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Best Music Player For Windows 2024

By admin April 29, 2024

Best Music Player For Windows 2024, Browsing for the best music player for Windows 10? There are tons of such tools available, which makes choosing the perfect one tricky. Whether you’re a casual or ardent music listener, picking the right player enhances your listening experience. I, for example, love apps that support lyrics and have many customization options.

So, in this detailed guide, I took into account all these features and many more and singled out 5 tools that performed the best. You can find out about my testing process below.

Ready? Let’s get started!

How We Test

I prioritized certain criteria like sound reproduction, user interface, and customization while hunting down the best music player for Windows 10.

Music evokes certain emotions in us when we listen to it. However, when it plays like a broken record from an application, then it ruins the experience.

Here are the qualities I examined during my tests:
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1.User-friendly interface: A music app should be intuitive, especially for beginners.

2.Audio quality: A good player supports a variety of audio formats, and allows users to adjust sound settings like equalization.

3.Album organization: It should be easy to sort and search for songs, artists, and genres. The app should also support features like auto-tagging and album artwork.

4.Offline playback: The right music player should allow users to download and access songs on their PC without the internet.

5.Low system resource usage: No one wants their music player to consume too much. So, the perfect application should run smoothly using minimal PC resources.

6.Gapless playback: This feature allows you to play a long list of songs seamlessly without unnecessary breaks in between.

7.Visual customization: Although this may seem trivial, being able to switch around colors, tools, and features on your music app can be satisfying.

Out of 15 apps I tested, only 5 made the list. I made sure to pick tools that suit both novices and advanced users.

Best Music Player for Windows 10

By now you are fired up to know the good music players I chose for Windows 10.

Now, let’s discuss each of them extensively:

1. AIMP – Lightweight for Windows 10

This free audio player was developed by Artem Izmaylov, a Russian developer. AIMP is simple to use and takes up less PC resources.

While listening to music or podcasts, you may want to attend to something else. That’s where AIMP’s bookmark feature comes in! Just activate it and when you’re back, it starts just where you left off.

This player also supports 20 audio formats and its sound reproduction is top-notch. Additionally, you can perform inline searches, control playlists, and customize homepage themes.

Also, if you exit the music app, you can hide it at the edge of your screen, and then bring it out only with the cursor.
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Pros:

• Lightweight

• MP3 / ID3 renaming

• Zero advertisements

• Multiple audio support

• Built-in 18-band equalizer

• Audio converter

• Tag editor

Cons:

• Poorly colored UI buttons

• Music files don’t automatically update

2. Spotify – Supports Seamless Playback

What sets Spotify apart is its seamless playback feature – now your music can flow from song to song.
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Furthermore, the app’s interface is not only colorful but beginner-friendly. Another fun thing Spotify does is daily personalized album suggestions.

In addition to that, you’re at liberty to create, arrange, and share your own specially curated playlists with both the public and loved ones. There’s also an option for offline playback.

If your network is poor, you can save video podcasts as audio as well.

Pros:

• Responsive customer support

• Flexible subscription fees

• Supports offline playback

• Inline search

• Creation and sharing of playlists

• Lyrics support

• Personalized music suggestions

Cons:

• Excessive ads in the free plan

• No live radio

3. MediaMonkey – Supports CD Burning

MediaMonkey automatically finds all songs on your PC and adds them to its collection. It doesn’t stop there, it goes ahead to label them into their corresponding genres and singers.

Although this app doesn’t have the best graphical design, you can adjust it to fit your preferences. With its automatic file renamer and playlist organizer, you can relax and just enjoy your music.
MediaMonkey supports various formats, including MP4, MP3, OGG, AVI, PLS, WMV, WAV, M3U, and FLAC. It even has a CD ripper that allows you to extract audio from CDs to WAV or MP3.

Additionally, there’s an option to burn CDs, manage podcasts, download songs for offline listening, and sync devices.

Pros:

• Easy syncing to mobile

• Manages over 50,000 music files

• Countless settings and customizations

• CD ripping/burning

• Downloads album art

• Auto-tagging and Auto-conversion

• Functions as a server for DLNA/UPnP devices.

Cons:

• Poor user interface

• Searches PC without permission

• The free version lacks some features

• May associate music files wrongly.

4. Windows Music Player – Theme and Accent Color Customization

Windows 10 has an in-built music player, and it’s pretty decent. So, if you don’t want to download additional apps, you can go with this one.

Windows Media player supports various audio and video formats like WMV, AVCHD, 3GP, AAC, and MPEG-4. The interface is straightforward and easy to use, too. It has a taskbar with efficient playback controls.

Furthermore, you can easily customize this app to your taste. It has a dark and light theme, including accent colors to vary the tones. There’s also the option to use the system’s graphics settings instead.

Do you enjoy mixing and adjusting your music cadence all by yourself? Then you’ll love this app’s 9-band slider equalizer. Additionally, it supports DVD, making it one of the best free DVD players for Windows 10.

Pros:

• Metadata editing/lookup

• CD ripping

• Multiple audio and video formats

• Free

• Easy to use

• DVD support

Cons:

• Lags sometimes

• Resource-heavy

5. VLC Player – Audio and Video Support

Millions of Windows PC users are familiar with this media player – in fact, it’s most people’s favorite choice. But why is this so? First off, VLC is free and it plays both audio and video files. It’s also the best PC Blu-ray player.

Files that fail to open on other apps will easily do so in VLC. So, maybe your music album link isn’t broken, you just haven’t tried using this app.

You can customize the VLC media player with both built-in tools and plugins to give you the best listening experience. It further enhances sound reproduction with quality settings for equalizers and lots more.

Pros:

• Hotkeys

• Customizable features

• Support various videos and audio formats

• Simple user interface

• Built-in equalizer

• Free

Cons:

• Poor playlist arrangement

• Lack of tagging and renaming

• Files aren’t updated automatically

Conclusion

It’s not easy to choose the best music player for Windows 10, given all the options.

That aside, whichever app you choose, ensure to download it from its official website of a trusted source. You should still run an antivirus check afterward, for good measure.

Feel free to share which player is your favorite and why in the comments below!

What do I look for in a digital, PC-based music player? Well, for starters: it needs to be free of charge, as I’m not paying for the privilege of listening to my own music! It also needs to run on Windows 10, as that’s my desktop operating system of choice these days.

But beyond being free and working on my PC correctly, I’m looking for a player that plays music well. It’s important, for example, that it doesn’t mess with the music signal in any significant way: what comes out of the speakers must be, close enough, what the digital music file contained, with nothing added or taken away by the software doing the playing of that file.

In similar vein, it’s critical that a music player must be able to do proper ‘gapless playback’. That means, when you have one track on a CD run immediately into another, the music player software must be able to handle that without introducing a gap, pause, click or other interruption.

As well as playing my music well, however, it’s important to me that my music “player” also acts as a supremely competent music library or organiser. When you have tens of thousands of pieces of music to choose from, it’s vital that you can pick a composer, or a named piece of music, at will, quickly and efficiently. The grouping and sorting functions a music library function has must therefore be rational, logical and sensible.

I don’t choose to listen to a piece of music by the key it’s written in, for example, so a music library that has a tab which sorts music by its key is useless to me (unless it also has tabs which sort by composer and genre equally well). A player that sorts music by the year it was recorded, to take another example, is perhaps useful to people who listen to the pop music of the 1970s – 1990s, but it’s decided un-useful to someone who chooses which Bach cantata to play by its BWV number (i.e., the composition’s formal title)! So: sensible grouping, sensible filtering, sensible sorting.

A good search function is also important for working with a large music collection. I may want to find all music that I own that’s a passacaglia, for example. Or on which Franco Fagioli is singing. A player that forces me to click through a lot of things before answering the latest spontaneous brain-wave I’ve just had is of limited to use me, in other words.

Optionally, too, because I inhabit almost exclusively the world of classical music where we talk of composers and compositions, I’d ideally like the player to use ‘classical music language’: players that talk ‘album artists’, ‘songs’ and ‘playlists’ are of less use to me than ones that know to talk of ‘composers’, ‘works’ and so on. If I have to, however, I can live without this so long as the basic music playing functionality is good and the music library functionality meet my needs.

I think that pretty much states what I want from a music player; what I definitely do not want is a music player that will, by default, start fetching metadata about my music from Internet sources… or, even worse, changing the metadata I’ve applied to my music using that Internet-fetched stuff as its replacement! (Internet metadata for classical music is always, and without exception, 100% utter rubbish, so you never want to see it being fetched or applied to any music collection you care about).

On the other hand, whilst I don’t want my music player pulling information down from the Internet, I would like it to be able to push it up to the Internet: specifically, I use Last.fm to record my music listening habits. Being able to ‘scrobble’ to that service is important to me (being able to scrobble to the similar, but open-source, Libre.fm is a nice-to-have feature, too).

I don’t really have views on the looks of a player: good use of Album Art to help me navigate my collection is quite important, but my player doesn’t need to look spectacularly wonderful, so long as it meets my other requirements. I would like to be able to tweak it a bit and change its default appearance to suit my needs, if possible; but if that functionality is missing for some reason, I wouldn’t mind too much.

So, with that set of requirements in mind, I went searching on the Internet and found several articles that claimed to list the best Windows music players. By combining the various suggestions in those (and other) articles, I decided I’d take a look at (in no particular order):

• AIMP

• Dopamine

• Foobar2000

• MediaMonkey

• MusicBee

• Songbird

• Strawberry Music Player

• Winamp

• Windows Media Player

• Groove

I should explain that I excluded players such as VLC or Media Player Classic because whilst those can play music well, they are mainly geared to playing video and don’t have great music library management functionality. You can create playlists for VLC, for example, but not browse though an entire music library, picking which tracks to play as the mood takes you. I also didn’t review DeadBeef, because its Windows version currently has no means of displaying Album Art. When its Windows offering matches the functionality of its Linux versions, I may have a second look at DeadBeef.

Anyway: the music players bullet-pointed above are both music players and music library managers and I looked at each in detail on the pages linked to each of their names.

If you just want the ‘final answer’ rather than the detailed reviews, however: my choice of best music player on Windows is… (much to my surprise, I have to say) …MusicBee (9/10). It’s graphically pleasing, nicely functional, responsive, handles a large music collection well, does gapless playback well, doesn’t mess with my metadata too much and gets out of my way acceptably when I don’t want to be looking at it as it plays in the background. It ticks all the boxes and looks good, so becomes my new music player of choice (from a long-standing Foobar2000 user, that’s quite an endorsement!)

Foobar2000 (9/10) and Strawberry Music Players (8/10) are slightly old-school players (i.e., lots of text and not much graphical bling!) that are nevertheless excellent for managing large music collections, too. If you find the visual ‘froth’ of MusicBee to be a dreadful distraction, either of these players would be worthy alternatives. As a long-time Foobar2000 user, I was expecting Foobar2000 to win the final accolade -but it just loses out in the looks department.

Of the other seven players, in descending order of greatness:

• MediaMonkey: 7/10 – Almost a contender, but let down by an interface that is inflexible, text-heavy and pretty ugly, even when you switch on album art views. I had repeatable problems with gapless playback, but of a rather unique kind (clicks on track changes); on the other hand, gapless was fine at other times. Go figure!

• Winamp: 6/10 – Looks old-fashioned, few graphical touches, but does proper gapless playback and is responsive in use. Mostly let down by being, as far as one can tell, abandonware. Close run thing with MediaMonkey otherwise.

• Dopamine: 4/10 – Visually quite good, but utterly unresponsive with massive pauses as you click just about anything (even with a dedicated graphics card handling the graphical display side of things); no proper gapless playback

• AIMP: 3/10 – Visually poor, quite responsive, but no proper gapless playback

• Songbird: 2/10 – Visually good, very responsive, gapless but can’t display embedded album art and the software has been discontinued for over 6 years now

• Windows Media Player: 1/10 – Has all the graphical charm of a spreadsheet -and much of the functional inflexibility. It wants to overwrite all your good metadata with rubbish fetched from the Internet. It is slow to process a large music collection. It hasn’t been updated in years and may not have much of a future

• Groove: 0/10 – Visually appealing, but functionally completely useless. No scrobbling, no album art, no control over sort order… the worst player reviewed, bar none.

And from left field…

I doubt it will make anyone’s top list of everyday music players, but I was so impressed by the command-line only Musikcube that I thought I should give it a once-over. If you need a comprehensively-functional player without any graphical flim-flam at all, Musikcube’s for you. I’d recommend it as a top pick if only it was possible to run it in a standard command window. Unfortunately, it insists on launching a window of its own, making it impossible to run in a terminate-and-stay-resident drop-down terminal, such as ConEmu. As such, it lost its allure for me in a hurry. But give it a look anyway and see if its minimalism appeals: it’s a really strong contender!

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The best home security cameras for 2024

By admin April 27, 2024

The best home security cameras for 2024, Choosing a home security camera can be a daunting task since there are a lot of things to consider. Some aren’t susceptible to power outages, thanks to their battery power and local storage, while others need careful placements inside or outside the home.

We recommend starting with something like the Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera, a well-rounded camera that’s packed full of features and boasts performance that ensures you’ll be in the know about what’s happening at your home. Competitors like Ring and Nest may be more recognizable brands, but the Arlo Pro 4 has them beat on features for the price. If you’re not sold on the Arlo product, here’s a look at the best security cameras of 2024.

Arlo Pro 4

The best all-around home security camera

Arlo has always offered the best solution when you need multiple cameras. The Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera shares many of its predecessor’s features and specs, but it doesn’t require a hub to function. It is fully weather-sealed and ready for use indoors or out, wired or wire-free, with a 160-degree viewing angle. The batteries can easily be swapped and charged separately, so wire-free cameras won’t suffer any downtime while charging.

Now that the camera has ditched the base station that previous Arlo models needed to function, the setup process is streamlined because you connect it directly to your home’s Wi-Fi router. When it comes to video quality, its 4-megapixel one-third-inch sensor does a fantastic job of capturing sharp details with accurate colors. The performance is made better thanks to HDR and color night vision, which help to uncover details that are often lost in high-contrast scenes and at nighttime when lighting becomes challenging.

The Arlo Pro 4 is also backward compatible with the existing Arlo Pro system, so current users can continue to use their same base station and older cameras alongside the new model. When you consider the excellent camera performance, Wi-Fi direct connectivity, and smart security courtesy of Arlo Smart, its $200 starting cost makes it more attractive than previous iterations. In fact, the starting cost of the previous Arlo Pro 3 was $500, although it did come with two cameras as opposed to one.

The best home security cameras for 2024

Arlo Pro 4

The best all-around home security camera

Google Nest Cam (battery)

The best Google Assistant integration

The Nest line produces reliable products with the latest A.I. features, and its products are always strong picks for those already using Google Home. This latest battery-powered cam is excellent for DIY users who want the freedom to place the cam wherever they want — indoors or outdoors — at any angle. The cam supports 1080p video at 30 frames per second, with night vision and a 130-degree field of view.

The camera offers the ability to zoom in, use two-way audio to talk, or contact emergency services. It’s also smart enough to customize alerts based on whether it thinks it has seen a person, pet, vehicle, or more. It’s also compatible with Google Assistant and devices like the Nest Hub Max, although you won’t find any Alexa support on this Google product. If you are placing the cam outside, you can also attach a weatherproof cable so you won’t have to worry about recharging the battery.

Out of the box and free of charge, the Nest Cam supports up to three hours of event-based battery history storage, after which you will need to clear out space. You could add a Nest Aware subscription if you don’t mind paying a monthly fee, which offers more A.I. features and much more storage for the cam.

Blink Outdoor Cam

Best security camera for Alexa

Pros

• Built-in Alexa compatibility

• Customizable motion zones

• Multi-year battery

Cons

• Local storage requires a separate hub

• No cloud storage without a subscription

The Blink Outdoor camera offers weather-resistant surveillance at HD resolution with infrared night vision. While the model is battery-powered, allowing you to place it nearly anywhere, the battery sports a runtime of up to two years before needing to be recharged (although it’s still a good idea to place it in a more manageable spot like your porch or above a garage).

Blink uses motion detection with customizable motion zones to help reduce errors and includes a two-way audio feature to communicate with the cam. The Alexa compatibility works very well with devices like an Echo Show for an immediate look through the cam and also supports voice commands to arm or disarm the unit whenever you’d like.

The small downside to Blink’s affordable outdoor cam is you can’t save video natively right out of the box. Instead, you’ll either need to sign up for the Blink Subscription plan to get cloud storage options or purchase a separate Blink Sync Module 2 hub to enable local storage.

Wyze Cam v3

The best cheap security camera

From the easy-to-install Wyze Lock to the versatile Wyze Cam Outdoor, the Wyzeportfolio has been growing at a rapid rate. Its latest offering is the incredible Wyze Cam v3, which like its predecessor, astounds with its unbelievably low cost of $36!

Following the same cube-shaped design, this newer model benefits from a sturdier IP65 construction that allows it to work outdoors while resisting harsh elements. It also features night vision, something that has been largely reserved for pricier models. The usefulness of color night vision is astounding since there are details you wouldn’t otherwise be able to detect from your standard black-and-white night vision clips.

Furthermore, the Wyze Cam v3 offers a slew of capture modes that even includes a handy time-lapse mode, various security and privacy controls, and local storage to ensure your footage stays with you. You get all of that in a security camera for well under $50. Quite frankly, it sets the benchmark in what we expect out of entry-level security cameras.

