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13 Aug 2025

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Jennifer Aniston reveals she and Gwyneth Paltrow discuss Brad Pitt - 'How can we not? We're girls'
Asked if they ever discuss their mutual ex, she says: "Oh, of course. How can we not? We're girls."

Gethin Jones thanks NHS staff after dad's death
Goronwy Jones made a "big impact" on education working as a teacher in Cardiff for 40 years.

15 must-use free apps for your college laptop
College can be extremely expensive — not just with tuition and dorm costs, but with materials, books, software, and more. You might think you have to spend lots of cash on apps to get you through your degree. But, really, you don’t have to spend any money at all! (Except in rare situations where you need a very specific software for class, in which case your college should ideally provide you with a license for it.) Here’s a truly useful collection of free apps that are must-haves for students like you, allowing you to outfit your college laptop with the essential tools to get your work done and do more. Bitwarden for safer passwords Chris Hoffman / IDG A password manager is one of several essential cybersecurity tools for college students. You’ll probably accumulate lots of different logins for various school accounts and resources, right? Well, a password manager not only keeps all of those logins in one place, but also conveniently fills out login forms on your behalf. You’ll never have to remember your passwords again, which means you can freely use long, strong passwords that are unique to each account for maximum online security with close to zero effort. Bitwarden is our favorite free password manager. It’s open-source and can sync between your devices, so you can access all your passwords with convenient auto-fill whether you’re on your laptop, your phone, or any other device. All of its important features are truly free. Further reading: The best free password managers ProtonVPN for network privacy Chris Hoffman / IDG A VPN can be really useful when you’re on a college network. Whether your access to a certain site is blocked or your internet speeds are throttled for certain activities, a VPN can help you get around many restrictions and limitations imposed upon you. Furthermore, VPNs are important for data privacy and security, especially if you’re frequently on the go and constantly using public Wi-Fi networks with your laptop or phone (e.g., at coffee shops). While most trustworthy VPNs cost money, there are some excellent free options if you don’t need all the bells and whistles. ProtonVPN is our favorite free VPN because it’s from the same privacy-focused company that created the famous ProtonMail email service. Further reading: The best free VPNs that don’t suck Microsoft OneNote for taking notes Chris Hoffman / IDG Did you know one of the best note-taking apps is already installed on your PC? It’s called Microsoft OneNote and it’s excellent for students. Whether you want to type notes, insert images, write with a stylus, or even record audio during a lecture, OneNote can do it all. OneNote is extremely flexible, so it’s as powerful as you want it to be. It’s also cross-platform, so you’re leaving yourself open to options by choosing it. If you later switch to a MacBook or Chromebook, you’ll still have full access and functionality. It also works well on iPads and other tablets, in case you like to review notes on such devices. Further reading: The best note-taking apps for college students Microsoft Office for assignments Chris Hoffman / IDG Microsoft’s full-blown Microsoft Office suite with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint normally costs money, but many colleges provide it to students free or charge as part of an agreement with Microsoft. Check with your college acquiring a free educational license for Office. You can also head to Microsoft’s Office 365 Education website and plug in your school email address to see if you get it for free that way. Even if you can’t get Office for free, you can still use Word and other Office apps for free in a web browser or subscribe for $3 per month with a student discount. Microsoft To Do for task management Microsoft A task management app is essential for keeping track of due dates and staying on top of deadlines. If you’re deep into Google apps, you may want to use Google Tasks which is built into Gmail and Google Calendar. Otherwise, I recommend Microsoft To Do. This 100% free to-do app comes included with Windows, and it’s also available on Android and iPhone devices. It’s a powerful, easy-to-use tool that’s packed with features, including collaboration. (You can create a shared task list with a roommate or project partner!) Grammarly or Microsoft Editor for writing assistance and suggestions Chris Hoffman / IDG Many students use writing assistants to polish up their essays, and Grammarly is the premier writing assistant. It’s available both as a browser extension and a Windows app, with the Windows app conveniently integrating with other apps like Microsoft Word. Anyone can use Grammarly Free to get instant access to basic grammar checking and suggestions, but Grammarly Premium with AI writing suggestions costs extra. Some schools offer Grammarly Premium for free to students, but not all of them do. You can also use the Microsoft Editor browser extension, which is completely free and provides similar writing suggestions in your browser. iCloud for Windows to sync your iPhone and Apple services to PC Apple If you’re an iPhone user, I highly recommend installing Apple’s iCloud for Windows app. It provides several integrations with the Apple services you’re probably using on your phone. With it, you can see your iCloud