Bill Gates has stepped down from Microsoft’s board to pursue his philanthropic activities, although he will remain as an adviser to executives there.

Gates co-founded Microsoft, and he’s since become synonymous with the company. But today, Microsoft said in a statement that Gates left the board to “dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities including global health, development, education, and his increasing engagement in tackling climate change.” 

Gates will still remain as Technology Advisor to Satya Nadella and other leaders at the company, Microsoft said, leaving him a role to play at the company he co-founded. Gates transitioned out of day-to-day work at Microsoft to head the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in June 2008. He served as Microsoft’s chairman, leaving that post on Feb. 4, 2014.

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Microsoft confirmed Friday that it will ship Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 in the upcoming Windows 10 20H1 (2004) release, though updates will be handled though Windows Update, and not the app.

As we noted in our review of Windows 10 20H1, Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) is an optional feature that you can add to Windows, or ignore entirely. Basically, it’s a text-based version of Linux that now runs on top of its own Linux kernel, one of the key upgrades over WSL1. Performance should increase as a result.

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By now, a dual-monitor setup has become commonplace. Multitasking on a single screen is just way too confining. But why stop at two displays?  I can speak from experience: Having multiple monitors (and I’m talking three, four, five, or even six) is just…awesome, and something you totally need in your life.

Right now, my main PC has a triple-monitor setup: my main 27-inch central monitor, with a 24-inch monitor on either side. I use my extra monitors for a number of things, such as comparing spreadsheets side-by-side, writing articles while also doing research, keeping tabs on my social media feeds, and, of course, watching Netflix.

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The Raspberry Pi is an incredibly flexible little computer. These days even more so thanks to the introduction of the Raspberry Pi 4 with its multiple RAM options. You can use this miniature PC for a wide range of projects, from the pragmatic to the innovative to the nostalgic—the same hardware can power a retro gaming setup as readily as an ad-blocking server. But if you’ve never handled a circuit board in your life, getting started with a Raspberry Pi may seem intimidating.

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Every day more and more Americans are being asked to work from home, to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. We can’t tell you where to buy hand sanitizer or toilet paper, but we can give you all the tech tips we’ve learned from years of working from home ourselves.

Sure, nailing down the tech is a large part of it. But we realize, too, that there’s a “softer” side: what hours you keep, how to stay in contact with coworkers and friends, and even what to wear. 

Define your workspace

First things first: As we’re learning, there’s no “normal” with the coronavirus. But that also applies to where you live. “Home workers” now include apartment dwellers, Millennials who share a house, Midwesterners with basements, suburbanites in McMansions, and more. You’ll have to figure out what works for you, within your own unique environment. Still, some rules apply to just about everyone.

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Stay on top of the latest tech with PCWorld’s Digital Magazine. Available as single copies or as a monthly subscription, it highlights the best content from PCWorld.com—the most important news, the key product reviews, and the most useful features and how-to stories—in a curated Digital Magazine for Android and iOS, as well for the desktop and other tablet readers.

In the March issue

In the March issue of PCWorld read our hands-on with the Galaxy S20 Ultra: the most lavish smartphone ever. See how the iPhone stacks up against Android phones. Will VR break through in 2020? The hardware is cheap, the games are promising, and virtual reality could finally be ready for the mainstream.

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2020 looks like it’s going to be a great year for laptops. We have AMD and Intel battling it out on the CPU front, new mobile discrete GPUs enabling thinner, lighter, and faster gaming laptops, and battery life that won’t quit. Check out the latest reviews below. 

Latest laptop news and reviews

Our latest reviews include our new top pick for best budget convertible, and a gorgeous laptop from Samsung that has just one problem. 

• The Lenovo Yoga C740 2-in-1 (currently $790 on Lenovo.com) is one of the most impressive 2-in-1 laptops we've seen in its price range. Weighing in at just three pounds and jammed with nifty features, it packs in plenty of productivity pep, and it can last the whole day without its AC adapter. That's why it's our new pick for best budget convertible. Read our full review.
• If your budget is more generous, Lenovo's made another great convertible in the C940 14 ($1,430 from the Microsoft Store, or $1,300 at Best BuyRemove non-product link. It has a good-sized 14-inch display, yet it still stays just under the 3-pound mark. It doesn’t sacrifice keyboard travel in pursuit of thinness, and its speakers aren’t godawful. As a convertible that makes no major sacrifices, the C940 Yoga 14 is well worth considering. Read our full review.