Logitech Circle View Doorbell

Best security cam for HomeKit integration

There’s no denying that there are fewer security cameras on the market that support Apple’s HomeKit. One of the best options is Logitech’s Circle View Doorbell, an excellent choice if you prefer to control everything via the Home app (it also works with Alexa and Google Home). The 1080p cam offers a 160-degree viewing angle, 6-foot night vision, and two-way audio for communication. If you have an iCloud+ subscription, you can also upgrade to facial recognition, custom detection zones, and more.

Since it’s a video doorbell, the cam includes a chime button and is designed to be placed directly by your door for easy porch/street-side viewing. Setup and installation require an iOS device using the Home app, so there’s no need to download any extra apps. The Logitech Circle View Doorbell features an assortment of privacy features to ensure it’s safe to have inside the home. They include things like automatic arming based on your phone’s GPS location, a dedicated button that effectively shuts off the camera, and the ability to swivel the camera completely downwards.

The Circle View Doorbell is a wired doorbell, so you’ll need the proper wired connection to make it work (the doorbell comes with multiple mounting options and a chime kit to help). There are battery-powered doorbell options available, like the Nest Doorbell, but none work with Apple as well as this model.

Eufy SoloCam E40

The best security camera without a subscription

Today’s security cameras have advanced features that are blocked off unless you subscribe to one of their subscription services. One common benefit to some of these services is that they’ll store recorded events in the cloud, so you can access them at any time with your mobile devices. The beauty of the Eufy SoloCam E40 is that you don’t need to pay for a subscription service to reap some of its rewards, like cloud storage.

You’ll find an all-in-one solution with the Eufy SoloCam E40 because not only does it cover all of the basics, like crisp night vision, activity zones, and long-lasting battery life on a single charge, but you don’t have to pay a monthly fee in order to access the footage it records. All of your clips are stored locally and encrypted, so you can access them at any time on your smartphone.

Best of all, it’s a breeze to set up and isn’t too expensive to buy on any budget. For what you pay, it’s sweet knowing there’s no additional cost out of your pockets after buying it.

Blink Wired Floodlight Camera

Best affordable floodlight

Pros

• Affordable

• Powerful floodlights

• Wired connection for constant power

Cons

• Installation can be challenging

• Not as sleek as other cameras

The Blink Wired Floodlight Camera is surprisingly powerful considering its list price of just $99. Featuring two gigantic floodlights that churn out up to 2600 lumens of brightness, it’s more than capable of lighting up your entire yard.

Beyond its great lighting abilities, it benefits from a 1080p camera that’s fully weather resistant. And even if your yard isn’t lit up, it can capture night-time footage in color. Toss in two-way audio, built-in security siren, motion alerts, and customizable motion zones, and it’s easy to see why the Blink Wired Floodlight Camera earned on spot on this list. It also works great with other Alexa devices — so give this one an even closer look if you’re using an Echo hub.

Like most products in this category, some of the Blink Wired Floodlight Camera’s features are locked behind a Blink Subscription Plan. We’d recommend springing for the Blink Basic Plan at $3/month. This gets you live view recording, 60-day video history, photo capture, person detection, and the option to create a local backup with the Sync Module 2.

Blink Mini Pan-Tilt

Best affordable indoor camera

Clocking in at just $35, the Blink Mini is a perfect fit for every budget. This indoor camera captures 1080p footage, can film in the dark using night vision, and even comes with built-in two-way audio. If you want to make it a more versatile device, you can add the Pan-Tilt mount, which lets you remotely swivel the camera to see more of your home (and it still only costs $60). It’s a bit quirky, but it’s hard to find a better indoor camera in this price range.

Arlo Essential Indoor Cam

Best indoor camera for privacy

If you’re worried about privacy, the Arlo Essential Indoor Camera has you covered. Not only does it film in 1080p and come with a robust smartphone app, but you can enable a built-in privacy shutter that ensures nothing is being filmed while you’re home. That alone will put it at the top of the list for many shoppers, and everyone else will benefit from a sleek design, impressive night vision, two-way audio, and highly customizable motion zones.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do home security cameras keep footage?

It depends. The amount and length of storage you get depend on factors like the specific model and whether you have a paid subscription or free plan. Some models, like Google, have a certain amount of free storage that can fill up over time. Others keep captured footage for a period (for example, seven days), then discard it. Subscriptions generally increase the time that footage can be held by a significant amount. However, it’s always a good idea to download a clip from the cloud right away if you will be using it for evidence. Local storage, like an SD card, is generally free to use and permanent, but you have to manage it manually.

Can home security cameras be hacked?

Technically, yes, although it’s uncommon. Customers have reported instances where hackers access their home security camera’s audio feed. To help protect your home security camera from hackers, use a strong non-default password, use two-factor authentication when available, secure your wireless network, and buy your home security camera new from a trusted source. You can learn more about how to protect your home security camera from hackers.

How do home security cameras work?

Most home security cameras stream video feeds using your home internet network. Video is automatically captured for a certain amount of time when motion near the camera is detected, and an alert is sent to the owner’s phone so they can watch and make decisions like whether to contact the authorities. They use an app as an interface where you can do things like view live video feeds, communicate using two-way audio, set up motion zones, and access cloud storage (or the camera’s internal storage or SD card storage). Most offer various kinds of night vision, and some include built-in spotlights.

Do home security cameras deter crime?

Yes. The Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at the University of North Carolina Charlotte asked burglars about their most effective deterrents. Just over 50% said the presence of outdoor security cameras was an effective deterrent (they’d seek another target if the home had security cameras outside).

Where do I place home security cameras?

The best place to put security cameras is at common entry points — the front door, back door, garage, and lower-level windows. However, you should also consider your area, your property, and any special circumstances that may require a different placement. For instance, if you have a lot of expensive automobiles on your property, you may want to have an outdoor camera covering your vehicles. Or, if you live in an area where there are a lot of second-floor break-ins, you might want security cameras covering the second floor.

Do all home security cameras require a subscription?

No. A subscription is not required for all home security cameras, however, many home security cameras provide more features if you purchase the subscription plan. That could include additional A.I. features, more cloud storage options, or a bundled monitoring plan. Without the subscription plan, your features may be limited.

The cloud storage option in particular depends on a subscription fee. Cloud storage allows you to use your account to access saved video footage from anywhere and download it onto your computer or another device for future use (typically footage is held in the cloud for a certain time from a week to two months, depending on the tier of service). Few smart cams these days offer cloud storage without requiring a subscription fee. Google’s Nest Doorbell is one of the few examples with effective free storage. However, local storage is always an alternative and only requires buying a compatible SD card.

Are home security cameras legal?

In general, yes. Home security cameras are legal to place in your own home. If you’re using home security cameras for a rental property (like an Airbnb home), they are typically legal, provided you are placing them in common areas and the rental guests are aware of their presence.

However, it is not legal to use security cams to capture footage where people have the expectation of privacy. Capturing footage on your porch is fine, because it’s your yard, and the street beyond it is a public area. But capturing footage of something like your neighbor’s backyard is illegal and has led to successful lawsuits. For another example, it is not legal to place a home security camera in a place like an Airbnb rental bathroom. Plus, that’s just creepy anyway.

Do home security cameras record sound?

Some can … but there’s always an option to turn sound recording off, and many models skip it altogether. That’s due to wiretapping laws, which often make it illegal to record sound on surveillance equipment. Even two-way audio communication may have limits depending on specific state rules, although it’s typically legal if the conversation isn’t being actively recorded.

How does Digital Trends test security cameras?

This is by no means an exhaustive list of home security cameras, but these are a few of our favorites that stand out for various unique reasons. Smart home cameras are at their best when they stay out of your way and offer worry-free operation and streamlined apps so that when you do need to interact with them, it doesn’t cause a headache. Good image quality is nice, but it’s not the most important feature when it comes to keeping your home safe or checking in on your kids or pets.

We look for cameras that offer a great combination of features — night vision, battery power, alerts, two-way audio, integration with other services, etc. — in determining the best ones. Obviously, we also take price into account, and there is quite a range of pricing in the current smart home camera market.

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The best music streaming services of 2024

By admin April 26, 2024

The best music streaming services of 2024, Music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Qobuz, and Deezer have entirely changed how we explore, enjoy, and exchange music. They bring convenience and accessibility to all new levels.

Yet, with so many choices, selecting the right music streaming app might feel like a daunting task. Each platform offers a music collection featuring artists, albums, playlists, and podcasts. Additionally, they each have their interface designs and special features, like song lyrics display, offline downloads, AI-generated playlists, high-quality audio formats, and more.

We’ve compiled a list of the best music streaming services to assist you. We’ve tested them all, and our evaluation criteria include pricing plans, user interface experience, quality of tracks offered, and much more. Let’s get started!

Spotify

The best for most people

Pros

• Excellent UI

• Best-in-class discovery

• More than 100 million songs

• The biggest podcast network

• Fun special features

Cons

• No hi-res option … yet

• Glitchy performance at times

Specs
Plans (monthly):	Free / Individual: $11 / Duo: $15 / Student: $6 / Family: $17
Library Size:	More than 100 million tracks
Quality:	160kbps to 320kbps

When it comes to music streaming, Spotify is definitely one of the most recognizable brands on the planet. Launched in 2006, the platform is available across the globe, and is home to more than 100 million songs and growing. Spotify is also the world’s biggest podcast platform. Whether you’re rocking an iPhone, a Google Pixel, a laptop, or you’re in your car, there’s a good chance that Spotify is going to be compatible with your hardware.

Beyond the music archive, Spotify offers several different subscription options, including individual, family, and student plans, as well as a free version with ads. Spotify Premium users also receive unlimited track skips, 320kbps audio quality, and offline downloads for up to 10,000 songs across five devices. The company is also really good at keeping its user interface familiar and reliable from one hardware type to another.

Spotify is also great for sharing. Thanks to integrations with social platforms like Facebook and Instagram, your circle of pals will get to see what you’ve been jamming out to lately. You’ll even have the option of sharing songs with others and even creating collaborative playlists you can all add to. Additionally, no one is quite as good as Spotify at always adding and experimenting with new and fun features, like its AI-driven DJ and, most recently, its beta AI Playlist that lets you type Chat GPT-style text prompts to get it to curate playlists for you.

So, where does the service struggle? Track quality, for one. Unlike platforms like Tidal and Qobuz that place a big emphasis on hi-res audio, Spotify’s tracks are capped at 320kbps, which only the most critical of audiophiles will notice. Spotify’s long-awaited Hi-Fi tier may still see the light of day, though, so if it’s not a deal breaker, you could just wait it out. But if you just want a music streamer that offers tons of genres, playlists, and fun social features, Spotify is going to be your best bet.

Spotify

The best for most people

.Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The best music streaming services of 2024

Apple Music

Perfect for Apple users who want hi-res audio

Pros

• More than 100 million songs

• Excellent hi-res options and Dolby Atmos

• Great interface

• Competitive pricing

Cons

• No free tier

• Can’t keep downloaded songs if you cancel

• No plan for couples

Specs
Plans (monthly):	Individual: $11 / Student: $6 / Family: $17
Library Size:	More than 100 million tracks
Quality:	256kbps AAC, 16-bit/44.1kHz, 24-bit/48kHz, 24-bit/192kHz

Some folks will remember Apple’s original foray into digitized music from a little platform called iTunes that launched back in 2000. Paving the way for Apple’s streamlined interface and big music library, iTunes eventually evolved into Apple Music in 2015. A fierce competitor to rivals like Spotify and Tidal, Apple Music is simple to use, boasts a library of more than 100 million tracks, is available across multiple platforms, and even offers hi-res listening options.

Apple Music also lets you test the waters before enrolling in one of its many subscription options. With a one-month free trial, you’ll have plenty of time to get a good lay of the land, at which point you’ll need to shell out for a monthly subscription, which runs $6 for students, $11 for an Individual plan, and $17 for the Family plan.

Every tier gives you access to full playback controls, recommended music based on your listening habits, and some nice visual treats for your phone, tablet, and computer screens. We’re talking immersive album artwork, line-by-line lyrics, and intuitive search tools that make finding songs and artists a breeze.

As far as track quality is concerned, Apple’s audio far exceeds Spotify’s 320kbps cap, with lossless ALAC tracks that can get as high as 24-bit/192kHz. Apple Music also uses the smaller AAC format with resolution up to 256kbps and offers many tracks and albums in Dolby Atmos, which Apple brands as Spatial Audio. And while you’ll be able to share tracks with friends and family, Apple Music doesn’t offer the same social integrations as Spotify.

If you’re familiar with the design and UI of devices like the iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Apple TV, you’re going to feel right at home using Apple Music. Both desktop and mobile interfaces are clean, simple, and easy to navigate, with just about everything you could need right at your fingertips. Plus, there are all kinds of smart speakers (such as Sonos and Apple’s HomePod) and smart displays that offer native Apple Music support.

Apple Music

Perfect for Apple users who want hi-res audio

.Derek Malcolm / Digital Trends

Tidal

Audiophile quality with wide device support

Pros

• More than 110 million tracks

• Some of the best hi-res tracks in the game

• Includes offline listening

• Works with many different types of devices

• Awesome playlist curations

Cons

• Weak podcast library

• Music discovery tools are not as good as others

• UI could be improved and more streamlined

Specs
Plans (monthly):	Indvidual: $11 / Family: $17 / Student: $6 / DJ Extension add-on: $9
Library Size:	More than 110 million tracks
Quality:	320kbps, 16-bit/44.1kHz, 24-bit/192kHz

Regarding top-notch music streaming quality, Tidal is one of the best names in the business, bar none.

Renowned for its focus on excellent sound quality, Tidal gives you access to an immense library of songs in 16-bit/44.1kHz up to 24-bit/192kHz in various formats, including HiRes FLAC, Dolby Atmos, Sony 360 Reality Audio, FLAC, and Master Quality Authenticated (MQA). Not all of Tidal’s artists and albums are in hi-res, but there’s a good chance that several artists you enjoy have at least some hi-res offerings in the archive.

Diehard fans will also enjoy Tidal’s dedication to additional content, including videos and real-time streams, creating a more immersive musical experience. We’re also big fans of its artist-generated playlists.

In terms of cross-platform compatibility, Tidal is also available on a range of popular devices, from iOS and Android hardware to smart speakers, smart displays, streaming devices, and even native AV support from audio brands like Sonos and Harman Kardon through Tidal Connect. But what sets Tidal apart is its user-friendly interface. From apps to desktop versions, Tidal’s UI is designed to be clean, ultra-navigable, and tethered to your preferences, ensuring a comfortable and personalized experience.

Beginning in April 2024, Tidal removed its expensive HiFi plans, while still keeping its high-quality library. The best part? Its new plans are cheaper and more in line with what Apple Music, Spotify, and others are charging. This means you can enjoy premium music streaming without breaking the bank. You can try Tidal for free for the first 30 days of a new membership. The platform also offers discounts to students, military, and first responders, making it even more affordable.

If you’re looking for supreme audio quality and talented curation, you should give Tidal a try. Plus, you’ll be hard-pressed to find many of these high-resolution tracks elsewhere.

Tidal

Audiophile quality with wide device support

.Qobuz app’s home screen Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Qobuz

Audiophile quality for a little less

Pros

• Big hi-res music library

• Inspired editorial content

• Can purchase songs and albums without a subscription

• Free trial for Studio plan

Cons

• Lacks social listening features

• No podcasts

Specs
Plans (monthly):	Studio: from $11 / Sublime: from $180 per year
Library Size:	More than 100 million tracks
Quality:	16-bit/44.1kHz, 24-bit/192kHz

A close competitor to Tidal, Qobuz is another music streaming platform that goes all in on the hi-res catalog. It is home to over 100 million tracks in lossless CD quality, and more than 240,000 albums in hi-res audio. Qobuz streams audio using high-quality FLAC files ranging from 16-bit/44kHz to 24-bit/192kHz, translating to some seriously good sound. Whether you’re listening through a pair of speakers or a pair of headphones, Qobuz tracks are going to sound about as good as they can get.

Qobuz offers two subscription plans, namely Studio and Sublime. Each plan has three levels to choose from. The Studio plan provides offline listening and a visually appealing desktop and mobile interface enriched with additional content such as artist bios, reviews, feature op-eds, and how-to guides. The Solo Studio level costs $13 per month, Duo costs $18 per month, and the Family plan (for up to six accounts) costs $22 per month. You can get discounts on these plans by opting for a yearly payment.

The Sublime subscription offers the same benefits as the Studio plan and up to 60% off many hi-res download purchases. However, you need to purchase a yearly subscription to get these benefits. The Solo Sublime plan costs $180/year, Duo costs $270/year, and the Family plan costs $350/year. Note that the Sublime subscription can only be purchased through a yearly payment, not monthly.

Oh, and we can’t forget this gem: You can pay to download Qobuz hi-res tracks and albums without a monthly subscription.

On the downside, Qobuz does not have Dolby Atmos tracks like Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music, and there are no podcasts or video content.

Qobuz

Audiophile quality for a little less

.Amazon

Amazon Music

Excellent value, hi-res audio, great for Prime customers

Pros

• Huge music library

• Lots of hi-res tracks and albums

• 90-day free trial

• Discounted plans for Amazon Prime members

• Discount for owning an Echo device

• Now offers a student plan

Cons

• Complicated subscription options

• Amazon Music only has shuffle mode

Specs
Plans (monthly):	With Prime: $10 / w/o Prime: $11 / Family: $17 / Single Device Owner: $6 / Student: $6
Library Size:	More than 100 million tracks
Quality:	320kbps, 16-bit/44.1kHz, 24-bit/192kHz

Amazon Music is a unique streaming option, especially for those of us who are already paying for Amazon’s $139 annual Prime membership (or $15 per month). Like many platforms we’ve covered up to this point, Amazon Music offers both CD quality and lossless audio formats, Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio tracks, a large music library, and some awesome smart home integrations (especially for Alexa-powered devices). The “unique” descriptor is mainly aimed at Amazon Music’s pricing, though, which is complex, to say the least.

