IT General

Download any dubious games from Steam over the past few years? You very well could've downloaded malware onto your computer — and now FBI wants to know about it.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Seattle division is currently seeking out potential victims of games sold on Steam with hidden malware. The agency has set up a form that gamers can fill out here.

According to the agency, threat actors targeted Steam users between May 2024 and January 2026. The FBI has already identified a number of Steam games that turned out to have malware embedded: BlockBlasters, Chemia, Dashverse/DashFPS, Lampy, Lunara, PirateFi, and Tokenova.

The FBI's form asks for some basic information from anyone who thinks they've been targeted: their Steam username, what games they downloaded, and when.

The next questions allude to what the threat actors were doing once the malware was installed on a target's computer. Did someone contact you about downloading the game, or reached out unsolicited after the game was downloaded?

The FBI also wants to know if potential victims suffered any losses — whether in their bank accounts, their cryptocurrency stashes, their Steam inventory items, or other digital accounts.

The games infected with malware included shooters and platformers. Some were early releases, some pre-existing games — which were fine until an update included the malware.

Once the malware was on a target's computer, its programmers could steal a user's information or ruin their computer's functionality. The infected games were removed from the Steam platform as soon as they were discovered to contain malware.

While many of the games weren't very popular, at least one title, BlockBlasters, was reportedly responsible for $150,000 in crypto being stolen from a user's infected computer.

There are plenty of ways you can repurpose old tech to give it a new life. Sometimes, however, devices are so old as to be virtually useless for modern purposes, and if devices won't even turn on anymore, there's not much you can do with them. You may be able to sell old and broken devices for more than you think.

The internet has spent weeks debating Timothée Chalamet's now-viral comments about ballet and opera. The latest voice to enter the discourse: Steven Spielberg.

During a live podcast conversation at SXSW on March 13, the legendary director was reflecting on the communal power of moviegoing when he suddenly shouted out two of the oldest performing arts institutions. "It happens in movies. It happens in concerts. It happens in ballet and opera!" Spielberg said, prompting cheers and whoops from the audience.

Spielberg was describing what he sees as the uniquely communal experience of the arts — the feeling of gathering together with strangers in a dark room and emerging united after the story ends.

SEE ALSO: 17 SXSW movies you need to know about right now

"The real experience comes when we can influence a community to congregate in a strange, dark place," he told Sean Fennessey, host of The Big Picture podcast. "At the end of a really good movie experience, we are all united… There’s nothing like that."

The moment immediately echoed the online controversy surrounding Chalamet, who sparked backlash earlier this year after dismissing ballet and opera in a recent interview.

While promoting Marty Supreme at a February town hall hosted by Variety and CNN alongside Matthew McConaughey, Chalamet joked about the challenge of keeping movie theaters alive in a changing entertainment landscape.

"I don't want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it's like, 'Hey, keep this thing alive,' even though it's like, no one cares about this anymore," Chalamet said at the event, before adding, "All respect to the ballet and opera people out there."

The comments quickly went viral and drew pushback from across the performing arts world. New York City Ballet principal dancer Tiler Peck wrote on Instagram that the idea "no one cares about ballet or opera anymore" couldn’t be further from the truth, highlighting the artists, musicians, and stage crews who dedicate their lives to the craft.

Ballet star Misty Copeland also weighed in, noting that while opera and ballet may not dominate pop culture in the same way films do, their cultural impact has endured for centuries. "There’s a reason that the opera and ballet have been around for over 400 years," she said.

So when Spielberg praised those same art forms during his SXSW keynote conversation — and the crowd erupted in approval — the moment landed as more than just a passing comment. In the context of the internet's ongoing Chalamet saga, it felt like a gentle correction.

The weekend is here, finally, and that means downtime and maybe watching something great on TV. HBO Max is no stranger to premium TV, but there's so much to choose from that finding the right show can still feel like a part-time job.

The shift from local-only user accounts in Windows to Microsoft accounts wasn’t great for many reasons, and one of them is that your home folder would always have the same name as your email address. Now, that’s finally changing.