  Ben Patterson/IDG

The dash cam market is changing fast, as vendors hop onto the 4K-resolution bandwagon. We just reviewed four of the first models out the door and can’t deny the allure of supercrisp 4K images. But there are caveats, which we’ll discuss below and in the individual reviews. Until we review a few more 4K models, our top picks remain 1080p dash cams, which you can find in the chart below.

Say, did you buy an Owl Car Cam? The company shut down abruptly, leaving users stuck with expensive dash cams and no support. Read more about the untimely death of Owl Cameras, Inc.

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We all know webcam zombies—people who may look normal walking down the street, but who, when they sit in front of a webcam for a videoconference, look ghastly. This issue is coming up more frequently as more people work from home or work remotely, and haven't thought about how they look onscreen.

The problem could be the lighting. It could be their sloppy clothing choices. It could be the junk piled in the background that you’d just as soon not see. In any case, they look like someone you’d rather avoid than engage in a web chat.

I didn’t know I was one, until a colleague sent me a screenshot of how I looked online (see above). Yeah, pretty horrifying. I knew I couldn’t keep that look and also keep my clients.

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Even a generous 24-inch monitor can feel cramped when you’ve got multiple windows open on your desktop (and who doesn’t?). It’s much worse if you’re confined to a laptop screen. Fortunately, it’s simple enough to add a second monitor to your PC setup and spread out. 

Any modern desktop or laptop PC has the graphics capability to run dual displays. All that’s required is a second monitor. You can get a very nice second screen for around $100, such as a  HP’s 21.5-inch, 1920x1080 Pavilon IPS monitor for $99 on Amazon or Acer’s 21.5-inch, 1920x1080 G226HQL for $90 on Amazon. Both feature fairly thin bezels, an important feature if you want to minimize the interruption between your two screens. 

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You’re not the first person who’s wondered what it would be like to have a giant desktop monitor. Think of all the multi-tasking and immersive gaming you could manage if you had a 50- or 60-inch monitor instead of a standard 24-inch monitor! But you’ve probably noticed that as monitors get bigger, they also tend to get prohibitively expensive.

You’ve probably already got a big screen in your house, though—a TV. At the end of the day, isn’t an HDTV just a giant, living-room-oriented computer monitor?

Not exactly. While you can use a TV as a computer monitor in most cases, that doesn’t mean it’s the best option. In fact, it’s likely less attractive, convenient, and usable than you think (not to mention, probably not that cheap). There’s a reason dirt-cheap 32-inch HDTVs aren’t flying off the shelves to be used as budget-friendly jumbo screens.

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Shadow, the cloud-based PC gaming service that’s been trickling into the United States since early 2018, is leveling up hard now that Nvidia’s rival GeForce Now has launched. On Thursday, Shadow revealed much cheaper pricing, much more powerful hardware options, an overhauled interface for TVs and mobile devices, and—get this—an initiative to drive latency-sensitive virtual reality experiences from the cloud. Wow. Better yet, while publishers have been yanking their games from GeForce Now left and right, every game you own works just fine on Shadow.

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Building in a small-form-factor case can be a royal pain. Unlike with larger alternatives, more forethought and foresight is required, as difficulties around order of assembly and cable management (among other issues) will crop up.

With its new H1 case, NZXT attempts to strike a middle ground: This $350 13-liter tower is actually more of a kit, as it comes equipped with a preinstalled 140mm all-in-one liquid CPU cooler, 650-watt 80+ Gold power supply, and GPU riser cable. Moreover, the included cables are all custom lengths designed to fit perfectly within the chassis’s confines, as you’ll see in our video above—all you have to do is the simple work of inserting a processor, motherboard, graphics card, and storage.

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The Samsung Galaxy Book S is worth a look for several reasons: This ultralight, fanless 13.3-inch clamshell combines superb battery life with WWAN connectivity that compels you to work on the go.  Priced at $1,000 on Samsung.com, the Galaxy Book S is affordable, too.

