Welcome to The Full Nerd newsletter—your weekly dose of hardcore hardware talk from the enthusiasts at PCWorld. In it, we dive into the hottest topics from our YouTube show, plus hot news from across the web.
This week, we dive into security with ethical hacker Mike Danseglio. Among our topics: Windows 10, Linux, DNS, those USB drives Adam keeps picking up off trade show floors.
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In this episode of The Full Nerd…
In this episode of The Full Nerd, Adam Patrick Murray, Alaina Yee, Will Smith, and special guest Mike Danseglio chat about the likely security implications of Windows 10’s coming death, scams, and a heck of a lot more related to online security. (I may have definitely sidetracked us with questions about DNS security.) We cover so much ground the episode runs a full three hours!
We fightin’
Willis Lai / Foundry
- When Windows 10’s end of life arrives this October, will you switch to Windows 11? Or is your PC too old to make the jump? It’s a divide that many won’t be able to cross, and so we ask Mikey for his thoughts on what behavior he expects to see.
The resulting conversation ends up crossing through multiple lanes, but the heart of the question peers into what we enthusiasts do versus what most mainstream users will end up doing. Does Linux once again pop up as a topic? You betcha.
- With scams continuing to rise, we also pick Mikey’s brain on not just what to expect, but also how to protect ourselves against the onslaught. Once again, we zigzag our way through multiple branches of related thought, including why certain forms of modern communication have vulnerabilities. AKA: Why SMS is such a weak form of communication from a security perspective, and why it’s not as well-protected as DNS resolution—also a system with known vulnerabilities.
- Normally our Q&A section of episodes is lighthearted, but this time Mikey and I put up our dukes and square off. (The reason: I may have proposed to Mikey that maybe writing down passwords on paper isn’t such a bad idea after all.) Overall, we cover even more ground about password managers, when a passkey is ideal, two-factor authentication, and when to choose a passkey vs a password. Among other things that cause more sparring.
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This week’s best PC hardware nerd news
Remember this? I bet you didn’t want to.
Microsoft
Why is it that most security news is grim? Two alerts went out in recent days about severe flaws—and that’s not unusual these days. (Perhaps that’s why I’m losing so much hair.) But not everything of note is dark. Turns out, when you lose a garage, you can gain an unexpected retro battlestation find.
- A hacker could steal encryption keys from your AMD Ryzen CPU: If you have an AMD Ryzen 3000 series or newer processor, patch its firmware pronto. The newest AGESA update fixes a flaw that allows an attacker to send commands to your TPM—which would put your encryption keys (e.g., Bitlocker), biometric data (e.g., Windows Hello), and other stored secrets (e.g., passwords) at risk.
- A critical flaw in Asus Armoury Crate lets hackers take over: Running Asus’ all-in-one app on your PC? Update it ASAP. A vulnerability that lets hackers have full Windows admin rights has been found—a pretty nasty security hazard.
- Cloud gaming is winning? Brad’s long-running advice of leaning on GeForce Now’s cloud gaming has taken root at last. A study suggests a majority of gamers under 40 are open to the idea of cloud gaming, so long as latency issues were minimized—at least, that’s the vibe while GPU prices are so high.
- DDR4 is reaching an end: Two weeks ago, I shared news about increasing DDR4 prices, and how that could effectively kill AMD’s AM4 as a platform. I did not want to be right about that, much less how fast that demise may be coming. I’m legitimately bummed.
- What year is it? Windows Insiders got an unexpected jolt from the past when Windows 11 started using Windows Vista’s boot sound. As reminders of rough periods in Windows history goes, this isn’t the worst that could have happened to the Windows faithful (no other way of really classifying Insiders), but Vista still is second-to-last in my rankings. At least it wasn’t Windows ME. Ugh.
The RCA Spectra 70/35 control panel discovered. So cool!
- Lose a garage, gain a RCA Spectra 70/35 terminal: A Redditor shares a surprise finding on r/retrobattlestations—an rare IBM control panel from the 60s, which was just quietly living out its retirement days in a garage until its discovery.
- This older Anker power bank is a fire hazard: Not quite enthusiast news, but worth a PSA. Anker’s been having a rough spell of it—four power bank recalls in just over two years. This latest one affects an older 10,000mAh models sold between 2016 and 2022. If you’re affected, get your free replacement ASAP, as the recall is prompted by reports of burns, fires, and explosions, plus cumulative property damage totalling over $60,000.
- Microsoft is making PC gaming great again? I wasn’t around for the dark years, but based on the bleakness of the stories told by grizzled vets (aka TFN conspirators Brad & Will), Microsoft having its Xbox team work with its Windows team to “make Windows the number one platform for gaming” may herald a new era we’ve never seen before. At least, hopefully less traumatic than the 00s.
- Framework’s latest 2-in-1 DIY laptop is pretty neat: I’m the perfect audience for this. I like 2-in-1 form factors, I like building things, and I like the idea of being able to swap the motherboard/CPU combo for something newer down the road. Price isn’t bad, either.
- Worried about your GPU’s 16-pin power connector? This RTX card uses its RGB lighting to warn you of danger: People love to hate on RGB, but you know what? You can’t argue with this practical use of color contrast. (Yes, the melting shouldn’t be an issue, but sometimes we don’t get what we expect in life.)
- AMD reveals benchmarks of Ryzen Threadripper 9000: This info comes direct from AMD, so as usual, wait for benchmarks to prove these claims. But for the moment, it looks like AMD’s next gen of HEDT chips will provide between 16 to 25 percent uplift compared to Zen 4 Threadripper. Zoom zoom.
Summer starts this Friday in the U.S.—and while I’ll be the oddball updating some of my security practices to match Mikey’s suggestions, I’m still very happy about the longest day of the year falling right on a weekend. Catch you all next week!
-Alaina
This newsletter is dedicated to the memory of Gordon Mah Ung, founder and host of The Full Nerd, and executive editor of hardware at PCWorld.