Adding a search field to your spreadsheet can greatly improve data navigation and usability. In this guide, you’ll learn how to create a dynamic search box that filters data based on your input, using Excel’s built-in features and Developer tools. To create a search field in a spreadsheet, you must first activate the Developer tools menu. To do this, go to Options > Customize Ribbon on the File tab. In the Customize Ribbon column, check the box next to Developer tools and select OK. Next, switch to your spreadsheet containing your data. Make sure the first row has header data describing the content of each column. Select all the data and convert it into a smart table by pressing Ctrl + T. Confirm the table area by clicking OK. Then, in the Table Design menu, give your table a name under Table Name, such as Data. Now you can create a search field to filter the data in your worksheet. In this example, it will search the Department column of your data. Use this trick to create a search field in a worksheet. In this example, it can search the Department column of the data above.IDG Switch to an area next to the table and insert the search field there. Go to Developer tools > Insert > ActiveX Control, and select the Text Field icon. (Hover over the icons with your mouse to see their names; in our test system, it’s the fifth icon from the left in the first row.) Place the text field next to your table. Right-click the text field, select Properties, and under LinkedCell, enter the cell behind the search field — for example, B7. Next, click Developer Mode in the Developer tools menu to anchor the new search field. Copy the header data from your table and paste it below the search field. Then, write the following formula in the cell directly below the first header cell: =FILTER(data;data[department]=B7; “Nothing”) The FILTER function follows this pattern: Matrix, include, [if_empty]. Matrix is all the data the filter should output. Include specifies which rows to show based on the condition. [If_empty] defines what to display if there are no matches. In this example, the table is named Data and defined as the matrix. The search filters the Department column, showing only rows where the value matches the input in cell B7. If no rows match, it displays “Nothing”. Read...

If you’re always on the go and packing up your laptop to work from all sorts of locations, you really should have a portable monitor as well. Trust me, it’ll make your life so much easier. And luckily, right now, my favorite on-the-go laptop monitor is on sale for $124.50 on Amazon, a massive drop from its $200 MSRP. The Arzopa Z1FC is a great 16.1-inch portable monitor with a lovely 1080p IPS screen and a responsive 144Hz refresh rate. That means crisp images for work and smooth motion for videos and light gaming, not to mention vivid colors and excellent color accuracy. And it’s only 0.3 inches thick and 1.7 pounds, so it’ll slip easily into any bag next to your laptop. It even comes with a sleeve to keep the screen protected. When we reviewed the Arzopa Z1FC, we found that this monitor has a great quality build for the price and we appreciated the built-in kickstand. While the Z1FC is billed as a “portable gaming monitor,” it’s actually a “solid choice for anyone who needs an affordable portable display.” You can use it with your laptop, your Nintendo Switch, or your smartphone. It has a full-sized HDMI port and two USB-C ports, plus the cables you need, so it’s widely compatible with your devices. Note this is a Prime deal, but if you don’t have Prime, you can still take part with a free 30-day Prime trial—and you’ll be able to use that trial to take advantage of the Prime Day deals coming up. So what are you waiting for? Get this Arzopa portable monitor for $124.50 on Amazon before this awesome deal expires! Save 38% on Arzopa`s super-slim portable laptop monitorBuy now at Amazon Read...

If you’ve been using Windows for a long time, you’ve probably been told to periodically reinstall the operating system to keep it fresh. I remember I used to reinstall Windows XP every few months back in the day to keep it zippy. But is this necessary in 2025? Will Smith ran the numbers in a deep dive investigation—and they might just shock you. In short, the answer is no. Based on Will’s personal Windows 11 video editing and gaming desktop, a Ryzen 9800X3D machine with 64GB of RAM, there was almost no difference between a PC that’s heavily customized and running for over a year versus a clean installation. He also tested it on the even more powerful 9950X3D. The benchmarks showed a difference of about 3 percent for single-core tasks, and maybe a tiny bit worse for multi-threaded applications. In fact, some benchmarks showed an improvement in the “dirty” setup, with an SSD full of Will’s games and personal projects and RAM buzzing with background programs like Dropbox. Adobe Premiere ran 8 percent faster on the older setup. WHAT? Gaming tests were a little more demonstrable. Cyberpunk 2077‘s built-in benchmark showed a 2.5 percent improvement on the refreshed machine, with an even better improvement for 1 percent lows. But once you turn up the visual settings with path tracing to really tax the graphics card, once again, the “dirty” machine showed a tiny advantage over the fresh install. It’s approaching the margin of error for a lot of these tests. F1 2024 and Rainbow Six Siege showed dramatic improvements on a fresh machine… with frames so high your monitor probably can’t actually display them. Foundry So, these results might be shocking if you’re used to the idea that a fresh Windows install is always better for performance. Adam and Will point out that this isn’t an exhaustive scientific test, though, and Will is a power user who knows how to keep Windows running well. But unless you’re loading up your computer with a million startup programs and dozens of Yahoo Toolbar-style crudware, it seems that a Windows refresh won’t give you the dramatic performance improvements you might have seen 10 or 15 years ago. For more deep dives into the PC stuff that matters to you, subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube and check out our weekly podcast The Full Nerd while you’re over there. Read...

