I thought VLC was unbeatable until I tried this open-source media player
…a healthy set of graphical frontends built on its engine, so you can keep the rendering and lose the bare window. On Linux, Celluloid is the natural fit, a GTK app that…
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CachyOS has a one-click Windows VM button, and dual-booting feels completely outdated
…if you care about top-tier gaming compatibility, anti-cheat behavior, GPU passthrough complexity, or specialized software that gets grumpy inside a VM. In those cases, the old approach remains brutally effective…
Most NAS owners waste their USB ports on external drives when they should be using them for diagnostics
…After teaching university English and computer science for a few years, Jeff launched his writing career . He's written for Macworld , Tom's Hardware , groovyPost , The Mac Observer , and more before beginning…
I change these 5 storage settings on every new PC build, and they prevent headaches later
…Tinkering with his own build at age 10 turned into building PCs for friends and family, fostering a passion that would ultimately take shape as a career path. Besides being the first…
I stopped guessing at RAM capacity and started measuring it, and my next build just got way cheaper
…a healthy system will often show very little of it. The two categories you need for a valid estimation, therefore, are "In Use", especially when your system is running the applications you…
I wanted a Synology home server until I realized it was designed to stop me from building one
…That affected important NAS features like storage pool creation and drive health or lifespan analysis for non-approved drives. Later, after backlash, Synology walked back part of this with DSM 7.3…
I added a second SSD just for games, and it fixed a problem I blamed on Windows
…But there's one more advantage worth mentioning I couldn't help but notice that this approach may also be healthier for the longevity of the boot drive itself. Having experienced both…
The best upgrade for my movie nights wasn't a new TV, soundbar, or streaming subscription
…Related 6 TV settings I turned off to instantly improve picture quality Your TV isn't bad, its just not set up correctly What causes eye strain? Take care of your eyes…
7 things I stopped paying for after getting a NAS
Karandeep Singh Jun 2, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT I am a Senior Author at XDA with a decade of experience covering consumer tech. I care more about the impact of technology…
I changed one setting in LM Studio, and it made my local LLM actually competitive with cloud models
Nolen Jonker May 8, 2026, 4:30 PM EDT Nolen began their writing career in 2019, with three years dedicated to editing the Creative section at MakeUseOf . Their expertise lies at the…