How to Use Ice Melt Without Damaging Outdoor Surfaces, Plantings, and Your Pet’s Paws

Underneath flashy brand names or packaging, most ice melts feature blends of the same ingredients: sodium chloride, calcium chloride, or magnesium chloride. “They’re all salts,” says David P. Orr, director and senior engineer of the Cornell Local Roads Program. And any salt will seep into porous pavement, potentially causing problems. We spoke with Orr, veterinarians,…

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Preview: 2026 Jeep Cherokee Returns as a Boxy 37-MPG Hybrid

One notable change over the previous Cherokee is in its increased interior space. Jeep claims the new Cherokee has 30 percent more cargo capacity than the last model. Every Cherokee features a pair of full-color displays on the dashboard: a 10.25-inch driver’s information display behind the wheel and a centrally located 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen. Climate…

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3 Best Rowing Machines of 2025, Lab-Tested and Reviewed

CR’s testers assess rowing machines to evaluate their construction quality, their ability to accommodate a range of body sizes and shapes, ease of use, and potential safety risks to users. To evaluate a machine’s ergonomics, we had five men and five women row on each machine, to see how it fit various users and to…

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11 Best Protein Powders, According to Years of Testing (2025)

Compare Top 11 Protein Powders More Protein Powders to Consider Photograph: Boutayna Chokrane Naked Casein: With only one ingredient—micellar casein sourced from hormone-free skim milk—it’s about as clean as it gets. No added sugar, no artificial sweeteners, and no unnecessary additives. It’s cold-processed, to avoid any nastiness from chemicals or synthetic fillers, and it’s independently…

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Best Window Insulation Kits

The film in window insulation kits doesn’t attach directly to the glass of a window. As long as you shrink the film properly with a blow-dryer, visibility isn’t really affected, so you don’t have to give up your view for a more comfortable home. From my experience, installation takes just 15 to 20 minutes with…

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Best Chef’s Knives of 2025

Paul Hope Paul Hope is a Home & DIY Editor at Consumer Reports and a trained chef. He covers ranges, cooktops, and wall ovens, as well as grills, drills, outdoor power tools, decking, and wood stains. Before joining CR in 2016, he tested kitchen products at Good Housekeeping and covered tools and remodeling for This…

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How to Avoid Hidden Damage on a Used Car

Car theft is a serious concern, even among more mainstream models. Vehicle thefts numbered more than a million for 2022 and 2023, but the figures dropped to 850,708 in 2024, according to the NICB, an industry membership organization. California has the highest vehicle theft rate at 463.2 thefts per 100,000 people. Why it matters: The…

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