RetroArch is one of the most popular emulation platforms around due to its cross-compatibility, relative ease of setup, and the huge amount of community support. It even works with RetroAchievements for gamers that want to challenge themselves more than the original Contra will. You can even link up with other players online and experience multiplayer in your favorite classic titles.

Microsoft Word has been the default word processor on PC for a long time, and though the program is tremendously powerful, it's the source of more than its fair share of irritation. It's bad enough that Word tries to autocorrect normal, everyday phrases, but if you try to adjust a table or an image? It's better just to go ahead and call the fire department because you'll be tempted to set your machine ablaze by the end of the process.

Microsoft rolled out a pair of new builds today: KB5052078 to the Beta Channel and KB5052080 to both the Beta and Dev channels. Alongside various bug fixes addressing issues with File Explorer, Power & Battery, and more, the builds finally introduce some long-awaited changes that Windows users have been anticipating for what feels like forever.

Did you know there's an incredibly useful tool called Ventoy that can be used like a tech version of an army Swiss knife? Instead of writing a different optical disc image (ISO) to the same USB driver over and over, or having more than a dozen of them in a drawer, you can use Ventoy and a large USB drive to store all the ISO files you could ever possibly require. This makes working on different platforms and PCs a breeze with all your favorite software ready to go with a single boot.

Elon Musk.Just a few weeks after everyone freaked out about DeepSeek, Elon Musk’s Grok-3 has again shaken up the fast-moving AI race. The new model is ending the week at the top of the Chatbot Arena leaderboard, while the Grok iOS app is at the top of the App Store, just above ChatGPT. Even as Musk appears to be crashing out from his newfound political power, his xAI team has managed to deploy a leading foundational model in record time.It’s one thing to have the leading model; it’s another to build the biggest user base around it. Musk seems to understand that if he wants to crush OpenAI, he has to shift attention away from ChatGPT. Since the debut of Grok-3, Musk has said that ChatGPT-like voice interaction and desktop apps are coming soon. Where his product roadmap appears to differ considerably from OpenAI’s is xAI’s nascent efforts to build an AI gaming studio, though the details there are scarce.While its Deep Research reports are nowhere near as in depth as OpenAI’s, Grok-3’s “thinking” capabilities appear to be roughly on par with o1, according to Andrej Karpathy, who noted in his deep dive comparison that “this timescale to state of the art territory is unpr …Read the full story at The Verge.

If you're looking for fast external storage that's compact and also durable, then portable SSDs are the way to go. Not only are there plenty of different models and brands to choose from, but they can also be had cheap if you know when and where to look. Luckily, you won't need to do any digging to find a good deal, as we've already done all the hard work for you.

Windows 11 has a lot of great aspects that make it the go-to desktop operating system for many users. But there are times I wish I hadn't upgraded my PC due to certain features and quirks. While I've taken steps to make Windows 11 less annoying, it feels like I'm constantly playing whack-a-mole with nuisances and changes.

USB-C hubs are a great way to go if you're looking for a simple and easy way to expand the ports on your laptop or similar device, without adding a lot of bulk. While there are many great choices to choose from, we think this one from Anker really hits the mark. For a limited time, Amazon Prime members can score a fantastic 50% discount on this Anker PowerExpand hub that brings the price down to just $12.50.

AMD is gearing up to launch the Radeon RX 90 series graphics cards on February 28. This launch will be hot on the wheels of both Intel and Nvidia. The former is looking to penetrate the market with new affordable GPUs while Nvidia is doing what Nvidia does best ... rave on about AI and pack as much tech into expensive graphics cards as possible. Still, although the RTX 50 series launch left much to be desired, there's no doubt Nvidia has some beefy cards out and AMD needs to hit a home run to remain relevant.

As much as we all use Windows, there are many parts of it that remain unknown to most people, and sometimes, these "secrets" can be very useful for different things. One of these secrets is the advanced startup options screen, which is often used for performing clean installations of Windows 11.

Despite all the hype surrounding the RTX 5090, things haven't been panning out well for Nvidia. First, the company suffered huge shortages of cards, to the point where scalpers were trying to flip them for $9,000. Then, people were experiencing black screen issues after updating their drivers. Now, it seems some GPUs are physically defective, as they're reporting fewer ROPs than usual.

Our operating system of choice has a huge impact on how we interface with our computers. Some users prefer a no-compromises approach, with every aspect of the experience being customizable. Others will want an experience where they don’t have to think about things like dependencies, or heaven forbid, open a command line. There’s nothing wrong with either approach: You do whatever works best for you.