APCの June 2025 の目次

Hi everyone, and welcome to another most excellent issue of APC. This month we’re feeling the tides of change and have produced a properly big article about Linux as a viable alternative to Windows. As you probably know, Windows 10 goes end of life this year, and while Windows 11 may beckon for many, Linux makes for a fascinating choice. It isn’t what it used to be. You may have dabbled, or considered making the switch in the past, and perhaps been put off by the intimidating landscape of choice plus the seemingly hardcore technical aspects. Things are as simple as can be now. In this issue we’ve got a step-by-step setup guide that shows it’s as easy – if not easier – than Windows to get up and running.…

We are in the centre of a trade war storm the likes of which we have never seen before. President Trump has decided that he knows best, and that international trade can be reduced to a few simple sums in a spreadsheet. I’d suggest using a slide rule, but I suspect log tables are a little beyond him. Part of this enormous upheaval is the imposition of large tariffs on good exported from China into the USA. Well, that might change by this afternoon, and it has changed several times in the last few days. But let’s just run with the concept of tariffs on imported electronics. The logic, thin as it might seem, is that by forcing tariffs on the likes of Acer, Apple, Audi and most all other…

PRICE $847 (128GB) WEB store.google.com For a long time, Google has been nearly untouchable when it comes to mid-price phones, but recent newcomers such as the $849 Nothing Phone 3a Pro and Apple’s $999 iPhone 16e have put it under pressure. The Pixel 9a reclaims the crown thanks to strong hardware, powerful AI features – and very competitive pricing. The Pixel comes in four chic colours – Iris, Obsidian, Peony and Porcelain – although it lacks something of the character of previous models. That’s because Google has replaced the distinctive camera bar with a smaller, more conventional bump. You may appreciate the simpler look, but to me it feels like a shame to lose such a key part of the Pixel’s identity. Other changes are subjective too, such as the…

WEBSITE elementary.io Elementary pitches itself as a thoughtful, capable and ethical replacement for Windows and macOS. Currently at version 8, it’s based on Ubuntu LTS 24.04.1 and offered on a pay-what-you-can basis (if that’s nothing, enter zero in the box on the download page). LTS 24.04 is the most recent long-term Ubuntu release. It shipped in April 2024, which makes it two years younger than the Ubuntu LTS 22.04 on which Pop!_OS is based. It will continue to receive support until August 2029. Elementary OS looks nothing like Ubuntu, and even if you’re familiar with the OS on which it’s based, you might need a little time to find your bearings. Installation is quick and easy, with account creation and language selection handled after first boot. At that point, you…

WEBSITE get.opensuse.org Now 30 years old, openSUSE is one of the longest-standing distributions still in widespread use. Despite this, it will almost certainly be the most up-to-date option whenever you choose to install it. That’s because Tumbleweed is in continuous development, with a new release shipped every day. Indeed, look at the official title of this review and you can work out when we downloaded it (naturally, there were no patches available for installation upon first boot). If you don’t like the idea of an ever-changing distribution, opt instead for openSUSE Leap. This is a more traditional model with major updates appearing annually and an emphasis on stability rather than including the most cutting-edge components. You’ll need to invoke it manually to upgrade a Leap installation, but with Tumbleweed the…

So long, Windows 10. As mentioned at the outset, Microsoft will end support from its decade-old operating system later this year. So, if you haven’t already upgraded to Windows 11, now would be a good time to consider your next step. Sticking with Windows is one option but, as our reviews hopefully show, switching to Linux is a viable alternative. The last time I wrote a Linux Labs, I said the platform had come of age: nothing that’s happened since then has changed my mind. Together, the various distributions cater for just about any requirement, whether that’s photo editing on a high-end workstation or breathing new life into a decades-old machine that would otherwise head for recycling. In devising this Labs, I took the centre ground. My test machine was…