The Galaxy Book S boasts Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8cx chip, an ARM processor that trades middling performance for a crazy 16 hours of battery life. Samsung’s learned what users like: The laptop adds a decent fingerprint reader, USB-C ports, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. 

It’s the best Qualcomm-powered PC we’ve seen in some time, including the Microsoft Surface Pro X, but the standard performance caveats of Snapdragon notebooks remain. Meanwhile, some X86-based machines have improved so much in battery life that they’ve stolen Qualcomm’s claim to fame. 

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The biggest trade show in gaming isn’t happening this year. E3 2020 has been canceled due to coronavirus fears, the Entertainment Software Association announced on Wednesday, following in the footsteps of GDC, Mobile World Congress, Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference, and hordes of other events. The cancellation occurred at roughly the same time that the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

“Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the COVID-19 virus, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation,” the ESA statement reads. “We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold this event for our fans and supporters. But we know it’s the right decision based on the information we have today. Our team will be reaching out directly to exhibitors and attendees with information about providing full refunds.”

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When Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 launched in 2018, I thought its “Blackout” mode would become the third big battle royale game. Splitting the difference between Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds and Fortnite, between hardcore and cartoony, Blackout felt like a more refined take on those already well-trod ideas, with snappy gunplay and a streamlined interface.

Problem was, you had to buy Black Ops 4 to play it—and then Apex Legends released a few months later, for free, and took all the wind out of Blackout’s sails (and sales).

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Logitech announced Wednesday a completely new generation of its Powered wireless chargers with an update of its existing stand, plus two more models, a dock, and a pad. Of course, to stand out better against the many wireless chargers already out there, these models from Logitech are some of the best-looking you’ll find.

All three Powered products are Qi-certified for use with compatible (Qi-enabled) iOS and Android devices, and all three offer fast charging for 7.5W Apple and 9W Samsung products. Any case 3mm or thinner should work with the chargers, so you don’t have to wrestle your phone out of the case.

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Excel has over 475 formulas in its Functions Library, from simple mathematics to very complex statistical, logical, and engineering tasks such as IF statements (one of our perennial favorite stories); AND, OR, NOT functions; COUNT, AVERAGE, and MIN/MAX.

The basic functions covered below are among the most popular formulas in Excel—the ones everyone should know. To help you learn, we've also provided a spreadsheet with all the formula examples we cover below. 

1. TODAY/NOW

There are 24 Date and Time functions listed on the drop-down menu under Formulas > Date & Time: 11 Date formats, 10 Time formats, and as many user-defined custom formats you can create. The TODAY function reveals the current month, day, and year; while the NOW function reveals the current month, day, year, and time of day. This is a handy function if you’re one of those individuals who always forgets to date your work.

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With the Dash Cam Tandem, Garmin has finally nailed its formula. Along with existing small size, full feature set, clever magnetic mounting system and the improved motion compensation from company’s last generation of front dash cams, you now get an interior camera. Yup, ride-givers who want to document the cockpit goings on while on duty now have a Garmin option. Judging from my hands-on, you should be happy.  

Okay, the Tandem isn't exactly chump change at $300 on Amazon, but hey, the company throws in a 16GB microSD card! Not sold? How about a one-year warranty from a well-known company with support options? Lifespan is an issue in the dash cam market. Still not sold? How about the Tandem being quite arguably best in class? If the Nextbase 422GW didn’t exist, we wouldn’t argue it. You get what you pay for, and with the Tandem that's a lot.

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Antivirus software is nearly as crucial as a PC’s operating system. Even if you’re well aware of potential threats and practice extreme caution, some threats just can’t be prevented without the extra help of an AV program—or a full antivirus suite. 

You could, for example, visit a website that unintentionally displays malicious ads. Or accidentally click on a phishing email (it happens!). Or get stung by a zero-day threat, where an undisclosed bug in Windows, your browser, or an installed program gives hackers entry to your system.

We’re not suggesting that PC security software is fool-proof. Antivirus software often can’t do much to stop zero-day exploits, for example. But it can detect when the undisclosed vulnerability is used to install other nasty bits, like ransomware, on your machine. Anyone who actively uses email, clicks on links, and downloads programs will benefit from an antivirus suite.

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