TL;DR: You can score a rugged, travel-ready Lenovo Chromebook for just $54.99 (reg. $328.99) — and yes, shipping is free. If you’ve been waiting for the universe to drop a no-nonsense, take-anywhere laptop into your lap for under $60, today’s your day. For just $54.99, you can grab a Grade A refurbished Lenovo 100e Chromebook (2nd Gen) — a drop-resistant, lightweight, Chrome-powered machine that’s perfect for students, casual users, or anyone who wants a reliable second laptop without the price tag of a new one. And yes, shipping is free. Despite the low price, this compact 11.6? Chromebook delivers where it counts. It’s built to survive life in backpacks, coffee shops, or wherever you decide to bring it. Powered by a MediaTek quad-core processor with 10-hour battery life, this device handles docs, web browsing, and video calls like a pro. You’ll even get perks like a spill-resistant keyboard, anti-glare screen, and dual USB ports for easy plug-and-play. Whether you need a family-friendly device, a backup for travel, or just a no-fuss everyday laptop, this is a deal deal. Get the near-mint Lenovo 100e Chromebook while it’s just $54.99 (reg. $328.99) with free shipping. Lenovo 11.6? 100e Chromebook 2nd Gen (2019) MediaTek MT8173C 4GB RAM 16GB eMMC (Refurbished)See Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

If you’ve ever wandered through some of the less-legitimate corners of the internet and/or the real world, you may have seen those “stream everything for free” Android TV set-top boxes for sale. As it turns out, they’re a real problem, with many of them hosting malware that turns them into a botnet that hosts proxies and advertising fraud tools. Google is taking an unusual tactic to shut them down: litigation. BleepingComputer reports that the revived BadBox 2.0 malware is now running on over 10 million Android-based devices, mostly those sketchy streaming video boxes. The botnet is mainly used to create fake and spoofed advertising tools that are essentially stealing money from Google and other advertising firms (presumably sending it back to operators believed to be in China) in addition to more varied activities like DDoS attacks, proxies, and ransomware proliferation. Google says those proxy connections are being sold to other criminals, for up to $1,390 USD for 500GB. Fake apps distributed to phones across the world, in third-party stores beyond the control of Apple and Google, are being used to reel in ad money. Google says these cheap Android TV streaming devices and gadgets are being used to host and spread malware.Google While Google can’t do much about hackers in China, it’s siccing lawyers on the companies who host the tools that make this botnet’s basic operations possible. They’ve presented a RICO case (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a frequent tool used by US law enforcement to attack organized crime) that asks the US District Court to shut down more than 100 domains that are allegedly operating the malware and associated tools. If successful, Google and the court would be forcing some pretty big web service companies—including GoDaddy, CloudFlare, Amazon, and Alibaba—to shut down services to these sites. I should point out that, even though these infected devices are running Android, they aren’t your typical Android TV/Google TV setups, and they don’t have Google Play Store or its associated safeguards in place. In fact, this botnet is conceptually no different from the big stuff that used to run almost exclusively across infected Windows machines in the 2000s and 2010s. It’s just that these Android-based boxes are cheap, popular, and easy to compromise thanks to Android’s easily modifiable nature. It’s an unusual move, to be sure, but Google seems to have exhausted the options it has with its own tools, which include monitoring and shutting down ad accounts. It seeks to force registrars to cooperate with Google to identify and shut down the infected domains, with “permanent injunctions” to prevent the hackers from simply repeating the process with new domains. Oh, it would also like some money, in the form of “appropriate equitable relief under applicable statutes and law,” and the usual statutory damages and attorney’s fees. Read...