PRICE $439asustor.com Although an entry-level two-bay NAS enclosure, the Asustor Drivestor 2 Pro AS3302T punches above its weight, delivering a level of performance that puts it above its budget rivals. The slight lack of upgradability will put off those who want more from their NAS device, but if you have more basic needs, this is an excellent device. The two SATA hard disk bays are hidden behind a magnetic panel on the front. There are no locks on the drive caddies, but the panel will at least stop the casual fiddler from messing with running hard disks. Both drive bays use a screwless design, so you can quickly pop the disks in and have the NAS ready to go in a matter of minutes. We did struggle with the hard…

Technically, you can install any hard disk in a NAS. Although it’s generally best to use the same type of disk in each slot – the same manufacturer, model and size – if you have spare hard disks lying around then there’s no harm in using them. If buying storage from scratch, you’ll have a choice between standard desktop hard disks and models specially designed to be used in a NAS, such as the WD Red hard disks we used for this test. So, what’s the difference, and do you really need NAS hard disks? NAS hard disks have been explicitly designed to work in the confined spaces of a NAS enclosure and are intended to be operated 24 hours per day. As such, they’re built to last longer and…

PRICE $999qnap.com Although it has a mid-range price, the Qnap TS-464 has the flexibility and performance of a more expensive device. It’s also available in a two-bay version, the TS-264, which we review on p86. While many NAS devices at this price offer only gigabit Ethernet, this device has two 2.5GbE ports, plus an expansion port if you ever need dual 10GbE ports. Inside, Qnap pairs an Intel Celeron N5095 processor with 8GB of RAM. That leaves a spare SODIMM slot that can take another 8GB stick of DDR4 RAM for a maximum of 16GB – handy if you want to run lots of apps on the NAS. The four hard drive bays are located at the front of the NAS. They’re covered by a panel with a simple slider…

PRICE $1,049terra-master.com Although it looks like the standard F4-424, the TerraMaster F4-424 Pro has all-new internals. And a higher price. However, that nets you an eight-core Intel Core i3-N305 CPU (3.8GHz boost speed) and memory slots pre-populated with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, so you’re getting a lot for your money. The F4-424 Pro should be ready for anything you can throw at it. Build quality and usability are mixed. It’s great to see four hot-swap hard disk caddies that slide out of the front, but they’re not covered and don’t have a lock. So, unlike Synology’s NAS devices, anyone can pop out a disk whenever they want. While the hard disks bays are tool-free, the two M.2 2280 NVMe slots (PCIe Gen 3) are only accessible when the case has…

When buying a NAS device, it’s vital to think about flexibility. Starting with the basics, that means buying the right number of bays for your needs. However, it’s also about your ability to use SSD storage in the way that you want. It’s becoming increasingly common to see NAS enclosures that let you use SSDs in a storage pool, for fast, quiet storage, not caching alone. That becomes even more important if you can use four NVMe drives instead of two. Layered on top that is the NAS enclosure’s operating system and range of apps. Sure, a NAS must provide network-connected storage, but modern devices are fully fledged servers that can provide everything from media streaming and security camera surveillance to Dropbox-style file synchronisation. Then we come to networking, and…

ANDROID & iOS Use images and audio in ChatGPT WhatsApp chats For some time now it has been possible to add the ChatGPT AI assistant as a WhatsApp contact so you can chat like you’re messaging a friend. OpenAI has now expanded the feature to let you include images and voice notes in your WhatsApp conversations with the chatbot. This means you can ask ChatGPT to analyse photos you upload or capture with your phone’s camera, and tell you more information about their subjects. Just tap the paperclip or camera icon to add an image to your text query (1 in our screenshot right). To interact with ChatGPT in WhatsApp using your voice, press the microphone button to record and share a voice message 2. The chatbot will detect what…

