How-To Geek

Phones have become such a part of our daily lives that it's important to find ways to make them easier to use. There's always one place that can make navigating cleaner, smoother, and easier: the Home Screen. But you might not realize there are some neat features available in your system launcher, like Samsung's One UI Launcher.

When Toyota rolled out its first hybrid system in the 1997 Prius, the idea was straightforward. Let a gas engine and an electric motor trade off propulsion duties, so the car could ultimately go farther on less fuel. Almost three decades later, Toyota has stretched that same idea in two different directions inside a single car.

We've all been there. Your PC is lagging, you open up task manager to see what is going on, and the graph shows you that 95% of your RAM is in use. Switching to the process tab doesn't help; the numbers don't seem to add up.

Ever since its release in early 2022, Valve's Steam Deck has been touted as the best handheld PC for most people and the default recommendation for anyone looking to get into handheld PC gaming, for good reason.

Many of us rely on Google Maps (or your navigation app of choice) running through Android Auto to get from point A to point B. It makes sense—navigation is one of the most fundamental features any modern car can offer, and it's only made better by Android Auto because it ditches the clunky built-in systems in favor of something familiar.

Luxury SUVs have become increasingly expensive, with many new compact models now pushing well beyond the $50,000 mark before options. That has made the lightly used market especially appealing, where three-year-old examples can deliver virtually the same technology, comfort, and performance for thousands less than their original sticker price.

If your Fire TV Stick keeps rebooting, freezing, or buffering and feels like it's on its way out, it might not actually be broken. Different symptoms often have different causes, so the fix for a device that's buffering won't be the same as one that's stuck in a reboot loop. So before you throw it away and buy a replacement, check whether you can get it working properly again.

It's no secret that Apple’s ecosystem is a closed garden; most of its apps and services are only available on its own platforms. This won't be changing anytime soon, but that doesn't mean Apple has gate-kept all of its apps—some have found their way onto the Google Play Store.

Be sure to remember your Galaxy phone's PIN or password, as the consequences might be severe the next time you forget. Samsung has revealed that Android 17-based One UI 9, preloaded with new phones like the Galaxy Z Fold 8, will force a factory reset after 13 failed unlock attempts.

Bad Excel habits rarely cause problems straight away. Instead, they quietly build up until your workbook becomes difficult to update, troubleshoot, or trust—and by then, fixing everything can take longer than rebuilding it. None of these five habits will break a small spreadsheet overnight, but once your workbook grows or someone else has to use it, they become much harder to undo.

Almost every device in your home asks, "What is the IP address of this domain?" hundreds or even thousands of times per day. By default, your ISP is the one that provides the answer. In practice, that means your ISP is handed a very tidy list of every single domain you or any of your devices access every single day.

It seems that as the realities of streaming media dawn on people all over the world, a desire for physical music media is on the rise.

Every year, all the big players release new smartphones. Sure, they're shiny and have fancy specs, but that $1,300 Galaxy S26 Ultra or new iPhone isn't all that special compared to what's already in my pocket. This isn't a new take, but now the software has started to plateau just as much as the hardware, making upgrades harder than ever to justify.

If you walk through my house, you’ll see plenty of Roku gear. I've got Roku TVs and a couple of streaming sticks, and for the most part, they do exactly what they're supposed to do. They're simple, they're familiar, and they're good enough for most people. And honestly, if you just want something that works the same way every time you turn on the TV, that familiarity is hard to beat.

The compact SUV segment has long been dominated by the Toyota RAV4, but 2026 has delivered an unexpected shake-up. Production changes tied to the arrival of an all-new generation have slowed Toyota's momentum, opening the door for one of its closest rivals to surge ahead in the sales charts.

We've all been there at some point, staring at a blank screen on a system that fails to boot, or one where hardware options are limited. One dependable ally in those situations is Linux. While some people expect advanced, cutting-edge features from their OS, the real power of Linux lies within its utility. No matter what your daily driver is, having such a capable tool at your disposal is of enormous help.

Fans of Ryobi and its bright-colored power tools know that the company has a huge ecosystem of 18V ONE+ and 40V tools, from regular drills and drivers to obscure items for around the house. And while Ryobi has an excellent reputation for delivering quality tools at affordable prices, there are a few slightly more expensive models that are absolutely worth saving up for.

Every era of computing produces at least one CPU that has a spectacular failure. Sometimes, if you're especially unlucky, you'll get multiple.

I run Home Assistant in Proxmox on my mini PC, along with multiple other services. I use local LLMs running in Ollama, but they're very slow on my local hardware. I've always wanted to use a local LLM to make my local voice assistant smarter, but until now, it's always been far too slow or inaccurate to be of any use.

The beauty of ESP32 boards is that you can add additional hardware to them to make them even more versatile. An ESP32 board that includes an NFC reader opens up a whole world of possibilities. You can use one in combination with smart home software such as Home Assistant to replace a wide range of smart home devices, often for a fraction of the price.