Technologies

I Hate When Steam Drops for Maintenance, but Now I Know When to Likely Avoid It

Gaming platform Steam is regularly, but briefly, down for maintenance — here’s how long it lasts and advice on how to avoid it.

You open Steam to boot up a game and get stopped by a warning saying Steam is down for maintenance. Frustrated, you wonder — how long will this gameless purgatory last? The short answer: It’s never certain, but it could be less than an hour if it’s routine maintenance or longer, depending on the issue being solved, especially if it’s an emergency fix. With some advance knowledge offered by Steam’s owner, Valve, however, you may be able to avoid or reduce maintenance windows.

In a support article for how it plans its routine scheduled maintenance, Valve offered guidance that it prioritizes uptime during business hours in the Pacific time zone (on the US West Coast) when as many of its staff are available to help with issues as possible.

While Steam has a global user base that plays games on the platform around the clock, the company noted that the number of players peaks around 12 p.m. (noon) PT, and it bottoms out around 11 p.m. PT. Thus, when Valve needs to do planned maintenance, it’s scheduled for early mornings or late afternoon Pacific time to avoid peak time while still having staff around to address issues, the company noted in the support article.

When is Steam’s weekly maintenance?

Valve doesn’t announce when its platform goes dark for planned maintenance, nor does it have guidance on any of its social media accounts. But from various posts on the Steam support forum and Reddit, Valve tends to take Steam down for less than an hour for weekly maintenance on Tuesdays starting sometime between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. PT.

However, there’s no notification system to warn you in-game when Steam’s servers go down, so be careful when playing in that window.

How do I check whether Steam is down?

Aside from booting up Steam yourself, you can check a third-party service to see if they’ve reported that the platform is down. The most robust is SteamDB, which monitors access within cities around the world to indicate potential regional outages.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Tuesday, July 29

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for July 29.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

The 1-Down clue in today’s Mini Crossword took me on a nostalgic journey back to childhood board games. Read on for an assist if you get stuck. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: ___ Escola, Tony-winning portrayer of Mary Todd Lincoln in «Oh, Mary!»
Answer: COLE

5A clue: Tear to pieces, as documents or cheese
Answer: SHRED

6A clue: Gentle prod
Answer: NUDGE

7A clue: Enjoyed a home-cooked meal
Answer: ATEIN

8A clue: Sassy
Answer: PERT

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Ladder’s counterpart
Answer: CHUTE

2D clue: Something taken by a server
Answer: ORDER

3D clue: The real deal
Answer: LEGIT

4D clue: The garden in «The Garden of Earthly Delights»
Answer: EDEN

5D clue: «___ out of it!» («Wake up!»)
Answer: SNAP

Technologies

Microsoft Is Giving Windows 10 Users Free Security Updates for a Year, but There’s a Catch

Not ready to move on to Windows 11? You can pay for another year of Windows 10 security updates, or you can take advantage of this free option.

As Microsoft gets ready to sunset Windows 10, security support is scheduled to end in October. You can get a one-year extended security update for $30. But if you want to stick with Windows 10 for another year, you might be better off with Microsoft’s free option — you’ll just need to use cloud backup and connect it with your OneDrive account.

The ability to get free updates on Windows 10 is a pretty big deal because it is still the most widely used Windows OS, accounting for just over 53% of installs as of May 2025. That leaves millions of people without security support in just a few months unless they upgrade. So the cloud backup option gives users a way out without costing them any money.

The only potential issue is OneDrive. Anyone with a Microsoft account gets up to 5GB of storage for free. However, as The Verge points out, some backups may exceed this limitation, requiring users to purchase a monthly or yearly plan. At $2 per month for 100GB of cloud storage, a year of OneDrive still costs less than the $30 for a year of additional security updates, but it may still cause frustration among some customers.

Windows 10 was released a decade ago, in July 2015.

How to get Windows 10 security updates for free

Per Microsoft’s blog post, there are now three options for those who want to stay on Windows 10 and still receive security updates:

Use Windows Backup to sync settings to the cloud via OneDrive.
Redeem 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points. Redeeming those points can buy you one year of security updates.
Pay $30 for the extended security updates program.

You will be presented with these options starting in July, which is when Microsoft plans to roll out the sign-up wizard for the Extended Security Updates program. Signing up for this option will guarantee updates until Oct. 13, 2026, although businesses will have the option to purchase up to three years of additional updates. So, this isn’t a long-term solution, but rather gives you more time to upgrade to Windows 11.

It’s been an uphill battle for Microsoft, as people have been reluctant to upgrade their existing hardware. There are myriad differences between the two operating systems, but Microsoft’s string of unpopular decisions along with Windows 11 compatibility issues have kept the prior generation OS around a lot longer than it normally would be.

Technologies

PayPal Launches Pay With Crypto, Expanding Its Push Into Digital Currencies

This is part of PayPal’s bigger plan to make crypto more practical for everyday use, not just investing.

PayPal doubled down on crypto on Monday with the launch of Pay With Crypto, a new feature that lets customers use bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies at checkout with millions of merchants worldwide. While PayPal has a history of investing in crypto, this move aims to provide easier cross-border transactions and an almost-instant settlement, while reducing transaction fees by up to 90%.

When someone chooses to pay with crypto, PayPal automatically converts the digital coins into local currency for the seller. This means merchants don’t have to handle crypto themselves or worry about price swings since they get paid in dollars or their local money, just like any other transaction. PayPal says this could help businesses save money on fees, especially for international sales.

«Businesses of all sizes face incredible pressure when growing globally, from increased costs for accepting international payments to complex integrations,» Alex Chriss, president and CEO of PayPal, said in the press release. «We’re removing these barriers and helping every business of every size achieve their goals.»

The company says this is part of its bigger plan to make crypto more practical for everyday use, not just investing. CNET reported in April that PayPal had teamed up with Coinbase to offer crypto rewards for its stablecoin PYUSD, as well as new incentives for using its app to manage digital assets. And now, PayPal is signaling it wants to move crypto beyond just buying and holding and into everyday commerce.

PayPal says Pay With Crypto works seamlessly within its existing checkout experience. When paying online, eligible customers will see crypto as a payment option alongside credit cards and bank accounts. The crypto is instantly converted to fiat currency behind the scenes, so merchants don’t have to handle any digital coins directly.

PayPal says the system currently supports 100 cryptocurrencies, with plans to expand. PayPal first opened up crypto buying and selling in 2020, but this is the biggest push so far to make spending it part of everyday online shopping. The company says Pay With Crypto will roll out to US customers first, with more countries to follow.