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Where do I launch my games these days? Try, EA, Steam, Blizzard, Epic, Xbox app, Ubisoft Connect… I’m getting dizzy just listing them off. In fact, my desktop is so cluttered with icons it looks like it has a bad case of computer measles. But worse than that is the fact that I only have a vague idea of where some of my games are. Not the classics of course. I’d never misplace the Skyrims or Diablo IVs. But it’s anyone’s guess where I’d find the Max Payne 3s and Battle Brothers — do y’all know? The dilemma I’m putting my finger on here is the fact there are just too many launchers in PC gaming and it’s time something be done about it! The worst thing about too many launchers Okay, so the two inconveniences I just mentioned above aren’t the most annoying thing about it all. That award goes to when the launchers get in the way of me actually gaming. Short of having a PhD in game executables, I’ve realized I need to understand too many aspects of each launcher to ever have a truly smooth experience. Multiply that by the number of launchers I need to access — seven or so — and the mind boggles. While it’s completely understandable for developers and publishers to know what will work, how it should work, and why it should work with things like launching games, game lobbies, game socials, game libraries, game shops, short-cuts, audio profiles, and more — they can’t possibly expect the same from us gamers. What’s more, even if I get across all of that, some launchers are still buggy, complicated, or just don’t work. In fact, anything short of a push-button double-click launch in 2025, is, in my view, just not kosher. Further reading: The best gaming laptops To illustrate my point, I had a 40-minute tussle installing and uninstalling Dead Space 3 when the game insisted on downloading EA’s launcher, made me uninstall it from Steam, and reinstall it on EA before it finally kicked off. That’s time I’m never going to get back. Then there’s the jankiness of the Xbox app on my PC. It’ll frequently not register my games. Or else I’ll get logged out every time an update drops. In co-op game menus I sometimes just won’t show up in the lobbies even though I can see myself in there. “Can you see me?” and “Should I restart?” are two of my most frequently parroted phrases while simultaneously using slow-breathing exercises to control my rising cortisol levels. That’s if I can remember which specific shortcuts to use in each app and when to bring up the social tabs in the first place. Steam, the granddaddy of PC launchers. Chris Hoffman / IDG But the most unforgivable type of launcher, the one that really gets my goat? It’s the kind that won’t work unless there are multiple launchers loaded, or else the launcher needs to authenticate something outside of itself before it will run. I can just see the grins on the developers’ faces as they fool another few hapless victims into doing something very specific on their PCs to play the latest Call of Duty game. So how did it get to this? A walk down memory lane, and I remember logging into Battle.net in 1997 to play the fledgling Diablo and savoring the build-up of excitement as I waited for it to load me into the starting town of Tristram. Yes, I was still using a launcher here, but it wasn’t a bad experience. Why? Those were the days before the conglomeration of games into central platforms, at least on PC, and things were simpler. The excitement came from how personalized it all was. These launchers were game-centric, made for the one or two hero titles you had loaded up on your PC. As such, they felt like a kind of extension of the game itself, with atmospheric music and imagery that would build suspense as you waited. The software wasn’t flawless, but because it was made specifically for those titles, it mainly worked. Then the game industry changed and became a multimillion-dollar global behemoth. The number of games increased 100-fold, as did the number we had to own in order to have a decent co-op session with friends. Internet bandwidths hit breakneck speeds, and keeping tabs on your games and all that went with them for co-op matches (like the passwords to login) became more like bookkeeping than merely gaming (more complicated even than having to deal with multiple launchers is now). The need for a central hub to collate games and achievements, like the consoles used, became an obvious necessity at the time, so we got Steam. Valve stepped forward and launched Steam in 2003, which undeniably made life a lot easier. Today, I’m very glad for it, even if it is less specific to my games and more of a central railway station where they all meet. On the whole, I find it a smooth experience too, a testament to it being well-built, managed, and curated. What came after Steam, however, really started the downward trajectory. Continuing on the timeline, soon enough every big-name publisher decided that they could skirt around having to pay Valve royalties to post their games on Steam, by simply having their own game launchers and hubs. That’s despite some of them only having a single game worth playing. The motivation here was all wrong — the new hubs and launchers weren’t driven by gamer demand but by a commercial one, and sadly many still are. On that last point, I’m not advocating for them to disappear altogether or to sell out to Valve, but perhaps there needs to be more collaboration to make games easier to access and launch across game hubs and without the hangups we see today. It’s a sobering thought that our headaches with launchers come down to it simply being better business for some. Let’s hope there’s one day a shift back to what will work best for the average gamer. Read...

