Latest Software Reviews
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Reviews
Celeste review: An excellent platformer with an excellent message
Celeste is the best precision platformer since Super Meat Boy. It's also an amazing parable about depression. The way those two combine is what makes it so endearing.
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HotSpot Shield review: It’s fast, beautiful, and definitely not for anonymity
AnchorFree's HotSpot Shield Premium is a great service, unless you're concerned about the highest level of privacy.
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MiniTool ShadowMaker review: Simple, free image backup
MiniTool's ShadowMaker Free creates images of your hard drive, creates bootable rescue media and is just an all-around gem of a freebie.
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Rusty Lake Paradise review: Bizarre and brilliant
Rusty Lake Paradise's brand of Victorian Gothic weirdness is still unique enough to earn a wholehearted recommendation.
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Avira Antivirus Pro review: Great performance, but the free version is probably sufficient
Avira Antivirus Pro is great for detecting viruses and offers minimal impact on your PC's performance. Still, you don't get that much for $45 per year compared to the free version.
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ESET Internet Security review: A highly rated security suite with an eye on the connected home
It's an antivirus suite with a creepy robot mascot, but it's still a great tool.
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Life is Strange: Before the Storm review: A small town and smaller stakes
Life is Strange: Before the Storm isn’t as groundbreaking as its predecessor, but it's an excellent refinement of those ideas and a solid prequel.
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Fallout 4 VR review: An epic sense of scale bolsters this janky VR port
Fallout 4 VR stumbles with janky, unintuitive controls and UI, but the sheer scale of the Commonwealth makes up for it.
Reviews
Star Wars: Battlefront II – Resurrection review: A disappointing end to Iden Versio’s story
A month after Star Wars: Battlefront II's disastrous launch its first free add-on goes live, including a proper ending to its story. The downside: It's not very good.
Reviews
Avid Media Composer First review: Get all the pro features with just a few limitations
Avid Media Composer First is the free version of one of Hollywood’s most popular film and TV editing programs.If you have the patience to grapple with its complexity, Avid Media Composer First is excellent software for learning professional video editing skills.
Reviews
VSDC review: This free video editor holds back too much
VSDC has a lot of features you won’t find in other free video editors, like picture-in-picture, video stabilization, and the ability to upload multiple YouTube videos at once. If you can deal with its quirks, it’s one of the most powerful options available. But its interface isn’t very user-friendly, it has some major limitations, and the free version essentially throttles the speed at which you can process your videos.
Reviews
Hitfilm Express 2017 review: Powerful features lie behind a quirky interface
Hitfilm Express is a free video editor with great tutorials and powerful features. However, its unconventional interface and annoying download procedure could turn off some users.
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Lightworks for Windows review: The free version falls short in export options
Lightworks' free version is strikingly powerful in terms of features, but its export options are very limited.
Reviews
Shotcut review: This open-source video editor is impressive
Shotcut is an open-source, free video editing program that has been around for more than a decade. It’s not the most intuitive or professionally presented, but beneath its rough presentation lies a remarkably powerful program.
Reviews
Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris is a decent expansion but no game-changer (yet)
Destiny 2's Curse of Osiris expansion is here, just a few short weeks after its PC debut. Is it enough to save Destiny 2's flagging endgame?
Reviews
OnePlus 5T review: A $500 mid-range phone with the heart of a $900 flagship
The OnePlus 5T refreshes the 5 with a new 6-inch screen and skinny bezels, and a camera that's better but still a step below the best.
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Destiny 2 review: Gaming junk food that we can’t put down
Destiny 2's irresistibly delicious gunplay keeps you coming despite some flaws.
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Huawei Mate 10 Pro review: A great phone that’s not quite pro
Huawei's Mate 10 Pro is a great phone with a fantastic chip, stellar battery life, and a killer camera, but its "pro" features leave a lot to be desired.
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VyprVPN review: A good non-American, American VPN
VyprVPN is not ideal for people who want ultimate anonymity, but for most users it's a fine choice.
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iMovie 10 review: Free video editing that’s elegant and easy
Apple’s iMovie is a delight to use, if sometimes minimalist to a fault. It lacks some of the formats and features supported in other programs, but what’s there is implemented beautifully.
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Buffered VPN review: It gets the job done
Respectable speeds and helpful tools make Buffered a solid choice for VPN users.
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Venmo review: An app that makes it easy—and social—to split the check
With its huge user base, sleek interface, flexible payment options and agility at splitting bills, Venmo is the peer-to-peer payment app to beat.
Reviews
Facebook Messenger for payments review: A no-frills way to send cash to Facebook friends
If you're a Facebook user and you enjoy chatting with friends using Facebook Messenger, you're just taps away from exchanging cash with your Facebook buddies.