Are you an Amazon Prime member? Great! That means you’ll be able to get the ad-free Amazon Music Unlimited (AMU) for $10 per month, as opposed to the non-Prime member subscription tier, which costs $11 per month. If you’re interested in nabbing Amazon Music Unlimited and just so happen to own an Echo speaker, you can sign up for the Single Device Owner plan. It only costs $6 per month, but you’ll only be able to use AMU on that one device. Oh, and there’s also an AMU Family Plan for $17 per month ($169 per year) that covers up to six users.

The pricing isn’t impossible to understand, but figuring out which option makes the most sense for you and yours can be confusing. Plus, Amazon technically has two different music streaming options: Amazon Music Unlimited and Amazon Music Prime. The latter is built into your Amazon Prime membership and gives you access to Amazon’s entire music library, but playback is limited to shuffle mode, and you won’t be able to listen to any hi-res tracks either.

Whether you’re listening with Amazon Music Unlimited or Amazon Music Prime, Amazon Music looks great on mobile and desktop platforms. Unlimited subscribers also benefit from video content, offline downloads, and a fun scrolling lyrics feature.

Amazon Music

Excellent value, hi-res audio, great for Prime customers

.Deezer

Deezer

Somewhere in the Goldilocks zone

Pros

• Robust music library

• Offline downloads

• Includes video content and podcasts

• CD-level quality

• Can upload your own MP3s on desktop

• Duo plan is now available

Cons

• No hi-res

• Can’t upload MP3s using mobile devices

Specs
Plans (monthly):	Free / Premium: $12 / Family: $20 / Duo: $16 / Student: $6
Library Size:	More than 120 million tracks
Quality:	128kbps, 320kbps, 16-bit/44.1kHz

Deezer lives in the Goldilocks zone of music streaming options. It offers a bigger library than competitors like Spotify and Apple Music and has CD-quality music, but it doesn’t touch the top-shelf hi-res content you’ll find on platforms like Tidal and Qobuz. Price-wise, though, it’s weirdly more expensive than everyone except Tidal, but Tidal gives you hi-res. Its individual plan is $12 per month, and for that, you get access to unlimited listening, lyrics, video content, offline listening, and a few other features.

Deezer is also one of the only streaming platforms that lets you upload your own tracks. While the quality is limited to MP3, and you won’t be able to do any uploading with a mobile device, it’s nice to have the ability to spread your own library across multiple gadgets.

Deezer used to have a HiFi plan that was $15 per month, but now its 16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC tracks are built into its Premium and Family plans. As mentioned, this is lower quality than top-tier plans from the likes of Tidal and Qobuz, but it still packs quite a punch. Deezer free tier customers can only access MP3 files up to 128kbps, though. On a positive note, like Spotify, there’s now a duo package available through Deezer for $16/month.

As for Deezer’s UI across desktop and mobile platforms, both versions are geared toward easy navigation through playlists, genre labels, and similar search criteria. There are also several recommended categories and an excellent podcast library to check out.

Deezer does a nice job at checking several of the most important boxes for what makes up a solid music streaming service. Hi-res devotees may want to look elsewhere, but we definitely think Deezer is worth trying out, so make the best of that 30-day free trial!

Deezer

Somewhere in the Goldilocks zone

.Derek Malcolm / Digital Trends

YouTube Music

The best of music and YouTube is all here

Pros

• Terrific music library

• Simple pricing model

• Intuitive user interface

• Cool community upload features

Cons

• No hi-res tracks

• No editorial content

Specs
Plans (monthly):	Free / Premium Individual: $11 / Family: $17 / Student: $5.50
Library Size:	More than 100 million tracks
Quality:	256kbps

Last but not least, we have YouTube Music. A rebranding and consolidation of multiple Google/YouTube paid services that came before it (including Google Play and YouTube Red), YouTube Music is your one-stop-shop for everything … music-related. Subscribers will have access to over 100 million tracks, podcasts, an intuitive lyrics tool, excellent playlists, and much more. Right off the bat, though, we’d like to let our hi-res fans know that YouTube Music caps its track quality at 256kbps.

That doesn’t mean you should look away, though. In fact, we think YouTube Music has a lot going for it when it comes to overall desktop and mobile interfaces. Navigating from one panel to the next is fast and easy, with most of what you’ll want to be listening to housed under the “Home” and “Library” tabs. The former is a hub for recommended content based on your listening habits, while the latter is the storage site for all your personal playlists, favorited songs and albums, and other user-specific features.

It’s also a thrill to watch YouTube Music sync up to your local time of day and weather conditions. These factors affect the type of music that the platform will recommend.

Regarding pricing, there’s only one paid subscription plan: YouTube Music Premium. This paid tier removes ads for desktop and mobile listening, grants you offline downloads, and gives you a sweet feature called Smart Downloads. When enabled, this lets YouTube Music automatically download your favorite songs, artists, and albums for offline listening and even adds in recommended tracks and albums.

And, of course, YouTube Music is packed with video content. When you search for a song or artist, you will get officially licensed media and see video results for YouTubers covering the song, lyric videos, and more.

YouTube Music

The best of music and YouTube is all here

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How to factory reset Windows 10 or Windows 11

By admin April 23, 2024

How to factory reset Windows 10 or Windows 11, Factory resetting Windows 10 or Windows 11 can be a great way to fix a sluggish or unresponsive computer. It clears our a lot of changes you might have made, applications that might be causing trouble, and old drivers that might not have been uninstalled properly. A fresh start can make your PC feel even better than general Windows speed up tricks.

Here’s how to factory reset Windows 10 and Windows 11 to get your PC feeling right again.

First, back up your computer

Before you reset your system, you’ll want to back up important information that you don’t want to lose. This includes documents, photos, music, and movies, but there are other items to back up as well. Make sure that you know all of your saved passwords, export all of your browser bookmarks, and have installation files for all the software you’ll want to reinstall — or know where to get them.

Also, make sure you back up app-specific data, like custom filters saved in a photo utility, save files from your favorite games, and back up emails if using an offline client.

How to factory reset Windows 10 or Windows 11

How to factory reset Windows 10

Windows 10’s reset feature is found in the settings panel. It can rebuild a fresh copy of Windows 10 if you so choose, replacing all drivers and resetting all settings.

Note that this might be technically different from a “factory reset” option provided by manufacturers. Check your documentation or give technical support a call if you want to return your PC to how it was when you first pulled it out of the box. The manufacturer might have special partitions set up on the hard drive or might be able to provide a factory restore image on bootable media.

Step 1: Click the* Notifications* icon on the taskbar (or press the Windows button + A) and then select the All settings tile in the Action Center. You can also select the start button followed by the Gear icon on the Start Menu.

Step 2: Select Update & Security.

Step 3: Select Recovery listed on the left.

Step 4: On the right, you’ll see two options. The first, Reset this PC, is the method we’re going to use for this guide. When you are ready, click the Get Started button listed under Reset This PC.

The second, Advanced startup, is worth considering if you have a little more technical skill. It’s for modifying your computer on a deeper level or installing a completely different operating system. This comes in handy if your manufacturer provides a factory restore image or external drive containing the image to return your machine to its factory state — proprietary software included.

Unless you’re completely sure you understand what each of the options in this setting does, it’s probably best to leave it alone.

Step 5: A new window will appear with two options, Keep my files and Remove everything.

Here you need to decide whether you want to keep all of your files and folders intact, or truly start from scratch and then use your backup to restore those files and folders. Whichever you choose, you will need to reinstall all apps and programs acquired outside the Microsoft Store. Your settings, such as the Start Menu arrangement, will go back to their defaults.

Select one of the two options.

In both cases, it rebuilds Windows 10 using the current installation. It’s Microsoft’s “imageless recovery” system so installation media doesn’t need to lurk on a hidden partition, taking up space. However, the Local reinstall option may not be able to repair Windows 10 if it’s too broken, too corrupted. That’s where the Cloud download option comes in: Windows pulls everything from Microsoft’s servers to rebuild the local copy.

Both options return all settings to their factory defaults and remove all software not installed from the Microsoft Store. However, the Keep my files option keeps your profile intact along with the associated files and folders. What it doesn’t do is update Windows 10 to the latest version if you never bothered to install patches and feature updates. The Cloud download option installs the latest version stored in Microsoft’s cloud.

DigitalTrends

Step 6: Select a source: Cloud download or Local reinstall.

Step 7: On the following screen, select the Choose settings link if you would like to alter the current reset settings. Otherwise, skip to Step 9.

The image is based on the Remove everything option and using the cloud as our source. Since our example PC has multiple drives, we have an additional “Delete files from all drives” setting. Note that you can toggle off reinstallation, but if you’re having serious issues related to Windows 10 components, a fresh copy might be ideal.

Likewise, if we took the Keep my files route and selected the Local reinstall option, we would see two toggles: Restore preinstalled apps and settings that came with the PC, and rebuild Windows 10 using the local installation.

DigitalTrends

Step 8: Select the appropriate toggle next to the setting you want to alter and then select Confirm.

Step 9: Select Next to proceed.

Step 10: The Reset tool will present a summary. If you chose the Keep my files option, you’ll see a link you can click to see all the apps that will be removed during the reset, like Google Chrome, Steam, and even Microsoft 365. This list will be saved to your desktop when you finish the recovery process. You won’t see this link when you select the Remove everything option.

Make sure you are good with everything, and then select the *Reset *button.

Your PC will reboot automatically and enter the Windows Recovery Environment. The reset process might take an hour or more, so if you’re using a laptop, it’s a good idea to plug in the power cord. It may reboot itself several times. Wait for Windows to restart and begin the setup process, then enter your personal information and login information if prompted.

Once you’ve confirmed everything’s working, make sure Windows 10 is up to date and install the latest drivers from hardware manufacturers.

How to factory reset Windows 11

The factory reset process for Windows 11 is much the same as it is for Windows 10.

Step 1: Press the Windows + I keys together to open up important pinned apps. Here, look for the Settings menu with the gears icon, and select it.

Step 2: Select Update & Security. Look at the left-side menu and choose Recovery.

Step 3: Select the Reset PC option on the right.

DigitalTrends

Step 4: At this point, things should look like they do in Windows 10. You will need to choose to “Keep My Files” or “Remove Everything.” Then you will be able to choose between a “Cloud Download” and a “Local Reinstall”.

Step 5: Here things get a little different. Instead of another Settings menu, Windows 11 streamlines the process for clarification and shows you the current settings you have chosen in a summary window. If everything looks all right, select Next. Do one final check, then select* Reset*.

Another way to factory reset Windows

Another method is to use the manufacturer’s recovery tool, usually located on a separate partition on your hard drive. You’ll find a wide variety of recovery software with name brands numerous enough to match the various brands of electronic devices in which you’ll install them. We have tried to make it less overwhelming by narrowing the list down to our preferred software. Each brand has a different name for what you are looking for, so here is a list of what to search for according to each brand:

• Acer: Acer eRecovery or Acer Recovery Management

• Asus: Asus Recovery Partition or AI Recovery

• Dell: Dell Factory Image Restore, DataSafe, Dell Backup & Recovery, and various other names

• HP: HP System Recovery or Recovery Manager

• Lenovo: Rescue and Recovery or ThinkVantage Recovery (on ThinkPads)

You can also access these recovery options outside of Windows, which means you still have hope if your OS won’t load. Every manufacturer is different, but you can find the method for accessing recovery just after powering on your machine. Read the text as your machine boots and look for the recovery mode key. Many devices use the F11 key as a shortcut to recovery mode.

The most common Windows 11 problems and how to fix them

With Windows 10 officially losing support next year, Windows 11 is poised to take over as the dominant operating system. Many users have already switched over to the latest Microsoft OS – and while it’s not perfect, most are finding it to be a nice step forward from Windows 10. Of course, there are a few quirks people will have to get used to, but most of the bugs and technical issues have already been ironed out.

That’s not to say Windows 11 is perfect. In fact, there are still a handful of common Windows 11 problems that people are encountering, including ones that cause no sound to play, network connections to be laggy, and games to run at less-than-optimal speeds. Thankfully, many of these issues are easy to resolve without extensive troubleshooting or the need to contact customer support.

If you’re experiencing any growing pains, here’s a look at the most common Windows 11 problems and how to fix them. Once you’ve solved your issue, be sure to look at our favorite Windows 11 tips and tricks to make the most out of the operating system.

No sound in Windows 11

Windows 11 does have sound. It should have sound. But if your version of Windows 11 stubbornly refuses to make any sound, you might need to fix it. There are a few reasons that you might have no sound on Windows 11, so try a few of these potential fixes:

• Check your volume levels: Right-click the speaker icon in the bottom right (next to the date and time) and select Open Volume Mixer. Make sure that the volume is raised high enough that you would hear it.

• Check the sound settings: Right-click the speaker icon in the bottom right and select Open sound settings. Check that next to Choose where to play sound, your speakers or headphones are selected.

• Check the connections: If you’re using external speakers, make sure they’re properly connected. Double-check any cable connection, and if you’re using wireless speakers or headphones, disconnect and reconnect them again.

• Run the Windows 11 audio troubleshooter: Right-click on the speaker icon in the bottom right and select Troubleshoot sound problems. Then follow the on-screen instructions.

Windows 11 network issues

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Can’t connect to the internet? Connection slower than expected? Windows 11 network problems can crop up from time to time. Try these possible fixes:

• Reset your router: It may not be Windows’ fault. Try resetting your modem and/or router to see if that fixes the issue.

• Reset your PC: Just rebooting can sometimes fix network issues. Give it a try.

• Reset Windows 11 network settings: Press the Windows key + I to open the Settings menu. Select Network and internet > Advanced network settings. Scroll down and select Network reset. Select Reset now > Yes to confirm.

• Change the connection method: If you can, switch from Ethernet to Wi-Fi, or vice versa, to see if that helps.

• Run the Windows 11 networking troubleshooter: Search for Network Troubleshooter in the Windows search box. Select Find and fix network problems. Select Next > Troubleshoot my connection to the internet.

Your Windows 11 screen is flickering, blurry, or black

Is your screen not behaving properly in Windows 11? If it doesn’t look right, here are some fixes you can try:

• Turn it off and on again: Reset your PC and turn your monitor off and on again.

• Check the connections: Confirm the cables are connected correctly to your PC and monitor. If in doubt, unplug and replug them.

• Update your drivers: If you have a dedicated graphics card or chip, try updating your GPU drivers. Download the latest ones from AMD, Intel, or Nvidia from their respective websites. Need more help? Here’s our guide on how to update Windows 11 graphics drivers.

• Update Windows: Try updating to the latest version of Windows 11. Certain patches and fixes might address this issue for you. Here’s how to download the latest big update.

Games running slow on Windows 11

Gaming performance on Windows 11 has been a mixed bag since its debut, and some people have faced serious performance issues.

• Check that your system isn’t overheating: Check your CPU temperature (and your GPU while you’re at it) to make sure they aren’t overheating. If they are, that might be why gaming performance is down.

• Update your graphics drivers: Download the latest graphics drivers from AMD, Intel, or Nvidia from their respective websites.

• Install the latest Windows updates: Try updating to the latest version of Windows 11; some of the recent releases have gaming related patches. Here’s how to download the latest big update.

• Try disabling VBS: Windows 11’s Virtualization Based Security can reportedly cause some issues with gaming performance in Windows 11. Try disabling that to see if it helps.

If your game performance is still poor, you might need to adjust your in-game settings for better performance. Check out our guide to in-game settings so you can maximize your frames per second.

Windows 11 search can’t find your files

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Windows 11’s search tool is smart, but sometimes it acts really dumb. It might just need to index your files again, though. Try this:

Use Windows search to look for Index and select Indexing options. Select Advanced > Rebuild.

Now that you’re a wiz at Windows 11 troubleshooting, why not brush up on printer setups? Here’s how to set your printer up properly in Windows 11.

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How to dual boot Linux and Windows

By admin April 23, 2024

How to dual boot Linux and Windows, Windows might be your bread and butter, but you can dual-boot it with Linux if you want to tinker, or play around with a wider range of open source software. Whether you’re using Windows 10 or Windows 11, you can install a range of different Linux distributions as a secondary operating system to give you the best of both worls.

Here’s how to dual boot Windows and Linux.

Microsoft

Start by installing Windows

The first step is to install Windows, assuming you’re starting from scratch. We have a full guide on how to install Windows 11, so make sure to keep that handy if you need extra detail. For dual booting, the process is largely the same minus one key difference.

Instead of allowing Windows to take up all of the space on your hard drive, you’ll allocate it a partition. If you have multiple hard drives for dual booting, you can allow Windows to take up the full space on your hard drive. This process works for Windows 10 and Windows 11, but we’ll be using Windows 10 for our example.

If you don’t have an extra Windows PC to create installation media, you can install Windows first before installing Linux (though you may need to fully defrag your hard drive to create a partition for Linux).

Step 1: With your spare PC, download the Windows Media Creation Tool and follow the steps to create installation media on one of your blank USB drives. Note: you may be asked to format the drive, which will remove all of the data.

How to dual boot Linux and Windows

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Step 2:Leaving your installation USB drive plugged in, turn off your PC. Turn it back on and select the F12 on your keyboard rapidly while the computer boots. This will take you to a boot menu. Select your Windows USB drive and continue.