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In the 1990s, a colleague took me to “Snake Alley,” Taipei’s red-light district, for a night of drinking with “entertainers” and some of their very muscled, serious friends. A good time was had by all, fortunately. Still, I was young, dumb, and lucky that I didn’t end up in any trouble. Some parts of the internet are like that, too. If you think you’ll be potentially surfing into a risky internet neighborhood — a knockoff shopping site, a little-known streaming service, or somewhere you’re just not entirely sure is legit — and you have a spare laptop lying around, you can always repurpose it to become what I call a “Paranoid PC”: a laptop hardened for additional privacy and security. In my case, I was able to do it for “free.” But it does require a version of Windows 10 or 11 that’s not that common, and an existing VPN subscription. I am also not claiming that this PC configuration will protect you from any and all malware and prying eyes, but it will certainly help. Further reading: If you don’t use these PC security essentials, you’re begging to be hacked Putting together a Paranoid PC What you’ll need: a VPN subscription and a laptop (16GB of RAM preferred) running Windows 10/11 Pro I’ve repurposed an older laptop to create my Paranoid PC. You can use your day-to-day PC for this purpose, but it also potentially exposes you to greater risks if anything bad slips through the security screen. In any case, it’s a good idea in almost any case to use an account without administrator access for additional security, and possibly a local account at that. To Get Sandbox, you`ll need this Windows 11 Pro The key, though, is to have a PC set up with Windows 10 or 11 Pro because of a feature it offers: Windows Sandbox. Sandbox has been around for five years (!), and I still feel like it’s one of the most underappreciated features within Windows. Sandbox creates a virtualized environment with minimal setup; essentially, it’s a Windows PC within your PC, protected by a “moat” that isolates it from your PC. Once you close Sandbox, the entire “PC” and anything it has within it is erased, permanently. That includes any malware that may have wormed its way in. Sandbox is an optional feature within Windows 10 or 11 Pro, and to access it you’ll need to turn it on. To enable it, you’ll need to go to the Windows Features control panel, which you can find by searching for Turn Windows features on and off within Windows Search. (We have a deeper dive into Windows Sandbox, here.) Once you enable Sandbox, Windows will update itself with the appropriate features, reboot, and open up Windows again. You’ll need to launch Windows Sandbox via the Start menu or the Search box. Sandbox essentially creates a PC environment within a window, but it’s a generic PC. You don’t need to log in, and please don’t! We want this PC to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible. Windows Sandbox running within Windows 11 Pro. Note the two taskbars.PCWorld You can expand Sandbox to the dimensions of your screen, or leave it windowed. It’s up to you. Install the Brave browser I’ve argued in the past that Sandbox provides a powerful level of security and privacy, just by its lonesome. But we’re going to go further. What Sandbox allows you to do is use the built-in version of Microsoft Edge to download other software. And while Microsoft Edge is no slouch in the privacy department, we’re going to use Brave’s browser to provide an additional level of privacy and security. Brave offers tons of privacy settings, though it can be a bit aggressive.Mark Hachman / IDG Brave started off as a very privacy-oriented browser, and still is. Its reputation has soured a bit because of its ties to cryptocurrencies, but it’s still a good choice to download for surfing the deeper reaches of the web. If you want to use another browser, though, (or just Edge) you can. Just make sure to configure it the way you want, adding any plugins you choose. I still wouldn’t log in or otherwise identify yourself, however. Install a VPN I use a VPN because, well, it’s none of your business. And that’s the whole point. VPNs can be used to access content in other countries, avoid the eyes of authoritarian governments, privately