Windows

Microsoft is pivoting engineering teams to a new "swarming" model to fix Windows 11 performance and reliability issues after a wave of buggy 2026 updates.

The Epic Games Store has started a new month with another round of PC game freebies. Joining recent surprise giveaways, this week's offering includes one free game and an expensive DLC for another that has also been discounted to $0. Botany Manor and the Poison Retro Set for Pixel Gun 3D will be free to claim for a short time.

Microsoft has officially confirmed a critical regression in the January 13, 2026, security update (KB5073455) that prevents affected Windows 11 and Windows 10 systems from shutting down or entering hibernation.

The Nvidia N1X ARM APU is reportedly Team Green's first APU specifically designed for Windows laptops. However, a prominent leaker claims that Nvidia N1X has tons of bugs and issues, which could be the reason why there have been no signs of N1X-powered notebooks launching soon.

Microsoft says Windows 11’s January 2026 KB5074109 update is triggering boot failures mainly on a limited set of physical (mostly commercial) PCs that were left in an “improper state.”

The new Lenovo ThinkPad T1g Gen 8 is definitely a flagship model and offers perfect build quality, good maintenance options, a modern tandem OLED screen and very good input devices. We would like to see these features in more ThinkPads again.

Google is integrating the Gemini 3 LLM natively into the Chrome browser. The new feature called "auto browse" offers an automated analysis and summary of website content. The rollout initially takes place as a preview version for Gemini subscribers in the US.

The Acer Aspire 14 AI laptop is now on sale on Amazon at a pretty affordable price after a massive 44% discount. Packing an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V Lunar Lake APU and a 65 Wh battery under the hood, the laptop manages to be both relatively fast and long-lasting.

Windows 11 KB5074109 removes four legacy modem drivers, disabling dial-up and telephony modems that rely on them as a security hardening move.

The LG Gram Pro 17-inch weighs just 3.26 lbs and is only 0.6 inches thin, despite packing an RTX 5050 GPU. Paired with an Intel Core Ultra 7, 32 GB of RAM, and a 2 TB SSD, it's now $500 off at LG and includes a free 27-inch QHD 300 Hz monitor as part of the deal.

A new game is now free to claim on the Epic Games Store. Available for a short time, the new game typically sells for $24.99 and averages a Mostly Positive rating on Steam. Definitely Not Fried Chicken is Epic Games' only PC gaming giveaway to end January 2026.

Microsoft has released an out-of-band security update to fix an actively exploited Microsoft Office vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-21509. The flaw allows attackers to bypass Office security protections via malicious documents and has been added to CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.

Lenovo's ThinkPad T1g Gen 8 is a sleek and powerful multimedia laptop, which does not use professional graphics cards. The problem is that most customers simply do not recognize the new model name.

The Apex 16 Max and the Pro 16 from the German manufacturer XMG are two very similar laptops with the fastest version of the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti. But which of the two processors - AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX or Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX - is a better partner for the GPU?

Windows 11’s KB5074109 January 2026 update is causing FPS drops and instability on some Nvidia GeForce gaming PCs, forcing players to choose between performance and security.

The latest Windows 11 update, Windows 11 25H2, finally eliminates the gaming performance gap with Windows 10. According to testing done by Hardware Unboxed, Windows 11 25H2 is now faster than Windows 10 in games.

Microsoft’s troubled Windows 11 KB5074109 January 2026 update is now under investigation for causing UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME boot failures on some systems. Affected PCs refuse to start and must be recovered via WinRE, adding a serious new symptom to an already messy Patch Tuesday.

Microsoft releases emergency Windows 11 update KB5078127 to fix major bugs from January patch KB5074109 that caused crashes, Outlook hangs, and more.

When people ask which ThinkPad to buy, probably the most common answer is the ThinkPad T series and more specifically, the ThinkPad T14. But there are also other models, like the ThinkPad L14 we just reviewed. Here are the key differences.

Windows 11 KB5074109 uninstall is failing with error 0x800f0905, leaving users stuck between rollback issues and ongoing black screens, app errors, and Outlook hangs.

The Windows 11 KB5074109 update is causing crashes, black screens, and app failures, prompting Microsoft to advise affected users to uninstall it.

The XMG Apex 16 Max currently starts at €2,100 and is equipped with the 140W version of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop with 12 GB VRAM. You also get 32 GB RAM, a powerful HX CPU from AMD as well as a good IPS or even an optional Mini-LED screen.