Step 3:Follow the steps for the Windows installer until you reach the What type of installation do you want page. Choose Custom: Install Windows only.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 4:You need to create a partition on your hard drive. You’ll likely see multiple partitions here unless you’re using a brand-new hard drive. Assuming you want to start from scratch, delete the partitions (note: this will remove all the data on your hard drive, so make sure your hard drive is backed up).

Step 5:Select your hard drive and select New to create a new partition. Set how large you want the partition to be and confirm. This will be the total amount of space Windows has access to, and you’ll need extra space to install Linux. We recommend splitting the empty space in half, allocating half to Windows and half to Linux.

Follow the remaining installation steps to finish.

How to Install Linux

Installing Windows first is a good idea because it makes installing Linux much easier. If you already have Windows installed, you can still dual boot Linux, but you’ll need to create a new partition on your hard drive.

We’ll be using Ubuntu for our example, but the process is similar for most Linux distros.

Step 1: Download the latest version of Ubuntu and store it somewhere you can easily access. Grab your second blank USB drive and insert it into your computer.

Step 2: Download balenaEtcher and open it up. Select your blank USB drive and your Ubuntu image and run the software to create your bootable Linux media.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 3: Keeping your Linux USB drive plugged in, restart your computer and rapidly press the F12 key to enter the boot menu. Select your Linux USB drive to boot into the installation screen.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 4: You will be able to try or install Ubuntu, so if you’re unsure about Linux, try out the OS first. It can run off of your USB drive, though with decreased performance. Once you’re settled, select Install Ubuntu to continue.

Select your keyboard layout and language and opt for a Normal installation. Make sure to check both boxes under the Other options section on this screen.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 5: Ubuntu will automatically detect if you have Windows installed. Select Install Ubuntu alongside Windows 10 on this screen. The other option, Erase disk and install Ubuntu will remove Windows from your PC.

Step 6: If you started with a blank hard drive, you’re done. Finish the installation and use the boot menu referenced above to choose which OS to boot into (select the hard drive partition you want).

If Windows is taking up the entire drive, you’ll see a screen that allows you to allocate disc space to Ubuntu. Choose how much space you want to allocate and continue. We highly recommend creating a partition through Windows first, however, to avoid accidentally deleting data.

Most Linux distros will launch into a boot menu that allows you to select between Linux and Windows, but you may need to use the boot menu to choose which OS you want to load into.

How to dual boot Windows and Linux FAQ

Does dual boot slow down a PC?

No. Dual booting does restrict that quantity of storage space you have access to within each operating system, since you’ll need to dedicate drive space to not only the operating systems themselves, but their respective services, drivers, and applications. However, when you’re using either of the operating systems, you are not using the other one, so they don’t slow down your PC at all.

How do I share files between Windows and Linux on a dual boot?

The same way you would share files between two different computers running Windows and Linux. You can use a flash drive or external hard drive to manually transfer files between the two installations — the only difference is you don’t have to unplug the drive. You could use a cloud storage provider for the same purpose, or set up a shared folder on a partition both operating systems can access.

Depending on the files you’re transferring, there can be compatible issues, however, so consider the best way to transfer the data for your needs.

Windows is an operating system designed by Microsoft. The operating system is what allows you to use a computer. Windows comes preloaded on most new personal computers (PCs), which helps to make it the most popular operating system in the world.

Windows makes it possible to complete all types of everyday tasks on your computer. For example, you can use Windows to browse the Internet, check your email, edit digital photos, listen to music, play games, and do much more.

Windows is also used in many offices because it gives you access to productivity tools such as calendars, word processors, and spreadsheets.

Microsoft released the first version of Windows in the mid-1980s. There have been many versions of Windows since then, but the most recent ones include Windows 10 (released in 2015), Windows 8 (2012), Windows 7 (2009), Windows Vista (2007), and Windows XP (2001).

About this tutorial

This tutorial is designed to show you the absolute basics of using a Windows computer, including how to use the desktop, how to open different files and applications, and how to move and resize windows. The information in this tutorial will apply to more recent versions of Windows, including the ones mentioned above. However, once you’ve learned the basics, you may also want to review one of our version-specific Windows tutorials. Just select the version of Windows that’s installed on your computer:

• Windows 10

• Windows 8

• Windows 7

• Windows XP

Windows 8 vs. other versions

While most versions of Windows are relatively similar, Windows 8 works very differently from other versions. However, if you have Windows 8 on your computer, you should now be able to upgrade to Windows 10, which is more similar to earlier versions, including Windows 7. We recommend upgrading your computer to Windows 10 if you can. Review our Windows 10 tutorial to learn how.

However, we’ll still point out any major differences between Windows 8 and other versions, which means you’ll see some Windows 8-specific information from time to time. If your computer uses Windows 8, you’ll want to review both this tutorial and our Windows 8 tutorial to learn more about the differences.

Navigating Windows

Whether you’re new to computers or just Windows, it’s important to learn the basics of using your computer. If it all seems a little overwhelming right now, don’t worry! We’ll take you through it step by step and show you some of the most fundamental things you’ll need to know, including how to work with the desktop, open and close windows, and turn off your computer.

Watch the video below to learn the basics of navigating Windows.

The desktop

Once your computer has finished starting up, the first thing you’ll see is the desktop. You can think of the desktop as the main workspace for your computer. From here, you can view and manage your files, open applications, access the Internet, and much more.

Click the buttons in the interactive below to become more familiar with the desktop.

In Windows 8, you will usually see the Start screen before the desktop. To learn more, review our lesson on Getting Started with Windows 8.

Working with applications

An application—also known as a program—is a type of software that allows you to complete tasks on your computer. Windows comes with many built-in applications you can use. For example, if you want to browse the Internet, you can use Microsoft Edge (or Internet Explorer if you’re using Windows 8 or earlier).

To open an application:

1.Using your mouse, click the Start button, then select the desired application. If you don’t see the one you want, click All Programs to see a complete list of applications. In our example, we’ll open Microsoft Edge.

2.The application will appear in a new window.

There is no Start menu in Windows 8, so you’ll usually open applications from the Start screen. Click the Start button to go to the Start screen, then click an app to open it.

Working with windows

Whenever you open a file, folder, or application, it will appear in a new window. You can have multiple items open at the same time in different windows. You’ll use windows all the time, so it’s important to know how to switch between open windows, how to move and resize windows, and how to close windows when you’re done using them.

In Windows 8, some programs will open on the Start screen, not the desktop. If you’re using Windows 8, note that the information below applies only to windows you have opened on the desktop.

Parts of a window

You’ll see the same three buttons in the upper-right corner of almost every window. These buttons allow you to perform several functions, including these below.

• Click the Minimize button to hide the window. The window will be minimized to the taskbar. You can then click the icon for that window on the taskbar to make it reappear.

• Click the Maximize button to make the window fill the entire screen.

• If the screen is maximized, the Maximize button will be temporarily replaced by the Restore button. Just click it to return the window to its original size.

• Click the Close button to close the window.

To move a window:

1.Click and drag the top of the window to move it to the desired location on the screen. When you’re done, release the mouse.

2.The window will appear in the new location.

To resize a window:

1.Hover the mouse over any corner of the window, then click and drag the mouse to make the window larger or smaller. When you’re done, release the mouse.

2.The window will be resized.

Switching between windows

If you have more than one window open at the same time, you can quickly switch between them by clicking the icon for that window on the taskbar.

Shutting down your computer

When you’re done using your computer, it’s important to shut it down properly. The procedure will vary slightly depending on which version of Windows you’re using.

To shut down your computer:

• If you’re using Windows 10, click the Start button, then the Power icon, then click Shut down.

• If you’re using Windows 8, click the Start button to access the Start screen, click the Power icon near the upper-right corner, and select Shut down. If you don’t see this option, it means you’ll need to upgrade to Windows 8.1. Review this page from our Windows 8 tutorial to learn how.

• If you’re using Windows 7 or earlier, Click the Start button, then select Shut down.

Restarting and Sleep mode

You can also click the power button button for more options. For example, if your computer has become unresponsive, you can choose Restart to quickly turn it off and on again.

You can also choose to put your computer into Sleep mode. This turns off most of your computer’s processes, but it remembers which applications and files are open. It allows the computer to start up more quickly because you won’t have to wait for the operating system and applications to load. Note that your computer may go into Sleep mode automatically if you haven’t used it for more than a few minutes.

If you have a laptop, you can simply close the lid to put it into Sleep mode.

Waking your computer from Sleep mode

If your computer is in Sleep mode, you’ll need to wake it to use it. To wake the computer from Sleep mode, click the mouse or press any key on the keyboard.

What is Linux?

Linux (pronounced “linnucks”) is a monolithic, open-source kernel, and a family of operating systems based on that kernel. The Linux kernel was developed by Linus Torvalds, who announced it on the comp.os.minix newsgroup on August 25, 1991. Since then, it’s been ported to computer architectures including x86-64, x86, ARM, RISC, and DEC Alpha. It is licensed under version 2 of the GPL.

Developers can access all Linux source code, and are permitted under the license conditions to modify and distribute it.

Where is Linux used?

Presently, Linux is used by several million users worldwide. The composition of users varies from private users, training centers, universities, research centers, and companies. Below are examples of where Linux is used today.

• Android phones and tablets – Android phones and tablets use a form of Linux.

• Servers – A vast majority of the web servers that run many web pages (including this one) are using Linux.

• Supercomputers – All of the top supercomputers use a Linux-based operating system.

• TV, Cameras, DVD players, etc. – Most of the appliances that use some form of a computer use Linux.

• Amazon – Many of the computers that help run Amazon use Linux.

• Google – Computers that help run Google and Google search results use Linux.

• Planes – Airplanes computers and screens you watch on the plane use Linux.

• U.S. Postal service – The computers and servers that help run systems to sort and manage mail in the U.S.

• NYSE – The New York Stock Exchange uses Linux to help run its exchange.

• LHC – The Large Hadron Collider uses Linux.

• OLPC – The One Laptop Per Child program used Linux on all its computers.

Who makes Linux now?

Thousands of organizations, corporations, and individuals help develop Linux and each of its various distributions. For more information, visit LinuxFoundation.org. You can read what’s happening right now in Linux development at LKML.org, the Linux kernel mailing list.

Linux distributions, flavors, and variants

Linux may be obtained in different ways. All the necessary components can be downloaded free of charge from the Internet, which means an operating system can be assembled for almost nothing. An alternative is to use a so-called distribution, a Linux variation offered by many companies. They include a broad range of applications and full programs that significantly simplify the installation of Linux.

There are hundreds of different distributions of Linux were released. Below are a few that we currently have listed on our site. A great site that lists almost every distribution, and rankings is DistroWatch.

System requirements

There are many variants of Linux, each with hardware requirements. Some can run on minimal systems with small amounts of RAM and disk space.

To run Linux, and your computer meets the following specifications, it should be able to run any variant of Linux.

• 64-bit Intel or AMD processor

• 1 GB RAM

• 10 GB of hard drive space

• CD/DVD drive or a USB (universal serial bus) port for installation

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Android

The Best Smartwatches 2024

By admin April 22, 2024

The Best Smartwatches 2024, A GREAT TIMEPIECE doesn’t just display the time of day, it can elevate your outfit and make you feel good. The best smartwatches can do even more, from tracking your workouts and measuring your heart rate to serving up notifications and access to voice assistants. While you’re wearing a connected watch, you can leave your phone in your pocket and use your wrist for simple tasks.

The Apple Watch is our favorite for iPhone owners, but Samsung’s Galaxy Watch6 and Google’s Pixel Watch 2 are great wearables for anyone on Android. We also like several other options—in various styles and with different levels of smarts. Below is a roundup of the best smartwatches we’ve tested. Looking for a fitness or sleep tracker instead? We’ve got plenty more options in our Best Fitness Trackers, Best Fitbits, Best Garmin Watches, and Best Sleep Trackers guides.

The Best Smartwatches 2024

Updated April 2024: We’ve added the OnePlus Watch 2, Withings ScanWatch 2, and Casio Calculator Watch.

Best for iPhone Owners

Apple Watch Series 9

The Apple Watch is the best smartwatch money can buy. It has the best operating system, WatchOS, with plenty of apps to help reduce the number of times you need to pull out your phone. The Series 9 is nearly identical to its predecessor, the Series 8, but has the ability to process Siri requests on the device, making it snappier and more private (unless Siri needs to access the web for the answer).

That means you can ask the voice assistant about your health data from the week prior and get results quickly. This is thanks to the S9 chip, which is more efficient and delivers slightly better battery life—you’ll still need to regularly recharge the watch. The most exciting new feature is Double Tap. You can tap two fingers together on your watch hand to accept or reject calls, reply to messages, start or end timers, and more. It’s super handy.

There’s a new second-gen ultra-wideband chipset, which can help you precisely locate your iPhone at greater range. As usual, the health features remain robust. There’s an FDA-cleared electrocardiogram sensor, plus you can measure oxygen saturation in the blood (SpO₂)—helpful for athletes training at altitude or anyone with an underlying health condition. However, this feature is no longer available in the US on Apple Watches sold after January 18, 2024, due to a patent dispute. Our Best Apple Watch guide has more details, and check out our Apple Watch Accessories guide for extras.

Comes in 41-mm or 45-mm sizes.

★ A cheaper alternative: The second-gen Apple Watch SE ($220) is likely all you need. It debuted alongside the Series 8 in 2022 and is the model for those who balk at a $400 price and don’t need an electrocardiogram, SpO₂, the always-on display, or the skin temperature capabilities. It does have fall detection. Just take Apple’s claims of it being a carbon-neutral product with a grain of salt.

Best for Samsung Owners

Samsung Galaxy Watch6 and Watch6 Classic

The Galaxy Watch6 and Watch6 Classic don’t reinvent the wheel, but these round smartwatches are a great option for anyone with an Android smartphone, especially with Samsung owners as a few features like the electrocardiogram and irregular heart rate alerts only work when paired with Samsung phones (the watches don’t work with iPhones at all). Each model has two sizes you can choose from, with the option to spend more on an LTE version for constant connectivity even if your phone isn’t nearby.

I tested the Watch6 Classic in the 47-mm size, and it easily lasted two full days, and a day and a half with the always-on display. It’s dead simple to check notifications, respond to messages, and even control your smart home devices via SmartThings or Google Home. The Classic is the model with the mechanical rotating bezel, which is what you can use to scroll through the Wear OS interface—it’s way more fun to use than most other watches that rely only on a touchscreen.

Its health and fitness functions are satisfactory, with nice sleep-tracking data and robust activity-tracking options, and it has excellent auto-start and auto-pause capabilities. However, I did notice some discrepancies in heart rate measurements during select workouts.

Watch6 comes in 40-mm or 44-mm sizes. Watch6 Classic comes in 43-mm or 47-mm sizes.

Best for Android Owners

Google Pixel Watch 2

The original Pixel Watch was missing a lot of features when it launched, but Google slowly added them over a year. That means the Pixel Watch 2 pretty much has everything you’d want. There’s auto-start and auto-stop workout detection, fall detection, SpO₂ measurements, and even a redesigned Fitbit app that looks much more modern. Google has even added Safety Check this time around, allowing you to share your location with emergency contacts if you don’t respond after a certain time. A Body Response feature also can detect good and bad stress and offer ways to cope, like with a guided breathing session.

This is easily still the prettiest smartwatch in my eyes, and it’s super comfy on the wrist. It also nails its health and fitness features, from reliable heart rate and sleep-tracking data to an improved workout screen that shows you the most important information at a glance, including heart rate zones. You can take electrocardiograms and monitor for an irregular heart rate too.

The battery life is unfortunately just OK—it’ll last about a day—and this watch is also not repairable. If you have issues, you’ll have to get a replacement under the one-year warranty. I also don’t love that it has yet another proprietary charger that is different from the original Pixel Watch charger, though it does juice up the smartwatch quicker.

Comes in a 41-mm size.

PHOTOGRAPH: GARMIN

Best Fitness Watch

Garmin Vivomove Trend

Fitness watches are typically not as sleek or simple to operate as more robust smartwatches, but the Vivomove Trend oozes elegance. This is also the first Garmin to include wireless charging, which means you’re now free to ditch your annoying Garmin plug-in charger.

The watch has it all—wireless charging, blood oxygen measurements, sleep tracking, auto-activity tracking, and Garmin’s proprietary and excellent algorithms for measuring your fitness. It’s a little clunky to operate—it’s not anywhere near as feature-rich as the other smartwatches above—but that might be OK if you prioritize battery life as this tracker can last five days on a single charge. Read our Best Fitness Watches guide for more recommendations.

Comes in a 40.4-mm size.

PHOTOGRAPH: APPLE

Best for iPhone Weekend Warriors

Apple Watch Ultra 2

Frequently escaping to the hills every weekend? If your activities often take you to remote areas in rough terrain, then it might be smart to pony up for the expensive, uber-durable, and gigantic Apple Watch Ultra 2. A bigger watch means a bigger battery—we got nearly four days with normal use. The Ultra 2 has better mics than the Series 9 to pick up your voice, an 86-decibel siren to alert your position to anyone nearby, and a more precise GPS to better track your hikes (plus help you find your way back with the Backtrack feature).

There’s a spare customizable button on the left side called the Action Button, which you can use to trigger an activity of your choosing. It’s made of titanium, and the case rises up to protect the edges of the display, which is also covered with scratch-resistant sapphire crystal.