Photos in the Windows Photos app, browse your iCloud Drive files in File Explorer, access your bookmarks in your web browser, and get access to your iCloud Keychain passwords. Quick Share and Phone Link to sync your Android phone to PC Chris Hoffman / IDG If you’re an Android phone user, check out the Google Quick Share app. It integrates your Windows PC with the Quick Share functionality on Android phones so you can wirelessly send files back and forth between PC and phone. It works with Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel, and more. Microsoft’s Phone Link feature, which is included with Windows, is also very useful if you have an Android phone. You can send text messages, take calls, manage notifications, and view/download photos from your phone’s camera roll, all from your PC. (It kind of works with iPhones too, but it works best with Android phones.) DaVinci Resolve for video editing Blackmagic Design When it comes to video editing, your mind likely goes right to professional software like Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro. Those may cost a pretty penny, but there’s an excellent alternative that’s just as good (mostly) and completely free: DaVinci Resolve. DaVinci Resolve is an extremely capable, industry-standard video editing and post-processing tool that’s actually used by professionals. It might actually be overboard if you’re just looking to edit a few clips, although I know some hobbyists who prefer it anyway. If you’re interested in video editing or post-production work and you’re on a tight budget, you owe it to yourself to try DaVinci Resolve. Adobe Photoshop Express for simple photo editing Chris Hoffman / IDG The Photos app built into Windows is a surprisingly capable tool for performing basic photo edits. But Adobe’s free Photoshop Express app is another great tool for quick photo touchups. With Photoshop Express, you can crop images, apply effects and filters, fix red-eye issues, and touch-up blemishes. This free photo-editing tool is meant to be simple and quick, so keep your expectations in check. For more powerful photo editing, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Adobe Photoshop isn’t free for students, but Adobe does offer a student discount on its Creative Cloud plans. Spotify for music streaming Spotify While Spotify has competition, it’s still the music streaming service. It has a high-quality Windows app (not just a web player) that integrates nicely with your PC. Unlike some of its competitors, Spotify offers free music streaming to everyone — you just need to listen to some ads. If those ads are a problem, you can get a student discount with the Spotify Premium for Students plan, which is $5.99 per month and comes with Hulu. (The bundled Hulu account does have ads, but the Spotify Premium account you get doesn’t have ads.) VLC for all-in-one video playback VLC Windows has a capable built-in video player these days, and there’s a good chance you don’t even need it because you’re probably doing most of your watching on YouTube, Netflix, and the like. But if you do find yourself viewing a lot of video files — especially videos in many different formats — then I have to recommend VLC. It’s been the go-to video player for decades. It’s the Swiss Army knife of media players that can play anything you throw at it. WizTree for freeing up drive space WizTree While Windows provides some built-in tools for clearing up space on your computer’s storage, one of the best ways to find out what’s using up all your space is to use WizTree, a free disk space analyzing tool that shows you — visually — how your space is used up. WizTree is the fastest way to analyze your disk space usage on Windows. With a quick scan, you can see exactly which files and folders are clogging up your drives, so you know exactly what you need to free up for the most impact right away. Perhaps you need to uninstall a particularly massive video game? Or maybe you have big media files lying around from a project? WizTree makes it easy to spot it all at a glance. VMware Workstation for virtual machines Christoph Hoffmann You may or may not need virtual machine software depending on your college major, but if you’re studying Computer Science or another along those lines, you might benefit from using virtual machines. Virtual machine software lets you install an operating system within your current operating system, essentially running an isolated instance of that OS within its own sandbox environment. This is a great way to install a full Linux system without giving up Windows, for example. (Or use the Windows Subsystem for Linux feature to run Linux apps on Windows.) VMware Workstation was, until very recently, a paid app. Broadcom now offers it free for personal use. It will likely be your best bet if you’re looking for a virtual machine application. Further reading: How to set up virtual machines with VMware Microsoft PowerToys for various useful tools and features Chris Hoffman / IDG Microsoft PowerToys is a collection of useful power-user tools that you probably didn’t know you needed. It’s packed with nifty utilities that can make your life easier, and they all come bundled together in one convenient (and free) package that’s easy to install. With PowerToys, you can do things like remapping keys on your keyboard (so they function as other keys), bulk rename lots of files at once, get a color-picking tool that gives you the color code for anything on your screen, and so many other useful things. And there you have it! A full assortment of free apps that’ll make your life as a college student that much more productive and enjoyable. For more software recommendations, check out our roundup of useful free apps that are already installed on your Windows PC.

