WINDOWS 11 By Chris Hoffman The Files app delivers a modernized alternative to File Explorer — for better and for worse. Windows 11’s File Explorer still needs a lot of polish. I’ve run into regular crashes, slowdowns, and other problems over the past few years. It’s just not the reliable file manager it was in […]

INTEL By Chris Hoffman Intel’s laptop CPUs just made a huge leap. New desktop chips are coming, too. At CES 2026 in January, I saw a lot of machines with Intel’s Core Ultra Series 3 hardware, also known as Panther Lake. Laptops with this hardware are already hitting the shelves. I’ve had my hands on […]

ISSUE 23.04 • 2026-01-26 COMMENTARY By Chris Hoffman Intel’s new Core Ultra Series 3 hardware is the big story. I was on the ground at CES 2026 in Las Vegas earlier this month. Returning from CES is a bit like coming back from the future: I’ve seen and touched the new tech that will be […]

ISSUE 23.03 • 2026-01-19 WINDOWS 11 By Chris Hoffman It’s a lot like when Windows became a 64-bit operating system. Capable Arm laptops running Windows 11 have been around for more than a year. Even though application compatibility was impressive at launch, it had some blind spots. Going into 2026, Windows on Arm is a […]

WINDOWS 11 By Chris Hoffman On modern Windows PCs, you rarely need to download a software installer from a website. Windows has traditionally required you to download software installers — EXE files, MSI packages, and other formats — to install applications. But Windows is quietly shifting away from that. On a modern Windows PC, you […]

WINDOWS 11 By Chris Hoffman Windows 11’s Task Manager is a grab bag of features, some useful and others pointless. The Task Manager isn’t just a way to end misbehaving processes. It’s a way to monitor your system’s resource usage, see hardware details, and take control over startup apps. It’s also a bit of a […]