New in the Ultra 2 is the ability for the screen to hit a crazy bright 3,000 nits, which is a little overkill and really only meant for extreme situations. This smartwatch is faster, with the same new S9 chipset as the Series 9, supports Double Tap, and Siri processes basic interactions much more quickly. You can see topographic maps on the screen, but there’s still no way to view offline maps without an iPhone.

Comes in a 49-mm size.

The Calculator Watch

Casio CA53W-1CR Calculator Watch

It’s a calculator … on a watch. How much smarter can you get? Seriously, the buttons might be tiny, but you can calculate how much your tip will be when grabbing the bill at the restaurant, and everyone will marvel at your brilliance. This cheapo watch from Casio is a classic—it’s comfy and lightweight—and you can cycle through a few modes, including a stopwatch, an alarm, and a second time zone. There’s a five-year battery life, and the fully automatic calendar goes through the year 2099 (that’s 15 battery changes).

Comes in a 43-mm size.

Great Battery Life

OnePlus Watch 2

The OnePlus Watch 2 is great for anyone with an Android phone looking for a Wear OS smartwatch that prioritizes battery life. It can last roughly three days on a single charge, a little more if you enable some power-saving settings. Technically, this watch is powered by two chipsets and two operating systems to enable this feat of battery longevity, but the user experience is very similar to that of the Galaxy Watch6 or Pixel Watch 2, just with OnePlus taking the helm on the health and fitness features. It’s worth noting that this is a large watch, so consider it carefully if you have small wrists.

Health capabilities are lacking—there’s no fall detection or electrocardiogram—but there’s sleep tracking, and it’s generally pretty accurate. Some features, like heart-rate tracking, distance traveled, and steps, have mixed accuracy in our testing, which means you shouldn’t buy this smartwatch if you’re primarily using it for those functions. Otherwise, I was able to control my smart home devices via Google Home, control my music playback, respond to Slack messages, and delete those pesky emails—all without having to take my phone out of my pocket.

Comes in a 46-mm size.

PHOTOGRAPH: WITHINGS

An Analog-Looking Smartwatch

Withings ScanWatch 2

Withings’ ScanWatch 2 can pass for an analog watch. Its health-tracking feature set is comprehensive—you get heart rate monitoring, an electrocardiogram, blood oxygen measurements, and sleep tracking. Battery life is stellar too, as it can live up to 30 days with light use. (Heavier usage will see roughly 22 days before needing a charge.)

The main problem is the tiny display on this watch, which is too small to read some notifications. The GPS is also connected, meaning it requires your phone to be tethered and nearby. There’s an optional Health+ subscription, but we’d advise against it, as it doesn’t offer much utility. The ScanWatch 2, like the Garmin Vivomove Trend, doesn’t have the rich features and apps you’ll find on the likes of an Apple Watch, but if you just want to monitor your health data—and you don’t want your watch to look too techy—this will do the job.

PHOTOGRAPH: CASIO

Best Barely Smart Watch

Casio ProTrek PRW-61

I had this Casio on my wrist for more than a month and used one of its handful of functions every single day, something I can’t say for many smartwatches. I used the stopwatch to track my rest intervals between sets at the gym. I set my world time to New Delhi, India, the time zone my sister is in. I’ve used the compass to navigate when I emerge from the subway in New York City and can’t get my bearings, and I’ve learned to read the barometer—mostly just to see how cool it is to predict the weather without having to ask a voice assistant.

I love how this watch looks. It’s rugged and outdoorsy, but still relatively classy. Even better, it’s incredibly comfortable to wear. Seriously, I never took it off in the month I tested it. It’s been fine in the shower and through workouts. I love that it’s made of biomass plastics from regenerative resources, such as castor seeds and corn.

Don’t let that worry you about durability; I’ve been through a move, dinging it on various walls, got paint on it, and yet it looks pristine. The dial is easy to read—the indices glow or you can press a button right below the case to light ’em all up for nighttime visibility. And you never need to recharge it. Casio’s Tough Solar tech means it recharges itself via sunlight.

Comes in a 47.4-mm size.

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PHOTOGRAPH: CASIO

Honorable Mentions

Other Watches We Sorta Like

The number of smartwatches on the market is staggering. I’ve tested models from Tag Heuer, Citizen, Montblanc, and many other fashion brands, but most of them are simply too expensive for what you get. Here are a few options I like.

Apple Watch Series 8 for $329: If you can find the 2022 Apple Watch Series 8 for a good deal less than the Series 9 (under $300), you should snag it. It’s nearly identical to the latest model, especially the health features. Save your cash!

Samsung Galaxy Watch5 for $229 and Watch5 Pro for $380: The 2022 Galaxy Watch5 and Watch5 Pro are still great, just make sure you pay less than the price of the new Galaxy Watch6 models. They match the Apple Watch’s accuracy in several health and fitness metrics, from SpO₂, sleep, and heart-rate tracking to electrocardiogram measurements (though the latter is exclusive to Samsung phones).

The Watch5 Pro is larger and has a battery that lasts roughly two full days, whereas the Watch5 lasts around a day and a morning. The Pro also adds GPX, meaning you can download hiking routes to the watch. They have sapphire crystals protecting the screen, but the Watch5 Pro’s crystal is even more durable, and it has a stronger titanium case versus the standard Watch5’s aluminum.

Casio G-Shock Move DW-H5600 for $299: Want a G-Shock with a heart rate monitor? The DW-H5600‘s measurements lined up well with the Apple Watch, but if you’re serious about tracking your health, I think you’re better off buying something from our Best Fitness Trackers guide. The buttons are a bit tough to press, and there aren’t a ton of workouts you can track (running, walking, gym workouts).

You can sift through a good amount of data in the app, though I was left wanting more, and battery life lasted me roughly three days with continuous monitoring. It can recharge via solar, but you will need to use the bulky charging clip every few days. I still enjoyed wearing it, even if I didn’t find it as useful as our above picks. You can use it to track different time zones, your movements via the GPS during a workout, and even sleep.

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PHOTOGRAPH: MONTBLANC

Avoid These Smartwatches

Not every smartwatch is a winner. Here are a few ones we’ve tried that aren’t worth the dough.

Fossil Gen 6 Wellness for $199: This Fossil watch is just too laggy for how much it costs. It’s not optimized well, so it’s frustrating to use; its fitness app is a little too bare-bones. I also ran into an annoying bug where some features kept turning on and off. The battery life is also lackluster. The company is also officially exiting the smartwatch business, so it’s best to stay away.

Montblanc Summit 3 for $1,270: This is a beautiful (and large) smartwatch, and it runs Wear OS 3, but that doesn’t mean it’s worth the high price. There’s no speaker, no Google Assistant, and the fitness features feel half-baked. It just doesn’t offer all that much other than a pretty face.

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PHOTOGRAPH: NATALYA TROFIMCHUK/GETTY IMAGES

Swap Your Straps

Fresh Band

You don’t need to stick with the strap you get in the box! Nearly every smartwatch these days has straps that can easily be swapped out. Apple Watches and Google’s Pixel Watch have a proprietary strap system, but analog watch straps will work for others, making your options nearly endless. All you need to do is figure out the strap size of your smartwatch. You can usually find this on the back of the strap itself (you’ll see “20 mm” or just “22”), or you can check the manual or the website you purchased the watch from. It’s an easy way to further match your timepiece to your look.

NENA FARRELL

Buyers Beware

Know What You Buy

Search Amazon for “smartwatches” and you’ll be greeted with a long list of devices from brands you’ve probably never heard of. One brand that frequently popped up is Yamay, but a quick visit to the company’s Twitter page showed that it offered “full refunds” for people who post reviews. Look at the 1-star reviews and you’ll see complaints of the watch malfunctioning after a few weeks of use. This is a warning not to buy the first thing you see, even if it’s cheap and has plenty of positive reviews on Amazon. Research the company and look for other reputable websites that have reviewed the products before you make your decision.

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Games

Best Open-World Games in 2024

By admin April 20, 2024

Best Open-World Games in 2024, Here’s a list of some of the best Open-World games in 2024 that you can try and explore the entire gaming world.

Our selection of the top rated Open-World games for personal computers is for those individuals who, when they gaze at a forest, ponder about what is in the midst of the forest. In the interest of those gamers who are really interested in climbing that peak.

It is true that the scale of games in this day and age means that they all have an open world in some way, but with this article, we are going to focus on games that encourage you to go on adventures and where the focus is on discovering new things and discovering what you find.

It is clear that the developers of these games intended you to take a break and glance around every once in a while in order to discover new things. These are the games in which the trip itself is an integral component of the goal.

These cool Open-World games may not be suitable for everyone, but if you are the kind of person who enjoys getting lost in a game for an extended period of time, then you will find that these games will help you achieve that goal.

Top 7 Best Open-World Games

It is true that open-world games continue to be quite popular. If you do them properly, they have the potential to be really remarkable excursions into the most unforgettable places. On this list, you will discover links to all of the top open worlds, which will make it easier for you to follow the entries that are down below.

1. Red Dead Redemption 2

Rockstar’s game will have you searching for dinosaur bones, attempting to solve a murder mystery, or even summoning the famed Red Dead Redemption 2 vampire. Each of the many regions is so breathtaking that it really causes your eyes to suffer a little bit as you try to take in every detail. What are you waiting for, partner?

Red Dead Redemption 2 is certainly one of the good Open-World games to play right now because of the sheer diversity of options available to you as well as the activities that you can easily participate in.

It makes no difference whether you want to go hunting. Red Dead Redemption 2 is simply crammed full of things to keep you occupied as soon as you set foot in its universe. It doesn’t matter whether you want to try to assist Dutch reach his elusive aims, and it surely doesn’t matter if you’d rather just attempt to buy the fanciest clothing in all of America; the game delivers on all fronts.

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2. GTA 5

GTA 5 is a network of illegal exploits and mind-boggling possibilities, with every single inch of the environment loaded with non-player characters (NPCs) to influence, quests to chase down, or simply gigantic heights of antics to indulge in. Not only will it consume you completely, but it will also spit you out and leave you wanting more.

To tell you the truth, GTA 5 was always going to be one of the top three best Open-World video games. I am aware of that. I am aware of that. Because, for the love of God, it is the most successful entertainment product in the history of the world! While driving around the twisting streets and generating as much commotion as possible, I am wondering whether it is necessary for me to continue describing all of the things that you are capable of doing.

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3. Elden Ring

Additionally, the open world layout has made From’s typical approach to game creation more approachable. It is not possible to state that it is more accessible since there are still bosses that are difficult to defeat and high-level locations that will return whatever is left of your ass to you in a matter of seconds. The flexibility to roam, on the other hand, eliminates the monotony that exists in games that are more linear, such as the Dark Souls series.

As an open environment, Elden Ring is characterized by an aura of mystery that surrounds practically everything in it. This is perhaps one of the player’s biggest advantages. All too frequently, recurring mechanisms like towers to climb and enemy bases to clear imply that you already know what’s going on. Good open world games live on their ability to make you wonder, “What’s over there?”

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4. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

Here’s the next one of the best Open-World games for you. As a continuation of the advances achieved with the Assassin’s Creed series, Valhalla transports you to the Dark Ages and assigns you the role of Viking Eivor, who must trek throughout England in search of a new home for your clan. Find the hidden wealth and mysteries that are hiding in ancient England by constructing your colony, making new friends, forming new alliances, engaging in political maneuvering, and engaging in a great deal of exploration.

All of the most recent Assassin’s Creed games have been fantastic open-world games, but Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is definitely one that you should check out. This is especially true considering that it is already considered to be one of the finest games for the Xbox Series X and the top games for the PC and PlayStation 5 .

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5. Marvel’s Spider-Man

In addition, it is important to mention that the more current Spider-Man: Miles Morales game takes place in the same open environment as the first game and also continues the tale. It is shorter and more condensed, but it is just as captivating, so it is also something that you should look into.

The video game Marvel’s Spider-Man was one of the few titles that successfully revitalized the genre of super hero games. Insomniac’s game, which came out first for the PlayStation 4 and subsequently received a patch for the PlayStation 5, takes us on a journey through a stunning reproduction of New York City. It is packed with huge side missions and other activities to provide a sense of balance to the game’s equally heartfelt narrative.

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6. Far Cry 6

The game offers political things and so much more. It is also a massive open world that offers a wide variety of activities for you to carry out. Yara is a place where there are a lot of things to do, like solving mysteries, completing races, finding partners, and assisting locals.

You are tasked with becoming a guerrilla fighter named Dani and overthrowing the dictatorship that is governed by the Castillo family, namely a man named Anton, who is portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito. Far Cry 6 takes place in the fictitious location of Yara, which is located somewhere in South America.

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7. Minecraft

However, the only thing that may completely restrict your creativity in Minecraft is your own imagination. Achievable, er…achievements provide a loose framework in the event that you desire a little more structure in your games. When you start to show signs of being tired with the mundane world, you may begin to explore the Nether and establish your next fortress there. On the other hand, technically speaking, you have access to two different open-world landscapes. Talk about getting your money’s worth!

Even though Minecraft is officially a sandbox game, it is nevertheless considered to be an open-world game. Okay, okay, okay. This very vast exploration extravaganza has a variety of activities, like punching trees, mining deep into the mountains, and attempting to escape falling into lava. People have built huge towns, functional computers, towering monuments, and a great deal more on Minecraft’s blocky environment.

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Summing Up: Top-Rated Open-World Games

So, that was all there is to know about the best Open-World games that are both fun to play and open to explore. If you want to choose which of the aforementioned games is best for you, you may go over all of their descriptions. If, on the other hand, you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions for us to enhance this post, you are more than welcome to leave a comment below. You may count on us to get in contact with you without any hesitation.

Best Free PC Games Downloading Sites

Here is the entire list of the best free PC games download sites in 2024 that you can rely on and download the latest and most beloved games on your wishlist without spending a penny.

Gaming is one of the best ways to blow off some steam when you are tired from your office job, studies, or any other hectic activity. Additionally, for some top-notch gamers, games are also a source to generate some funds. Some gamers like to stream their gameplay either live or upload to different platforms after recording. While there are others who just like to explore new games and execute different levels just for the thrill of it.

For all of these gamers, one of the major problems that appear is that they can’t find a reliable and best website to download PC games. Although different games are available on platforms like Steam, Battle.net, Uplay, Origin (now EA app), etc., generally, gamers have to pay some money to get the games. However, all gamers may not be able to fork in a few bucks to enjoy any game.

For such gamers, we have brought together this list of the best sites to download PC games. All these websites are tried and tested by us before listing in the article. You can safely download any game you want from the website without having to fear broken links, hidden viruses, trojans, malware, or any other threat. Additionally, these websites also offer you multiple options to download games at once, in parts, from multiple handles, etc. So, let’s have a look at the best website to download PC games for free list, right away.

So, let’s take the first step toward uninterrupted gaming by downloading your favorite games using the PC games download sites provided below. Try to find the games you want on the website and then download from any alternative as required.

1. Ocean Of Games

The first name on this list as the best site to download PC games for free is Ocean Of Games. This website has been in the run for years and offers all the popular PC games to you. You can surf the required games according to different categories like Action, RPG, Adventure, etc. or you can search for specific ones as required. The downloading and installation process of the games offered by the Ocean of Games is a little complicated but once you get a hang of it, you can download any game with ease. Hence, one of the best sites to download PC games.

2. Steam

Steam is one of the most popular and widely opted gaming client platforms. You can also use Steam as one of the best PC games download sites. Here, you will find a variety of games straight from the house of the developers. Additionally, the platform also allows any developer to upload their games for free. However, for some of the high-end games and editions, you may need to pay some bucks. You can download the game as required and play it right away using this one of the smartest and best free game downloading sites.

3. ThePcGames.Net

Another reliable addition to this free PC game download sites list is ThePCGames.Net. Just like OceanOfGames, you can use the website to download as many games as you want for free. However, what’s the best part about the website is that it provides an option to download games in parts, unlike most other websites to download games for free. Gamers love to use the website but the only bad thing is that it contains a lot of ads and annoying pop-ups.

4. OvaGames

The next entry in this list of the best PC games download sites is OvaGames. This is one of the best websites as OvaGames allows you to download any game you want, at once. Additionally, you can also look for and try different games according to categories. The search feature of the website is also very strong, accurate, and reliable. When you try to download any game, the website offers different options and platforms to you. One thing that may bother you is that this best site to download PC games for free contains a lot of ads.

5. GameJolt

GameJolt is a reliable and trustworthy website that shines bright in this best PC games download sites list. Just like Steam, GameJolt is a standalone gaming client for all. You can first download the app for GameJolt and then download the required games to play using the platform. You should try this best site to download PC games for free if you are looking for games like OddVenture, House Party, and various others for free.

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Wordpress

Best Free Magazine WordPress Themes 2024

By admin April 20, 2024

Best Free Magazine WordPress Themes 2024, A magazine website has a distinguished style, layout, and a lot of content, so it needs a bespoke theme to bring out the best results.

But when you’ve just started your way around with an online magazine site in WordPress, you might want to save money as much as possible.

No problem, you can get top magazine WordPress themes for free.

Our collection of Best Free Magazine WordPress Themes is the only resource you need to find the perfect theme for your online magazine site.

Read below to find out the themes we’ve listed and pick the perfect choice for you.

Newsmatic

Newsmatic Theme has developed its custom integrated controls in the Live Customizer, which allows any users without technical knowledge to intuitively set up and manage their website fully as per their requirements.

It uses AJAX-loading method, so you can fully utilize the live customizer by editing all the settings and see live changes before finally publishing it.

