Keeping your Windows system secure is vital for the operating system on your PC, and it takes some time and diligence. However, Microsoft has built several security measures into Windows that work out of the box to help you along the way. For example, there is a built-in Windows Security app where you can manage security options including real-time virus scans, Firewall settings, and advanced security like ransomware protection.

Image: Square Enix Fantasian was an easy game to recommend when it launched in 2021. Developed by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s Mistwalker studio, Fantasian was an approachable old-school roleplaying game that had a lot of clever ideas, along with an adorable aesthetic thanks to its world made out of hand-crafted dioramas. There was just one problem: it was exclusive to Apple Arcade, so anyone who wasn’t a subscriber missed out. Now, that has finally changed as the game launches this week on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and the Switch.The new port is called Fantasian Neo Dimension, but it’s mostly identical to the Apple Arcade version, aside from the very welcome addition of voice acting. (In a nice bit of circular storytelling, Neo Dimension is being published by Final Fantasy maker Square Enix.) In many ways, Fantasian is classic Final Fantasy in all but name. It stars a hero named Leo, who — with the help of a tough princess, a mysterious magic wielder, and a grizzled ship captain — gets pulled into a quest that spans multiple realms, as they attempt to thwart a mechanical infestation led by a tall, dark, and dangerous villain.There’s plenty that Final Fantasy fans will recognize: the amnesiac lead character, the playful love triangle, a world that blends fantasy and sci-fi, similar spells and items, and a beautiful soundtrack from famed composer Nobuo Uematsu. Hell, there’s even a character named Sid. The basis of Fantasian is Sakaguchi and his team working with the framework they know but building on top of it in interesting ways. So you’re left with a rock-solid RPG that makes some nice tweaks to the formula.The most obvious difference is the visual style, which is like a hand-crafted take on the old prerendered backgrounds from PlayStation-era Final Fantasy. It lends the game a very tactile aesthetic, and it’s surprisingly flexible; there are warm and cozy forests and cabins but also cold mechanical areas made of metal and old circuit boards. And while the game has its origins on mobile, it still looks sharp and clear on console. I’ve been replaying it on the Switch, and the only issue has been the occasionally long load time before a battle.Fantasian also makes some tweaks to the turn-based RPG formula that make it both more approachable and less frustrating. The first is a fun twist on combat that lets you aim many of your attacks, which can be incredibly satisfying when you line things up just right and hit a whole bunch of enemies in one shot.Even more useful is the awkwardly named feature Dimengeon — a portmanteau of dungeon and dimension — which takes the sting out of random battles. When you have it switched on, those pesky monsters are zapped to another dimension, where you can battle them at your leisure. The twist is that they accumulate. So when the device fills up and you have to finally fight them, you can get into a battle against a whole bunch of bad guys at once. These fights have a strategic, almost puzzle-like feel.Those seemingly subtle tweaks are more than enough to make Fantasian an easy recommendation if you’re looking for a classic RPG. Much like the recent remake of Dragon Quest III, a large part of the appeal of Fantasian is how traditional it is, while smoothing out the rough edges that can make the genre feel clunky and tedious. And as Final Fantasy itself continues to expand in different ways, Fantasian is a comforting look back at how things used to be.Fantasian Neo Dimension launches on December 5th on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and the Switch.

With Windows 10 leaving support in October 2025, people are looking for ways to upgrade to Windows 11 without destroying perfectly good hardware. However, people have held hope that Microsoft would back off the operating system's TPM 2.0 requirement, the biggest pain point keeping older hardware from getting official support. It was a long shot, but it was possible. Well, it turns out that Microsoft has thoroughly dashed that hope, signaling that people have to upgrade or get left behind.

I've mentioned this multiple times over the past few weeks, but my entire life I've been a Windows user, and only recently did I make the jump to macOS as part of my Mac Mini review. And while I've absolutely loved the hardware Apple has created here, macOS still requires a big adjustment period, and also a lot of changes.

While Excel feels like an old-school spreadsheet program compared to some other sleek and sophisticated CRM solutions, it’s the only tool you really need for customer relationship management. Before you shell out for that pricey CRM subscription, consider using Excel. Microsoft’s trusty workhorse boasts impressive features, flexibility, and ease of use to make it a viable alternative for small businesses and individuals with straightforward needs. Here are the top reasons why Excel might just be the underdog champion of CRM.

When we think of overclocking a computer, we generally think of an expensive gaming PC being pushed to its limits for the best gaming experience. But did you know you can also overclock your Raspberry Pi relatively easily?

