I’m a Windows user, and after looking at third-party antivirus tools for my PC with the release of Windows 10, I abandoned them. Many big-name third-party antivirus tools can get complicated, and they use a lot of system resources. In addition, they can be expensive for the protection you get. For instance, Norton is a popular third-party antivirus solution, but it’s costly and continuously offers in-app upgrades that cost even more.

The creators of Halo and Destiny are finally ready to show off their next big project: Marathon. It’s a long-awaited title from Bungie and revives the classic Marathon IP in the form of a PvPvE extraction shooter. After a teaser nearly two years ago, the Sony-owned studio just spent an hour showing off Marathon gameplay and game mechanics and revealed the game will launch on September 23rd on PS5, Xbox Series S / X, and PC, with full cross-play and cross-save. There’s even an alpha test for fans to try out the game later this month, ahead of its full debut this year.Marathon is set in a sci-fi universe in 2850, in the remains of Tau Ceti IV, which Bungie describes as a lost colony whose inhabitants disappeared without a trace. Rival factions have hired Runners to scavenge for what’s left behind, and anyone who signs up to be a Runner has given up their human form for a biosynthetic shell with unique abilities and stats.As a Runner, you fight in a crew of up to three players across a variety of zones and points of interest. You can face rival runners in maps of up to 18 players, so up to six teams, in a bid to grab as much loot as possible and get out. While Marathon is designed to be played in crews, with contextual pings and shared objectives, you can also play solo instead of having to form a dedicated three-person team.In Marathon runs, there will be what Bungie calls security forces, PvE enemies that roam the world. There are also creatures on these planets that are a threat when you’re navigating toward points on a map. You’ll have to choose whether it’s worth engaging with these enemies and risk revealing your location to rival teams or use a strategy of avoiding these threats in this PvPvE environment.The maps are filled with bold and vibrant artwork and weapons, materials, and equipment that can be scavenged. Before a run, you build a loadout and select the Runner that fits your play style. In the alpha test, which starts on April 23rd, there will be four runners to choose from, including the stealthy Void character that can go invisible much like a Hunter from Destiny 2. There’s also a Glitch runner that has fast-paced abilities and, like its name implies, can glitch out enemies. If you’re more of a run-and-gun type of player, Locus has a shield ability and looks similar to the slide and shotgun play of a Titan from Destiny 2. The final runner in the alpha test is Blackbird, designed for recon and scanning the area around you. While there are four runners in the alpha test, there will be six to choose from when Marathon launches in September.During its livestream, Bungie published a nearly 20-minute video of highlights from 40 creators it says it recently invited to try the game. If you die, you’ll drop your gear. But if you survive, your loot moves with you to future runs so you get more powerful gear and level up. Teammates can also revive you if you fail a mission.Bungie isn’t putting a limit on team compositions, so that means everyone on a three-person team can select the same runner. There will be end-game challenges, ranked play, seasonal storytelling, community events, and more.Bungie has even produced an original short cinematic that’s set in the Marathon universe. Written and directed by Alberto Mielgo (Love, Death, and Robots), this nearly nine-minute short will have Bungie fans poring over it for days to discover every little detail about the Marathon universe.While Marathon is very slick-looking, there’s a lot riding on this game. It’s entering a crowded market of shooters and live-service games that have tried and failed to break through in recent years. Concord, also from a PlayStation studio, was the biggest example of a shooter that failed to take off recently, forcing Sony to take the game offline less than a month after launch and eventually shut down the studio behind it.Spectre Divide, a Valorant-like free-to-play shooter, also shut down just months after its launch, with the developer behind the ambitious shooter shutting down, too. These high-profile failures add to the pressure that Marathon is already under on the back of Bungie’s success with Halo and Destiny and Sony’s ambitious live-service game effort that it has been scaling back recently.The Marathon alpha test will be an opportunity for Bungie to show the world exactly how its latest game will stand out from the competition, and whether it does enough to tempt people away from hero shooters or Call of Duty and Fortnite into the extraction shooter genre that Escape from Tarkov has popularized.The big question left for Bungie to answer is how much Marathon will cost. It’s not a free-to-play game, but the studio isn’t ready to talk about exact pricing just yet. Destiny 2 is technically free-to-play with an optional season pass, but a lot of additional content requires payment for access to raids, dungeons, and even some of the story content. It’s been a confusing model for new players over the years, so I’m hoping Bungie lands on a clear pricing structure for Marathon.Marathon debuts on PS5, Xbox Series S / X, and PC on September 23rd. You can sign up for the Marathon closed alpha test on Bungie’s website or on Discord.