Download these APC exclusives free from: www.apcmag.com/exclusives ASHAMPOO BACKUP 2025 BACK UP AND RESTORE FILES WITH EASE. Ashampoo Backup Pro 25 is Windows-based a comprehensive backup solution to back up or restore any file, partition or bootable operating system. Real-time file monitoring updates backups fully automatically on file modifications. Archives can easily be restored in the event of hardware issues or system malware infections. Backups can be created fully automatically thanks to smart background technology that does not interfere with normal PC operation. For that, Ashampoo Backup Pro 25 monitors the system load and only becomes active when enough resources are available. Four different compression methods and strong encryption ensure space-efficient and secure backup. AUDIALS MUSIC 2025.2 SE SIMPLE MUSIC RECORDING. Thanks to the enormous range of music available on…

Since the launch of its Blackwellpowered RTX 50 series there has been problem after problem with the new cards, even culminating in issues crossing over into RTX 40 series products. It started off poorly with the world-wide launch providing a relatively insignificant number of cards to retailers for sale, resulting in scalping and ultimately price hikes. Nvidia’s early withdrawal of new RTX 40 series cards exacerbated the issue, stemming from the premature RTX 40 series launch that clashed with RTX 30 series stock, leading to competitive pricing problems. This overcorrection for the RTX 50 series has caused a temporary gap in the supply of new cards and created more demand than usual for a new series. No competition in the high end has also led to the RTX 5080 –…

WEBSITE fedoraproject.org Fedora celebrated its 20th birthday in 2023, which makes it one of the longest-established distros on test. It has an impressive heritage, with roots in the Red Hat Linux project. The association continues to the present day, with Red Hat employees contributing to Fedora’s development, Red Hat itself sponsoring Fedora, and – in a virtuous circle – innovations rolled out in Fedora feeding back into Red Hat Enterprise Linux. If you use Red Hat in a business environment, it therefore makes a lot of sense to opt for Fedora at home. A new build is released roughly every six months and supported for 13 months, so this is a distro that refreshes regularly but doesn’t require an update (patches aside) more than once a year if you’re looking…

WEBSITE manjaro.org Manjaro is the only Arch-based distro on test. Along with the Arm variant, for phones, there’s the x86 variant – and naturally that’s the one we tested. The distro is available with a choice of desktops: KDE Plasma, Xfce and Gnome as official images, supplemented by community images featuring Cinnamon (as seen in Linux Mint), i3 and Sway WM. We opted for KDE Plasma as it was presented first in the list of official images. Our build, available in Minimal and Full flavours, was released on 16 December last year. Manjaro uses a rolling release model in which the core is continually upgraded as replacement builds become available. That means you shouldn’t need to do a large manual update at any point. As such, there’s not really a…

WEBSITE pop.system76.com Developer System76 describes Pop!_OS as an operating system for STEM and creative professionals who use their computer as a tool to discover and create. In part, this is made possible by some clever UI tweaks that help you navigate the interface more quickly. Enable the Auto-Tiling feature, for instance, and it will generate a mosaic of application windows, which dynamically rearranges as your windows multiply. You can use keyboard shortcuts or trackpad gestures to navigate from one window to another, or drag and drop the windows themselves – in which case a semi-opaque overlay demonstrates the space they’ll occupy when you release them. When you do this, other windows rearrange to fit. The way you find and launch apps has been rethought, too. Press the Windows/symbol key and,…

PRICE $399 qnap.com The first sign of this NAS drive’s low price comes when you want to open it. While most NAS enclosures here are screw-free, Qnap’s TS-233 isn’t. Before you can install the hard disks, the bottom screw has to be removed, and then the case side removed. That’s easier said than done, and we had to consult the manual as the side didn’t want to budge at first. Once open, you’ll find two hard disk caddies that unclip and slide out. SATA hard disks can then be clipped in (fortunately, no screws are needed here) and then you simply slide the caddies back into place. With the side open, it’s clear that there are no further expansion opportunities: the Qnap TS-233 can’t have its memory upgraded and doesn’t…