Image: Microsoft Microsoft has poured cold water on any hopes of lower hardware requirements for Windows 11. With Windows 10 end of support approaching in October 2025, the software giant now says that its Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 requirement for Windows 11 is “non-negotiable.”In a blog post entitled “TPM 2.0 – a necessity for a secure and future-proof Windows 11,” Microsoft makes it very clear that it won’t lower Windows 11’s strict hardware requirements to encourage people to upgrade from Windows 10. TPM was a surprise requirement for Windows 11 when it was first announced in 2021, and now practically every modern PC ships with support for TPM 2.0. It’s a hardware-level chip or firmware capability that helps encrypt or decrypt data, confirm digital signatures, and assist with any other cryptographic operations.“TPM 2.0 plays a crucial role in enhancing identity and data protection on Windows devices, as well as maintaining the integrity of your system,” says Steven Hosking, a senior product manager at Microsoft. “TPM 2.0 also helps future-proof Windows 11. One way it does so is by helping to protect sensitive information as more AI capabilities come to physical, cloud, and server architecture.”Microsoft details how TPM integrates with new security features in Windows 11 like Credential Guard and Windows Hello for Business, as well as BitLocker disk encryption. TPM 2.0 also helps support Secure Boot, a key technology that secures the boot process from any unauthorized changes.Hosking says Microsoft has implemented TPM 2.0 “as a non-negotiable standard for the future of Windows,” so there’s no going back on the hardware requirements here. Microsoft also requires that Windows 11 devices are capable of virtualization-based security and hypervisor-protected code integrity (HVCI), which means Windows 11 is only supported on CPUs released from 2018 onward.Despite the requirements, there have been several workarounds over the years to allow Windows 11 to run on unsupported hardware. Microsoft didn’t apply a hardware-compliance check initially for virtualized versions of Windows 11, but the company has been gradually locking down the upgrade and setup process in recent years — especially with the 24H2 update. The improved compatibility checks with 24H2 have forced tools like Flyby11 to leverage a feature of the Windows 11 setup that uses a Windows Server variant of the installation to bypass the hardware compatibility checks. Businesses can also use Microsoft’s official Windows 11 LTSC 2024 release, which makes TPM an optional requirement but still enforces a list of compatible CPUs.Microsoft is now trying to convince Windows 10 users to buy a new PC with full-screen prompts. The latest prompts follow warnings about the Windows 10 end of support date earlier this year. Microsoft has used similar prompts like this in the past, with the company pushing Windows 10 upgrades for Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is banning data brokers Gravy Analytics and Mobilewalla from collecting, using, and selling “sensitive” location data of Americans, the agency announced on Tuesday. The FTC targeted Gravy Analytics, its subsidiary Venntel, and Mobilewalla for allegedly violating the FTC Act by collecting and selling information that could be used to track people to healthcare facilities, military bases, religious sites, labor union gatherings, and other sensitive locations.The FTC says (PDF) Mobilewalla “relied primarily on consumer information that Mobilewalla collected from real-time bidding exchanges” by bidding to show people personalized ads on their mobile devices and then retaining tracking info identifying them. It also bought info from other sources and used additional data to build out the profiles attached to each advertising ID. Combining that data, according to the complaint, allowed Mobilewalla to create audience segments targeting pregnant women, as well as provide analysis of people who attended protests over the death of George Floyd.Meanwhile, Venntel’s scheme is explained (PDF) as collecting location data from otherwise ordinary mobile apps, and then selling access to the data to other businesses or government agencies. 404 Media reports that the IRS, DEA, FBI, CBP, and ICE have all purchased Venntel data.Now, the companies must comply by never “selling, disclosing, or using sensitive location data in any product or service, and must establish a sensitive data location program.”Mobilewalla’s proposed settlement order will prohibit the company from:Misrepresenting how it collects, maintains, uses, deletes or discloses consumers’ personal information, and the extent to which consumers’ location data is deidentified.Using, transferring, selling and disclosing sensitive location data from health clinics, religious organizations, correctional facilities, labor union offices, LGBTQ+-related locations, political gatherings and military installations.Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon, who led efforts to target a loophole data brokers used to sell sensitive personal data on the market, applauded the FTC and CFPB for limiting what the companies can collect. In a statement sent to The Verge, Wyden said these companies could sell information about “law enforcement, judges and members of the armed forces is on the open market” to “anyone with a credit card,” putting citizens and military personnel in danger.Wyden also said US government agencies spied on Americans by obtaining this data without a warrant. “Many federal agencies hid behind the flimsy claim that Americans consented to the sale of their data, but the FTC’s orders make it clear how untrue these claims were,” said Wyden.

