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Justin Nelon

Justin Nelon

Latest articles by Justin Nelon

news Windows 11 Cloud Rebuild Arrives in October's Optional Update and Never Keeps Your Files

Windows 11 Cloud Rebuild Arrives in October's Optional Update and Never Keeps Your Files

Microsoft's October 2026 non-security preview update for Windows 11 adds cloud rebuild, a reinstall that pulls Windows and your device drivers from Windows Update instead of a local recovery partition. Microsoft's own documentation is blunt about what that costs, because cloud rebuild never keeps your files. The cloud rebuild screen offers Remove files or Remove and sanitize files, with no option to keep anything.
news Windows 11 26H2 Turns Settings Backup On by Default, but Only on Work PCs

Windows 11 26H2 Turns Settings Backup On by Default, but Only on Work PCs

Windows 11 version 26H2 switches Windows settings backup on by default, according to a Microsoft message center entry dated September 30. The change is narrower than that sounds. The Windows 11 desktop, whose per-user settings are what the backup collects. Image: Microsoft The feature needs a Microsoft Entra ID sign-in on a device joined to an employer's directory. A personal PC signed in with
news Three Canadian Provinces and Cuba Skip the November 1 Clock Change, and Windows Needs an Update

Three Canadian Provinces and Cuba Skip the November 1 Clock Change, and Windows Needs an Update

Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Cuba are not turning their clocks back at 2 a.m. on Sunday, November 1. Windows PCs in all four can show the wrong local time unless they carry the right time zone update. Microsoft's product photography for Windows 11, the platform that needs the new time zone data. Image: Microsoft The three Canadian updates shipped weeks ago. Cuba's does
news Winhanced 1.0 Beta Is Dated October 31, With Its Headline Overlay Supporter-Only for 30 Days

Winhanced 1.0 Beta Is Dated October 31, With Its Headline Overlay Supporter-Only for 30 Days

Winhanced has dated its 1.0 Beta to October 31, and the in-game overlay the release is built around does not reach everyone on day one. Early Access, "which includes the overlay during the beta", is a switch inside the app for Patreon supporters and Discord Supporter+ members. The overlay's Current game page, with session and total play time, achievement rarity, and buttons to pause,
news Windows 11 26H2 Reaches Every Eligible PC in 29 Days, Not Months

Windows 11 26H2 Reaches Every Eligible PC in 29 Days, Not Months

Windows 11 version 26H2 is now available for all eligible devices, according to a status note Microsoft dated October 28. That ends a staged rollout the company started on September 29 and said would widen "over the next few months". Windows 11 running on a laptop in Microsoft's own promotional art. Image: Microsoft The gap between those two dates is 29 days. Microsoft's annual
news Windows USB Audio Bug Stays at Mitigated After Seven Weeks, With No Consumer Workaround

Windows USB Audio Bug Stays at Mitigated After Seven Weeks, With No Consumer Workaround

Seven weeks after the September 8 Windows security update broke audio on some USB devices, Microsoft's status for the bug is still Mitigated rather than Resolved. On the Windows 11 version 25H2 release health page, every other listed known issue now reads Resolved. Microsoft's product photography for Windows 11, the platform where the USB audio entry remains open. Image: Microsoft The entry is logged
news TCL Says NXTPAPER Has 15 Eye-Care Certifications but Does Not Name a Single One

TCL Says NXTPAPER Has 15 Eye-Care Certifications but Does Not Name a Single One

TCL's NXTPAPER technology page credits its paper-display line with 117 patents, 15 international certifications and 189 media awards. The footnote under that claim attributes the figures to TCL's own internal statistics, and none of its NXTPAPER tablet pages names a single certifying body. The TAB A1 Plus NXTPAPER, the only tablet of the four TCL rates at up to 120Hz and fits with its
news The Endurance Number on an SSD Is a Warranty Limit, Not a Death Date

The Endurance Number on an SSD Is a Warranty Limit, Not a Death Date

Samsung rates the 1TB version of its SSD 9100 PRO at 600 terabytes written, alongside a five-year limited warranty. Reaching 600TB before those five years expire takes about 329GB of writes a day, every day, for 1,826 days. The same 9100 PRO at 4TB carries four times the rated terabytes written, on the identical five-year term. Image: Samsung That division is the part nobody
news Mini-LED or OLED: What the Spec Sheets Leave Out

Mini-LED or OLED: What the Spec Sheets Leave Out

Hisense publishes 144 local dimming zones for its 85-inch E7SF mini-LED television. It publishes the same 144 zones for the 50-inch set in that line. Samsung's 65-inch S90H, an OLED set with no backlight layer behind the panel. Image: Samsung LG publishes no brightness figure at all for the 65-inch C6 OLED, and Samsung publishes none for the 65-inch S90H. The two panel types
news JBL Quantum 360X Drops $50 to $99.95 at Amazon in a Four-Headset Price Cut

JBL Quantum 360X Drops $50 to $99.95 at Amazon in a Four-Headset Price Cut

The JBL Quantum 360X is $99.95 at Amazon, $50 below its $149.95 list price, and JBL's own store shows the identical $99.95 against the identical crossed-out figure. The 33% is JBL's own promotion that Amazon is matching to the cent, not a retailer-only cut. The Arctis Nova 3X ships with the USB-C dongle that carries its 30-hour rating. Image: SteelSeries Three more wireless headsets
news Helldivers 2 Drew 1,667 Negative Steam Reviews the Day Easy Anti-Cheat Landed, Up From 19

Helldivers 2 Drew 1,667 Negative Steam Reviews the Day Easy Anti-Cheat Landed, Up From 19

Helldivers 2 collected 1,667 negative Steam reviews on October 20. The day before, it collected 19. Helldivers 2 remains Mostly Positive at 79 percent across its full review history. Image: Arrowhead Game Studios October 20 is the day Arrowhead Game Studios swapped the game's GameGuard anti-cheat for Easy Anti-Cheat. Those daily counts come from Valve's own review histogram, not from a third-party tally. The
news Why the Cheapest Printer Is Usually the Most Expensive One to Own

Why the Cheapest Printer Is Usually the Most Expensive One to Own

The cheapest all-in-one printer on the shelf is usually the one that costs the most to own, and the maker publishes the figures that prove it. HP sells the Envy 6155 for $89.99 and the OfficeJet Pro 8139 for $179.99, yet a black page costs 16.9 cents on the cheap one and 7.4 cents on the dear one. The HP 68 black cartridge is
news Why a Wireless Gaming Headset Never Lasts the Hours on the Box

Why a Wireless Gaming Headset Never Lasts the Hours on the Box

SteelSeries sells the Arctis Nova 5P on a 60-hour battery, and its own spec table rates the headset at up to 50 hours over the 2.4GHz dongle. The 60 is the Bluetooth figure, and Bluetooth is not the connection that carries game audio on a PlayStation, a PC or a Switch. The Arctis Nova Pro Omni ships with two swappable batteries, and the 60-hour
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