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4 Apr 2025

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Buyers circle and rumours swirl as TikTok sale deadline looms
Despite the increasing number of potential buyers, neither the app nor its Chinese owner have confirmed they will do a deal.

Siemens & Accenture form new engineering partnership
Siemens and Accenture have launched the Accenture Siemens Business Group, uniting 7,000 professionals to redefine engineering and manufacturing through AI and automation.

I use Windows Task Manager daily. Here are 9 tips I wish I’d known sooner
The Windows Task Manager is one of the most iconic tools of the operating system. Whether you’re looking for information on system processes, checking on how your CPU or RAM is doing, or trying to shut down an errant app, it’s a really useful app. But like most Windows tools, you probably only know the bare essentials for day-to-day use—and that’s a shame because Task Manager can do so much more. Here are some lesser-known Task Manager tips and tricks worth knowing that’ll make you look like a pro. Quick-launch using a keyboard shortcut Jon Martindale / Foundry You might know you can press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and then select Task Manager from the list on the black screen that follows, but there’s another quick keyboard shortcut you can use to open Task Manager. Simply press Windows key + X to bring up the WinX menu (also known as Power User menu), then press the T key to immediately launch Task Manager without needing your mouse. Alternatively, you can press Windows key + Shift + Esc. It’s a little trickier to do one-handed, but this one instantly opens the Task Manager directly. Manage your startup apps Jon Martindale / Foundry If you have too many apps set to automatically launch when Windows boots up, it can slow down the overall Windows startup process. The solution? Manage your startup apps from within Task Manager to make sure only the most important ones are set to auto-start. With Task Manager open, navigate to the Startup apps tab in the left-side panel. Look through the list of apps that are “Enabled” and consider disabling the ones you don’t need all the time, especially if they have a “Startup Impact” of Medium or High. To disable auto-start for an app, right-click on it and select Disable. Once you’ve disabled all the apps you don’t need at startup, try rebooting your PC to see what kind of impact it had. Jump to an app’s program folder Joel Lee / Foundry If you want to make manual changes to an app’s program files—or just want to know where they are for future reference—you can actually navigate there directly from within Task Manager. To do so, make sure you’re in the Processes tab of Task Manager in the left-side panel. Then, right-click on the app you want to locate and select Open file location. This will launch a new File Explorer window where the app’s program folder is located. Restart Windows Explorer to fix glitches Jon Martindale / Foundry Lots can go wrong with Windows, but one of the best cure-all fixes when it seems like your PC is malfunctioning? Restarting Windows Explorer. If certain files or folders are unresponsive, or if the taskbar has disappeared, or if the Start menu stops working, or if a range of other basic Windows functions aren’t behaving properly, then this trick usually does the job—and you can do it from within Task Manager. Select the Processes tab and scroll until you find Windows Explorer. (It’ll likely be at the bottom of the running apps list.) Right-click it and select Restart to reboot Windows Explorer and give it a fresh start… hopefully without whatever problems you were facing before. Force-quit crashed or frozen apps Joel Lee / Foundry Task Manager has long been the tool of choice for shutting down errant programs, but the modern Task Manager has a number of options you can try for anything too stubborn to shut down properly. In the Processes tab, locate the app you want to close, right-click it and select End Task. If that doesn’t do the job, select the Details tab in the left-hand panel, then look through the list of running processes for the app you want to close, right-click it and select End process tree. This should force-quit the app and all related processes. Give an app more system resources Joel Lee / Foundry If your PC has a weak processor or not enough RAM, you might find that some apps are sluggish, especially when you have lots of apps or browser tabs open. In such cases, it can be helpful to tell Windows to prioritize certain apps over others and give them more resources to work with. (This can be really useful when you’re gaming since any dip in performance can affect how well a game plays.) To use Task Manager to change app priority, open it up and select the Details tab in the left-hand panel. Locate the app you want to boost, right-click it, hover over Set priority, then choose a priority level from the menu. (“Above normal” and “High” are good choices. “Realtime” offers the best performance but can cause system instability or crashes.) Similarly, you can deprioritize certain apps that are hogging too many resources or causing problems. Just repeat the above steps but select a lower priority, which will cause Windows to portion its resources away from that app to the higher-priority ones. Alternatively, right-click an app and set it to Efficiency mode if you’d rather Windows automatically deprioritize it to save resources as needed. See which apps are using your network Jon Martindale / Foundry Task Manager lets you quickly see just how much of your wired and wireless networks are being utilized, but it can also give you a shortcut to more detailed information when you need it. Select the Performance tab in the left-hand panel of Task Manager, then select Wi-Fi or Ethernet to look at broader network usage. If you want to see what’s using what in more detail, click the three-dot menu at the top right and select Resource Monitor. Then, on the next window, select the Network tab to expand out and see all the processes that are using your network and by how much. Monitor your system performance Joel Lee / Foundry If you need to keep an eye on how well a particular app runs or how your PC handles the running of certain apps and services, then you can use Task Manager for monitoring and reports. Select the Performance tab in Task Manager and choose the component you want to monitor (e.g., CPU, Memory, Disk, etc.). Right-click on the large real-time graph and select Graph summary view to see a simplified graph without any extra menu items. (Double-click it to return to the full Task Manager view per normal.) You probably want this graph to run on top of all other apps while you’re monitoring it, right? To do that, click the Settings cog icon in the bottom-left corner of Task Manager, then scroll down to Window management and tick the checkbox for Always on top. Use the old Task Manager Do you prefer the way the old Task Manager used to look? You can run it but it takes a few extra steps. Follow this quick guide to bring it back with its retro look. Note, however, you can’t use the new and old Task Managers at the same time; if the current Task Manager is running, you can’t also start the old one (and vice versa). Interested in more ways to use Windows 11 like a pro? Check out these essential Windows survival skills everyone should know.