BleepingComputer reports that hackers have become aware of Direct Send, a relatively unknown feature in Microsoft 365 that’s primarily intended for use by on-premises printers and scanners that need to send emails as if they were sent from the organization’s domain. According to security firm Varonis, hackers are using the Direct Send feature to send malicious emails that appear to come from a known sender. The emails contain a link to a fake Microsoft form, and when the recipient enters their login details, those details are intercepted. Since May 2025, around 70 companies and organizations have been affected by the phishing campaign, mainly in the US. According to Microsoft, Direct Send is a secure feature but it requires users to configure the right settings and properly lock down their smart host, which doesn’t always happen. “We recommend Direct Send only for advanced customers willing to take on the responsibilities of email server admins,” explains Microsoft. To minimize the security risks involved, concerned users are encouraged to turn on the new “Reject Direct Send” setting in the Exchange Admin Center, which was introduced in April 2025. Further reading: You need to know about these common phishing scams that too many people fall for Read...

Microsoft has added a new AI agent called Mu to Windows 11’s Settings, reports Windows Latest. Users can ask the agent natural language questions by typing them directly into the search bar. For example, the user can type in “turn on dark mode” or “disable notifications for Teams,” after which the AI agent will either bring up the correct settings or change them directly for the user. Mu is said to have 330 million parameters and has been trained on 3.6 million examples. It should be able to react to requests and prompts in under 500 milliseconds. The AI agent runs directly on a device’s NPU (Neural Processing Unit), provided the computer has one. That means you’ll need a Copilot+ PC to access and benefit from this feature. With the NPU, all processing is done locally and no data is sent to the cloud. Read...

If you’ve been looking for a good 2-in-1 laptop with a touchscreen but you’ve been scared off by their prices, today’s your lucky day. Check out this Lenovo IdeaPad 5i sold by B&H, which is usually available for $980 but currently slashed down to just $580. That’s a whopping $400 off and a stunning 41% discount! Well worth it. Of course, we’ve seen affordable 2-in-1 laptops before, but the specs are rarely this good at this price. This one has a 16-inch IPS touchscreen with 1920×1200 resolution and an Intel Core 7 150U processor, whereas most $500 laptops maaaaybe have a Ryzen 5 processor and a 1080p LCD screen. And on top of that, this Lenovo IdeaPad also has 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a decent 512GB SSD, which is about the bare minimum you should have for a proper Windows 11 machine. There are only two real downsides here. First, the 60Hz refresh rate is pretty basic and won’t offer the most responsive experience, but it’s fine if you’re only doing basic tasks like spreadsheets and web browsing. Second, it’s a 360-hinge style of 2-in-1 rather than the fully detachable screen-and-keyboard style, which is great for propping up in tent mode but not the most convenient if you like using it in tablet mode. Still, at this price, it’s hard to complain. Get the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 laptop for only $580 while you can! This is a stunning price for a laptop that delivers more than you can normally expect. If you’re still on the hunt, though, check out our best picks for laptops. Save a crazy $400 on the Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 laptopBuy now from B&H Read...