SSDs have quickly become the primary storage medium for all computers, housing the data that we use most often, like our OS and commonly used applications. Although the general quality of SSDs has improved across the board in the last decade, not all of them are created equal, and in fact, certain SSDs are actually a poor buy depending on your use case. That's why I always check these 5 SSD specs before I add one to my cart.

I've been a PC user for over 25 years, using everything from a Pentium 3 prebuilt PC to a Ryzen 7 5700X custom gaming rig. I've built PCs for friends, family, and paying customers using flagship components and the latest software. When it comes to my personal system, however, I'm what you might call a PC Luddite. I'm not rocking a quad-core processor or a hard drive, but I'm resistant to change in other ways.

My digital productivity toolkit kept growing with task manager, project management, note-taking, mind-mapping, and PKM software. I was tired of juggling multiple applications, and that’s why I ditched everything and decided to put Obsidian to the ultimate test. I used this powerful base as my sole hub for everything from managing tasks and jotting down quick thoughts to planning projects and organizing my life.

With the new US tariffs coming into play, costs are expected to rise. This is especially true for products shipped from China, which are currently undergoing huge tariffs that will see prices soar. This has a knock-on effect on products that use Chinese components as part of the design, and the tech world relies on them a lot.

Rob McIlhenney and Charlotte Nicdao in Mythic Quest.Mythic Quest, the Apple TV Plus comedy about a game studio, isn’t getting a fifth season, reports Variety. And, like a developer issuing a farewell patch, Apple is updating the final episode of season four with a new “goodbye” ending next week.Variety published a statement from Mythic Quest’s executive producers:“Endings are hard. But after four incredible seasons, ‘Mythic Quest’ is coming to a close,” said series executive producers Megan Ganz, David Hornsby, and Rob McElhenney. “We’re so proud of the show and the world we got to build—and deeply grateful to every cast and crew member who poured their heart into it. To all our fans, thank you for playing with us. To our partners at Apple, thank you for believing in the vision from the very beginning. Because endings are hard, with Apple’s blessing we made one final update to our last episode—so we could say goodbye, instead of just game over.”The news comes just weeks after a report that Apple has been losing $1 billion a year on TV Plus. The show just wrapped up its fourth season and released a four-episode spinoff called Side Quest on March 26th. One of the early Apple TV Plus shows, Mythic …Read the full story at The Verge.

For me, the Steam Deck OLED is the best PC gaming handheld you can buy, even among the stiff competition currently on the scene. Still, it's not a perfect device, and the recent reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2 has put that on full display. Although the Steam Deck is still a fantastic device, there are a few notes I'd like to see Valve take from the upcoming Switch 2.

We've finally gotten our first look at Nintendo’s new console, the Switch 2. There were many new features they wanted to show us, such as how the Switch 2's new graphic capabilities and the size comparison against its predecessor. But there were a few games they showed that really took the show, including one from an unexpected studio. Let’s get into more detail about the game and reception from fans.

If you're a big D&D fan like me, you'll know how many models you need to get a campaign off the ground. You need a veritable library of miniatures ranging from beholders to kobolds, or you're stuck with placing a human guard model onto the battle map and asking everyone to pretend that it's a wolf.

Due to its privacy and security issues, Windows is far from the most optimized operating system for home servers. But if you’re a beginner self-hosting enthusiast or a casual user who wants to tinker with some cool distros, you’ll be surprised by the sheer number of server-centric tools included in Microsoft’s flagship OS.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is undoubtedly the talk of the town. Among several upgrades from its predecessor, one of the most welcome improvements is the added onboard storage. Compared to the first-gen Switch, which only had 32GB of onboard storage, and the OLED variant that came with 64GB out of the box, the Switch 2 has a respectable 256GB of internal SSD storage. This should ensure you can store more games locally without relying on external storage. However, what has also improved is the graphics performance of the console, which means games are also going to be considerably larger than what they were seven years ago when the original Switch was launched.