Key features of Newsmatic Theme:

• Built with ReactJS, so it’s fast and provides high performance.

• 5 free custom-built blocks – Grid, Carousel, List, Filter, and Ad Block.

• 8 free custom-built widgets – Author info, Carousel Posts, Category Collection, Popular Posts Slider, Post List, Post Grid, Posts Grid 2 Column, and Widget Title.

• Ticker news and custom ‘Live Now’ button on the header.

• Edit image size, image height, and border radius directly from the customizer.

• RTL and translation ready.

Theme Details

Free Download

Newsis (New release)

Newsis Theme is a recently released theme in WordPress, that has a primary slider along with 2 trailing posts columns in the main banner section. The 2 trailing posts columns in the main banner can be displayed on stack or side-by-side.

It comes with 4+ free pre-built starter websites that you can install in one click with Blaze Demo Importer.

Newsis Free Theme allows custom Ads banner that can be displayed on specific devices like desktop, tablet, or mobile.

In header, you can enable Off canvas menu where you can add multiple widgets. It has also provided Newsletter/subscribe option, live search, and custom button for better engagement and user retention.

There are 11 free custom news widgets that can you add on right sidebar, left sidebar and off canvas menu.

Key features of Newsis Theme:

• Primary slider along with 2 trailing posts columns in the main banner section.

• 4+ free starter demos, and 11+ custom news widgets.

• 6 news blocks.

• Multilingual Compatible.

• One-click demo import.

• Mobile Responsive.

• Off Canvas Menu.

• Related News in single post page.

Theme Details

Free Download

Best Free Magazine WordPress Themes 2024

MH Magazine Lite

When you configure MH Magazine Lite Theme, the first thing you need to do is create and set your static front page, assign the widgetized Homepage template to your static front page, and then place the widgets into the Home widget areas on your front page.

At the beginning of 2023, MH Themes made an announcement that they were working on new version on MH Magazine Theme. There has not been a new update since then.

Key features of MH Magazine Lite Theme:

• Widgetized theme

• 1080px content width

• RTL support for arabic languages

• 4 free custom widgets – MH Slider, MH Posts Large, MH Custom Posts, and MH Tabbed widgets.

• 13 total widget areas

Theme Details

Free Download

Hueman

In Hueman Theme, you can set up to 2 sidebars in either left or right, both side, or no sidebar. There is a choice of options between boxed layout or full width layout.

You can choose up to 4 widget columns or no column at all. Put as many widgets as you want on the page.

Leaderboard ad can be enabled in header and footer area.

Key features of Hueman Theme:

• Live customization

• 0-4 widget columns

• Unlimited widget areas

• Choose between boxed layout or full width layout

• Header and footer leaderboard ad

Theme Details

Free Download

Cream Magazine

Cream Magazine is an excellent free WordPress theme for news and magazine websites.

It is a very easy-to-use and simple theme to set up your website. It has an Authors widget that allows you to display the authors of your blog in your sidebar. Moreover, it has the option of lazy load for images, responsive, and WooCommerce compatible (making it easy and affordable to sell any product and service on your website).

Key features of Cream Magazine Theme:

• News ticker

• 6 free front-page news widgets

• Related posts section

• Sidebar and footer options

• 2 header layout variations

Theme Details

Free Download

Colormag

ColorMag is a free WordPress theme for online magazines and news websites. You can create a sleek and clean website with ColorMag.

If you run into any issues with the free theme, you can get free support through their WordPress support forum.

Key features of ColorMag Theme:

• WooCommerce compatible.

• 10+ free pre-built demos.

• Limited news ticker.

• Default blog layout.

• Basic color options.

Theme Details

Free Download

HitMag

HitMag Theme has 6 widget areas – Magazine Homepage, Main Sidebar, Header Advertisement Area, Footer Left Sidebar, Footer Mid Sidebar, and Footer Right Sidebar. Additionally, it also has 3 footer widget areas.

It is Customizer-based and is compatible with Gutenberg block editor.

Key features of HitMag Theme:

• Customizer based and Gutenberg ready.

• 2 column or 3 columns blog layout.

• WooCommerce compatible and translation ready.

• 6 widget areas.

• Support forum on documentation page.

• 4 blog listing layouts.

• 3 footer widget areas.

Theme Details

Free Download

NewsCard

NewsCard theme is available with a child theme. It has a decent 3 layout options for banner and has 3 custom widgets.

It uses Bootstrap CSS framework. While you can create and customize themes easily with the framework, it makes the site bloated because the framework adds extra code and files to your website, that might not be particularly needed for your magazine site.

Key features of Newscard Theme:

• Left sidebar, right sidebar, or not sidebar.

• 3 custom widgets – Card/Block Posts, Horizontal/Vertical Posts, and Recent Posts.

• 3 Banner variations.

• 4 fixed footer widget columns with no option to create 2 or 3 footer columns.

• Bootstrap CSS Framework

Theme Details

Free Download

Poseidon

Poseidon is a splendid free WordPress theme, you can use this theme to build an elegant online magazine.

The white layout makes your content spacious and it has clean typography. Likewise, it’s GDPR compliant; it protects the consumers’ data and their privacy. This theme is Search Engine Optimized, speed optimized, and has a responsive design.

Key features of Poseidon Theme:

• Compliant with GDPR

• Responsive layout

• Fast loading time

• Translation ready

• 4 magazine widgets – Grid, Columns, Vertical box, and Horizontal box

Theme Details

Free Download

CoverNews

CoverNews is a neat WordPress theme that is perfect for magazine websites. This theme is fully responsive and can adapt to any screen size.

CoverNews includes useful features such as one-click demo import that make it easy to set up, Gutenberg compatible for a more visible editing environment, and it is fully responsive. It provides outstanding support if you need any help.

Key features of CoverNews Theme:

• Preloader option

• Logo and title customization

• Image banner advertisements

• 7+ free custom widgets

• Footer widgets section

Theme Details

Free Download

Fairy

Fair Theme has multiple single page layouts. It has provided custom widgets for author, featured posts and social icons along with Newsletter and Instagram subscription letterboard.

There is a Breadcrumb show option in this theme with its Theme Default Breadcrumb, Yoast SEO Breadcrumb, Rank Math Breadcrumb, or NavXT Breadcrumb options.

You can show Full Image, Left Image, Right Image or no Image on articles page.

Key features of Fairy Theme:

• 5+ free pre-built magazine websites demo

• Easily enable/disable date, posted on, tags, category, author meta tags.

• Enable 3 column related posts below the article in the single article page.

• Sidebar can be made sticky.

• Translation ready.

Theme Details

Free Download

News Portal

News Portal is a free WordPress theme that works best for online publications, magazines, and newspapers.

This theme offers capable qualities for your needs, the widgets that enable you to add a specific feature to your website, responsive design, and retina-ready, allowing higher-resolution graphics and pictures. Similarly, it delivers great support for your requirements.

Key features of News Portal Theme:

• Responsive design

• 5+ widgets with multiple layouts

• Multiple color scheme

• Retina ready

• Compatibility with popular plugins like Contact Form 7, SEO plugins, etc.

Theme Details

Free Download

Newspaperex

Newspaperex theme is a fast and modern-looking child theme of Newsup Theme which you can find on WordPress.

It is entirely widgetized, hence it’s simple to add widgets to a specific area. Likewise, it is SEO-friendly, RTL-ready, and has various customizer settings.

Key features of Newspaperex Theme:

• One-click demo import of pre-built Elementor starter sites.

• Multi content layout

• Banner featured posts controls

• Translation ready

• WooCommerce compatibility

Theme Details

Free Download

Digital Newspaper

Digital Newspaper Theme has captivated WordPress website owners with its unprecedented features. The main banner has a professional 3 columns design that’s best suitable for news sites.

It comes with 7 front sections with 7 different news block layouts and 9 custom Digital Newspaper widgets. You will get to choose separate colors and designs for all main elements of the page at both the initial and hover states.

Key features of Digital Newspaper Theme:

• 5+ starter demos, 5+ templates, and 9+ custom news widgets.

• 7 news block widgets.

• Multilingual Compatible.

• One-click demo import.

• GDPR Compliant.

• Schema ready.

• Free Support.

Theme Details

Free Download

ChromeNews

ChromeNews is an excellent free WordPress Magazine Theme that comes with several capabilities to make a fantastic site.

It supports translation and Gutenberg blocks which create content layouts. This theme is fully responsive to auto-adapt to any size of screen. Lastly, they do provide support if you encounter any difficulties.

Key features of ChromeNews Theme:

• Basic typography style

• Breaking news section

• Multiple frontpage banner layouts

• 9+ free custom widgets

• RTL compatibility

• 3 category color options

Theme Details

Free Download

Magbook

Magbook Theme has light and neat display design.

This free theme has 4 starter websites that can be imported to your site within few clicks using Theme Freesia Demo Import plugin.

It can be used with Breadcrumb NavXT to show breadcrumbs trails in your website while Newsletter plugin is recommended for newsletter subscription.

Key features of Magbook Theme:

• Lifetime free updates

• One Click Demo Import

• 5 Front page elements

• 3 custom widgets – TF: Category Box Two Layout Widget, TF: Category Box Widget, and Popular Posts, Tags and Comments Widget

Theme Details

Free Download

BlogArise

BlogArise is a widgetized theme, so you can manage the content by adding widgets.

It is perfect for magazine sites that are related to anime, comics, and alike.

Key features of BlogArise Theme:

• Widgetized theme.

• Translation ready with WPML multilingual plugin.

• RTL ready.

Theme Details

Free Download

SuperMag

SuperMag is a great WordPress theme mainly designed for news, magazine, and blog.

With SuperMag, you can customize the header, footer, and sidebar with ease. Similarly, it has creative features like allowing to enable or disable ad banner in the header, and multiple ad positions throughout the page. Breadcrumb options allow users to navigate back to a previous page or to find new useful content by indicating the hierarchy of your website’s pages. Lastly, you will receive forum support.

Key features of SuperMag Theme:

• Translation ready

• Breaking news option

• Social media integration

• Multiple ads position

• 2+ widgets

Theme Details

Free Download

MagazineNP

MagazineNP Theme is a widgetized theme that comes with 9 custom widgets. It has 2 free starter sites with one click demo import option.

Key features of MagazineNP Theme:

• RTL support

• Gutenberg ready

• Translation ready

Theme Details

Free Download

Refined Magazine

In Refined Magazine Theme, you can show image, video, audio, and gallery post formats can be added to widget areas.

You can enable right sidebar, left sidebar, both sidebars, or show no sidebar.

You can get free support via email tickets.

Key features of Refined Magazine:

• 5+ free demos

• 9 custom widgets

• RTL compatible

• Free support.

Theme Details

Free Download

Trendy News

Trendy News is a free WordPress theme that is rich in features that suits well for your professional magazine website.

It has beautiful design, flexible elements, changeable colors, and animations. It is both Search Engine and Speed optimized to help reach more readers and retain them to your online magazine. You’ll have a positive experience with trendy news.

Key features of Trendy News Theme:

• One-click demo import.

• 3+ pre-built demos, Three widget title alignments, and 2+ templates

• Breadcrumb options: Default, Yoast and NavXT

• Lazy load image option

• Optimized for speed

• Free Support

Theme Details

Free Download

Feather Magazine

Feather Magazine is a simplistic magazine theme. It has a simple and clean design with only basic features.

It does not resort to visually extravagant design nor does it have multiple pre-built demos. If you want to change the design of your online magazine, you need to use any of its 3 child themes – News Portaly, Darkly Magazine, or Newsly Magazine.

Key features of Feather Magazine Theme:

• 3 child themes if you want to change the design of your online magazine.

• Translation ready.

• No multiple pre-built demos so, essentially one-click demo import is not required.

Theme Details

Free Download

WP Magazine

In WP Magazine Theme, you can showcase your post/page in full-width, content-width, left sidebar, right sidebar, or default view.

You can assign different colors for different categories to be displayed on the site.

There is a design customization option for every section and elements.

Key features of WP Magazine:

• 6+ free pre-built demos that can be imported with one click import plugin.

• Default breadcrumb feature.

• Reorder sections by dragging and dropping at appropriate positions.

• Multiple font family choices.

Theme Details

Free Download

Default Mag

Default Mag tries to fit content in rows as much as it can by making compact yet tidy column sections with small legible font sizes.

To import pre-built demos, you need Demo Import Kit and Themeinwp Import Companion plugins. However, Default Mag does not have any multiple choice for pre-built demos, so you might not need to import demo design except for sample content.

You will not have options in pre-built websites.

Key features of Default Mag Theme:

• 5+ free different widgets – Contributors Widget, About Widget, Author Widget, Featured Posts Widget, and Featured Categories Widget.

• Elementor Page Builder compatible.

• Translation ready.

Theme Details

Free Download

Madd Magazine

Madd Magazine Theme is designed primarily in Black and White colors. It comes with a built-in slider along with right and left sidebars.

To utilize the theme to its best, Easy Google Fonts, Clean and Simple Contact Form, MetaSlider, and Recent Posts Widget with Thumbnails plugins have to be installed.

Key features of Madd Magazine

• 3-4 footer columns.

• Built-in slider

• Left and right sidebars to add widgets.

Theme Details

Free Download

Elegant News Magazine

Elegant News Magazine is a child theme of Superb Pixels Theme, which means all the modifications to show separate design as magazine sites have been made in Elegant News Theme while Superb Pixels Theme has all the WordPress template files and assets required for the theme to work.

When you install and activate Elegant News Magazine Theme, Superb Pixels Theme is automatically installed with it because Elegant News Magazine Theme inherits its functionality from Superb Pixels Theme.

Enable image optimization feature is provided in in the Customizer. Shortpixel is used to automatically optimize and deliver the images in webp format.

Key features of Elegant News Magazine

• Works with popular page builders such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi, SiteOrigin, etc.

• 2 header layouts, 2 navigation area layouts and 5 blog layouts.

• Enable image optimization feature with Shortpixel image optimization service in customizer.

• Default placeholder featured image for the posts that do not have their featured images.

• 3 featured image layouts – full size of the image, recommended size image container that shows cropped featured image, and full size shown in the recommended size featured image container with background color shown on vacant space in the container.

Theme Details

Free Download

Summing up

Even though you can get best premium WordPress themes at an affordable price, it is not unreasonable to start with these free magazine WordPress themes.

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Gaming

All the PC games scheduled for launch 2024

By admin April 19, 2024

All the PC games scheduled for launch 2024, 2024 is here, so take a look ahead at what’s confirmed for the PC release schedule. We’re well on our way through the first chunk of new games in 2024, and hey, is it just me, or are there already too many games to keep up with?

After an inarguably huge year for games, it’s possible that the 2024 schedule will wind up feeling a little quieter—but the first couple months have already been stacked with celebrated releases. January saw the all-encompassing arrival of Palworld, while February brought a pile of surprise hits like Helldivers 2, Balatro, and Pacific Drive

We’re in store for some anticipated sequels like Dragon’s Dogma 2, Homeworld 3, and World of Goo 2. There are still-to-come indies definitely worth watching as well, such as little builder Tiny Glade, witchy adventure Reka, and magical-girl inspired life sim Field of Mistria. And Hollow Knight: Silksong has to make it out in 2024. Right?

Keep up with the launch calendar for the year here as new release dates land, inevitable delays crop up, and new announcements hit the books.