Epic Games has commenced with a new round of giveaways for mobile and PC gamers. Without regard to what it is currently giving away, the popular storefront has decided to reveal what it has planned to wrap up January 2026, too.

Microsoft has officially released the Xbox app for ARM-based Windows 11 PCs. This gives devices powered by Snapdragon X processors native access to the Xbox PC ecosystem, including the ability to locally install games from the Game Pass catalogue. According to Microsoft, more than 85% of Game Pass titles are compatible with Windows on ARM at the app’s launch, and additional Xbox-related enhancements are on their way.

A 15-year-old modder has pushed Hytale’s systems to their limits by emulating Windows 95, Minecraft Classic, Doom, and even Game Boy titles entirely within the game just days after its January 13, 2026, launch. His feats, achieved through custom CPU-based rendering and streamed as pixel data to Hytale’s world map, highlight the engine’s surprising flexibility and have already drawn attention from Hypixel Studios’ leadership.

Lenovo's ThinkPad P16v Gen 3 is a mobile workstation that wants to convince with a good price-performance ratio. To keep the price down, the manufacturer saves some money in regard to the chassis stability, hinges as well as the keyboard, which are typically strengths of the ThinkPad series.

The latest security update for Windows 11 is causing significant issues on numerous systems. Reports indicate that the KB5074109 package is resulting in a black screen immediately after system startup on certain hardware configurations. Affected users have several options for restoring functionality.

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 (2025) with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 APU, an RTX 5070 Ti laptop GPU, 32 GB of LPDDR5X memory, and 1 TB of storage has dropped by more than $300 at Best Buy. The ROG Zephyrus G14 gaming laptop also brings a fantastic OLED display.

Ayaneo has unveiled the second handheld under its budget Konkr subsidiary. The new device will launch as the Konkr Fit and will run Windows out of the box. It will also have an AMD Ryzen processor.

Mobile workstations are often synonymous with fast components and professional graphics cards. However, many manufacturers actually do not use the fastest versions of the components, and the recently reviewed ThinkPad P16v Gen 3 is a good example.

Priced at less than €1,000, the Asus ExpertBook PM3 is a good office laptop with a modern AMD CPU and aluminum chassis. You also get a comfortable keyboard and a three-year warranty as well as updates for five years by default.

The Lemokey P3 HE is a new 80% TKL Hall effect gaming keyboard with a quick-disassembly design. Built around Gateron double-rail magnetic switches, it supports the usual Hall effect tricks, alongside a full metal chassis and gasket-mounted design, at a lower price than Keychron's other HE keyboards.

Epic Games has just started a new round of giveaways for PC and mobile. Nonetheless, it has also revealed what is next in store, with a Grand Theft Auto-inspired game chosen to lead the storefront's free game program.

Epic Games has switched up its free game of the week deal with two titles. Both aimed at gamers who prefer stealth rather than blazing in all guns blazing, this week's giveaway of Styx: Master of Shadows and Styx: Shards of Darkness can be claimed on PC.

Stop Windows 11 battery drain with the new KB5074109 update. Patch 114 security vulnerabilities and fix NPU power issues on your laptop.

Powerful HX CPU, fast GPU and a new OLED screen - the XMG Fusion 16 (M25) is a very good mainstream gamer with plenty of performance, modern set of features as well as comprehensive maintenance options.

Initial D was a late '90s anime about a young man embarking on his career as a drift racer in his classic Toyota AE86. Initial Drift Online, an arcade-style MMO drift racing game that hopes to capture some of that magic — tofu deliveries and all — is now free on Steam until January 18, 2026.

Dell could be preparing multiple Windows laptops with the Nvidia N1X ARM APU, as a Dell 16 Premium laptop of exactly that flavor has appeared online. The N1X is rumored to bring 10 CPU cores and more than 6,000 CUDA cores.

Linux-based gaming platforms such as SteamOS continue to gain attention as alternatives to Windows. To explore how they compare in real-world use, YouTuber ETA Prime tested an all-AMD desktop PC running both Windows 11 Pro and SteamOS, examining gaming performance across several titles.

CheckMag Lenovo used to have a design feature called the roll cage in ThinkPads, a Magnesium frame that strengthened the chassis stability and protected the internals. This feature is back in a new iteration called "Space Frame" on the new ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 G11 and X1 Carbon G14. We were able to take a look at both at CES 2026.