The demands of modern life can make it hard to stay on top of things. Just when you’ve made time to work on that creative project, suddenly there are emails that need dealing with, tasks to manage, or scheduling that requires immediate attention, all of which makes it hard to remain productive and inspired. Well, with the latest Intel® Core™ Ultra powered Windows PC with AI capabilities there are a wealth of features and capabilities purpose-built to streamline your workload and free up time to spend on the things that are the most important to you. How AI-powered PCs can help you regain control AI might feel like a buzzword that’s plastered over everything at the moment, and in some cases if does seem like it offers much apart from basic party tricks. But Microsoft’s CoPilot, powered by Intel® Core™ Ultra processors, is an exception, as it offers plenty of very helpful tools and features that can speed up your workflow, maximise your time and help you stay focussed. With its AI search you can quickly pull up any action points in your emails and have them listed and summarised. Need to write a quick reply? Let CoPilot take care of that, then you can always tweak it so it sounds like you. Have you been sent a document that will take ages to read, just ask the AI to break it down into the essentials and you’re done in seconds. With the new Click-to-Go feature you can also get instant context-sensitive actions for text and image-based items, with the ability to summarise, refine or edit them without needed to open another app. Nothing to distract you, only the tools you need under your fingertips. That’s not all, you can also harness the AI power to create images, restyle them, use real language to search for files, add live captions to videocalls, plus have CoPilot change the lighting, background blur and more so that your presentations look professional. Game-changing graphics. Incredible performance To get the most out of the new AI capabilities, it’s important that you invest in powerful hardware that’s designed to work in harmony with these groundbreaking software tools. One excellent option is the Asus Zenbook S14, which comes equipped with the top-of-the-line Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 processor, 1TB of storage and a huge 32GB of memory. This beast of a machine can handle pretty much anything you throw at it, with the dedicated Neural Processing Unit meaning it can run the AI-processing on the device itself rather than relying on an internet connection for everything. It also boasts Thunderbolt 4 ports so you can connect high-res displays, a 3K 120Hz OLED touchscreen, up to 12 hours of battery life, as well as lightning-fast Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. Asus Currys has a fantastic offer on at the moment, where you can pick up the Asus Zenbook S14 for £1,399 which is a massive saving of £200 off the normal price. There’s also the Asus Zenbook DUO 2-in-1, which is powered by an Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 processor and packed with AI features for £999, which is an incredible discount of £700. Work, create, and play. All day. If you’re looking for an Intel® powered Windows PC that’s future proofed and lets you access the latest and greatest AI features, then there’s never been a better time to pick one up at Currys, as there are discounts across a wide range of models. See the selection of great Windows 11 PCs available at Currys Don’t get bogged down in the menial tasks that take up too much time each day. Instead, set AI to work, while you get on with creating the things that really matter. Read...

Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardcore hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. Missed the hot topics on our YouTube show or latest buzz from across the web? I’ve got you covered. Want this newsletter to come directly to your inbox? Sign up on our website! This past week, Adam published a look back at the past few decades of PC component history, through the lens of my colleague Gordon Mah Ung’s career. The memories stretch from the mid-1990s (including Gordon in a full suit and tie) to the present day of contests for the slowest benchmark results. And by the end, I could see other people latching on to “change” as the biggest theme throughout. The visual evidence is there: the move from beige boxes to bright, even obnoxiously colored chassis; shifting case configurations and attitudes toward cable management (oh, for the days when we could shove everything inside and just slap the side panel back on); even the leap to ferocious high core-count processors and screaming-fast graphics cards. Vintage Alienware.Willis Lai / Foundry But while others could argue that change has been the constant in computer hardware, I’d instead champion ATX as one of the truest mainstays—and all the evidence of its steady, reliable presence over the past 30 years is right in the video. In build after build, ATX is there. An over-the-top, ludicrously decked out Dream Machine built by the crew at Maximum PC? ATX. The machine that won the ongoing competition between Gordon and others (including our friend Dr. Ian Cuttress) for the slowest benchmark results in Cinebench R15? Also ATX. And even Gordon’s signature troll build, the “reverse sleeper build” that sported a shiny new case on the outside, and old-as-heck parts on the inside? Yeah, ATX. Gordon had his bones to pick with ATX—he complained often that ATX was holding back the PC industry. (And I mean often, not just on The Full Nerd when the cameras were rolling.) But in the very next breath, he would then rail against companies like Apple, which has zero issue with (in Gordon’s words) throwing older tech overboard. ATX’s longevity is why you can put parts that