How-To Geek

Windows doesn't make it easy to see what your installed apps are quietly sending out over the internet. Portmaster, a free and open-source tool, changes that by showing every outbound connection an app makes and giving you the power to block it.

Google Maps is one of those apps I use almost every time I leave the house, yet I keep finding things I didn't know it could do. After years of using it for directions, I've become much more interested in the little features that make navigating and planning a trip less frustrating. Here are the five I've found most useful.

Don't assume the multi-point inspection of your car helps you in a real way that isn't for the dealer. Sometimes they're just looking for easy ways to sell you more services you can do at home for much less. You pay a bit more upfront for the equipment, but you don't need to be a professional to take care of your vehicle. You can do plenty at home for cheap.

Windows sometimes feels like it's lacking advanced features when compared to other operating systems, but the truth is that Windows has a lot of fancy power tools at its disposal.

Stress is something that's easy to feel, but not necessarily as easy to see. That's part of the utility of wearing a smartwatch like the Pixel Watch—you can see many of your vitals right on your wrist. Numbers are cool, but what if your watch face were a mood ring?

This is a story of user error. I am the user who made the error, and I'm putting this out there so that you don't make the same mistake. Here's how I killed not one, but two small portable power stations before I charged a single device.

As we fast approach September 1 tomorrow, Paramount+ is getting ready to back the dump truck up and roll a pile of catalog movies to the service for U.S. subscribers to enjoy—120 of them, to be exact. The movie chart for the service currently has the demonic road-trip horror Passenger in the top spot, and the Wayans brothers return on September 3 with a brand new Scary Movie installment.

Some network upgrades aren't worth your money. In fact, many are. But do you know what one of those unnecessary upgrades is? A new router you absolutely didn't need to buy yet.

Normally, I never let AI do anything in my homelab without strict safeguards—I've seen far too many horror stories on the internet to fully trust that an AI won't break something. However, I decided to run a small experiment to see just how much Claude could do if I gave it free access to a Pi with two storage drives attached and sudo access.

Whether it's your main phone or not, statistically speaking, there's a good chance you have access to a Samsung Galaxy phone—one that can be the ideal multi-tool for your inner DIYer. Even if you don't, any other Android phone will work just as well.

How much attention are you paying to your motherboard? My guess is not very much, and that's fine.

You now have a major streaming alternative to The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, and Tubi if you can't get enough free TV—provided you have the right console. Sony has launched Live TV on PS5 in the U.S., promising ad-supported movies and shows so long as you're signed in to your PlayStation account.

USB-C is often touted as the universal standard for a wide range of devices, and while there's certainly more compatibility than there used to be, the reality is a lot more complicated.

Labor Day is right around the corner, and that means we can all look forward to excellent deals on all of our favorite tech, tools, and more. If you need a few more Ryobi battery packs or are gearing up for fall DIY projects, Home Depot has huge discounts you won't want to miss.

Netflix is set to flip its calendar over to September tomorrow, and with it comes a flood of new catalog movies to get into—including the Alien films, the whole Resident Evil pile, and dozens more. If you're a U.S. subscriber to the service, however, you might still be salivating over the 26-minute Grand Theft Auto VI preview or the chilling crime thriller Facing El Chapo.

Netflix is set to flip its calendar over to September tomorrow, and with it comes a flood of new catalog movies to get into—including the Alien films, the whole Resident Evil pile, and dozens more. If you're a U.S. subscriber to the service, however, you might still be salivating over the 26-minute Grand Theft Auto VI preview or the chilling crime thriller Facing El Chapo.

Claude has had SKILL.md files for a while now, and they’re one of the most useful things about it. That said, skills are only as good as the person writing them. If you describe your workflow poorly in a skill, Claude will also do the work poorly — it’s basically garbage-in, garbage-out.

Samsung Galaxy phones have a dirty secret: the official thickness measurements do not include the camera bump. Most smartphones have this same secret, but Samsung’s design choices make it a particularly annoying problem. I set out to fix it.

Windows is still the most popular desktop wos.While Linux may be obscure on the desktop, there are some prominent users already adopting it. Governments around the world are doing it to be independent or sometimes cut off from Western software. Here are some of the governments building their digital infrastructure around Linux.

Milwaukee tools are built to take a beating, but caked-on grease, sawdust, and other messes will quietly wreak havoc on your gear. You're probably thinking, "Who cleans their power tools?" but it's pretty common and more important than you think.