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Snapcash review: Send cash to Snapchatters in a snap, or with a swipe
Snapcash offers the easiest way to send money to fellow Snapchatters, but we're talking bare-bones features here.
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Zelle review: Instant cash, as long as you’ve using the right bank
This P2P payment app has an ace up its sleeve: instant and free cash transfers, so long as both the sender and the recipient are customers of participating Zelle banks.
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Google Wallet review: Easy money sending and bill splitting, if you’re on iOS
If not for its limitations on Android, Google Wallet would be a strong contender for "Best Mobile Payment App that Isn't Venmo."
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Square Cash review: A simple, versatile mobile payment app
It may not be as hip as Venmo, but Square Cash is a solid option for users who want to send and receive cash from virtually anyone.
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PayPal review: A safe but costly mobile payment app
PayPal's mobile app makes for one of the more secure ways to send and receive cash from friends or even strangers, but you're on your own when it comes to splitting the bill.
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Call of Duty: WWII review: Not a remaster, but it might as well be
Nostalgia mitigates Call of Duty: WWII's weak story and bland characters, and multiplayer is better than before.
Reviews
Adobe Premiere Elements 18 review: The best video editor does it all for you
Adobe Premiere Elements stands out with tutorials and automatic curation and content creation features that very nearly do all the work for you.
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HTC U11 Life review: A mid-range phone that punches above its class
HTC's U11 Life has the features of a premium phone but costs half as much.
Reviews
Assassin’s Creed: Origins review: Climb like an Egyptian
Assassin's Creed: Origins provides a solid foundation for the future, but a year off hasn't changed the series as much as you might've hoped.
Reviews
LG V30 review: Another great LG phone that just isn’t great enough
The LG V30 tries to break out of its niche with more mainstream appeal, but the results are pretty much the same.
Reviews
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus review: No other game could pull this off
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus deftly blends social commentary with riding robo-dogs through Nazi-occupied streets.
World Beyond Windows
Hands-on: The Purism Librem 15 builds serious security into a slender laptop
The Librem 15 offers both hardware and software privacy and security features in an attractive, open-source-friendly package.
Reviews
Destiny 2 PC review impressions: Worth the wait
Destiny 2 just launched on PCs and it's glorious, with gorgeous graphics and tight gunplay.
Reviews
Harman Kardon Invoke hands-on: Cortana enters the smart speaker market with a boom
Harman Kardon has unveiled its Invoke speaker, powered by Microsoft Cortana. It's years behind competing devices from Amazon and Google, but seems to hold up pretty well.
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Moto X4 Android One review: A good reminder of what a great deal looks like
Android One is the new Nexus program, and the Moto X4 Android One is the phone to get if you're a diehard Android user on a budget and want to subscribe to Google's Project Fi.
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Comodo Internet Security Pro 10 Review: It works well, but read every install screen closely
Comodo Internet Security Pro 10 will do the job inexpensively, but its free trial has a few aggravating habits.
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Windows Defender review: Basic protection at the right price
While Windows 10's native security suite can handle threats, many third-party solutions offer more comprehensive protection.
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Avast Premier review: An attractive antivirus suite with limited install options
Avast looks great, performs well, and has all kinds of extra features. It's also expensive.
Reviews
Norton Security Premium review: You’ll pay a pretty penny for this excellent security suite
Norton Security Premium has a great interface and is highly-rated for antivirus and malware protection. However, you'll shell out quite a bit more for it than other premium security suites.
Updated
Windows 10 Fall Creators Update review: This could be Microsoft’s biggest Windows yet
Microsoft's Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is its most ambitious ever, betting big on mixed reality while using pen, dictation, and a trio of excellent 3D apps to satisfy existing Microsoft Windows users.
Reviews
Pixel 2 XL review: A.I. magic on a 6-inch display
The Pixel 2 XL is a no-brainer upgrade—unless you already own the original Pixel XL. Here's your comprehensive look at Pixel 2 XL's marquee features, and how they rate.
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South Park: The Fractured But Whole review: This game doesn’t stink, but the bugs sure do
South Park: The Fractured But Whole builds off its predecessor's excellent foundation, with deeper combat, a stronger story, and vulgar jokes galore.
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The Evil Within 2 (PC) impressions: Help, I’m stepping into the Twilight Zone
The Evil Within 2 might not be perfect, but it opens much stronger than its predecessor—and handles quite a bit better too.
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Forza Motorsport 7 PC impressions: A solid lightweight racing sim sullied by loot boxes
Forza Motorsport 7 isn't the most exacting racing simulator around, but it's sim enough for me.
Reviews
Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides review: Collaboration is king
With its solid Office support and co-authoring features, Google's trio of productivity apps offer an attractive online alternative for mobile workers.
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Microsoft Office Online review: Work with your favorite Office formats for free
Microsoft's paired-down online apps give you all the Office essentials without the hefty price tag.
Reviews