The Fentech Blog
Written for real people, no jargon —
Windows 11 24H2 Updates Have Ended: Check Yours
Windows 11 24H2 Home and Pro stopped receiving security updates on 13 October 2026. Here is how to check your PC and move to 26H2 with a single restart.
Read post →Sony Ends Game Discs in 2028: What Changes
Sony says new PlayStation games will be digital-only from January 2028. Your existing discs and disc drive aren't affected, but it's a good reason to look after them.
Read post →Black Friday Scams: Spot a Fake Irish Shop
Black Friday lands on 27 November, and fake online shops are already warming up. Here's how to tell a real bargain from a trap, and how to pay so you can get your money back.
Read post →AI Is Breaking the Software Business
AI wiped billions off software companies this year and now writes most of Google's new code. What's really changing, what's hype, and what it means for a small business.
Read post →Linux Is Genuinely Good Now: Where to Start
Windows 10 is on borrowed time and new PCs cost more than ever. Linux is a real option now. Which version to try, what works, and what still doesn't.
Read post →Free Alternatives to Microsoft 365 and Adobe
Microsoft and Adobe keep raising prices, and the free alternatives have quietly got good. What's worth swapping, what isn't, and what 'free' really costs.
Read post →BioWare Is Closing: What EA's Sale Changed
Ten weeks after a $55bn buyout, EA has closed the studio behind Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Here's how we got here and what it means for the games you play.
Read post →Why GPU Price Headlines Disagree
One report says GPUs are 28% over launch price, another says 86%. Both are right. Here's why the numbers differ and how to read them before you spend.
Read post →Reused Passwords Are the Real Problem
Your password might be strong. If it's also on ten other sites, that doesn't matter. Here's why reuse is the real risk and how a password manager fixes it.
Read post →Building a PC in Late 2026: What's Changed
The same six PC builds cost 51% more than they did a year ago. Here's where the money went, which parts are still sensible, and whether to buy now or hang on.
Read post →Office 2021 End of Support: What to Do Now
Microsoft stopped supporting Office 2021 this month. Your Word and Excel will still open, but they no longer get security fixes — here is what that means and what to do about it.
Read post →Is Your PC Ready for Gears of War: E-Day?
Gears of War: E-Day launched on PC on 6 October. The headline requirement isn't the graphics card, it's 130GB of free SSD space. Here's what your PC needs.
Read post →The PDF Scam Hijacking Irish Business Email
A PDF arrives from someone you genuinely deal with. You sign in to read it, approve the code — and your mailbox now belongs to someone else, who sends the same PDF to everyone you know.
Read post →New Minimum Wage 2027: €14.94 From 1 January
Budget 2027 lifts the minimum wage to €14.94 from January. Here is what changes for small employers and which repetitive office jobs are worth handing to software.
Read post →Don't Wait for Black Friday to Buy a GPU
Graphics cards are getting dearer, not cheaper, and Black Friday has rarely delivered real GPU bargains. Here's what to expect and how to buy smart.
Read post →Staff Pasting Data Into ChatGPT? Read This
Your team is probably already using AI at work, often on personal accounts. Here is what that means for customer data, what the DPC expects, and a one-page policy that fixes most of it.
Read post →Is an OLED Gaming Monitor Worth It in 2026?
OLED gaming monitors look stunning, but everyone asks about burn-in. Here's what the long-term tests found, and how to decide if one is right for you.
Read post →What a Cyberattack Costs an Irish Business
New Irish data puts a number on cyberattack downtime for the first time in a while — and it's the backup habits, not the ransom, that decide how bad it gets.
Read post →DLSS 5 Price: Free, But Only on RTX 50 Cards
Nvidia's DLSS 5 is out — one game, RTX 50-series cards only, and a big frame-rate cost. Here's what it actually does, and why it's not a reason to buy a graphics card this autumn.
Read post →Why Your Texts Say 'Likely Scam'
Irish networks now relabel texts from unregistered Sender IDs as 'Likely Scam' — here's what the tag actually means, and what to do if your business is the one sending them.
Read post →Can I Run Witcher 3 Remastered? Specs Checked
A free remaster of a game half the country already owns lands on 29 September — with path tracing, a 70GB download and a Windows 11 requirement. Here's whether your machine copes.
Read post →Your Chatbot Must Now Say It's AI
The EU AI Act's transparency rules landed on 2 August. For most small Irish businesses the list of things to actually do is short — here it is, without the compliance sales pitch.
Read post →How Much VRAM Do You Actually Need?
16GB cards have overtaken 8GB on Steam for the first time — here's what the real-world testing actually shows, and how much video memory your next build needs.
Read post →What Replaced the Trading Online Voucher
The Trading Online Voucher that funded half of Ireland's small business websites has been replaced by a two-step system — a free Digital for Business consultancy, then a Grow Digital Voucher worth up to €5,000.