Pure Storage & CERN tackle data bottlenecks with flash tech
Pure Storage has teamed up with CERN openlab to enhance scientific research through advanced flash storage, aiming to transform data management for high-energy physics.

Dual boot vs. Virtualization: Which is best for running multiple operating systems?
Do you primarily use Windows 11 but want to have a quick look at a Linux distribution like Linux Mint? Well, booting from a live DVD or USB stick is a convenient solution. The advantage of this is that nothing needs to be installed, and your Windows configuration remains unchanged. When you remove the DVD or USB stick, your PC will restart normally into its installed operating system. Live system: Start Linux Mint from a USB stick or DVD to try it out without making any changes to your PC. IDG If you want to have the full Linux Mint experience, then a virtual computer is the way to go. A virtual computer behaves more or less like a real PC, allowing you to exchange data with the host system (usually your Windows computer) or other devices in the network. However, since virtual Windows or Linux guests are isolated from the host and network by default, it’s primarily suitable for software tests and surfing potentially dangerous websites. One major advantage is the ability to freeze the system and restore it to a previous backup with a single click. Another option is the parallel installation of two or more operating systems on a hard drive or SSD, otherwise known as multibooting. Installation: If Linux Mint is installed in parallel with Windows, select the desired system when booting. IDG Once you’ve booted up the PC, select the operating system in the boot manager. This lets you use Windows 11 and Linux Mint at the same time, allowing you to access stored data whether it’s on your local drive or a network share. For an in-depth look at how virtualization works, check out our guide here. Advantages and disadvantages of virtual PCs Virtualization technology has been a part of everyday life in company networks and data centers since the 2000s. It allows the number of dedicated computers to be reduced and the existing hardware to be optimally utilized. Many other virtual servers can run independently of each other on a host server, which ultimately saves energy and administration costs. For home users, desktop virtualization solutions offer a sophisticated way of testing different operating systems, using Linux under Windows or even Windows under Linux without a large PC base. The biggest advantage of virtualization is that you always have a clean guest system, no matter what you do with it. Ideally, your host system remains completely untouched in the event of accidents and infections in the virtual machine. You can also make changes to the settings within the virtual machine to your heart’s content. With one click, you can return to the original state. On a real PC, a major crash can result in costly repair work. That said, virtualization has its limits. Virtual PC: Whether live system or installation – Linux Mint runs isolated in a Virtualbox environment. IDG While virtualization environments can translate the commands of the guest operating system to CPUs and memory with little loss of speed, this is not so easy with other hardware components. The graphics performance is not sufficient for complex games, as the memory is usually limited to 128 MB in the virtualization software, even if much more is available. Advantages and disadvantages of multiboot With a multiboot setup–whether with a live system or a permanently installed operating system–you can take advantage of your PC’s resources. The processor, RAM, and graphics memory are available without restriction. The same goes for other hardware components such as the printer, webcam, and scanner. A multi-boot system can be used in combination with Windows 11 and Linux Mint, for example, if the installation of Windows 11 fails due to the lack of hardware requirements. It also allows you to divide different tasks, effectively keeping work and personal use separate on the same machine. However, the disadvantage here is the double administration effort.