look like this in a brand-new, sparkling clean case. Willis Lai / Foundry I’ve always had a different outlook, largely along the lines of Gordon’s follow-up rant. I’m open to a newer standard that evolves the layout of motherboards, sure. But I view the jump from the AT form factor to ATX more as a practical response, as opposed to just the insatiable hunger for innovation. ATX followed AT after a decade, bringing further improvements to standardization and swappability of parts. But when BTX launched nine years later, arguably “on schedule,” it failed to take. Not enough innovation, you could argue. But I view it as a sign of what truly motivates leaps in technology, whether the advent of the printing press or desktop-sized personal computers. I also think ATX’s ongoing relevance tells us a lot about the future of the PC. Innovation is a response to a need. As the PC industry has become increasingly more personal, with a far wider spectrum of options to address specific needs, what innovation looks like may continue to become smaller and more subtle. And possibly, it may even become less constant. In this episode of The Full Nerd… Willis Lai / Foundry In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Will Smith talk about Intel being on the ropes, Zen 6’s emergence in the wild, and AI in Windows. To me, I found a lot of commonalities between these topics—they made me extremely contemplative about what innovation in the PC space will look like, because things feel a little…confused. Also, we got a glimpse into the remarkable details of the decor in Will’s home office. All I can say is: That potato has a butt. Missed our live show? Subscribe now to The Full Nerd YouTube channel, and activate notifications. We also answer viewer questions in real time!  And if you need more hardware talk during the rest of the week, come join our Discord community—it’s full of cool, laid-back nerds. This week’s intriguing nerd news I’m facing a second week in recent months where I’m questioning my deal-hunting skills, but a few technology wins are keeping my spirits up. What currently has me a bit starry-eyed: insanely fast internet. So fast that I’m a little giddy at the thought, even though I may never see it in my neck of the woods. What’s old will become what’s new.Wikimedia Commons I can’t top this data hoarder’s deal-hunting skills: Estate sales can be a good way to pick up useful, interesting, or downright quirky stuff for pretty cheap. But so far, I haven’t encountered any finds on the level of 11 Western Digital 8TB external hard drives for just $360. Man. What a score. Turns out you can put a price on nostalgia: $349 bucks is the cost of reliving your best childhood memories—aka getting your hands on a remade Commodore 64, compatible with over 10,000 C64 games and modernized to support HDMI, USB, and Wi-Fi. I hope this works out better than the Analogue 3D. (Not gonna lie, I’m a little worried Analogue won’t survive the tariffs, as they’re absorbing the higher costs.) Self-destructing SSDs? Pass. Don’t get me wrong—TeamGroup’s reveal of an SSD that destroys itself with the push of a button got my attention. But look, I’m cheap. Taking a hammer to my drives seems way simpler and costs a lot less. (As does taking them over to a company that has a proper shredder.) Also, if I’m handling data sensitive enough to require instant obliteration…why is it in my home? The internet is built on duct tape and string: For systems engineers, DNS probably gives y’all a lot of headaches. I certainly would have one, knowing just how fragile the system is. Or when seeing proof that malware can be casually slipped into DNS records. Fun. Linux is winning: Just kidding, it’s still barely a fraction of users on desktop PCs. But it is gaining a little bit of headway in the U.S.—we’ve now reached a milestone of over 5 percent market share. You may need to finally upgrade your Gigabyte motherboard if it’s vulnerable to a new security exploit.Gigabyte When will 6-cores become default? Well, not just yet: Brad floated the idea during this week’s episode that Zen 6 could shift to six-core CPUs as the baseline. But we’ve also commented multiple times on the show that the budget end isn’t getting much attention. I guess those laments won out, as the hottest chip news this week is AMD’s Ryzen AI 5 330, a four-core, eight-threaded Copilot+ laptop chip. Update your Gigabyte motherboard ASAP…if you can: Running an Intel processor? Perhaps one within the range of 8th gen to 11th gen? Is it sitting in a Gigabyte motherboard? Better check pronto if an update is available for it, because a vulnerability that lets attackers bypass Secure Boot was just disclosed. But if yours is too old, you may actually have to upgrade your hardware all together to avoid this security hole. ð?? Why not just buy actual gold instead? Look, I know the RTX 4090 has largely held its value. And maybe that’ll extend to the RTX 5090, too. But when I first saw Asus’s RTX 5090 ROG Astral Real Gold Edition (aka the RTX 5090 made with 11 pounds of 24-carat gold), I thought, “Surely investing in actual 24-carat gold bars would be the better call.” I’m a product of my upbringing, which includes very immigrant grandparents. I want Japan’s fiber optic internet tech: The land of the fax machine is claiming a record-breaking transmission rate of 127,500GB/s (yes, the big B, so really fast) over a distance of roughly 1,100 miles. Sure, I’d only use such speed to load cat videos instantaneously, but I still want it. Catch you all next week, when hopefully the hot parts of the world are cooler, and the cold parts are warmer. It’s 62 degrees right now in San Francisco. Also supposed to rain next week. Yup. Alaina This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld. Read...