PRICE $849 synology.com Synology’s top-of-the-range two-bay NAS device, the DS723+, is highly expandable, has lots of power and is easy to set up and install. It includes two Ethernet ports, but these are 1GbE rather than 2.5GbE, which feels outdated on such an expensive product. But there’s so much else here that is great. The DS723+ is a breeze to set up, as it’s entirely tool-free. The two SATA hard disk bays on the front have simple keylocks to prevent anyone accidentally pulling a live drive out. Once unlocked, the caddies slide out, and hard disks can be quickly inserted. If you want SSD caching, two NVMe slots are available underneath. Just remove the screw-free covers and insert the drives into the slots. It’s brilliantly simple, whether you want to…

PRICE $1,299synology.com A five-bay NAS, the Synology DiskStation DS1522+ opens up more options and gives more flexibility than a four-bay enclosure. It also has much in common with the other Synology enclosures here, benefitting from a powerful operating system and brilliant apps. The enclosure has a tool-free design throughout. Hard disk caddies are available from the front of the device, and can be locked into place using the provided plastic key. This simple latching system won’t stop a determined thief, but it will stop someone accidentally removing a hard disk while the NAS is running. Having five bays, rather than four, gives extra flexibility. You can use the extra drive for additional storage space, opting for a single-disk-failure fault tolerance. You can also opt for a system with two-disk redundancy…

Find the best deals on new gear at getprice.com/au Premium laptops Apple MacBook Pro M4 ONE OF THE BEST LAPTOPS THAT’S EVER BEEN MADE. This M4 update to the already brilliant MacBook Pro line is an easy recommendation, so the big question becomes do you choose the 14in version or 16in. But whatever you choose should last for years, and look great while it’s doing it. From $2,499, apple.com/au THE ALTERNATIVES ASUS ZENBOOK A14 This affordable and super-slim laptop with a 14in OLED panel has all the performance most people need at a very competitive price, and it boasts fantastic build quality. $1,999, asus.com APPLE MACBOOK AIR M4 If you don’t need the all-out power of the Pro, this is a brilliant, cheaper alternative despite the unchanged chassis and screen.…

WINDOWS 10 & 11 View your Wi-Fi information in dark mode You can see your saved Wi-Fi networks by opening Windows settings (press Windows key+I) then clicking ‘Network & internet’ followed by WiFi then ‘Manage known networks’. However, you don’t see details such as when you logged on, whether the connection was automatic, or what kind of encryption it uses (if any). You can see this information in Command Prompt, but it’s easier to use NirSoft’s superb little tool ManageWirelessNetworks. Download it by clicking the purple download link at the bottom of tinyurl.com/APC546nirsoft. It’s safe to use, so if Microsoft Defender shows a ‘Windows protected your PC’ warning, click ‘More info’ then ‘Run anyway’. Now click View at the top followed by Black Background (see screenshot below). The background will…

YOU’LL NEED • Pi Pico W or Pico 2 W• Breadboard• DHT11 temperature sensor• I2C OLED 128x64 pixel display• 7x M2M jumper wires• Code: https://bit.ly/lxf328code In this tutorial, we’re building something to keep our strawberries safe from frost. Using a DHT11 temperature sensor, an OLED display and a Pico W, we will get live temperature data displayed on the screen and an alert to a smartphone using Ntfy.sh. The circuit for this project is broken down into two parts. The input is our DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor, which connects to the Pico’s 3.3V output, GND and the data pin to GP2. The OLED display connects to 3.3V, GND and to SDA (GP0) and SCL (GP1). See the high-res diagram, available in the download for this issue. Coding the project…

PRICE Free PLATFORM PC WEB tinyurl.com/APC546vendran ENERGY IS HARD TO COME BY. Vendrán las aves is a game about dealing with work-induced burnout. In this narrative time management game you’ve taken a year off from your job and bought a new electric guitar, which is surely the perfect recipe for a year of joyful musical expression from the comfort of your flat. Turns out humans rely on energy, which is in short supply after work has drained the last joule from you. So while you might want to ‘shred’ your ‘axe’ the reality is that you have just enough energy to have a shower or cook a hot meal – but not usually both. It’s a frustrating game to play, and that’s just the right tone as it’s a frustrating…