During a jam-packed SXSW panel about his career, director Steven Spielberg talked everything from Disclosure Day to aliens to President Barack Obama. And yes, all these topics are related.

Disclosure Day follows a cybersecurity administrator (Josh O'Connor) who decides to expose a massive secret: that humans aren't alone in the universe. It marks Spielberg's return to UFOs and aliens, subject matter he's already well-versed in thanks to films like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

SEE ALSO: 'Disclosure Day' trailer: Steven Spielberg and aliens remain a match made in heaven

The film's story of a government cover-up of alien activity comes at a pertinent time, as President Obama recently discussed his own belief in aliens on Brian Tyler Cohen's No Lie podcast.

"They're real, but I haven't seen them," Obama said in a speed round portion of the interview, before clarifying the aliens are "not being kept in Area 51."

As Spielberg told panel host Sean Fennessey, "When President Obama made that comment, I thought, 'Oh my God, this is so great for Disclosure Day."

Days later, Obama walked back the comments in an Instagram post, writing: "Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!"

For Spielberg, that's the exact same belief he's held since childhood.

"[Obama] said what he believed in was life in the cosmos, which, of course, everybody should believe in, because no one should ever think that we are the only intelligent civilization in the entire universe," Spielberg said at the SXSW panel. "I've always believed, even as a kid, that we were not alone, so that just goes without saying."

Spielberg was "reinvigorated" to return to the world of UFOs by a 2017 New York Times article by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean about the Pentagon's UFO program and the possibility of a government coverup.

"I have a very strong sneaking suspicion that we are not alone here on Earth right now," Spielberg said.

However, he lamented, he himself has never had an extra-terrestrial experience.

"Half my friends have seen UFOs, now called UAPs," Spielberg said. "I haven't. I made a movie called Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I haven't even had a close encounter of the first or second kind. Where's the justice of that?"

Disclosure Day hits theaters June 12.

Kristy Puchko contributed to this reporting on the ground at SXSW.

With the excitement and fanfare of the Oscars weekend here, you might find yourself craving a dose of acclaimed films. With Netflix, you can explore a large collection of both award winners and nominees across decades.

Techie people love to say things like, “You know phones are just computers, right?” This has never been truer than it is today. Your broken Samsung Galaxy phone doesn't need to be discarded—it can quite literally be the brains powering a mini PC setup with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

So you've scored a good deal on a dedicated NAS, but it didn't come with any drives. No problem, you happen to have some old desktop PC drives lying around that fit perfectly. The NAS powers on, the drives work, and you feel pretty good about yourself.

In the '80s and early '90s, powerful Unix workstations dominated technical tasks like science and 3D animation. Let's find out where they went and where you can still find them today.

TL;DR: Live stream Wales vs. Italy in the 2026 Six Nations for free on BBC iPlayer. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The 2026 Six Nations has been incredibly entertaining this year. It's always special, but this edition has been on another level.

Everything is still undecided going into the last round of games. Italy are looking to end this campaign with a positive record. They've already beaten Scotland and England this year, so they'll be going into this fixture against bottom-placed Wales with a lot of confidence. Wales are yet to win a game, but this feels like an opportunity to end on a high. It's going to be a fascinating contest at the Millennium Stadium.

If you want to watch Wales vs. Italy in the 2026 Six Nations for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Wales vs. Italy?

Wales vs. Italy in the 2026 Six Nations starts at 4:40 p.m. GMT on March 14. This fixture takes place at the Millennium Stadium.

How to watch Wales vs. Italy for free

Wales vs. Italy in the 2026 Six Nations is available to live stream for free on BBC iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These handy tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can unblock BBC iPlayer from anywhere in the world.

Live stream Wales vs. Italy from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

4. Visit BBC iPlayer

5. Live stream Wales vs. Italy for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Month Plan) $12.99 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Wales vs. Italy without committing with your cash. This isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream most of the 2026 Six Nations before recovering your investment.

If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming services from anywhere in the world, you'll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.

