When purchasing a new Windows laptop, it is important to change various settings and features to better customize the machine to suit your needs. One of these settings will be the choice of the default browser for opening web pages.

Most likely, the default browser is Microsoft Edge, which is not the first choice for many Windows users. For this reason, users may need to install a different browser such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. After that, you can choose which browser you want to be your default browser, and even customize the different types of files the browser can open.

Steps to Change the Default Browser in Windows

1. Choose Start, Settings, Apps, then Default Apps.
2. Choose your favorite browser
3. Choose “Set as default” next to the selected browser

Tools and requirements

• Windows OS
• The selected browser is already installed

Walkthrough

final thoughts

bottom line: It is now possible to activate a fresh install of Windows XP, even though Microsoft no longer uses their online activation servers. Windows XP has been in the dust for a long time now, but there are still plenty of legacy OS machines that can benefit from this tool.

Register points to a blog post from tiny apps covering the semi-recent developments on the subject. Sure, people have been cracking Windows XP for decades, but now it’s possible to do it safely, securely, and without Microsoft’s involvement.

behind Reddit post on the subject, the tool is based on reverse engineering the Microsoft phone activation algorithm.

According to the latest data from StatCounter, Windows XP is installed on only 0.35% of computers worldwide. It’s hardly a flicker on the radar, you say, so why does it matter at all?

Only StatCounter and other analytical services measure systems that are connected to the Internet and visit sites with a tracking code installed. The truth is that there are many systems in the wild that are not connected to the Internet. But why are they still using an ancient operating system like Windows XP? Out of necessity.

There is no shortage of legacy hardware and software that is only compatible with older operating systems like XP. A few years ago, I worked as an IT person at a tanning salon and they used proprietary software from Helios to manage T-Max hardware sleep timers. The software and hardware has probably come a long way since then, but at the time it had to be run on an older version of Windows.

In many cases, upgrading these critical systems is simply not possible because proprietary hardware or software is no longer being developed. If you find yourself in this boat and Windows XP is your only paddle, it’s good to know that there’s a way to activate the OS without an internet connection. Microsoft also offered telephone activation, but it’s not clear if this method works today.

Full details of what you need to activate XP can be found at tiny apps blog. It also begs the question: does Microsoft ever want to release an official activation tool for XP?

Image credit: Jen Theodore

With Shadow of the Tomb Raider (SOTTR) already on a bit of a drag, it looks like Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics are about to get out of bed with Denuvo. As Bit-Tech previously reported, Denuvo Anti-Tamper technology has its priceand while this may be attractive during a game’s launch, the trade-off between game sales revenue and tamper-proof tech rent must now be at a turning point.

V The Dark Side of Games noticed the removal of Denuvo from SOTTR last week and over the weekend decided to test the performance difference between the Denuvo protected version and the recently released version with the tamper proof technology banished. Many users complain about processors like Denuvo eating into their cycles, though publishers usually deny any significant impact, so it’s good to A/B such releases to find the “truth”.

Please note that the updated non-Denuvo version of SOTTR has been “rolled back” on Steam, but is still available in the beta builds section of the store. DSOG has tested both versions of the game on the following PC system specifications:

• Processor Intel i9 9900K,
• GPU Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080,
• 16 GB DDR4 3600 MHz RAM,
• Windows 10 64-bit with GeForce 496.13 driver.

SOTTR tests were run at both 1080p/highest settings (no ray tracing or DLSS) or 1080p/lowest settings and a built-in benchmark for significance. DLSS was not used as it was noted in the patch notes that it was improved between versions of the game with and without Denuvo technology. No other game optimizations have been noted for the version without tamper protection.

DSOG noticed that the biggest framerate changes between versions of the game were when using lower settings. In this case, there was a frame rate difference of 17 frames per second on average. And with HT disabled, there was a difference of 30fps.

The above indicates that yes, Denuvo will gobble up your CPU cycles affecting game performance, and those who can less afford such a hit (like an older CPU with fewer cores, no HT) will suffer the worst. I have seen similar reports that the GeForce driver has overhead affecting low power PC systems. Nvidia driver overhead perhaps here too there may be a concomitant factor with HT turned off.