‘It affects my day-to-day life’: Tennis great reveals rare medical condition
Monica Seles, who won nine grand slam titles during a glittering career, says it took her “quite some time to ”speak openly about it“.

Bypass Windows restrictions with these tricks
Windows users sometimes have the impression that the operating system has a life of its own and does not allow any contradictions. Some restrictions are intended to ensure the security of the operating system, which is understandable. Regular system updates, for example, are clearly necessary. However, many users would prefer to decide for themselves what and, above all, when something is installed. In some cases, the blockade can be lifted with on-board tools — and sometimes more easily with tools that we present to you here. Control Windows updates Updates are supposed to improve the security of the operating system and fix bugs. Sometimes the opposite is the case and an update paralyzes the computer or individual functions. Microsoft tries to reduce errors by delivering updates in waves, one after the other. If problems occur, the company can withdraw updates again. Mark Hachman / IDG Windows updates are particularly annoying if you want to use the computer quickly after a restart, but then only see the update progress bar. Reduce updates with on-board tools: Windows offers two options for controlling updates with every edition, but you have to activate them in good time. Go to “Windows Update” in the “Settings” (call with Win+I). Under “Pause updates” you can stop updates for up to seven weeks. After that, you must install all available updates so that the auto-update can be paused again. Windows 10 users go to “Update & Security > Windows Update” and click on “Pause updates for 7 days” or, for a longer period, on “Advanced options,” where you can set an end date under “Stop until.” The second option can be found in the “Settings” under “Network & internet > Ethernet” or “Network and Internet > WLAN.” Activate the switch behind “Metered connection.” In Windows 10, you still need to click on “Ethernet” or the Wi-Fi connection to see the switch. However, neither setting completely switches off the Windows update. Security-related updates in particular are still installed, but the total volume of downloads is significantly reduced as a result. ‘Secret’ settings for the Windows update You can extend the update pause period. To do this, open the registry editor, create the key Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings and in it the Dword value (32-bit) FlightSettingsMaxPauseDays with the content 00001c84 (hexadecimal). This corresponds to 7300 days, i.e. 20 years, which you can now set as an update pause. If you want to deactivate the automatic update, create the key Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate and in it the Dword value NoAutoUpdate with the content 1. Windows then automatically downloads no or only a few updates, but you can initiate the download at any time under “Windows Update” by clicking on “Check for updates.” Reduce updates: Configure the Internet connection as a “Metered connection.” Windows will then only download security-relevant updates.Foundry Disable Windows updates completely: If you really want to switch off Windows updates completely, use the Windows Update Blocker tool. Select the “Disable updates” option and click on “Apply now.” The tool deactivates all services that are responsible for updates and ensures that they are not reactivated. Only deactivate the Windows update if it is actually necessary. Once you have reactivated it, you should install all missing updates as quickly as possible. Temporarily do without all updates: Use Windows Update Blocker to switch off the update function to prevent disruptions caused by updates.Windows Update Blocker Defuse Microsoft Defender Virus scanners are often unable to recognize malware beyond doubt. To be on the safe side, the protection software warns of anything that could be potentially dangerous. This may be software that is categorized as dangerous simply because it has been downloaded from the internet and is not (yet) known to the virus scanner. In principle, there is little to criticize about this procedure. The virus scanner protects most Windows users from harmful email attachments or the download of malware. However, experienced users are often hindered by the start prohibitions. Partially deactivate Microsoft Defender: Only carry out the following actions if you are sure. If in doubt, check a file at www.virustotal.com for malware and get a second opinion. Paralyze the virus scanner: Disable real-time protection to allow you to start programs that Defender mistakenly classifies as malware.IDG If Microsoft’s antivirus protection reports when you