What is the best VPN for the 2026 Six Nations?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including the UK

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to 10 simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).

Live stream Wales vs. Italy in the 2026 Six Nations for free with ExpressVPN.

The compact hatchback segment has no shortage of strong contenders, but Kia looks ready to shake things up with the new K4 Hatchback. It’s stylish, practical, and clearly designed to go toe-to-toe with some well-established rivals.

Calibre is one of the best tools for managing and reading eBooks on your computer, especially for synchronizing your library with a standalone reader. Now, Calibre 9.5 is rolling out with more interface updates and bug fixes, on top of several other recent updates.

Queue depth is one of those SSD-related things that many people don't get or don't care about—but ignoring it isn't a great idea. It's the reason a drive can have some serious bragging rights in benchmarks, but still feel identical to an older generation in day-to-day use.

What are you looking for this weekend? Some pure fantasy or escapism? Or are you in the mood for something more grounded in reality? Maybe a bit of both? The good thing about Netflix is that you can pretty much shake a stick and hit something that covers whatever you're after.

One of the best vehicles I ever drove was my 2016 Fiat 500X, a small and spartan crossover built on the Jeep Renegade platform. The 2.4-liter Tigershark MultiAir engine and nine-speed automatic were an efficient combination, a nice perk for some of the longer highway drives I was taking back then.

Android devices have always come in different shapes and sizes, with designers experimenting with niche ideas and form factors changing with the times. There are many once common conventions that, if reintroduced today, would be thought of as gimmicks. That doesn't mean they weren't good—if anything, it's time for them to make a comeback.

Spending a lot of time in Prime Video's huge library of documentaries can get a bit ... weird. There's a lot in there, from super-specific explorations of Houdini to exposés on the royal family to everything you ever wanted to know about the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.

The following article contains an extract from Beyond Belief: A Defence of Gossip and the Women Who Do It by Katie Baskerville.

Tattle Life is an internet forum dedicated to gossiping negatively about people. Here, you’ll find a deluge of posts, all dedicated to ripping chunks out of people in the public eye, from A-listers to micro influencers, where slut-shaming, victim-blaming and body-shaming proliferate. It’s the ultimate mean-girl platform, built for tearing other women down – although the platform has in the past disputed this reputation. 

While it’s believed that the majority of the users on the site are female, the anonymous nature of it makes it near impossible to discern the gender split. Originally, on the site’s ‘About’ section a moderator, identified only by her username ‘Helen’, had created a lengthy statement about what Tattle Life is for: "Tattle Life is a commentary website on public business social media accounts. We allow commentary and critiques of people that choose to monetise their personal life as a business and release it into the public domain."

SEE ALSO: Inside the deep, dark world of influencer gossip forums

Helen’s post goes on to explain that Tattle Life has a 24/7 moderation service that seeks to remove "abusive, hateful and harmful" content. Helen states that the purpose of the forum is to allow people to have their opinions as part of a "healthy and free society."  

Any brush with fame, no matter how fleeting, is enough for someone to find themselves in the firing line of Tattle Life users. This is something that Lauren (not her real name), a UK-based influencer and writer, has experienced first-hand. In 2020, while searching for something she’d written online, Lauren noticed that a Tattle Life sub-thread had been published about her. She explains that, in many ways, it felt like an inevitability, having sensed that it would only be a matter of time before she found herself there. "I was like, Oh, God – here we go," she remembers. But as she read on, the language used against Lauren became more and more personal. "I was absolutely heartbroken, because I know so many of my content-creator friends and acquaintances who are also on that website [as victims], and it’s some of the most soul-destroying content you could ever come across."

"It got to the point where I had to shield the screen when I googled my name."

"They will just make up really weird scenarios and run with it as if it’s fact," says Lauren. "They talk about my partner, my body, my clothes, my parents … It got to the point where I had to shield the screen when I googled my name; it was detrimental to my mental health, seeing new things written about me, sometimes on a weekly basis."

