You have a working homelab. It already replaced many of your cloud services with self-hosted alternatives, and then you go after one of the last ones. I did the same. From Google Drive and Apple iCloud to Bitwarden Premium and NextDNS, I ditched almost everything for free alternatives via my homelab. And when everything worked in my favor, I aimed big. I tried to replace my Google Workspace with a self-hosted mail server. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work the way I expected.

As someone who installed PowerToys for Command Palette and then ended up using its window management tools like FancyZones and Always On Top way more than I expected, I wish I had discovered File Locksmith sooner. So, you know how Windows doesn't let you delete, move, or rename a file when another program is using it? Sometimes Windows tells you which program has the file open, and that's an easy fix. But other times, it just vaguely says "another program," so you're left figuring it out yourself.

With a modern Wi-Fi-based smart home, every single smart bulb, robotic vacuum, Wi-Fi plug, smart camera, and thermostat you buy dramatically spams your primary home network. Suddenly, your router's client table is flooded with dozens of chatty, low-bandwidth IoT devices. If you mix all of these IoT devices with high-throughput devices like your gaming PC or streaming 4K files from your NAS, this can create both network congestion and a major security blind spot. Instead of throwing away an old dual-band Wi-Fi router that you got sitting in a drawer, you can configure it as a dedicated isolated access point running on a separate subnet, strictly for IoT gear.

When you experience sluggish Wi-Fi in the back bedroom or a smart device constantly drops out, you might instantly assumeyour router is underpowered. Instead of analyzing your network environment, you fall for marketing hype and drop hundreds or sometimes even thousands of dollars on a high-end multi-node Wi-Fi mesh system.

The concept of a second brain has been floating around in the productivity space for years, partly thanks to Tiago Forte's book Building a Second Brain, but especially so since AI entered the mix. The premise is that you put pretty much your entire digital life into one trusted system and let that system do the managing and remembering for you.

For years, anything I printed that was bigger than a coffee mug came with an extra step baked in: drop it into the slicer, watch it hang off the edge of the build plate, and reach for the cut tool. My Elegoo Neptune 2 was a great little machine, but its 220 x 220mm bed decided the shape of everything I made, and anyone who's owned a bedslinger knows using the entire print volume is a pain. Helmets became quarters, busts became halves, and every project ended with an evening of superglue, filler, and sanding seams that never quite disappeared.

It looks like Microsoft is wrapping up its Windows and Surface efforts for 2026 to be able to focus on the future. Last week the company announced refreshes to the Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch. This week, Microsoft rolled out Windows 11 version 26H2.With a bunch of Surface announcements in the rearview mirror and another update to Windows 11 rolling out, Microsoft can point its followers to the future. The description of the Windows and Surface event next week says, "Join us live... for a look at what's next from Windows, Surface, and NVIDIA."I hope Microsoft has some exciting news in store for its event. Windows and Surface have been far from exciting lately. It is possible to market boring products, of course, but they have to be reliable.This week Microsoft announced Windows 11 version 26H2 and called it a "predictable and low-disruption update." If Microsoft wants to win back consumers, it needs to either be cutting edge or actually deliver predictable and low-disruption updates. It feels like for the last few years we've gotten neither.Biggest News of the WeekQualcommMicrosoft has had to release multiple out-of-band updates in 2026. Some bugs required multiple patches to fix. It's gotten so bad that most of our articles about Windows 11 updates are met with comments asking what will break this time.Unfortunately, the commenters have been proven right several times. One serious bug made Outlook, OneDrive, Dropbox, and other cloud-backed apps inoperable. Another issue froze Remote Desktop and caused audio failures. At one point users couldn't even install a Windows 11 update, forcing Microsoft to pull that update.If Microsoft is going to undercut its events and trim down its Surface lineup, it needs to double down on reliability. Next week, we should get some answers about Microsoft's plans.Windows and Surface event(Image credit: Windows Central / Zac Bowden)A boring but bug-free Windows 11 update may be a welcome change of pace, but it makes me curious about what Microsoft will discuss at its Windows and Surface event next week. Considering Windows 11 version 26H2 is already rolling out, the focus is likely the future of Windows.Does Microsoft have something up its sleeve? Has the tech giant learned a lesson about how to build consumer hype? Or are we due for another on-stage announcement about AI and how new PCs can run models locally?I'm sure there are developers interested in the potential of the Surface Laptop Ultra and RTX Spark for AI development, but there are hundreds of millions of Windows users who care very little about AI. Microsoft needs to at least throw some scraps our way to keep us interested.Shopping with SeanAmazon's October Prime Day is next week, but there are already some great deals live. Competing retailers are trying to beat Amazon to the punch, resulting in big savings.A trio of laptops are the best deals of the week. I'm partial toward the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x because of its thin design but the Samsung Galaxy Book6 and Dell 14S are also great choices.14S 14" 2K Touchscreen Laptop (Intel Core Ultra 7 355 2026, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Copilot+): was $1599.99 now $899.99"The Dell 14S is a compelling choice for a variety of users thanks to its long-lasting battery life (and) relatively affordable price." ~ Sean Riley, Freelance Writer, Tom's GuideTom's Guide review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐View DealYoga Slim 7x: was $1299.99 now $969.99"The Slim 7x (Gen 11) is a laptop I can see fitting in perfectly with students, home business pros, and casual users who simply want a laptop for around $1,199 (even less when it's on sale) that feels like it should cost a lot more." — Cale Hunt, Windows CentralView DealSamsung Galaxy Book6: was $1449.99 now $947"I’ve been using the Samsung Book 6 for a while now and honestly it’s been solid. It’s lightweight, looks premium, and the battery easily gets me through most of the day. Performance is smooth for studying, browsing, videos, and everyday work." ~ VALENTIN, customer review4.8 out of 5 Stars (based on 40 Best Buy customer reviews)View DealJoin us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Earlier this year, when I upgraded to AM5, I bought the Crucial T710 Gen 5 SSD to go along with it, even though I knew my old Corsair MP600 Gen 4 NVMe from 2019 was still no slouch. After all, with my X870E board supporting PCIe 5.0 SSDs, it just made sense to use storage that could actually take advantage of it. The T710, on paper, is about three times faster than my MP600, claiming read speeds of up to 14,900 MB/s. Of course, I wasn't expecting all of that to translate to real-world performance, but I was still curious.