Everything you need to know from the month in tech Microsoft is adding even more AI to Windows 11 courtesy of a new agent that can assist users in the settings app. Microsoft announced in a Windows Experience blog post that the new AI assistant will be capable of adjusting user settings on request, including adjusting mouse precision and asking questions on how to perform specific tasks. Once it arrives, the new AI agent will be able to assist users in troubleshooting their PC and answer any questions about settings users need help adjusting. The new AI bot, which will be accessible at the top of the Settings app’s window bar, can also adjust settings entirely on its own with the user’s permission. Microsoft’s upcoming AI agent will first debut…

A couple of weeks ago a heated discourse broke out in the office on a matter of grave importance: why would anyone be excited about the Nintendo Switch 2 when the Steam Deck is sitting right there? As an advocate, I guess, for Valve’s device, I can accept that Nintendo will outsell the Steam Deck easily, and probably within hours: it has the brand power, a reputation for building hardware that even children can use, and, well, Mario and Zelda. All important factors, and I don’t think the Steam Deck is going to materially affect Nintendo’s dominance of the handheld market – not straight away and probably not for years (if ever). That’s not to say it shouldn’t, though, and my conviction that the Steam Deck offers a better handheld…

PRICE $299 (1TB), $459 (2TB), $839 (4TB) WEB samsung.com Starting at $299.99 for a 1TB capacity drive, the 9100 Pro is Samsung’s first ‘true’ PCIe 5.0 SSD after the Samsung 990 EVO and Samsung 990 EVO Plus. Both those drives are PCIe 5.0, but they only use two PCIe 5.0 lanes, which limits their practical speeds to PCIe 4.0 standards. The 9100 Pro, meanwhile, is a full-fat PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 drive, meaning its theoretical max speed for sequential reads is upwards of roughly 15,000MB/s and 14,000MB/s for sequential writes. Samsung promises that its latest drive can hit up to 14,800MB/s sequential read and 13,400MB/s sequential write, and the Samsung 9100 Pro gets there. The T705 hits a max sequential read speed of 14,390MB/s in CrystalDiskMark 8 on the same…

Linux can run from a USB drive as well as it does from an SSD. You can test most distributions this way before you commit them to internal storage. But why stop there? Running an operating system entirely from a USB thumb drive makes it uniquely portable. You can carry it with you if you travel and, so long as you aren’t blocked by the host machine’s Secure Boot settings, use it to start any device meeting the distribution’s minimum spec. Whether that’s a friend’s old Intel Mac or your Airbnb’s ageing PC, you won’t risk damaging their setup, nor leaving behind any of your personal data. Many distributions make a virtue of this. Head for Tails The Amnesic Incognito Live System (Tails) is a Debian-based distribution that’s designed to…

WEBSITE linuxmint.com Linux Mint is one of the most talked-about distributions, for reasons we’ll come to later. Ubuntu-based, it’s been around for 18 years and has earned itself a loyal following. It’s updated roughly one month after the Ubuntu LTS build on which each version is based, so you should see a major release every other year, along with point releases every six months. Major builds are supported for five years, with support for this release, codenamed Xia and based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, running through to 2029. The installation process is the same as for Ubuntu: as it handles creating your user account, all you need to do once it’s finished is log in. At this point you’ll encounter the well-designed onboarding process, presenting a series of one-click buttons…