The comments on Tattle Life took such a toll that they started to impact how Lauren worked. "I noticed that I was beginning to tailor my content based on what they were saying. So, for instance, if I had gone in there and I had noticed that they said, 'She’s doing too many Instagram stories where she’s talking to camera and she looks ugly,' or something like that, I would stop," she recounts, before continuing. "If they said something about the way I was dressed, I would stop buying from that specific store in order to appease them and not have them talk about me. It got to a point where it just felt like it was dictating my everyday life."

This desire to conform went against Lauren’s character, and she describes herself as having developed a resilience to people discussing her body. "Existing in the body that I do … has always attracted trolls, specifically fatphobic men who don’t like listening to a larger, plus-sized, dark-skinned woman being very vocal about body image and desirability," she explains. Despite this, it was comments about Lauren’s personality that chipped away at her self-esteem the most: "I really try to pride myself on being a nice person and being kind to people and being very honest as an influencer as well," she says. "And when they started calling me annoying, or that I seemed like a nasty person, and when they began talking about my parents – that’s when I became defensive." Lauren realised that one of the people writing about her on Tattle Life must have been someone she knew, further deepening the betrayal. "I have had to put a lot of distance between me and a lot of people, because it’s really shown me that I can’t trust anybody."

SEE ALSO: The 10 best free dating apps to find your spring fling "I have had to put a lot of distance between me and a lot of people, because it’s really shown me that I can’t trust anybody."

Tattle Life has been labelled a "troll’s paradise" by the Guardian, and the site has been linked to doxxing, cyberbullying, and other antisocial online behaviours – so much so that research into the motivations behind the site show that this online community "legitimizes itself by deploying a feminine gender identity in three overlapping and internally contradictory ways": to "minimise the power of their community to do harm," to "provide moral justification for their actions’ and ‘to claim the status of persecuted victims." There are hundreds of thousands of posts and threads that exist for the sole purpose of tearing other women down. The idea that this brand of bitchiness is an inherently female trait, or that threads scrutinising and harassing celebrities and influencers should be shrugged off as nothing more than ‘mean-girl’ behaviour seems absurd.

For years, Tattle Life was believed to be a site made by women, for women. In 2025, however, it was revealed that the site had been founded by Sebastian Bond, a 42-year-old vegan food influencer, who had been using the false name "Helen McDougal" – the moderator behind the ‘About’ page. In a landmark case that saw Neil and Donna Sands, two of the site’s victims, sue Tattle Life for defamation and harassment, anonymity would no longer shield people from culpability. The couple were awarded £300,000 in damages and Bond was named as a result.

Extracted from Beyond Belief: A Defence of Gossip and the Women Who Do It by Katie Baskerville (HQ, £20).

TL;DR: The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order Booster Bundle is available to preorder for $59.95 at Amazon. That's below TCGplayer's market value and comes with Amazon's pre-order price guarantee.

Opens in a new window Credit: The Pokémon Company Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order Booster Bundle $59.95 at Amazon
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The Mega Evolution Perfect Order expansion doesn't release until March 27, but that hasn't held back shoppers. We knew that these products were going to sell like mad as soon as preorders went live at top retailers, but we didn't expect the wave of activity that struck this week. The Pokémon trading card market is absolutely wild right now. We're just about holding on.

Looking for the best preorder deal on Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order Booster Bundles? Amazon is offering excellent value for money.

The Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order Booster Bundle is available to preorder for $59.99 at Amazon. That's way below TCGplayer's market value and comes with Amazon's pre-order price guarantee. The guarantee really is a game changer. The price you pay when this product ships will be the lowest price offered by Amazon between the time you placed your order and the end of the release date. So you're covered against future price drops.

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Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order Booster Bundles contain six booster packs from the new Perfect Order expansion. And every pack contains 10 cards, so there's a chance to pull Mega Zygarde ex, Mega Clefable ex, Mega Starmie ex, and Meowth ex. We know the chances of pulling something seriously valuable are slim, but you never know.

Secure the best Pokémon TCG Mega Evolution Perfect Order Booster Bundle preorder deal at Amazon.