How-To Geek

I love desktop widgets. I’ve loved them since the early days of Windows 7, and I hate the fact that Microsoft decided to remove them. Sure, some of you will say the desktop looks cleaner without widgets, but to me, it just feels like wasted screen real estate. Widgets give you easy access to useful information without requiring you to open an app.

My brother’s phone stopped working one morning, so I offered to lend him my Samsung phone for the day. He just needed it to make important calls, so I didn’t mind handing it over. I wasn’t worried about him stumbling across my personal photos, WhatsApp conversations, or work files either.

When you hear the name Ryobi, the first thing most people think about is power tools for DIY projects and homeowner repairs. And while that's certainly true, you don't have to be a DIYer to absolutely love several of Ryobi's most popular products. The company makes a little bit of everything, and there are several you'll probably want to own.

Welcome to Halloween weekend! There are plenty of horror movies and shows to stream this weekend. Only one of these shows fits the bill for spooky season, and it's our top pick of the weekend. It's the return of the serial killer who targets other criminals who have slipped through the cracks of the criminal justice system.

The Xbox Ally X may be a fantastic handheld, but its improvements weren't enough to convince me to upgrade from the ASUS ROG Ally X, my PC gaming handheld of choice for over two years. What about an Xbox Ally X Plus, though, delivering a handful of fresh upgrades on top of everything that makes the original great? In a nutshell, that's the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X20, a special edition handheld that does a lot more than celebrate 20 years of Republic of Gamers and 25 years of Xbox.

Our friends and coworkers at XDA just debuted XDB Builder, a super-streamlined tool for designing, optimizing, and buying the components for your next PC.

These three Bash features turn the terminal into something closer to a file browser, with saved locations, a quick way back, and a full history of where you’ve been. None of them need a plugin, an alias framework, or a new shell.

For a long time, the way to access your notifications and quick settings on a Galaxy device was the same. You swipe down once for notifications and a second time for settings. It was intuitive and simple, and that was the way that just about everybody liked things to be. Then Samsung decided to change things.

Netflix has always had a strong documentary section. One of the more recent documentaries making headway is Instadocs: AI Gone Wild, a wild hacking story about a breach caused by autonomous agents created by OpenAI researchers. If you're fearful of AI, this documentary will amplify that anxiety.

While Linux’s app ecosystem isn’t as rich as that of Windows, especially when it comes to commercial and professional software, the open-source community has filled a lot of that gap with a bunch of well-made apps.

If you live in an area with limited high-speed internet options and use SpaceX's Starlink, then it's time to check your emails in case you get a notice about recent changes to your monthly bill. Starlink users have taken to Reddit to discuss upcoming increases to the cost of their service. The catch? Changes appear to be regional, and a lucky few have reported decreases. Here's what we know so far and what to look out for if Starlink is your current ISP. This is yet another blow to customers, as the company got rid of its cheapest plan earlier this year.

All-in-one desktop computers beat laptops for users who don't need mobility, offering higher performance and larger displays at lower prices. High-end desktops aren't cheap, but you don't have to pay full retail price when you can get a huge $1,000 discount on this powerful Dell All-in-One Desktop.

The original Benchy is a relic of the past, a benchmark print that no longer challenges modern printers. But Benchy occupies a special place within 3D printing lore as an unofficial mascot of sorts, an immediately-recognizable model that the community keeps coming back to.

Everyone seems to love Apple's MagSafe system. Sure, there was plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth when the company first discontinued it, but now MagSafe is back and as popular as ever.

Anthropic’s unreleased Claude AI model has uncovered a critical Linux kernel flaw. And it didn’t just stop at spotting it; it built an attack that could give someone root access, the highest level of control on Linux. The attacker can run commands, change settings, access files, and potentially take over the machine remotely. No clicks, file opening, or password needed. The flaw is tracked as CVE-2026-98432 and scores a critical 9.8 out of 10 in severity.

Amazon Fire tablets are primarily known for one thing: being cheap. Plenty of sacrifices have been made to hit the low price points, and performance is often where it's most noticeable. That's why the best way to repurpose one is to make it a unitasker.

Did you know that your SSD can fail even at 100% health? Cheerful, isn't it? HDDs are unpredictable too; a study shows that half of the ones that fail do so within their first year. Amazing.

When I bought my OLED TV in 2020, I expected I would get a full decade or more out of it, just as I had the LCD model it replaced. Now, only six years later, the original LCD is still going strong, but the OLED has one foot in the grave.

There's something special about building your own gaming rig from scratch, and you can't beat the satisfaction of seeing it work for the first time. The case is the foundation, and you'll need to get the right one to fit your components. Corsair's 3500X is an excellent choice for its space and quality, and you can get it 35% off with a limited-time Amazon deal.

The last time I talked about Docker, I mentioned several containers that I keep running 24/7. These are containers that I never spin down unless I'm updating them manually. Some readers had some fantastic suggestions for containers I hadn't tried yet. And for those who asked about containers that I don't actually keep running, I got to thinking about it, and there are definitely a few Docker containers that I only spin up when I need them. I was surprised to see that they're actually some of the most important containers I use.