NEW GAMES IN JANUARY 2024

January

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

• January 17 — Dominions 6 – Rise of the Pantokrator – God war 4X (Steam)

• January 18 — New Cycle (Early Access) – Post-solar flare city builder (Steam)

• January 18 — Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown – PoP platformer spinoff (Epic)

• January 19 — Palworld (Early Access) – Open-world gun Pokemon (Steam)

• January 23 — Lil’ Guardsman – If Papers, Please was Adventure Time (Steam)

• January 24 — Anomaly Agent – 2D timewarp cyberpunk brawler (Steam)

• January 24 — Enshrouded (Early Access) – Valheim plus polygons (Steam)

• January 25 — Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth – Yakuza new and old (Steam)

• January 25 — Unforetold: Witchstone (Early Access) – Freeform CRPG (Steam)

• January 25 — Phantom Abyss – Asynchronous multiplayer tomb raids (Steam)

• January 26 — Tekken 8 – next installment of the fighting series (Steam)

All the PC games scheduled for launch 2024

NEW GAMES IN FEBRUARY 2024

February

(Image credit: Inflexion Games)

• February 1 — Granblue Fantasy: Relink – Spinoff ARPG (Steam)

• February 2 — Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League – Cape killing (Steam)

• February 2 — Persona 3 Reload – a P3 remake (Steam)

• February 8 — Helldivers 2 – Third-person starship troopin’ (Steam)

• February 12 — SpellRogue (Early Access) – Wizard deck-building (Steam)

• February 13 — Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden – 1600s RPG (Steam)

• February 13 — Islands of Insight – Open world online puzzles (Steam)

• February 13 — Lysfanga – Time clone action tactics (Steam)

• February 13 — Ultros – Psychedelic Metroidvania (Steam)

• February 14 — Solium Infernum – Grand strategy in Hell (Steam)

• February 16 — Skull and Bones – Ubisoft’s pirate game (Epic Store)

• February 19 — Nemire – Undead army tactics RPG (Steam)

• February 20 — Balatro – Poker hand deckbuilding roguelike (Steam)

• February 20 — Nightingale (early access) – Fae realm crafting survival (Steam)

• February 21 — Last Epoch – ARPG dense with skill trees (Steam)

• February 21 — Penny’s Big Breakaway – 3D yoyo platformer (Steam)

• February 21 — Terminator: Dark Fate – Defiance – RTS against Skynet (Steam)

• February 22 — Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator – Green-thumbing (Steam)

• February 22 — Pacific Drive – Road trip survival sim (Steam)

• February 23 — Promenade – Cute cartoon platformer (Steam)

• February 27 — Wrath: Aeon of Ruin – Quake-like retro shooter (Steam)

• February 28 — Brothers A Tale of Two Sons Remake – Lads redux (Steam)

• February 28 — Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster – Katarn++ (Steam)

• February 29 — Ad Infernum – Demonic gas station immersive horror (Steam)

NEW GAMES IN MARCH 2024

March

(Image credit: Capcom)

• March 4 — The Thaumaturge – Occult CRPG in 1905 Warsaw (Steam)

• March 5 — Expeditions: A MudRunner Game – Dirty trucks! (Steam)

• March 5 — Quilts and Cats of Calico – Sewing, puzzles, felines (Steam)

• March 6 — Reveil – First-person puzzle thriller (Steam)

• March 7 — Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley – Cozy Moomin game (Steam)

• March 7 — Zoria: Age of Shattering – Fantasy tactics RPG (Steam)

• March 8 — Summerhouse – Casual building designer (Steam)

• March 12 — Tribes 3: Rivals (Early Access) – Tribes returns (Steam)

• March 19 — Lightyear Frontier (Early Access) – Chill mech farming (Steam)

• March 20 — Alone in the Dark – 90s horror classic reboot (Steam)

• March 21 — BattleJuice Alchemist (Early Access) – Strongest potions (Steam)

• March 21 — Dragon’s Dogma 2 – Capcom’s open world fantasy (Steam)

• March 21 — Horizon Forbidden West – Another Aloy adventure (Steam)

• March 22 — TerraTech Worlds (Early Access) – Rover-centric survival (Steam)

• March 25 — Acolyte of the Altar – Monster-hunting deckbuilder (Steam)

• March 25 — Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the mist (Early Access – Steam)

• March 26 — Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles – Falconeer city building (Steam)

• March 26 — Outpost: Infinity Siege – FPS RTS with mechs (Steam)

• March 26 — South Park: Snow Day – The next South Park RPG (Steam)

• March 27 — Distant Bloom – Cozy alien planet restoration (Steam)

• March 28 — Omega Crafter (Early Access) – Programmable Palworld (Steam)

• March 28 — Pepper Grinder – 2D drill-based platformer (Steam)

• March 29 — Felvidek – Monochrome medieval RPG (Steam)

NEW GAMES IN APRIL 2024

April

• April 3 — Planetiles – Planetary puzzler (Steam)

• April 5 — Sons of Valhalla – Viking game that reminds of Kingdom (Steam)

• April 9 — Botany Manor – Plant-tending walking simulator (Steam)

• April 9 — Children of the Sun – Bullet-bending sniper puzzles (Steam)

• April 10 — Broken Roads – Post-apoc Australia RPG (Steam)

• April 10 — Sky: Children of the Light (Early Access) – Peaceful MMO (Steam)

• April 16 — Harold Halibut – Claymation space story (Steam)

• April 17 — Morels: The Hunt 2 – Fungus foraging sim (Steam)

• April 18 — No Rest for the Wicked (Early Access) – Ori devs’ ARPG (Steam)

• April 23 — Phantom Fury – 3D Realms shooter (Steam)

• April 23 — Rumble Club – Fall Guys with punching (Steam)

• April 23 — Tales of Kenzera: Zau – Bantu-inspired metroidvania (Steam)

• April 24 — Oddsparks (Early Access) – Pikmin meets Factorio (Steam)

• April 25 — Another Crab’s Treasure – Crab soulslike (Steam)

• April 25 — Sand Land – Vehicle ARPG based on Toriyama manga (Steam)

• April 26 — Manor Lords – Highly wishlisted medieval city builder (Steam)

• April 29 — Echoes of the Plum Grove – A Georgian-era life sim (Steam)

• April ?? — Ascent of Ashes (Early Access) – Dystopic colony sim (Steam)

• April ?? — Gatekeeper – Top-down Risk-of-Rain-like (Steam)

NEW GAMES IN MAY 2024

May

• May 2 — Abiotic Factor – Survival crafting a la Half-Life (Steam)

• May 2 — Foundry – Paradox-published take on Satisfactory (Steam)

• May 7 — Intergalactic Pawn Shop – Adventure sci-fi pawn shop sim (Steam)

• May 8 — Indika – Psychological adventure as Russian nun (Steam)

• May 9 — Animal Well – Surreal neon cave Metroidvania (Steam)

• May 9 — Crow Country – 90s nostalgia survival horror (Steam)

• May 13 — Homeworld 3 – Sci-fi space RTS classic revival (Steam)

• May 16 — Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut – Sony’s samurai port (Steam)

• May 16 — Lorelei and the Laser Eyes – Surreal Annapurna puzzle game (Steam)

• May 16 — Robobeat – Robot bounty hunter rhythm shooter (Steam)

• May 21 — Paper Trail – Puzzles in a foldable world (Steam)

• May 21 — Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 – Psychological action sequel (Steam)

• May 23 — Crown Wars: The Black Prince – Medieval tactics (Steam)

• May 23 — Duck Detective: The Secret Salami – Poultry PI adventure (Steam)

• May 23 — Hauntii – Gorgeous twin-stick afterlife adventure (Steam)

• May 23 — Songs of Silence – RTS with turn-based management (Steam)

• May 23 — World of Goo 2 – Slimy physics puzzle sequel (Epic)

• May 28 — Multiversus – WB’s platform fighter relaunch (Site)

• May 29 — Capes – turn-based superhero tactics (Steam)

• May 30 — SKALD: Against the Black Priory – Retro party-based RPG (Steam)

• May ?? — Mutant Football League 2 – Arcade football with mutants (Steam)

• May ?? — Sonar Shock – First person horror RPG old school style (Steam)

NEW GAMES IN JUNE 2024

June

• June 4 — Destiny 2: The Final Shape – The year’s D2 expansion (Site)

• June 4 — Killer Klowns from Outer Space – Horror throwback (Steam)

• June 4 — Life By You – Life and building sim (Steam)

• June 6 — Blockbuster Inc. – Movie studio sim (Steam)

• June 14 — Shin Megami Tensei 5: Vengeance – Bring a fusing FAQ (Steam)

• June 17 — Vampire Therapist – Darkly comedic narrative adventure (Steam)

• June 18 — #BLUD – ’90s cartoon vampire dungeon crawler (Steam)

• June 18 — Still Wakes the Deep – Oil rig horror from Chinese Room (Steam)

• June 20 — Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree – Tarnished DLC (Steam)

NEW GAMES IN JULY 2024

July

• July 16 — Cataclismo – Hand-built tower defense (Steam)

• July 18 — Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus – Okami aesthetic Metroidvania (Steam)

• July 18 — Schim – Frogger-ish shadow platformer (Steam)

• July 25 — Frostpunk 2 – Grim, snowy city management (Steam)

• July ?? — Breachway – Space dogfight deckbuilder (Steam)

NEW GAMES IN AUGUST 2024

August

• August 8 — SteamWorld Heist 2 – 2D pirate robot tactics (Steam)

• August 15 — Farewell North – Do you want to cry about dogs? (Steam)

• August 19 — Black Myth: Wukong – ARPG from controversial dev (Steam)

• August 20 — Dustborn – Future dystopian American roadtrip (Steam)

• August 21 — Enotria: The Last Song – Italian folklore Soulslike (Steam)

NEW GAMES IN SEPTEMBER 2024

September

• September 5 — Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl – The Zone awaits (Steam)

• September 5 — What the Car? – Silly golfing devs do driving (Steam)

• September 9 — Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 – Astartes sequel (Steam)

NEW GAMES IN 2024 WITH UNANNOUNCED RELEASE DATES

New PC games 2024 with dates to be announced

(Image credit: Studio Wildcard)

• 33 Immortals – Co-op roguelike with up to 32 friends (Epic)

• Alliance of the Sacred Suns – 4X Space Strategy (Steam)

• Aloft – Crafting survival in the sky (Steam)

• The Alters – What if Fallout Shelter had a story (Steam)

• Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator – life-saving sim (Steam)

• Anger Foot – Kick-heavy FPS (Steam)

• Ara: History Untold – Civ-like 4X strategy (Steam)

• Ark 2 – More dinosaurs, plus Vin Diesel (Steam)

• Avowed – Obsidian’s first-person fantasy RPG (Steam)

• Awaken: Astral Blade – Bionic girl Metroidvania (Steam)

• Baby Steps – Bennett Foddy’s next torture engine (Steam)

• Baladins – Bardic co-op RPG (Steam)

• Beastieball – Pokemon but volleyball (Steam)

• Bellwright (Early Access) – Medieval management and survival (Steam)

• Beyond These Stars – City builder on a space whale (Steam)

• Blue Protocol – Online anime action RPG (Steam)

• Bounty Star – Mech combat meets farmsteading (Steam)

• Brighter Shores – New MMO from Runescape creator (Steam)

• Broken Arrow – Real-time modern warfare tactics game (Steam)

• Bugaboo Pocket – Entomology life-sim (Steam)

• The Casting of Frank Stone – Until Dawn devs do Dead by Daylight (Steam)

• Chornobyl Liquidators – Cleanup/bureaucracy focused sim (Steam)

• The Constructors – Construction company sim (Steam)

• Corpus Edax – Immersive sim with punchy physics (Steam)

• Crab God – Crustacean strategy (Steam)

• Crashlands 2 – Open world crafting RPG (Steam)

• Creature Keeper – Real-time combat creature collector (Steam)

• Creatures of Ava – A gentler creature collector (Steam)

• Critter Cove (Early Access) – Castaway Animal Crossing (Steam)

• Crypt Custodian – Top-down afterlife Metroidvania (Steam)

• Dead Season – Zombie survival tactical XCOM-like (Steam)

• Deathbound – Character-swapping soulslike (Steam)

• Demonschool – High school demon-fighting tactics RPG (Steam)

• Demonsomnia – Co-op horror banishing nuclear demons (Steam)

• Diesel Legacy: The Brazen Age – Steampunk 2v2 2D fighter (Steam)

• Dungeons of Hinterberg – Cel-shaded Alps action RPG (Steam)

• Dystopika – Cyberpunk city-building sandbox (Steam)

• Earthblade – Action-platformer from Celese devs (Steam)

• Earth Defense Force 6 – EDF! EDF! EDF! (Steam)

• Earth from Another Sun – Open world galactic scifi sandbox (Steam)

• Elin – Roguelike RPG sequel to Elona (Steam)

• Empire of the Ants – Photorealistic ant strategy (Steam)

• Europa – Ghibli-inspired platforming adventure (Steam)

• EvilVEvil – Vampire co-op shooter (Steam)

• Fields of Mistria – Magical girl life sim (Steam)

• The First Descendant – Nexon looter shooter (Steam)

• Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn – Soulslike for musket fans (Steam)

• Follow the meaning – Hand-drawn point & click mystery (Steam)

• Galacticare – “Dammit Jim, I’m a doctor” simulator (Steam)

• GI Joe: Wrath of Cobra – Throwback beatemup (Steam)

• Go-Go Town – 3D Stardew with town management (Steam)

• Gray Zone Warfare – an Arma-like FPS (Steam)

• Greedfall 2: The Dying World – Fantasy flintlock RPG (Steam)

• Gundam Breaker 4 – Build-your-own gunpla brawler (Steam)

• Hyper Light Breaker (Early Access) – Hyper Light Drifter co-op sequel (Steam)

• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – First-person Nazi whipping (Steam)

• Iron Meat – Gnarly Contra-like side-scroller (Steam)

• Kingmakers – Change medieval history with machine guns (Steam)

• Level Zero: Extraction – Extraction horror shooter with monsters (Steam)

• Light Odyssey – Top-down boss rush Souls-like (Steam)

• Little Nightmares 3 – Frightening platforming (Steam)

• Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP – Remake of the zombie hack-n-slash

• Lost Isle – Procgen fantasy survival (Steam)

• Lost Records: Bloom and Rage – Life is Strange meets Yellowjackets (Steam)

• The Lost Wild – Dinosaur survival horror (Steam)

• Magical Delicacy – Cozy, culinary, magical Metroidvania (Stream)

• MechWarrior 5: Clans – Bad guys of Battletech (Steam)

• Megaloot – Inventory management roguelike RPG (Steam)

• Men of War 2 – WWII RTS with co-op (Steam)

• Metaphor: ReFantazio – Fantasy RPG from Atlus (Steam)

• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 – Next iteration of Flight Sim (Site)

• Mika and The Witch’s Mountain – Zelda meets Kiki’s Delivery Service (Steam)

• Mirthwood – Sandbox fantasy life sim RPG (Steam)

• Nivalis – Cyberpunk slice-of-life (Steam)

• The Operator – Forensic analyst sim with bonus conspiracy (Steam)

• The Plucky Squire – Colorful storybook escape adventure (Steam)

• Pragmata – Outerspace action adventure (Site)

• Pyrene – Deckbuilding dungeon crawler (Steam)

• Reka – Witchy woods crafting (Steam)

• Remnant Protocol – Sci-fi flight sim plus rebellion management (Steam)

• Replaced – Sci-fi action platformer (Steam)

• Republic of Pirates – City builder for freebooters (Steam)

• The Rise of the Golden Idol – Detective adventure set in the ’70s (Steam)

• Simon the Sorcerer Origins – Point & click prequel (Steam)

• Skate Story – Surreal skateboarding (Steam)

• Songs of Conquest – Turn-based fantasy strategy RPG (Steam)

• Space Prison (Early Access) – Alien prison tactics RPG (Steam)

• Star Trucker – Trucking, but in the stars (Steam)

• Star Wars Outlaws – Open world scum and villainy (Site)

• Stormgate – New RTS from ex-Blizzard devs (Steam)

• Streets of Rogue 2 – Immersive roguelike sandbox (Steam)

• Sulfur – Cel-shaded goblin-blasting FPS roguelike (Steam)

• Surviving Deponia – More Deponia, now a colony sim (Steam)

• Sword of Convallaria – Final Fantasy Tactics-like (Steam)

• Synergy – Weird scifi city builder (Steam)

• Tales of the Shire – A wholesome Hobbit life sim (Site)

• Tempest Rising – Archetypal base-building RTS (Steam)

• Thank Goodness You’re Here! – Delightful English “slapformer” (Steam)

• Thrasher – Rhythm game follow-up to Thumper (Steam)

• Tiny Glade – Medieval building toy (Steam)

• Trash Goblin – Casual trinket upcycling (Steam)

• Umbratica Tactics – Vampire-hunting tactics (Steam)

• Unrailed 2: Back on Track (Early Access) – Chaotic railroad co-op (Steam)

• Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 – Revamped RPG (Steam)

• Visions of Mana – A new RPG in the Mana series (Steam)

• Voidwrought – Hollow Knight with more cosmic horror (Steam)

• Voyagers of Nera (Early Access) – Ocean-going survival (Steam)

• Warside – Tactical Advance Wars-styled wargame (Steam)

• We Might Die – Mech-based roguelike shooter (Steam)

• Wild Bastards – Space western roguelike FPS (Steam)

• Windblown (Early Access) – New roguelike from Dead Cells devs (Steam)

• Worshippers of Cthulhu (Early Access) – Cultist settlement sim (Steam)

• Zenless Zone Zero – Genshin dev dungeon crawler (Site)

MORE UPCOMING GAMES

More upcoming games

While these aren’t committed to 2024, they’re headed our way and could easily settle into a 2024 release date in the future.

