M1 Mac unofficially, though running it that way will be very much at your own risk....
F2P Games Have a Different Goal Than Other Games The first thing you should know to understand more about how F2P games work, is that they have a different design goal than games that you purchase once as a complete experience. In traditional game development, the idea is to sell the player a complete experience that they’ll enjoy as much as possible. If it’s a good game, it will hopefully sell many copies and the developer will turn a profit....
These TVs feature far-field voice technology, so you can speak to Alexa from wherever you are in the room. You can use the TV to control Alexa whether the TV is on or off, making this TV a suitable replacement for an Echo smart speaker. Alexa will let you tune to your favorite show, control playback, volume, and so on. There are some other nifty features, such as the ability to look at your smart cameras in picture-in-picture, Alexa Calling, and support for Zoom....
The beta was first spotted by Twitter user Luming Yin. Unfortunately, the macOS Monterey 12.2 beta is only being seeded to developers at this time, so you’ll have to jump through some hoops if you want to actually test out the latest version of the Apple Music app on macOS. However, it’s nice to know that Apple is working on the app, as the old version left a bit to be desired after the release of macOS Monterey....
The platform-wide achievement system isn’t launching just yet, as Epic says it’ll be available to gamers next week. With Epic’s new achievement system, the company says it’ll bring “additional benefits for players and brings them more in line with achievement systems on other platforms.” For example, it’ll have profile levels that track your overall progress throughout different games on Epic’s platform. Currently, the list of games includes Rocket League, Hades, Pillars of Eternity, Kena, Zombie Army 4, and Alan Wake Remastered....
The Bad Old Days of Gaming Laptops The only reason you would buy a gaming laptop in the past was that you absolutely needed a mobile gaming system. You’d have to pay exorbitant amounts of money for the privilege and then put up with CPUs and GPUs that were a generation or two behind. In other words, you’d be getting budget desktop gaming performance for cutting-edge gaming desktop prices. So, unless you were a well-heeled executive who absolutely had to get their gaming fix while staying at a hotel, it was very hard to recommend these overpriced and underpowered systems to anyone....
The new 5TB plan sells for $24.99 per month, which isn’t bad for enough storage space to back up just about everything you own. No matter how many photos you want to place in Google Photos, you’ll have a hard time filling up 5TB of space. Google is offering some extra benefits with the 5TB plan, including 10% off Google Store purchases, the ability to add family members to the plan, access to Google experts, and a VPN on Android....
Windows 11 includes at least 18 stylish new desktop wallpaper images created by Barcelona-based Six N. Five Studio. At 3840×2400 resolution, each one meets the 4K standard, and they’re organized into six themes. Let’s take a look at them. Windows Light and Dark Themes The default Windows 11 wallpaper features an abstract blue-layered object that resembles smooth, swirled fabric. It’s available on a light gray background for the “Windows (light)” theme and on a dark background for the “Windows (dark)” theme....
Adjusting dates on a spreadsheet can be cumbersome. Rather than digging out your calendar to count days or months, you can adjust dates right in Microsoft Excel with simple addition or subtraction. Whether it’s a project schedule with deadlines, a budget with due dates for bills, or an inventory sheet with shipping dates, adjusting those dates doesn’t have to be a pain. In a few simple steps, you can enter the addition or subtraction and calculate your new dates automatically....
When you use Speedy Meetings in combination with your default event duration, you can help those attending your meetings. Whether they need to walk to another building or switch to another online provider for the next meeting, a few minutes can make a big difference. RELATED: How to Check Someone’s Availability in Google Calendar How to Reduce Meeting Durations in Google Calendar To enable the Speedy Meetings feature, visit Google Calendar on the web....
Have you ever gone on a YouTube binge, only to get the same annoying pre-roll ad over and over again? It’s a systemic issue, thanks to Google’s user-targeting advertising algorithm. The easiest way to solve this problem is to pay for YouTube Red and get rid of all the advertising. The easiest free way to do it, however, is below. When you see the same ad over and over again, hover your mouse cursor over the “i” circle logo in the lower left corner of the video, to the left of the “Visit Advertiser’s Site” link....
What Happens When Cache and Cookies are Deleted? When you visit a website, it will sometimes save (or remember) certain information. Cookies save a user’s browsing data (with their consent) and cache helps webpages load more quickly by remembering images, videos, and other parts of the webpage from the last visit instead of needing to re-render everything with each visit. RELATED: Clearing Your Cookies All the Time Makes the Web More Annoying...