TL;DR: A 1min.AI lifetime subscription with the most monthly credits is 85% off for a limited time only. Here’s something most people in the AI space don’t realize: you don’t need to pay separate monthly fees for all of the best AI models. There’s a little-known platform that lets you tap into all of them with a one-time payment, and in a far more streamlined dashboard, rather than hopping between tabs all day: 1min.AI. Start by choosing your use case—blog writing, image generation, code debugging, video editing, and more—and pick your preferred AI model there. All of the latest ones are included, and you can expect to receive the new ones, like GPT-5, when they’re released. All of your tasks will be even more streamlined with these preset AI templates vs randomly enterting prompts into a chatbot. The plan includes 4,000,000 credits per month, which is enough to generate about 1.1 million words, 1,100 images, or 35 videos (depending on the AI model you choose). You can also earn up to 450,000 bonus credits every month just by opening the web app. Get this lifetime AI tool on sale for $79.97 with no coupon needed (reg. $540). 1min.AI Advanced Business Plan Lifetime SubscriptionSee Deal StackSocial prices subject to change. Read...

New `agentic` AI feature combines web browsing with task-execution abilities. Read...

After years of development, Mozilla’s Gfx Team just announced in its latest blog post that Firefox will finally soon support WebGPU, but only in the Windows edition starting with Firefox version 141. WebGPU is a cross-platform API that allows a web browser to directly access your computer’s GPU, enabling the browser to perform more advanced graphical tasks. This improves the browser’s graphical capabilities when playing games and running apps. Firefox 141 on Windows will release soon on July 22nd, officially bringing WebGPU support with it. However, Mozilla says that not all the necessary work on the integration is complete yet and that some remaining bugs will have to wait until Firefox 142 to be fixed. This is a welcome step forward as Google’s Chrome browser has had WebGPU support starting as early as 2023, while Apple’s Safari browser is expected to get WebGPU support sometime this fall. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Fantastically fast in RAID 0 (50GBps possible) or non-RAID Great for adding PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots to your motherboard Easy to populate and install Versatile RAID setup Cons $1,000 Not a lot of software can take advantage of the speed Our Verdict I love this 16x, four-port, full-speed M.2/NVMe PCIe 5.0 card — it’s faster than most motherboard NVMe M.2 and three to four times as fast in RAID 0 as a single SSD. But it ain’t cheap by any means. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: HighPoint 7604A RAID card Retailer Price HighPoint $999 View Deal Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Best Prices Today: Check today’s prices If you want up to 32TB of lightning-fast storage, there’s no better way to get it than HighPoint’s 7604A — a four-slot, PCIe 5.0 x16, NVMe expansion card. It can transfer data as fast as 50GBps in RAID 0, and is also a great way to up your count of PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots from the single slot provided by most motherboards. But you need software that does direct I/O to take advantage of the RAID performance and the 7604A is pricey — this puppy will set you back a cool $1,000. If you find that scary, it was listed at an astronomical $2,000 when I started this review. Fortunately, the company came back to low earth orbit, but it’s still not what most people would consider an impulse buy. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best SSDs for comparison. What are the 7604A’s features? As already discussed, the 7406A is a PCIe 5.0 x16 card with four x4 NVMe M.2 slots on board. With each slot allotted four lanes, you get top bandwidth out of every SSD on the card, unlike many cheaper cards where four or eight lanes are divvied up. In theory, throughput can be as high as 56GBps in RAID 0. Depending on your system, the 7604A can get close to that. Yowser! The 7602A populated with a rag-tag assortment of PCIe 5.0 SSDs. It performed better when I matched the WD SN8100s with a Crucial T705 pair. As you can see above (and below with the heatsink/fan on), the 7604A is of quality construction. Not shown are the status LEDs on the endplate. These provide feedback on the state of the card. The 7640A will also yelp (a loud beep) at you if you try to use it without the heatsink/fan. You can guess how I acquired that particular piece of