Microsoft has finally shut the door on free security updates for Windows 7. While you have plenty of options for upgrading the antiquated operating system, and even a hack that might be able to extend your updates for years, one of the best things you can do if you don’t want to make the jump to Windows 10 is to take a 90-degree turn toward Linux.

The Lifehacker staff sifts through a ton of apps on a regular basis, but a few have stuck with us over the years. Some apps are simply nice to have, while others have become essential in our daily lives. From dealing with irate dragons to counting our mindfulness minutes, each app on this list has a special place in our hearts (and our homescreens). Best of all, they're all free.

Those looking forward to the upcoming Disney+ may want to double-check their preferred devices can actually run the streaming service in the first place. According to Linux developer Hansdegoede, Linux PCs, Chromebooks and some Android devices are incapable of meeting Disney’s stringent DRM requirements necessary for accessing Disney+ via web browsers.

When you’re troubleshooting your computer or installing a new operating system, you may need to “boot from a disc” or USB device (such as an external hard drive or flash drive). Here’s what that means — and how to do it.

Your web browser knows a lot about you, and tells the sites you visit a lot about you as well — if you let it. We’ve talked about which browsers are best at ad-blocking, but in this guide, we’re going to focus on the browsers that you’ll want to use to better conceal everything you’re up to from all the advertisers that want to track your digital life.

While I always recommend upgrading to the latest and greatest version of whatever software you’re using, this might not be the best option if you’re running an older device that’s already struggling to function. This is especially true of operating systems - although sometimes even your older device can benefit from an OS upgrade.

Google announced that the latest update for the Chrome browser, Chrome 73, has begun rolling out to Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. While these updates normally cover security fixes, system-level changes, and new tools for developers, Chrome 73 also includes a handful of new features for general users as well — including the much-requested Dark Mode — although their availability will be different depending on the platform you’re using.

Maybe you’ve grown tired of your current laptop or desktop operating system and you just want to try something different. Or maybe you need to use multiple OSes for work. Either way, the need for a new operating system doesn’t mean you need a whole new computer. There are numerous ways to run other operating systems without going out and buying a new machine. We’ve gathered your options, with the pros and cons for each, below.

As the New York Times reported yesterday, IBM is in the process of purchasing Red Hat, one of the largest corporate contributors to the Linux kernel. The news is great if you’ve got stock in either company or a passion to see a cloud computing services challenge Amazon (and Microsoft). But if you’re a fan of open source software, IBM’s move might be a little worrisome.

Picture-in-picture (PIP) video playback is a user-favourite feature on Android’s Chrome app, and you can now get it on your Chrome desktop browser — as long as you’ve updated to Chrome 70, that is.

Linux users are likely familiar with Wine — a piece of software that allows Windows software to be run on Linux. But did you know you can download and run Linux on Windows natively, and through the Microsoft Store of all places? Yes, I'm serious. It's all thanks to the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), a feature that was first added to Windows 10 in 2016 as a beta feature for those in the Windows Insider program, and has since been released to the public.

There are plenty of reasons to run a virtual machine. The first, and most compelling, is that you want to play: Maybe there are some other operating system you want to dabble with (cough Linux cough), but you don’t want to deal with installing another hard drive, partitioning your existing drive, or setting up your system a different way.

Dell's spiffy Developer Edition notebooks are a product of the company's "Project Sputnik", an "open-ended exploratory project to identify what developers wanted in an ideal system". Unfortunately, despite being widely available in the US and Europe, you can't get them in Australia (the exception being the Precision 5520). So, why do we miss out?

So you've made the switch to Linux. Or you're thinking of making the switch. But you have questions that might be stopping you from fully diving in. One of the biggest concerns most new users have is, "What software is available and how do I install it?"

Of all the desktops available for the Linux operating system, GNOME has managed to become on of the most efficient, stable and reliable -- while still remaining incredibly user-friendly. In fact, most users -- regardless of experience -- can get up to speed with GNOME with next to no effort.

There are currently over two million apps available for Apple iPhone. Android has even more. When you throw in Windows, Mac, Linux and myriad browser extensions, the number of apps to choose from is truly overwhelming.

To help simplify things, Lifehacker's experts have hand-picked around 200 apps for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, Chrome and iOS that every technology user should own. Best of all, most of them are completely free!

The Nintendo Switch is a great device for gaming, but it can't do much else. Thankfully, that may not be the case for much longer, if you're willing to hack your $469 tablet.

Where does all the time go? When it comes to the time you spend on your phone, your computer, and the web, this doesn't have to be a vague and rhetorical question - plenty of tools out there will track and monitor your time automatically, telling you exactly which apps and sites are sucking up most of your precious minutes of existence.

Linux progenitor Linus Torvalds has already shared his feelings regarding the bungles of Spectre and Meltdown. They weren't happy ones. Now that patches are available, Torvalds is even less impressed, describing Intel's effort as "complete and utter garbage".