chat with friends, and so on. It’s akin to locking your door and drawing your shades, and most people do that in the real world. A VPN is a good idea to add to your Paranoia PC.Mark Hachman / IDG Running a VPN won’t necessarily protect your Sandbox PC from malware, but it does add an additional layer of anonymity protection. Some VPNs also include upgraded antivirus, too. (Sometimes Brave can get a tad too aggressive in blocking downloads and scripts. In that case, go ahead and use Edge to download a VPN instead.) You might be able to get away with running a VPN outside Sandbox, but just in case I installed it from within the Sandbox environment. the best vpn we`ve tested ExpressVPN Read our review Which VPN should you use for privacy? You can choose from either a less powerful free VPN or one of our more powerful paid recommended VPNs. I prefer a VPN that offers generous device connections to allow me the freedom to install it on multiple laptops, but there are plenty to choose from. VPNs are a category where you get what you pay for, though. Surf safely through the stormy seas Once you’ve installed Sandbox, Brave, and a VPN, you’re done. You can begin exploring some of the shadier parts of the web. Feel free, of course, to install other software. If you want to download a free or premium antivirus package for additional security, go for it. When you think about it, anything bad is going to have to break out of the Brave browser’s sandbox, then get by the antivirus, then crack Windows Sandbox. That’s not impossible, but pretty unlikely. There are a couple things to keep in mind, though. Pay attention to what environment your cursor is in. If you absent-mindedly open Edge in the standard desktop environment, that browser window lacks all of your Sandbox protections, and probably the VPN’s as well. It’s part of the reason I recommend Brave: Not only is it designed for privacy, but it’s not a browser many people use. Brave signals me that I’m within Sandbox’s protective embrace. I’m not recommending that you put Sandbox to the test by downloading malware. In this case, however, the EICAR virus is designed to act like malware without really being malware.Mark Hachman / IDG Brave also blocks ads and popups — which, in certain areas of the web, can be an avenue to malware. We still recommend that you surf safe and do not go clicking willy-nilly on anything you see. But, if you do download something malevolent, it should be cut off by Sandbox. In the worst case, where Sandbox’s “PC” becomes noticeably infected, you can simply close Sandbox down by closing the window. You’ll receive a notification that this will erase everything within the Sandbox environment, but that’s okay. All you need to do is open a new version of Sandbox, which will be pristine and untouched. You’ll then need to re-download Brave, the VPN, and any other software, however. And we’d recommend running an antivirus scan on your main Windows installation just to be safe. Sandbox does have one other feature worth knowing about: its File Explorer, which is sort of like an airlock. If you do happen to download something involuntarily, it will receive the normal protections from Windows Security. But anything you voluntarily download will land in the Sandbox Downloads folder. Downloads from within Sandbox go into the Downloads folder, which can be accessed from outside Sandbox. Just be sure it’s safe by checking it within Sandbox.Mark Hachman / IDG You’d be well advised to double-check the file by right-clicking on it. (In Windows 11, go to “Show more options” and then “Scan with Microsoft Defender” or another antivirus program. Or drop it in VirusTotal.com to check against multiple online antivirus programs.) Just check it (or run it) from within Sandbox! From there, you can cut and paste it into your main PC operating system. Security professionals, of course, will have more sophisticated protection available to them. But for the average surfer, this provides some strong additional protection. Think of this “Paranoid PC” as a bodyguard in a dark alley, with a big SUV waiting to whisk you back to the real world if things go bad. Further reading: These 10 simple security tweaks keep you safe Read...

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