download or start a program, go to “Privacy & security” in the “Settings” and click on “Windows Security.” Continue with “Virus & threat protection” and click on “Manage settings” under “Virus & threat protection settings.” Here you can deactivate “Real-time protection,” which means that Microsoft Defender will no longer scan new files. Windows does not remember the setting permanently and automatically reactivates real-time protection after a while. Under “Exclusions” you can click on “Add or remove exclusions” and “Add exclusion” to specify files and/or folders that the virus scanner should not scan. This is recommended, for example, for the project directories of development environments or folders in which you download files that Microsoft Defender prohibits. Prevent virus scan: Add a folder to the exclusions if you do not want Microsoft Defender to scan the files in it. Foundry Configure Microsoft Defender more easily and quickly The settings under “Windows Security” are not particularly clear. The free Defender UI tool has set out to improve this. When you start it for the first time, select the language at the top of the window. The tool shows several security profiles and you usually select “Recommended.” The details can be found in the descriptions. Click on the “i” in the settings to obtain explanations of the effects. On the “DefenderGuard” tab, you can specify the time period until automatic reactivation before “Real-time protection.” Use the Defender Exclusion Tool to quickly configure the exception list. Use the button in the toolbar to specify a folder that you want to exclude from the virus scan. Configure Microsoft Defender more quickly: Defender UI offers a clear interface where you can quickly find the most important settings.Defender UI Defender Control can disable Windows security completely. However, Windows understandably does not allow this: Software that wants to switch off virus protection is immediately classified as a threat. You should therefore add the folder in which you unpack the tool to the exclusion list. The download from the manufacturer is protected with the password sordum, which you enter when unpacking. Otherwise, the virus scanner would immediately remove the tool if real-time protection is activated. However, you must still deactivate real-time protection manually before starting the tool, as described above. In addition, set the switch under “Tamper protection” to “Off” in the “Virus and threat protection settings.” Edit the exclusion list more easily: With Defender Exclusion Tool, you can quickly add files or folders to the list that the virus scanner should not scan. Defender Exclusion Tool Once Defender Control has been started successfully, first go to “Menu > Add Defender Control to the white list.” The tool is then ignored by the real-time protection. Use the “Disable Windows Defender” button to switch off “Virus & Threat Protection” completely and click on “Enable Windows Defender” to switch it on again. Configure Smartscreen filter and Attachment Manager Smartscreen is another component of Microsoft Defender and is designed to protect your PC from malicious websites and downloads. When you open a website or download a file in Microsoft Edge, Smartscreen checks the reputation of the offer. If a website is on the blacklist, access is blocked. The hash value is checked for downloads. If the software is unknown, Windows categorizes it as potentially dangerous. The start ban generally applies to all downloads, even if you use a different browser. Start blockade: Smartscreen can prevent programs from starting simply because Microsoft Defender is not yet aware of the file.Foundry If you generally want to do without Smartscreen, go to “Privacy & security > Windows Security” in the “Settings” (Windows 10: “Update & security > Windows Security”). Click on “App and browser control” and then on “Reputation-based protection settings.” Set the switches for the desired options to “Off.” However, these settings do not prevent downloads from being prohibited. To do this, you must also deactivate real-time protection or add the download folder to the exclusion list. However, you are then responsible for the security of website visits and downloads. Additional measures: By default, Windows provides downloads with an (invisible) NTFS stream that certifies their origin and can prevent them from starting. You can recognize the stream in the properties of a file. On the “General” tab, the entry “The file originates from another computer. Access may have been blocked for security reasons.” Tick the “Allow” box and click “OK” to remove the NTFS stream. To prevent Windows from adding a stream to the downloads, create the following key in the registry Hkey_Current_User\Software\ Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\ Attachments and in it the Dword values (32-bit) SaveZoneInformation and ScanWithAntiVirus each with the data 1. Bypassing the upgrade ban on Windows 11 Windows 11 places higher demands on hardware than Windows 10. You can find out which requirements apply from Microsoft. However, most experts agree that there are only a few technical reasons for the hardware requirements of Windows 11. Windows 11 generally runs smoothly and without any noticeable loss of performance on previous Windows 10 PCs. If you want, you can try it out for yourself and install Windows 11 alongside Windows 10. An upgrade is also possible. The system requirements for Windows 11 are checked by the setup program and can be bypassed. This worked in our tests up to and including version 24H2. However, it cannot be ruled out that Microsoft will prevent the installation or upgrade on officially unsupported hardware in the future. To be on the safe side, you should therefore create a complete backup of your system. (See our recommendations for best Windows backup software.) To reinstall or upgrade, you will need the Windows 11 ISO file, the Rufus tool and a USB stick. Enter the ISO file in Rufus after clicking on “Select.” Set your installation stick under “Drive.” Create an installation stick: Rufus transports the content of an ISO file to the USB stick. This is also suitable for installing Windows 11 on unsupported hardware.Rufus Click on “Start” and tick the box “Remove requirements for 4GB RAM, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0.” If desired, activate further options. Confirm with “OK” and after checking the correctly selected drive, click “OK” again. For an upgrade, start “Setup.exe” from the installation stick. If Windows 11 is to be installed alongside Windows 10, you will need an empty partition or a second hard drive. You can reduce the size of the existing Windows partition using Disk Management or Minitool Partition Wizard Free. Boot the PC from the installation stick and enter the prepared partition as the target drive. You can adjust the boot sequence later with Bootice. Use an alternative tool: Use the Win11 Bypass tool to create a customized ISO file for a semi-automatic Windows installation without hardware check. Click on “Customize response file” and enter the user name, password, computer name, and network workgroup. Click on “Create ISO file.” You can use the ISO file if you want to try out Windows 11 in Virtualbox, for example. You can also prepare a USB stick with Ventoy. Ventoy offers the advantage over Rufus that you can store several ISO files on the stick and boot the PC from it. Retrofitting Pro functions in the Home Edition The Windows Home edition lacks some functions that are available in the Pro edition. This is not a serious shortcoming because you can realize most of the functions with free tools. Veracrypt, for example, can be used as a replacement for Bitlocker, and you can set up virtual PCs with Virtualbox instead of Hyper-V. The only thing missing is the editor for local group policies, which administrators can use to define individual user rights in detail. It can be useful for professionals if several people use the PC and you want to prohibit certain settings. You can use the standalone Policy Plus editor. If you use this to change the policies and click on “File > Save Policies,” the changes are immediately transferred to the registry. Note: You should always create a backup before making major changes to the registry. You can use the Registry Backup Portable tool for the registry alone. Or you can create a backup of the system with your Windows backup program. Use a repair system with more functions Windows offers a repair system with a few tools. It is used when Windows no longer starts and you can use it to restore the system from restore points or uninstall updates, among other things. For the rescue system, boot the PC from the installation medium and select “Repair my PC” in Windows 11 (Windows 10: “Computer repair options”). The repair system starts a greatly reduced Windows (Windows PE, Preinstallation Environment) without network and internet access. However, there have been projects for a very long time that significantly expand Windows PE and equip it with additional tools including network access. By providing a ready-to-use mini-Windows, the developers are probably operating in a legal gray area. Putting together a rescue system: Phoenix PE creates a Mini-Windows with numerous tools and programs. You can choose what to include.IDG However, some interpret Microsoft’s restrictions differently and make complete PE systems available for download, such as Hiren’s BootCD PE. You are on the legally safe side if you put together the PE system yourself.