Read post →Every Console Now Starts at €500
The Switch 2 went up €30 on 1 September, which means there is no longer a new console in Europe under €500 — here's how to spend that money well.
Read post →Does the EU Accessibility Act Apply to You?
Most one-person Irish service businesses are exempt from the European Accessibility Act — but the exemption is narrower than the scary emails suggest, and the basics are worth doing anyway.
Read post →SSD Prices Have Tripled: What to Buy Now
NAND shortages have tripled SSD prices and storage has quietly become the sneakiest cost in a gaming build — here's how to spec a drive sensibly in 2026.
Read post →Ireland's Copper Switch-Off: What Breaks
The old copper phone network is being wound down area by area, and the things quietly plugged into it — alarms, lifts, card machines — are what catch businesses out.
Read post →Steam Machine in Ireland: €1,039. Worth It?
Valve's Steam Machine is finally here — but with the memory crisis pushing it past €1,000, here's whether it beats a custom PC built to your budget.
Read post →The Invoice Scam Costing Irish SMEs Millions
Irish SMEs lost almost €19m to invoice-redirection and CEO-impersonation email scams over two years — here's how the con works and the simple checks that stop it.
Read post →GTA 6: Console First, No PC Yet
GTA 6 is coming 19 November on PS5 and Xbox with no PC version at launch — here's how to get your console ready and why PC gamers should hold off upgrading.
Read post →Spotting Student Accommodation Scams
Gardaí say about a third of accommodation scams land in August and September — here's how the fake-listing trick works and how to avoid losing a deposit.
Read post →Why Your Console Overheats in Summer
Warm weather and built-up dust are a bad mix for a PS5 or Xbox — here's why consoles overheat in summer and how to fix it before it does damage.
Read post →Passkeys Are Quietly Replacing Passwords
Microsoft, Google and the NCSC are all pushing passkeys over passwords in 2026 — here's what a passkey is and why it's worth using.
Read post →GPU Prices Are Climbing Again
Graphics card prices are creeping up again in 2026 — here's whether to buy now, what actually offers value, and when waiting makes sense.
Read post →Windows' Biggest-Ever Security Patch
July's Windows update closed a record 570 security holes — and briefly shut down some Dell PCs. Here's how to handle updates sensibly.
Read post →Switch 2 Joy-Con Drift Is Already Here
Teardowns confirm the Switch 2 Joy-Cons still use the same drift-prone stick tech as the original — here's what's going on and how to fix it.
Read post →€3 Customs Charge Text: Real Fee or Scam?
Small parcels from outside the EU now carry a €3 customs charge plus VAT — and scammers are exploiting the confusion with fake 'customs charge' texts. Here's how to tell a real charge from a fake one.
Read post →Console Prices Keep Climbing
PS5 prices jumped €100 in April and Xbox increases land in August — here's why 2026 is the year to repair your console rather than replace it.
Read post →RAM Prices Have Gone Mad
DDR5 prices have roughly tripled as AI datacentres hoover up the world's memory — here's what it means for building a gaming PC in Ireland, and how to build smart around it.
Read post →Fibre Broadband Roscommon: Can You Get It Yet?
The National Broadband Plan wraps up this year and over 18,000 Roscommon premises can order 500Mb fibre today — yet only 12% of Irish businesses have made the switch.
Read post →Windows 10 Gets a Quiet Lifeline to 2027
Microsoft quietly extended Windows 10 security updates into 2027. Here's what it actually means for your business — and a 60-second checklist to see where you stand.
Read post →AI Scams Are Getting Scary Good
Deepfake video calls, cloned voices and AI-written phishing are hitting businesses in 2026. The five cons to know — and an interactive test to see if you'd spot them.
Read post →CRMs, EPOS Systems and News Readers
What really happens when a small business gets software built for it — real project types from the Fentech workbench: CRMs, EPOS systems, news readers and automations.
Read post →How We Built the Fentech Website
A behind-the-scenes look at the techniques, decisions and features behind one of the most technically complete small-business sites in Ireland.
Read post →How an SSD Upgrade Revives an Old Laptop
Swapping a spinning hard drive for an SSD is the single best upgrade you can make. Boot time drops from 2 minutes to 15 seconds.
Read post →5 IT Security Mistakes to Avoid
Most attacks on small businesses succeed because of simple, avoidable mistakes. The five most common — and how to fix them, mostly for free.
Read post →Does Your Business Need a Website?
With Facebook pages and Instagram profiles, is a proper website still worth it? An honest answer from someone who builds them for a living.
Read post →5 Signs Your Laptop Battery Needs Replacing
If your laptop barely lasts an hour or shuts down without warning, your battery is telling you something. The five clear signs it's time.
Read post →Accidentally Deleted Files? Do This Immediately
Don't panic — and don't keep using the device. Exactly what to do when you've lost files, and the one mistake that makes recovery impossible.
Read post →Got a tech problem right now?
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