knowledge. This is a beefy heatsink with a very effective, but somewhat noisy fan that kicks in under stress. The 7604A can function as four individual full-bandwidth x4 PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots, or in various RAID modes (0, 1, 5, 10). The RAID is hardware, but also dependent upon HighPoint’s driver, as well as the company’s configuration and monitoring software. I.e., there are no dip switches or jumpers. The browser-based 7604A configuration and monitoring software. This is the information on the actual adapter and it’s connection speed. The driver was rock solid and the configuration software works quite well. The admin interface is HTML-based — i.e., it opens in your web browser, and is slightly slow to respond to commands. It also gave me a can’t-connect error requiring a couple of reloads before the interface would appear. Communications lag, no doubt. The configuration interface is also a bit geeky in language and concepts, so if you don’t know about RAID, bone up on the concepts before attempting to create an array or otherwise configure the card. Note that neither the driver or configuration software are required if you simply want to add four x4 M.2 NVMe ports to your system. Slap the populated 7604A into an x16 PCIe 5.0 slot and the drives will simply appear under disk management, where you may in initialize and format the drives appropriately. How does the 7604A perform? While I did not get the numbers that HighPoint says are possible, they were still pretty darn good on our new test bed. You can read about the new test bed at the bottom of this article. Of course, to get top performance out of the 7604A, two things must happen: It must be populated with PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSDs and it must be in a 16x PCIe 5.0 slot and actually connecting with 16 lanes and at 32GT/s. This can be an issue with some motherboards and CPUs, so check the number of lanes you have and how your motherboard allocates them (bifurcation). I populated the 7604A with two Crucial T705 and two WD Black SN8100 2TB SSDs for testing — among the very fastest of their PCIe 5.0 ilk. The single SSD test was with a WD Black SN8100. Note that the single-queue performance is what you’ll see from Windows Explorer transfers (theoretically, real life is much different) and most software, while the multi-queue performance is what you’ll see from software that does its own I/O. Regardless, 44.3GBps is a fun number. Even without the software to leverage the 50GBps RAID 0, having an additional four full-speed PCI 5.0 NVME slots is awfully enticing. No matter which way you cut it, the 7604A is hauling the freight when it comes to sequential throughput. Longer bars are better. The 7604A’s CrystalDiskMark 8 random test results highlight the facts that RAID 0 is not particularly good for random access, and that the 7604A is also a very good host for individual drive performance. This test highlights the fact that RAID 0 is not particularly good for random access, and that the 7604A is a very good platform or single drive performance. Longer bars are better. What is apparent from the next charts is that you’re not going to see vast improvements with the naked eye when it comes to Windows file transfers. Note that we have changed this test to include DiskBench (DB) and Xcopy (XC) alongside our traditional Windows Explorer drag-and-drop (bottom of the chart). Xcopy is significantly faster than the Windows Explorer drag-and-drop, which raises the question: Why would Microsoft optimize a command line program while leaving Windows Explorer comparatively slow as molasses? Xcopy might be worth learning and using if you more than occasionally have a lot of data to copy. Big hint: batch files (x.bat). Real-world performance in Windows transfers doesn’t show the improvement you will get with the proper software. Shorter bars are better. The 7604A turned in good numbers in our 450GB write test in RAID 0; however, it was actually faster with a single drive in this test according to the quicker Xcopy and FastCopy. If you want fast file transfers within Windows Explorer, take the latter for a test ride. The 7604A turned in good numbers in our 450GB write test in RAID 0, however, it was actually faster with a single drive in this test in some instances. Shorter bars are better. The 7604A was considerably faster with single drives than our Z890 test bed motherboard’s M.2 slots — a known issue with the chipset, NVMe, and certain processors such as our i5 Core Ultra 225. In RAID 0, the 7604A will be a boon for any software that can’t take advantage of it. That means any software using