Beginning on June 30 of this year, residents in Wyoming are going to lose access to the adult site Pornhub. Earlier this year the Wyoming state legislature passed HB0043, an over-18 age-verification law designed to prevent minors from viewing adult content. Unfortunately, it also stands to compromise the privacy of all legal visitors to the site, as well. The law is set to take effect on July 1, 2025, and Pornhub’s parent company Aylo will begin restricting access to its adult sites for residents in Wyoming in protest on June 30, 2025. Aylo and other privacy advocates claim that these laws violate free speech, and infringe on personal privacy protections. By forcing individuals to hand over personally identifiable information to third parties, it creates the environment for potential government overreach and data misuse. This ban is just the latest following a trend that has seen more than 19 states lose access to the incredibly popular NSFW site. Similar bans occurred in March of last year when access was blocked to residents in Texas, in June when Indiana, Idaho, and Kansas also lost the ability to visit the site, in July for Nebraska, in October for Alabama, and in January of this year when Florida was hit with the ban hammer as well.  For legal-age Wyomingites looking to access the site, this is disruptive to say the least. Fortunately, there’s an easy workaround: using a VPN. Simply download and install your preferred VPN, connect to a server in a state that isn’t blocked, and enjoy the content. Below you’ll find my top picks for VPNs to access Pornhub (or other Aylo owned adult content) if you’re in Wyoming where access will be blocked. And for even more great options, check out my list of the best VPNs overall. NordVPN – Best overall NordVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $3.39 at NordVPN (Monthly) NordVPN is my overall top pick for VPNs. It comes with a ton of great features including wide device support, ad- and tracker-blocking, and plenty of domestic and international servers—with coverage in most U.S. states. It also boasts the fastest connection speeds, meaning you won’t need to lower your video quality to a resolution that makes it look like the important bits are blurred on purpose. NordVPN has one of the widest platform support networks as well, so you’ll be able to view whatever content you wish no matter the device. ExpressVPN – Runner-up ExpressVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $4.99 at ExpressVPN ExpressVPN is a close second to NordVPN, falling a hair behind by being not quite as fast and having a fewer extra features. Those are just minor issues, though, and shouldn’t take away from ExpressVPN still being one of the best VPN services on the market. It also consistently has great speeds, so you can stream in HD to your heart’s content. Plus, it works with nearly every device and has one of the best user-privacy records around. Mullvad – Best for privacy Mullvad Read our review Depending on what you’re looking for from a VPN, Mullvad might actually be your best option. Not only is it in my top five services for overall speed, it most importantly earns top marks for privacy. Mullvad takes every effort it can to know as little about its users as possible. The service won’t ask for an email address or name and it even accepts payments via mailed cash if you want. Plus, it costs a mere $5 per month regardless of the plan you choose. Proton VPN – Best free VPN ProtonVPN Read our review Best Prices Today: $9.99 at Proton VPN While I don’t usually recommend that anyone use a free VPN due to their proven security and privacy risks, Proton VPN is one of the exceptions. This service from the well-known Swiss-based Proton brand has to-date a spotless track record for user privacy. It’s also completely free of ads. Just like all free VPNs, there are limitations, but thankfully Proton VPN keeps them relatively manageable. For no cost whatsoever you’ll get a one-device connection limit and access to five servers located in different countries around the world (including the U.S.). It doesn’t impose any speed or data limitations on these free servers either—something that’s unheard of with other free VPNs. Read...

Microsoft has begun the rollout of update KB5060826, a voluntary patch for users running Windows 11 versions 22H2 or 23H2. The big news this time is that Microsoft’s developers have finally managed to overcome the slow search performance in the Start menu, something that will surely please many users. Another new feature is that the Windows Backup app has been equipped with a new wireless file transfer feature, which we previously covered when it was in testing phase. With it, you can migrate files and settings from one PC to another with relative ease. If you don’t see KB5060826 in Windows Update, you can download the update directly from the Microsoft Update Catalog. Read...

Google recently informed some users that Gemini AI will have access to numerous new apps starting July 7th, 2025. These include messaging apps and messengers such as WhatsApp, and it applies regardless of whether you actually use Gemini as an app assistant or not. In an email shared by Android Authority, Google states that they’ve “made it easier for Gemini to interact with your [Android] device” and that Gemini will “help you use” various apps “whether your Gemini Apps Activity is on or off.” If you don’t want this, you’ll have to disable the feature in the Apps settings page, but Google hasn’t yet provided an explanation of how this will work. Android Authority Due to the vague wording in the email, the associated data privacy concerns, and the very sudden introduction of this change, many users are understandably concerned, especially since it doesn’t seem to make any difference whether Gemini is activated or not. Gemini comes pre-installed on many smartphones now. Fortunately, at the request of Android Authority, Google has clarified how this email was meant to be read: “This update is good for users: they can now use Gemini to complete daily tasks on their mobile devices like send messages, initiate phone calls, and set timers while Gemini Apps Activity is turned off. With Gemini Apps Activity turned off, their Gemini chats are not being reviewed or used to improve our AI models. As always, users can turn off Gemini’s connection to apps at any time by navigating to https://gemini.google.com/apps.” Basically, this means that starting July, Gemini will behave more like a local assistant on your Android device and it’ll be able to help with simple tasks even if you don’t use Gemini Apps Activity at all. Meanwhile, according to Google, the AI can’t view private chats. How to disable Gemini Apps Activity Even though Google says this change is “good for users,” you may still have reservations about it. Here’s how to disable the feature and prevent Gemini from accessing your private apps. If the Gemini app is installed on your smartphone, you simply need to tap on your profile picture and select Gemini Apps Activity. Alternatively, you can go to the settings via this link and disable the Gemini Apps Activity setting by clicking “Turn Off.” This will also prevent Google from using your Gemini interactions to improve the AI. Be sure to check this setting again on July 7th to be on the safe side, in case it gets flipped back on. On the same page, you can also delete past Gemini App Activity that has already been recorded. However, the easiest option is to disable the Gemini app on your device if it was pre-installed by the manufacturer. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to completely uninstall it as it’s a system app. Read...

