How-To Geek

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We explain technology. Learn more with our articles, reviews, tips, and the best answers to your most pressing tech questions.
Updated: 2 hours 42 min ago

The Samsung Galaxy S26 will be revealed on February 25th—here’s what we know

10 hours 46 min ago

The winter doldrums are almost behind us, and that means new Android phones are on the horizon. Samsung has announced the date for the first Galaxy Unpacked event of 2026, which is when the Galaxy S26 series will be officially shown off. The company has also shared information about pre-order promotions.

Categories: IT General, Technology

How to navigate Home Assistant faster (without changing a thing)

10 hours 46 min ago

Home Assistant is incredibly powerful, but there are so many features that navigating your way through all the menus can be a chore. You can do things much faster if you stick to using your keyboard.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Stop buying hard drives for Plex: How I reclaimed 7TB for free

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 23:00

I have a lot of storage for my Plex server—over 60TB, actually. However, even I sometimes run into space issues and have to find ways to free up hard drive storage without deleting things. That’s where Tdarr comes in, and here’s how I used it to free up over 7TB of space on my server.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The key area the AirPods Pro 3 improve on compared to the last generation

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 22:30

The third-generation AirPods Pro come with several upgrades over the previous model, especially in sound quality and noise cancellation. While those improvements may not sound dramatic on paper, they do make a noticeable difference, whether you’re listening to music alone or in public.

Categories: IT General, Technology

This gimmicky old Samsung feature finally makes sense

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 22:00

Years before I started buying Samsung phones, you could unlock your phone by scanning your eyes. This went away with the release of the Galaxy S21. Now iris scanning is back, not on the latest Galaxy phone, but on a device where it inherently makes sense.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Your PC won't be updated to Windows 11 26H1

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 21:16

The first major release of Windows 11 for 2026 has arrived, as Windows 26H1. However, it won't be rolled out to any existing PCs, and it will only exist as a starting point for specific new PCs.

Categories: IT General, Technology

This affordable family sedan offers Lexus luxury at a mainstream price

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 21:00

There aren't many mainstream sedans that come to mind when you think luxury, but one affordable midsize four-door delivers comfort, refinement, and premium features once reserved for upscale brands, without the luxury-brand price tag. While many shoppers settle for basic transportation in this segment, this model’s higher trims bring near-luxury appointments and thoughtful touches that feel a level above the mainstream.

Categories: IT General, Technology

6 3D-printing projects that look smart (but aren't)

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 20:00

3D printing gives you a way out of boring mass-market limitations, letting you create custom solutions and enjoy being completely self-sufficient. Unfortunately, that enthusiasm often means people rush into neat projects that everyone sees circulating online, without thinking about how usable the end result really is.

Categories: IT General, Technology

8 tricks that'll give your old Android phone another year of life (or more)

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 20:00

Android phone in a bit of a lull? Before you give it a kick and toss, a small change here and some optimization over there can dramatically improve the speed, performance, and efficiency of your smartphone.

Categories: IT General, Technology

CrossOver on Linux and Mac can now play more Windows games

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 19:46

CrossOver, the Windows app compatibility layer for Linux and Mac, just got a massive upgrade. The latest update is now based on Wine 11, allowing Borderlands 4, Helldivers 2, Starfield, and other games to finally work on Mac.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Ran out of M.2 slots? This overlooked BIOS feature is the fix

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 19:30

NVMe SSDs are all the rage because they're small, cost-effective, and blazing fast. Unfortunately, if you've built or purchased a PC in recent years, you may have noticed that there aren't nearly as many M.2 NVMe slots on your motherboards as you might like. That is where PCIe bifurcation comes in.

Categories: IT General, Technology

PSA: You can watch a ton of genuinely great movies for free on YouTube

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 19:00

Most of us think of YouTube as a place where the content is made by regular people, rather than professional outfits. For the most part, this is still true, but fundamentally, YouTube is technically no different from any streaming service. Which is why you'll also find honest-to-goodness movies on YouTube that are both legal and free to watch.

Categories: IT General, Technology

This is the easiest way to run Linux distros on your Android phone

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 18:30

You can run pretty much any popular Linux distribution on your Android phone in a few simple steps. With the right scripts, you can even install a fully-featured GUI distro with the desktop environment and window manager of your choice. Let me show you how.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The real reasons so many people use MQTT in Home Assistant

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 18:00

Home Assistant Analytics shows that the MQTT integration is used in nearly half of all active Home Assistant installations. This places it eleventh on the list of the most installed integrations for users of the smart home software. What is it that makes this integration quite so popular?

Categories: IT General, Technology

This new web browser works on ancient PowerPC Mac computers

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 17:54

Before there was Apple Silicon, before there were Intel-powered Mac computers, there were PowerPC Mac computers. If you still have a PowerPC G4 or G5 Mac, it could potentially use the modern web again, thanks to the PowerFox project.

Categories: IT General, Technology

What are Linux Mint Cinnamon Spices and how to use them

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 17:30

Do you love Linux Mint but think that the desktop looks a bit too plain and boring? Well, if you’re using the Cinnamon edition, you can easily make the desktop more functional using Cinnamon Spices. Here’s a quick overview of what they are and how they work.

Categories: IT General, Technology

6 things to consider before an expensive car repair

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 17:15

Unexpected car repairs are among the most common emergency expenses for American households. Since our vehicles are a necessary part of our everyday routine, the thought of being without one or having to fork over a substantial amount of money for repairs is anxiety-inducing.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The Nintendo Switch 2 uses this storage tech—why doesn't your PC?

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 17:00

The first computers I used in my life had nothing but floppy drives. One for the operating system and one for the software you wanted to run. Even as hard drives and CD-ROM drives appeared on the scene, the humble floppy stuck around for most of that time until USB flash drives finally filled that need.

Categories: IT General, Technology

BSD: What is it, and how is it different from Linux?

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 16:30

Looking around at lesser-known operating systems, you've likely come across something called BSD, or FreeBSD. Both Linux and BSD are open source, Unix-like operating systems, but they're different. Here's what you need to know.

Categories: IT General, Technology

GNU coreutils explained: the basic Linux tools that make the terminal work

Tue, 02/10/2026 - 16:30

Every Linux system is unique, and other Unix-based systems like macOS and BSD introduce even more differences. But they all have a reliable, consistent set of tools at their heart, and these tools help define the Linux experience.

Categories: IT General, Technology

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