multi-queue, multi-thread disk I/O. Such software is rare in the consumer market, but not unheard of. Caveat: If you are a fan of extreme peace and quiet, be warned that the 7604A’s fan kicks in quite a bit when it’s under stress, and it’s not particularly bashful. Just saying. Should you buy the HighPoint 7604A? I love the 7604A and it’s a fantastic performer. Would I pay $1,000 for it? Yes, if I had the need and the software to take full advantage. Even without the software to leverage the 50GBps RAID 0, having an additional four full-speed PCI 5.0 NVME slots is awfully enticing. For the average user, though, which includes me — the 7604A is a tough recommend as the real-world benefits in everyday usage don’t quite add up to $1,000 in my estimation. But that is absolutely not a knock on the 7604A as a product. As I said, it’s a fantastic piece of kit. Nice job, HighPoint. How we test Drive tests currently utilize Windows 11 24H2, 64-bit running off of a PCIe 4.0 Samsung 990 Pro in an Asus Z890-Creator WiFi (PCIe 4.0/5.0) motherboard. The CPU is a Core Ultra i5 225 feeding/fed by two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 4800MHz modules (64GB of memory total). Both 20Gbps USB and Thunderbolt 5 are integrated and Intel CPU/GPU graphics are used. SSDs involved in the test are mounted in a HighPoint 7604A 16x PCIe 5.0 adapter card. (Yes, the subject of this review) We run the CrystalDiskMark 8, AS SSD 2, and ATTO 4 synthetic benchmarks to find the storage device’s potential performance, then a series of 48GB and 450GB transfers tests using Windows Explorer drag and drop to show what you’ll see under Window, as well as the far faster Xcopy to show what’s possible. The 48GB transfer tests utilize an USFMount RAM disk taking up 58GB of the 64GB of total memory. The 450GB file is transferred from an SSD on the HighPoint card. Each test is performed on a newly NTFS-formatted and TRIM’d drive so the results are optimal. Note that in normal use, as a drive fills up, performance may decrease due to less NAND for secondary caching, as well as other factors. This can be less of a factor with the current crop of SSDs with far faster late-generation NAND. Caveat: The performance numbers shown apply only to the drive we were shipped and to the capacity tested. SSD performance can and will vary by capacity due to more or fewer chips to shotgun reads/writes across and the amount of NAND available for secondary caching. Vendors also occasionally swap components. If you ever notice a large discrepancy between the performance you experience and that which we report, by all means, let us know. Read...

A couple weeks ago, a reader in Advisorator’s Tech Buds forum asked me about the best streaming TV setup for a 90-year-old neighbor who is not tech-savvy. My mind immediately jumped to Roku, whose smart TVs and streaming players have always emphasized simplicity. But I also know that Roku’s streaming platform has become more complicated in recent years, and its once-basic menu system is not what it used to be. While I’d still recommend Roku to someone who’s on the lower end of the tech learning curve, our neighbor in this scenario would benefit from some out-of-the-box settings tweaks. Whether you’re setting up a Roku for yourself of someone else, here’s how to make the streamer as easy to use as possible: Remove any payment methods on file with Roku Jared Newman / Foundry Roku is now requiring new users to put a payment method on file during setup. Many streaming services will use this payment method to speed up the subscription process, and the checkout flow is so frictionless that one could easily end up with unexpected charges. My advice: Once you’re finished with setup, immediately head to my.roku.com/payment/account in a web browser, hit the “…” button next to the payment method, then hit “Remove.” The device will still work just fine, but without the possibility of unwanted subscriptions through Roku. If you do want to keep a payment method on file, consider setting up a limited-use virtual card with spending limits to avoid any billing surprises. Skip all the app promos and trial offers Jared Newman / Foundry While completing the setup on your phone or computer, Roku also tries to load up your device with extra apps and free trials (which will auto-bill the aforementioned payment method at the end). If you’re setting this Roku up for someone else, just skip all these offers and add the specific apps you want outside of the setup process. There are usually better ways to get free trials and discounts anyway. Get off Roku’s mailing list After creating an account, Roku will immediately start pelting you with