I’ve decided to test a radical change to my living room streaming setup. For years, I’ve used an Apple TV 4K for streaming, and while it’s been a great device overall, I’ve always wanted to try swapping it for a home theater PC. In my early cord-cutting years (circa 2010), I used a cheap Intel Atom-powered Lenovo nettop (now obsolete) to access Hulu’s website (still free at the time) and avoid its subscription fees on connected TV devices. Plugging a cheap mini PC into your TV today could yield similar advantages. This experiment could fail for a variety of reasons, and I’ve already hit some snags in my initial setup. But if it works, it could offer a lot more control over the streaming experience along with some potential cost savings over time. The case for a home theater PC (in 2025) I’m going into this mini PC experiment with a bunch of use cases in mind: Ad-skipping powers: With a desktop web browser, I can use MultiSkipper to fast-forward through commercials on Hulu, Peacock, Tubi, and other ad-supported streaming services, and I can use uBlock Origin to avoid ads on YouTube. This could save a lot of money as ad-free streaming subscriptions get more expensive. The MultiSkipper browser extension.Jared Newman / Foundry Password sharing: Netflix’s crackdown on password sharing doesn’t apply to website or mobile app use, presumably because it’d be tricky to block out-of-home use on portable devices. Watching on a PC could make account-splitting easier, especially as more services follow Netflix’s lead. Unrestricted multiview: Picture-in-picture is a mess on streaming platforms, with inconsistent support across apps and devices. That’s not an issue on PCs, where you can just open up more browser windows or use the handy picture-in-picture Chrome extension. This could really come in handy during March Madness. Watching two videos at a time is no problem on desktop web browsers.Jared Newman / Foundry Unlocked playback speeds: Some videos just don’t need to be watched at regular speed, but with the exception of YouTube, most video services don’t let you speed up playback on smart TVs and streaming devices. By contrast, Netflix’s web version has built-in speed controls, while the Video Speed Controller extension works across a broad range of sites. Streaming guides galore: While most streaming platforms offer guide features for tracking shows and finding new things to watch, they don’t work with every streaming service and they tend to be loaded with ads and upsells. On a PC, you can take your pick of streaming guide sites such as Reelgood, JustWatch, Trakt, and Plex Discover. More entertainment options: With a mini PC setup, I’m looking forward to using some apps that aren’t available on an Apple TV, such as Nvidia GeForce Now and Plexamp. The hardware The Beelink Mini S12 Pro’s HDMI outputs connect direclty to the TV.Jared Newman / Foundry I didn’t want to spend a lot on this endeavor, nor did I want a noisy desktop PC that takes up a lot of space. That led me to Beelink’s Mini S12 Pro, whose $169 street price is only a little higher than the nicest streaming players, and its footprint isn’t much larger either. While its Intel N100 processor is lightweight, it supports 4K HDR video, comes with Windows 11, and includes a fairly generous 16GB of RAM and 500GB of storage. Similar products abound from other mini PC vendors, but I’ve had a positive experience using a slightly pricier Beelink SER5 Ryzen-based PC as my everyday computer and decided to stick with a brand that I know. One caveat: The Mini S12 Pro doesn’t support HDCP 2.2, which Netflix requires for 4K HDR video. The SER5 doesn’t have that limitation, but I stuck with the cheaper model for reasons I’ll explain below. The trade-offs While I’ve barely started using this new setup, I’ve already encountered a few issues. The biggest problem is inconsistent 4K HDR video support on streaming sites. Netflix technically supports 4K HDR in Microsoft’s Edge browser, but even on Beelink’s higher-end SER5, it refused to budge beyond 1080p. Amazon Prime and Max don’t support 4K or HDR on PCs at all. That said, I only upgraded to Netflix’s Premium tier with 4K HDR (which costs $25 per month, instead of $18) for testing purposes. Max charges extra for 4K HDR as well, and vast swaths of other streamers’ catalogs are limited to 1080p anyway. Surround sound can also be an issue on streaming sites, but my living room setup is stereo-only anyway. Using an air mouse may be as close to the remote control experience as it gets.Wechip The other obvious issue is usability. Keeping a mouse and keyboard in the living room is out of the question, and while I’m looking into air mouses with small built-in keyboards, like this one, navigating a desktop interface will be less ideal than clicking around on a real remote. This will take some finagling, and the rest of my family will likely need to switch over to the Apple TV or the Google TV software built into our television. Follow up! I solved my TV streaming problems with this $30 keyboard In other words, this won’t be an ideal solution for everyone, and it might not even work out in the Newman household. If this whole TV experiment fails, I’ll likely repurpose the little Beelink PC as a cheap way to play with some Linux distributions; if it succeeds, it could be much a more liberating way to access streaming content. I plan to report back soon with new tips and findings either way. Sign up for Jared’s Cord Cutter Weekly newsletter for more streaming TV advice. Read...