WEBSITE mxlinux.org This is the only distribution on test running the Xfce desktop environment by default. Designed to run well on less powerful hardware, this makes MX Linux a natural choice for anyone who wants to squeeze a few more years of life out of an ageing machine. If you don’t get on with Xfce, it’s also available with KDE and Fluxbox, but there’s no harm in giving it a go: you can install alternatives later, including Mate, Gnome Base and Budgie, from the Package Installer. In its default state, this particular implementation of Xfce looks more basic (and to our eyes less appealing) than KDE or Gnome, but it’s highly customisable and you can add themes, so there’s no reason for it to stay like that. For example, the…

WEBSITE ubuntu.com Ubuntu is possibly the best-known desktop distribution among consumers – and with good reason. Not only is it fully featured and frequently updated, it’s also the basis of many other distros, including Zorin OS, Elementary OS, Pop!_OS and Linux Mint. That might surprise you when you consider how different they each look, but it’s like Android phone manufacturers putting their own skin and refinements on Google’s stock OS. As a result, Ubuntu is well supported and has a large user base, which can help when searching for answers. You can choose between minimal and full installations, with the former featuring just a narrow selection of software, including Firefox but no email client or office suite. The full build rolls in LibreOffice, Rhythmbox media player, Shotwell photo organiser, Thunderbird…

PRICE $729qnap.com The Qnap TS-264 is aimed at those who want a bit more from a traditional two-bay NAS. It’s effectively the two-bay version of the excellent four-bay TS-464 that we review on p89; the latter is worth buying if you know you need more storage from the off. Aside from having half the bays of its big brother, the TS-264 has many of the same benefits, including the dual 2.5GbE ports at the rear, which open the NAS up to faster transfer rates. If you want more, a PCIe Gen 3 x2 slot lies empty, ready and waiting for a dual-port 10GbE card. There’s a powerful 4-core Intel Celeron N5095 processor inside, which is paired with 8GB of DDR4 RAM. If you want to run more apps, you can…

PRICE $879 asustor.com Built for those who demand the best performance, the Asustor Nimbustor 4 Gen2 AS5404T is a four-bay NAS that offers much more than most, with some nice surprises under its standard-looking exterior. Like other Asustor NAS enclosures, the AS5404T hides its tool-free drive bays behind a magnetically connected fascia. That not only makes the outside look nicer but means that the drives can’t be tampered with. The drive caddies aren’t locked and lift out with a simple lever action, making a disconcerting snapping sound as they come free. We struggled to get the caddy clips out and had to use a screwdriver to tease them out; they needed a hard push to put them back into place, too. The AS5404T takes up to four M.2 SSDs, but…

PRICE $839synology.com The Synology DS923+ has been around for a few years now and remains a high-quality, upgradable four-bay NAS that’s a great fit for small businesses. This model shares a lot with the two-bay DS723+, but you only pay a little more for the extra two storage bays. And, while both devices have a dual-core 2.6GHz AMD Ryzen 1600 processor, the DS923+ has double the base memory at 4GB. It’s possible to upgrade the RAM to a maximum of 32GB if you use both SODIMM slots and don’t mind discarding the existing stick of DDR4 memory. If you’re going to run lots of apps, it could well be worth it. The DS923+ uses Synology’s brilliant screw-free design. The four drive bays at the front are all tool-free and unclip…

PRICE $1,596qnap.com Qnap’s TS-h973AX is a nine-bay NAS, but don’t imagine that this enclosure can take nine 3.5in hard disks. Instead, those nine bays can take a mixed collection of storage, all accessible from the front via pull-out drive caddies. The caddies can be locked into place with a simple key lock. This is enough to stop someone from accidentally pulling out a hard disk while the system is running. Five 3.5in caddies for traditional hard disks sit at the top of the device. This gives good flexibility, as you can either increase the size of a storage pool compared to a four-bay NAS or use the extra slot with RAID6 for two-disk redundancy. Underneath sit four 2.5in bays. The bottom two are for SATA disks, either laptop-style hard disks…