promotional emails. There’s no way to opt out as part of the setup process, so take the opportunity to unsubscribe while it’s fresh in your mind. Locate the welcome email Roku sends at sign-up, scroll to the bottom, and click the unsubscribe button. While you’re at it, head to my.roku.com/account/email in a web browser and uncheck the “Emails with product tips, the latest releases, hot new channels, and customer exclusive discounts” box as well. Remove unnecessary apps Jared Newman / Foundry Even if you select nothing during the setup process, your Roku will still include some pre-installed apps, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, and Apple TV. Roku also promotes its own services on the home page, including the Roku Channel, a Kids and Family hub, the live TV guide, and the recently acquired Frndly TV. We’re keeping things simple here, so get rid of any home screen tiles that the user isn’t likely to need. To delete an app on Roku, hit the remote’s * button, then hit “Remove app.” (Personally, I’d suggest keeping the free Roku Channel and live TV guide, which are solid sources of free content.) Be careful with Prime Video Amazon’s Prime Video app comes pre-installed on Roku, and it is a valuable source of content for Prime subscribers. The app has its own subscription and rental marketplace built in, however, which are tied to the user’s Prime payment method. Like Roku’s own billing system, it’s an unfortunately frictionless way to wind up with a bunch of unwanted subscription charges. That doesn’t mean you need to delete the Prime Video app, but talk it over with the person for whom you’re setting the device up, and make sure they understand about how it can bill them without their needing to enter any new payment details. Hide as many side menus as possible Jared Newman / Foundry Roku’s once-simple navigation menu now has nine submenus as of this writing, some of which can be redundant. You don’t need a “Live TV” side menu, for instance, when there’s also a “Live TV Guide” button on the main home screen. Head to Settings > Home Screen > Menu Items, and you’ll have the option to hide the Live TV, What to Watch, Featured Free, Daily Trivia, and Sports menus. I suggest hiding most of them, except Featured Free and maybe Daily Trivia, if the person you’re setting it up for is into quiz games. Hide the home page recommendations Jared Newman / Foundry Roku also now adds a row of content tiles to what used to be just an app grid. These are promotional in nature and not all that helpful, so hide them by heading to Settings > Home Screen > Recommendation rows. Note that this setting will also hide the genre-based menus that Roku recently added to its home screen. These are a bit more helpful than Roku’s “Top Picks for You” tiles, but you can’t get rid of one without the other, and they do lead to a more cluttered menu overall. Keep the app icons large Roku now supports smaller app icons on the home screen, letting you fit four of them in each row instead of three. This can be helpful if you’re using a lot of apps, but sticking with larger icons makes more sense for our simplified setup. A newly installed Roku should use large icons by default, but if that ever changes, or you’re repurposing an old Roku that’s been set up with small tiles already, you can head to Settings > Home Screen > Tile Size and set them to “Larger.” Set up voice control apps Jared Newman / Foundry Roku devices can be great for playing music and podcasts, especially on models with voice control built into the remote. Instead of needing to navigate through the app, you can just say things like “play classical guitar.” To make this work as smoothly as possible, head to my.roku.com/account/voice and choose the music, radio, and podcast apps to play by default. (You can also choose a news app to use with a “play the news” voice command.) Note that for these apps to work, they’ll need to be installed and set up on the Roku first. Turn off autoplay Jared Newman / Foundry Roku’s default settings allow it to auto-play videos on parts of the home screen. This can be jarring, so turn it off by heading to Settings > Accessibility > Auto-play video and selecting “Off.” In my experience so far, this also appears to disable video ads on the Roku home screen, reverting to static banner ads instead. I’m not sure if this change will stick, but it’s worth trying at any age. This story is part of TechHive’s in-depth coverage of the best media-streaming devices. For more practical streaming TV advice, sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter. Read...

2degrees and Palo Alto Networks replace Spark and Fortinet. Read...