Google's Gary Illyes showed timing ranges for crawling, indexing, site moves, and core update recovery at Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe in Barcelona.The post Google Shows How Long Crawling, Indexing & Recovery Can Take appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

While deep in the recording process for The Downward Spiral, Trent Reznor lent some of his production talents to old friend Kevin McMahon, from the new wave band Lucky Pierre (which Reznor was briefly a member of). While Reznor is only credited as the producer on four tracks off Prick's self-titled debut record, his fingerprints are all over it. But McMahon also can't suppress his inner theater kid, which also gives the songs the sort of glammy flamboyance found on T. Rex records. Prick embraces the inherent theatricality of goth in a way that Nine Inch Nails never did. Opener "Communiqué" is a fuzzy blast of simple punk riffs with electro …Read the full story at The Verge.

Acclaimed gaming journalist Destin Legarie recently spoke with the developers of Gears of War: E-Day about behind-the-scenes development, story elements, audience expectations, and more.During this conversation, Destin asked the developers how they felt about Gears of War: E-Day being an Xbox console exclusive title.DEAL: Get Surfshark VPN 86% OFF with Windows Central 🦈The developers responded by saying that they were "proud" to be one of Xbox's pillar titles, "We feel great that they feel great because Gears is like part of Xbox's DNA. It's woven into it. And at The Coalition, we feel honored to have Gears and be the ones bringing that legacy forward."The developers mentioned they know Xbox means so much to a lot of people and that they're proud to be one of Xbox's main console-exclusive titles, filling that role again with Gears of War: E-Day.RELATED: Gears of War: E-Day reviewOf course, this isn't full exclusivity, as the game is still available on Steam for PC, as has been tradition for Xbox for many years now. As of writing, Gears of War: E-Day has achieved its highest franchise concurrency figures on Steam at around 20,000 users in the early access period, and has become the top-selling Steam game in the United States ahead of its official October 6, 2026 launch. The game is also of course available on Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, where I suspect many will be opting to play over an out-right purchase. Will Xbox exclusivity pay off for Gears of War: E-Day?Personally, while I prefer games being available on any platform (especially these days when people can't afford to buy every console at once), I can't deny the power exclusivity brings to a console and a game series' brand. For example, I bought a Nintendo Switch many years ago just to play Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, simply because I knew it wasn't going to be made available on any other console.So I'm guessing at least some will have the same sentiment for Gears of War: E-Day, which will ultimately be beneficial for Xbox in the long run. Having exclusives will give Xbox its own unique identity and entice console players to play their games not found anywhere else (besides Windows PC, which is also a part of the Xbox ecosystem).But this is all speculation on my end. Only time will tell if this console-exclusivity strategy pays off financially for Gears of War: E-Day when it leaves early access and launches for the general public on October 6, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, and Windows PC (all with Xbox Play Anywhere support).Gears of War: E-Day (Xbox): $69.00Relive the tragic day that started the long, grueling war between the COGs and the Locust horde in the highly anticipated prequel of the Gears of War franchise, Gears of War: E-Day.• Xbox Store• SteamView DealJoin us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Kodi is one of the oldest media centers, predating the rise of streaming services and self-hosted solutions like Plex, Jellyfin, and Emby.