A shocking coup attempt sent South Korea into political upheaval. But on the ground, at the protests that would prevent the President from seizing power, people were organized, angry, and a little drunk. Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: Ubisoft Despite only officially launching the game in spring of this year, Ubisoft has already announced that it’s ending development and sunsetting its free-to-play team-based shooter XDefiant. Like Hyper Scape before it, XDefiant had high expectations, with Ubisoft touting more than 1 million players in its closed beta last year. Now, it will disappear quickly, as it’s no longer accepting new players as of today and is scheduled to shut off the servers entirely next June.Despite a delayed launch, Ubisoft said that XDefiant had reached more than 10 million players in its first two weeks and “outperformed expectations thanks to acquisition and strong average revenue per session day.” However, it couldn’t maintain that momentum, and by this fall, rumors of trouble surfaced, with Insider Gaming reporting that concurrent player numbers across all platforms had fallen below 20,000.Ubisoft states, “The game will remain available to all players who joined XDefiant before December 3rd, 2024. All functionalities, including progression, events, rewards, and achievements, will continue to be available until June 3rd, 2025.” The planned Season 3 content will still launch, and the company is refunding anyone who bought the Ultimate Founders Pack, as well as players who bought VC and DLC in the last month.Like with Concord developer Firewalk Studios, this shutdown comes with job losses. According to Ubisoft, “difficult consequences” are leading to “the closing of our San Francisco and Osaka production studios and to the ramp down of our Sydney production site, with 143 people departing in San Francisco and 134 people likely to depart in Osaka and Sydney.”

Image: Google Veo, Google’s latest generative AI video model, is now available for businesses to start incorporating into their content creation pipelines. After first being unveiled in May — three months after OpenAI demoed its competing Sora product — Veo has beaten it to market by launching in a private preview via Google’s Vertex AI platform.Veo is capable of generating “high-quality” 1080p resolution videos in a range of different visual and cinematic styles from text or image-based prompts. When the model was first announced these generated clips could be vaguely “beyond a minute” in length, but Google doesn’t specify length restrictions for the preview release. Some new example clips in Google’s announcement are on par with what we’ve already seen from Veo — without a keen eye, it’s extremely difficult to tell that the videos are AI-generated. Gif: Google The dog example in these Veo clips is especially impressive — note how its fur pattern and collar remain consistent through its movement. The latest version of Google’s Imagen 3 text-to-image generator will also be available to all Google Cloud customers via Vertex “starting next week,” expanding its initial US release on Google’s AI Test Kitchen back in August. Users on Google’s allow list can also access new features like prompt-based photo editing, and the ability to “infuse your own brand, style, logo, subject or product features” into generated images. Image: Google Veo isn’t perfect though — see how light is shining through someone's hand at the top-left of the ai-generated concert video. Google says Veo and Imagen 3 carry built-in safeguards to prevent them from generating harmful content or violating copyright protections — though we’ve found the latter wasn’t difficult to bypass. Everything produced by Veo and Imagen 3 is also embedded with DeepMind’s SynthID technology — a kind of invisible digital watermark that Google says can “decrease misinformation and misattribution concerns.” It’s a similar concept to Adobe’s Content Credentials system, which can be embedded into content produced by the creative software giant’s own image and video generative AI models.With Google’s video model now in the wild, OpenAI is notably behind its competitors and running out of time to make good on its promise to release Sora by the end of 2024. We’re already seeing AI-generated content appearing in ads like Coca-Cola’s recent holiday campaign, and companies have an incentive not to wait around for Sora — according to Google, 86 percent of organizations already using generative AI are seeing an increase in revenue.

Image: Vizio After announcing plans to acquire Vizio in February, Walmart officially owns the company after the $2.3 billion transaction closed on Tuesday. The retail giant says the acquisition will help bolster its advertising business, as Platform Plus — the TV-maker’s advertising and data division — “accounts for all the company’s [Vizio's] gross profit.”All that data will be a boon for Walmart’s growing advertising business, which has already started leveraging shopper information to target ads on Disney Plus and Hulu. The move will likely open up more opportunities for Walmart to sell more ads on Vizio TVs in stores, something it talked about expanding earlier this year, and maybe even stick ads on the Vizio TVs in people’s living rooms.The deal has raised concerns among privacy advocates, as Vizio has gotten in trouble over advertising and data tracking in the past. In 2017, it paid a $2.2 million fine to settle a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit that accused it of tracking viewers without their consent.An acquisition by Walmart could help Vizio compete with other budget-friendly TV brands that rely on advertising as a significant source of revenue. Roku, which started selling its own TVs last year, made $908.2 million in advertising sales and subscriptions in the third quarter of 2024, with an average revenue per user of $41.10, while Vizio’s last earnings report showed it was making about $37.17 per user.There’s also Amazon’s ad-friendly Fire TVs, Telly — the company that promises free TVs in exchange for showing persistent advertisements, and an incoming platform from advertising firm The Trade Desk that Sonos will use.Despite the acquisition, Walmart and Vizio will continue operating independently “for the foreseeable future.” Vizio CEO William Wang will also remain in his position.“VIZIO has also expertly changed their business over time, like building and quickly scaling a profitable advertising business,” Seth Dallaire, the executive vice president and chief growth officer of Walmart US, said in the announcement. “Pairing it with Walmart Connect will be impactful and allow us to invest in our business even further on behalf of our customers.”