SCORPTEC GLITCH RTX 4070 $2,299tinyurl.com/APC546sco This whiteout themed system looks well done, ignoring the completely black graphics card which rather detracts from the effect. Coming in the same price as the PC Case Gear system, this has a slightly faster CPU and memory combination, though it has to be said that the 6600MHz RAM is overkill on the Ryzen 7000 series, so a little bit of wasted money there. Nice RAM, PSU and SSD capacities make for a comfortable system for any task however the RTX 4070 is a generation old now and is a bit of a let down for a new system. CPU AMD Ryzen 5 7600X; COOLER Thermalright Assassin X 120 Refined SE; MOTHERBOARD Asus Prime B650M-A WiFi II; GRAPHICS Asus Dual Evo GeForce RTX 4070 OC…

MICROSOFT OFFICE Collapse ribbon when you make spreadsheet smaller By default, when you click the top-right ‘Restore Down’ icon to make your document, presentation or spreadsheet smaller, all the ribbon functions in the tab you’ve got open remain in view (see screenshot 1). If you find this cluttered, you can collapse the ribbon so you only see the tabs 2. Click File, then Options at the bottom. Now click General on the left and tick ‘Collapse the ribbon automatically’ 3. MICROSOFT WORD Use shortcuts for endnotes, footnotes and index entries Microsoft Word has several keyboard shortcuts that make it easier to add endnotes and footnotes in documents, and mark an index entry. For endnotes press Alt+Shift+D; for footnotes press Alt+Shift+F; and for index entries press Alt+Shift+X. You can go to…

With great power may very well come great responsibility. But with a repository of important files, there definitely comes a need for security. Depending on the nature of the files, of course. While one might certainly feel the need to safeguard the toddler’s attempts at drawing a green-coloured snowman, you needn’t necessarily encrypt such musings. On the other hand, if you do have files that need to be encrypted for safekeeping, Eddy is a useful little utility with no learning curve. A quarter way into the 21st century, computer tools and apps shouldn’t require users to jump through hoops, or master new concepts and technologies to take advantage of them. One area where this is often lacking is encryption, because while there are tools you can use easily enough, they…

PRICE Free PLATFORM PC, Linux WEB tinyurl.com/APC546time MAKE TIME FOR THIS. It’s the rare adventure game these days that prioritises puzzles, so it was a delight to fire up The Sphinx of Time and be presented with puzzles that would fit in nicely in the genre’s golden age. Time has stopped, and you’ve flown to a space museum to start it. In your mission to summon the Sphinx of Time, who has the power to repair the universe, you have to switch on and operate an alien machine, although this is easier said than done. It’s a puzzle that will have you travelling back and forth through the museum, making notes as you switch between two characters. The aesthetic of Sphinx of Time is impressive as well too, with its…

PRICE Free PLATFORM PC WEB tinyurl.com/APC546gravity SELLING ON THE CEILING. People need their gravity boots, particularly people floating in mid-air, and it’s your job to supply them in this lovely platform game, which has you selling as fast as you can. You have your own pair, which certainly helps as you invert gravity to help all the folks floating off the ceiling. It’s a loose and friendly game, with no fail conditions and only your high score to beat. You get a point for every person you help, and you do this by mixing crafting components and taking the resulting boots to one of the customers floating on this planet. That’s one way to play the game, but let me share a different tactic with you. You can use your…

RELEASE 2007 DEVELOPER Crytek PUBLISHER EA LINK s.team/a/17300 Old games, new perspectives Crysis became a meme for its high graphics requirements, but it’s almost 20 years old – surely modern systems have advanced far enough to do it justice? Well... kinda. I’m reinstalling plain old Crysis here, not Crysis Remastered or the version from the Crysis Trilogy set, which means I’m not benefitting from any quality of life improvements that came with the newer releases. It’s the standard version you get from Steam, and it won’t run on my gaming PC. That’s right, a PC with an RTX 3080 in it is unable to run Crysis. Sadly for the meme-sters, it’s probably a software or driver issue rather than a lack of rendering power, it just stops dead and resets…