• Arknights: Endfield – Action RPG spinoff of the mobile gacha game (Site)

• As We Descend – Roguelike deckbuilder with a strategy bent (Steam)

• Battle Crush – Top down mythological brawler (Steam)

• Big Boy Boxing – PunchOut with progression (Steam)

• Blade – Third-person Marvel action game from Arkane (Site)

• Blue Prince – Surreal architectural puzzle adventure (Steam)

• Cart Life – Street vendor life sim (Steam)

• Chrono Odyssey – Fantasy MMO (Site)

• Crimson Desert – Singleplayer RPG from Black Desert devs (Site)

• DeathSprint 66 – Fall Guys, but cyberpunk-dystopian (Steam)

• Den of Wolves – Co-op fururistic heist game from Payday devs (Steam)

• Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero – Dragon Ball-series fighting game (Steam)

• Echo Generation – 80s voxel adventure with turn-based combat (Steam)

• Edge of Sanity – 2D lovecraftian survival horror (Steam)

• Eternal Strands – 3rd person spell-em-up (Steam)

• Everywhere – A vague metaverse dream from GTA producers (Site)

• Exoborne – Extraction shooter with a sci-fi apocalypse vibe (Steam)

• Exodus – Time-traveling sci-fi action RPG with Mass Effect vibes (Site)

• The First Berserker: Khazan – ARPG based on Dungeon & Fighter (Steam)

• Flock – Co-op sky-shepherding and bird-shearing (Steam)

• Harmonium: The Musical World – Musical adventure with deaf protag (Site)

• Hordes of Hunger – 3D “survivorslike” (Steam)

• I Am Jesus Christ – First Person Savior (Steam)

• Industria 2 – Narrative FPS in AI infested otherworld (Steam)

• Jump Ship – Co-op sci-fi FPS with seamless ship-to-ground transition (Steam)

• Jurassic Park: Survival – Action-adventure set right after original film (Site)

• Kemuri – Urban fantasy parkour from Ikumi Nakamura’s new studio (Site)

• Knights in Tight Spaces – Tight fights go fantasy (Steam)

• Last Sentinel – Dystopian action game by Lightspeed Studios (Site)

• Light No Fire – Survival exploration on Earth-sized map (Steam)

• Mecha Break – Multiplayer mech combat (Steam)

• Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater – What a thrill (Steam)

• Metal Slug Tactics – classic run-n-gun goes tactics RPG (Steam)

• NAIAD – Vibrant underwater exploration as a sea nymph (Steam)

• Nighthawks – A vampire RPG from adventure game veterans (Steam)

• Nine Sols – Hand-drawn 2D Sekiro (Steam)

• No Players Online – Vintage desktop simulator horror (Steam)

• OD – Hideo Kojima’s latest, collaboration with Jordan Peele (Site)

• Off the Grid – Blomkamp Battle Royale (Site)

• Outward 2 – FAFO RPG sequel (Steam)

• QubiQuest: Castle Craft – Voxel-based castle building and defense (Steam)

• R-Type Tactics I – II Cosmos – Tactics spinoff of side-scroll shooter (Steam)

• Realm of Ink – Ukiyo-e-ish action roguelike (Steam)

• Ruffy and the Riverside – Colorful character platformer (Steam)

• She Dreams Elsewhere – Retro-surreal adventure RPG (Steam)

• Stellar Blade – Flashy scifi hack-and-slash (Site)

• Sunset Devils – Western top-down shooter (Steam)

• Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter – Rat soulslike sequel (Steam)

• Tenebris Somnia – 8-bit horror with FMV cutscenes (Steam)

• Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown – Open world driving in Hong Kong (Steam)

• Towers of Aghasba – Open world ecosystem sandbox (Steam)

• Witchbrook – Wizarding school life sim (Steam)

• Wrestle Story – turn-based pro wrestling RPG (Steam)

• Zoochosis – Mutant zoo animal body horror (Steam)

GAMES DELAYED TO 2025

Delayed to 2025

• Falling Frontier – Logistics-heavy space grand strategy (Steam)

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Featured

The best racing games on PC 2024

By admin April 19, 2024

The best racing games on PC have a rich history, with classics such as Need for Speed and Midtown Madness setting the pace, and more modern games like Forza Horizon 5 and The Crew Motorfest continuing the rich legacy of the genre. Whether you’re after a realistic sim or an arcade racer, the options are endless, and we’ve pulled together all the best racing games you can play right now.

Best of the best

We’ve selected various racing games worth playing, including sims like Project CARS 2, or more offbeat, underrated choices like Driver: San Francisco. Generally, we play it pretty loosely with the definition of ‘racing game’ to ensure we’ve got games that appeal to all players—anything with wheels counts. But, even with our blurred guidelines, these games all have one thing in common: they all offer a fantastic driving experience in one way or another.

If you’re looking to take your driving simulation experience to the next level it’s worth checking out our guide to the best steering wheels for PC.

And for more articles about the very finest experiences in PC gaming, check out our lists of the best strategy games on PC, best free PC games, the best FPS games on PC, and the best puzzle games on PC.

Sim racing games

The best racing games on PC 2024

Project CARS 2

Our experienced team dedicates many hours to every review, to really get to the heart of what matters most to you. Find out more about how we evaluate games and hardware.

Release date: 2017 | Developer: Slightly Mad Studios | Steam

This is the racing sim that attempts to do it all: ice racing on studded tires around Swedish snowdrifts. Karting in the Scottish highlands. Rallycross within Hockenheim’s infield section, mud splattering across everything and everyone. LMP1s hurtling through Imola, Indycars defying gravity at Daytona Speedway – and when you really get bored, Honda Civics trying to make it up Eau Rouge without stalling.

More miraculous than the sheer breadth of content in Slightly Mad’s sim sequel is the fact they pull it all off. Loose surface racing feels just as convincing as hitting the track in a road-legal car, and the fidelity it conveys to your hands as you try to bully a car into the apex with its force feedback support is best-in-class stuff. Several racing drivers across numerous disciplines acted as consultants during development, and it really does show. A strong eSports scene is now solidified around Project CARS 2, and such is the depth of simulation that for young aspiring drivers, this might well be a fitting substitute for time on track.

iRacing

Release date: 2008 | Developer: iRacing Motorsport Simulations | iRacing

With its regular online racing leagues and meticulous car and track modelling, iRacing is as close to real racing as you can get on the PC.

That also means iRacing is something you need to work up to. It has no meaningful single-player component and, with its subscription fees and live tournament scheduling, it requires significant investment. Oh, and a force feedback wheel is quite literally required here – that’s not us saying the gamepad support is poor. The game just won’t let you race unless you have a wheel.

But for a certain class of sim racing fan, there is nothing that compares. The very best iRacing players often compete in real motorsport too, and make a career out of eSports sim racing. And having first released now over a decade ago in 2008, it’s consistently stayed astride with the latest simulators each year. Quite an achievement.

F1 23

Release date: 2023 | Developer: Codemasters | Steam

Rather than redefining what the F1 racing experience feels like, F1 23 reinforces what makes the series worth playing in the first place. It’s a fast-paced, technical racer with enhanced AI racers that make your time on the track more tense—able to push you to your limits. Paired with its photorealistic environments, it’s incredibly easy to sink yourself into the world of F1 racing in the newest release.

The return of the iconic Braking Point story is a welcome addition to F1 23 as well. Even though you’re probably questioning how much there is to do with a Formula 1 story, F1 23 offers a narrative that is as engaging as it is exhilarating, much like the original story found in F1 21. Despite there being a lot of similarities between the original Braking Point, which long-term players will recognise, F1 23 manages to offer some originality through its characters, which present more convincing responses than before and help you feel more connected to the story.

Assetto Corsa Competizione

Release date: 2019 | Developer: Kunos Simulazioni | Steam

To be brutally honest, the sim racing world probably wasn’t on the edge of its seat for an officially licensed game of the Blancpain World Endurance series. As motorsport licenses go it’s a bit on the niche side, but as it turns out it was just what the Assetto Corsa franchise needed.

Kunos Simulazioni’s 2014 game had a lot going for it, including a handling model to rival the very best and excellent wheel support, but there wasn’t much singleplayer structure. As for polish, forget about it. What this license gives its successor is an inviting championship structure with different vehicle categories and highly scalable endurance racing across treasured circuits like Paul Ricard, Spa Francorchamps and Circuit de Catalunya. The handling is better than ever through a good force feedback wheel, and it nails the day/night cycles – a must for an endurance racing sim, really.

MotoGP 18

Release date: September 2018 |Developer: Milestone | Steam

Two wheels might be considered blasphemy in some corners of the racing community, but for all those willing to divide the usual wheelbase by half, Milestone’s licensed MotoGP sim offers quite a rush.

Motorcycle racing is inherently exciting – the lean angles, suicidal overtakes and acceleration rates just make for a great spectator sport. And Italian superbike specialists Milestone really nail that feeling of terror and bravery of being on a factory MotoGP bike. The Codemasters F1 games are obviously a big inspiration, to put it politely, but the upshot for anyone playing it is a layer of career simulation on top of the racing. Work your way up through slower categories, build a reputation, and hold out for that big team ride.

RaceRoom Racing Experience

Release date: 2013 | Developer: Sector3 Studios | Steam

This is the descendant of SimBin’s once-mighty racing empire. Think of it as GTR Online: it’s the ruthlessly-authentic car sim you remember, but retooled for online free-to-play. The GT racing is beautifully modelled and captured through a good force feedback wheel, the online competition fierce and well-structured, and the catalog of cars and tracks deep enough to really specialise in a certain series thanks to that free-to-play model.

…Which is also its weakness. Once you get the cars on the track, it’s all terrific and familiar. But off-track, RaceRoom is all about selling you bits and pieces of the game. Pick a series you want to race, and immerse yourself in it. There’s more than enough to learn about vintage touring cars to occupy you for months, if not years, before you need to go dribbling over the in-game store menu again.

rFactor 2

Release date: 2012 | Developer: Image Space Incorporated | Steam

rFactor will probably always feel rough around the edges, but it’s the heir to one one of the PC’s great racing games and one of the most impressive modding communities in the world. rFactor 2, like its predecessor, just keeps growing even years after launch as new car and track packs come out across all kinds of different series. It’s not a cheap habit, but it will please serious racers.

That’s only half the story, though. The sheer volume of user-created mods is enormous, and while the focus is on Formula One throughout the years those with an itch to be scratched in DTM, WTCC, GT racing and other open wheelers will be satiated too.

Grand Prix 3

Release date: 2000 | Developer: Microprose

Venerated for decades and still playable in 2019, Grand Prix 3 was a turning point in racing games. Geoff Crammond’s MicroProse had already made waves with Formula One Grand Prix and Grand Prix 2 in the early ‘90s, but hardware limitations meant they could only push the simulation so far at the time. Grand Prix 3 was a new level of fidelity. It modelled things like tyre wear, wet weather grip, and tiny setup tweaks – things that games had only been able to approximate in the broadest manner previously. Simply put, it felt like sitting inside a Formula One car.

And to look back on today as a playable museum piece, it has the added incentive of capturing the sport at an especially exciting time, when legends like Schumacher and Hakkinen were battling for top spot and previous champions Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve struggled at the back of the pack. It’s also been modded to high heaven in the 19 years since it’s release, so with committed googling you can play through nearly two decades of F1 history.

Arcade racing games

The Crew Motorfest

Release date: 2023 | Developer: Ivory Tower | Epic

The Crew Motorfest brings better vehicle handling and more detailed graphics than previous The Crew games, which helps to put it above the rest. Although we argued in our review that there is a decent amount of Forza Horizon mimicry throughout the game, that doesn’t stop it from offering a lively racing experience that’s worth picking up. Sure, its overly-enthusiastic voice cast may seem a bit intense when you start, but before long you’ll be using their encouragement to perform at your very best.

As we stated in our review, the game is at its best when it “dares to do something that Horizon doesn’t” through its use of playlists that transform the landscape in response to the theme of your current challenge. These offer a variety of beautiful environments to help keep your time on the track exciting, while also putting your driving to the test since you don’t know what may lurk around each twist and turn.

Forza Horizon 5

(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

With Phil’s review of Forza Horizon 5, he zooms in on the level of refinement that’s taken place in the Forza series. No sweeping changes have been made in the newest entry in the series, but a meticulous level of craftsmanship is on display. The Playground team has spent countless hours polishing the hoods of 500 cars until they gleam, and the same is true of the environments in the new setting: Mexico.

The seasonal playlist is present and prominent from the beginning, forming the heart of the gameplay. You’ll find yourself taking on unexpected challenges, and utilizing your entire stable of cars in pursuit of new rare additions, as Phil put it: “We’ve had plenty of looter shooters, but Forza Horizon is slowly turning into the first looter racer.”

Dirt Rally 2.0

Release date: 2019 | Developer: Codemasters | Steam

The first Dirt Rally was a revelation when it arrived in 2015, departing from the snapback caps and energy drink ads that erstwhile came to define the Dirt series and renewing its focus on the staggering challenge of – well, just keeping a car on the track of a rally course. Dirt Rally 2.0 does that too, and its’ better at it in every way.

Rallying is an incredibly high-skill discipline, and Codemasters don’t ask any less of you than a real 4WD WRC vehicle would. At least, that’s how it feels – in truth none of us have firsthand experience of how it feels to fling a Citroen through Finland’s dirt roads as quickly as Sebastien Ogier can do it, nor will we ever. But the transfer of weight in Dirt Rally’s cars, the feeling of raw power while the wheels scrabble for traction under you, feel utterly convincing.

Forza Motorsport

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Release date: 2023 | Developer: Turn 10 Studios | Steam

Forza Motorsport is a step up for Turn 10’s storied series. Even if the series isn’t as absurdly varied and full of personality as the Horizon spin-offs, Motorsport is one of the best pure racing games around. Vehicles here have a newfound weight which feeds into a more detailed experience since you’ll have to consider things such as traction and wear on your tires depending on where you are. Everything just feels more precise than it did in Forza Motorsport 7.

As we stated in our review of Forza Motorsport, the handling is absolutely wonderful, which is where this game excels. Driving feels fast and fluid both on and offline, and you feel immersed in the landscapes you’re speeding through, which marks a fantastic racing game. Races feel tense and exhilarating, and you feel in complete control of your vehicle at all points which helps drive you (no pun intended) to beat your own records.

TrackMania 2

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Almost a decade after the release of Trackmania 2, Ubisoft Nadeo debuted its semi-reboot of series with Trackmania 2020. The new game features some significant graphical upgrades, but the real treat is the addition of daily featured tracks, new track pieces like ice, and improved checkpointing. Most importantly, it’s a fresh start for Trackmania detached from Nadeo’s strange Maniaplanet platform.

But don’t worry, Trackmania is still incredibly weird. I’ve already played tons of nonsensical tracks that require pinpoint timing, endless repetition, and a little bit of luck. Nadeo is also taking a more hands-on approach to post-release content by releasing new tracks made by the studio on a seasonal basis. If you’re a lapsed fan or new to the series, this is where you want to be.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

Release date: 2010, 2020 (Remaster) | Developer: Criterion Games | Steam (Remastered)

Hot Pursuit is a driving game frozen in a particularly special time for arcade racers. The purest essence of Need for Speed before the series went all open-world, it delivers exactly what the title promises, in race after race, with no downtime. Enjoy the simple life as you aim a European exotic down a stretch of hauntingly beautiful Pacific coast highway with a train of police cars following in your wake.

It’s aged like an oak-smoked A-lister too. The roadside textures and car poly counts might not be able to compete directly with the latest releases, but the overall aesthetic in Hot Pursuit still looks luxurious. And above all, fast.

My Summer Car

Release date: 2016 | Developer: Amistech Games | Steam

At least half your time in My Summer Car is spent outside of a car. In fact, it’s as much a car mechanic game and a simulator of being a teenage layabout in 1990s rural Finland as a racing game per se. It makes its way on this list, however, because for anyone with a passing interest in cars it’s an essential experience.

It all begins with a note from your parents telling you to rebuild the junked car in your garage. From there you construct a driveable, moddable vehicle down to the most minute nuts and bolts, teaching you exactly what an exhaust manifold looks like and what happens when it rattles loose along a lakeside single lane road at 70mph. Car ownership has never felt more satisfying and personal in driving games than in this slightly janky but beautifully esoteric builder-meets-racer.

GRID Autosport

Release date: 2014 | Developer: Codemasters

Autosport is Codemasters’ easiest, most entry-level track racing game. The car handling is very forgiving, but with just enough fight in it to teach you the basics of corner-braking and throttle-control. Outside the car it does as deep as you’re up for, though. It’s got full-race weekends, typically strong opponent AI for Codemasters, and tons of variety in its racing formats.

Although the super-satisfying team management elements from previous Grid games are pared back here (who didn’t swell with pride when they finally got that B&O sponsorship in Grid 1?) it’s still a great point-of-entry for people curious about sim-style racing, and fun for more hardcore drivers who just want to relax.

Driver: San Francisco

Release date: 2011 | Developer: Ubisoft Reflections

With a retro-chic ‘70s vibe, one of the best soundtracks in games, and a truly original twist on the open world racer, Driver: San Francisco just radiates style and cool in a way that no other game on this list can match, despite its advancing years.

With the ability to “shift” between NPC cars at-will, Driver:SF is one of the only post-Paradise open-world racers to think of something fresh and new to do with the freedom of the open world. In truth the brilliance of its central idea does outweigh the feel of its handling, which aims for Need For Speed but doesn’t quite excite in the same way. It’s still rough and ready enough to power a brilliantly odd story and bring San Francisco to life, though.

Split / Second

Release date: 2010 | Developer: Black Rock Studio | Steam

Welcome to the Michael Bay Motorsports Hour, where fake sports cars will rocket through desolate, orange-filtered urban wastelands at blinding speed while drivers accumulate enough energy to trigger bomb-drops from overhead helicopters, vicious sweeps from out-of-control cranes, and even the odd explosion of an entire city block.

Nearly 10 years on, Split/Second remains the perfect chaser to a lot of open-world arcade racers: it’s laser-focused on absurd automotive chaos and increasingly improbable tableaus of bloodless mechanical carnage.

Burnout Paradise Remastered

Release date: 2018 | Developer: Criterion Games | Steam

Racing games aren’t often treated to remasters. The big franchises iterate so often that there rarely seems much point, but in the case of Burnout Paradise everybody was happy to see an exception to the rule. In 10 years, there’s been nothing quite like it.

And yet the original model still surpasses its imitators. It’s so much purer and more exciting than the games it inspired. It doesn’t have any licensed cars, so instead it features car-archetypes that crumple into gut-wrenchingly violent wrecks. Compare those to the fender-benders that wipe you out in Need for Speed: Most Wanted, Criterion’s attempt at topping themselves and where you get the sense that just depicting a shattered headlight would have entailed hundreds of meetings with Lamborghini’s lawyers.

Paradise isn’t an online “social” experience. It’s not all about collectibles and unlocks. You get new cars, but they’re not the point of the game. It’s about driving around a city populated entirely by cars, listening to a drivetime DJ spin classic and pop rock tracks while you drive hell-for-leather through twisting city streets, mountain passes, and idyllic farmland. It’s violent, blindingly fast, and endlessly entertaining. It’s created the modern arcade racing genre, but the joke is on us, because all we’ve done ever since is try to get back to Paradise.

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