How-To Geek

The terminal looks like an unassuming (sometimes intimidating) black box and feels like it’s only meant for pros or experts. It’s not as inscrutable as it seems though. Anybody can learn to use it and get stuff done. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll often find yourself launching a terminal instead of opening a new browser tab. That’s because the terminal is faster, reliable, and never shows ads.

Small SSDs may seem a bit useless in this day and age, when a single AAA game can take up over 100GB. But I have a bunch of these old, outdated drives, including 120GB and 250GB options, that still work just fine. I can bet that you might have some too, if you dig through old drawers or disassemble an old PC.

If you've heard of Qubes, you've probably heard about its steep hardware requirements or difficulty of use. While there's an element of truth there, the reality is considerably different. One or two hurdles are all that's in your way, and I'll cover some of the misconceptions surrounding this amazing system.

That old Wi-Fi router you've had for 15 years? It's time to replace it. Oh, and that DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem you bought in 2015? Yeah, it's time to replace that, too. Here are five networking devices that are officially too old to be using in 2026.

We all have our blind spots when it comes to streaming. I've admitted the classic movies I was late to, including L.A. Confidential and To Live and Die in L.A. Now, it's time to come clean about the classic TV shows I wish I had watched sooner. Some of these I can blame on my age — two of these shows premiered before I was born.

The Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid is quietly becoming one of the hottest family SUVs around. In March 2026 alone, 8,275 buyers took one home, pushing first-quarter sales to 20,532 units—an 86.9-percent jump from the same period last year.

You might associate iFixit with tools to repair your electronics, but now it's taking on a bigger challenge: helping you with all the mid-size DIY projects around your home. The company has released a Megalodon Driver Kit that sits between its precision gadget toolsets and the power tools reserved for heavy-duty jobs.

You can spend years using Excel without realizing some of its biggest time-saving features are hiding in plain sight. Looking back, these are the six tools that would've saved me the most time, clicks, and frustration if I'd discovered them sooner.

Are you port forwarding tons of ports on your home network? Well, you shouldn't be. It's a risk just to have one port forwarded, let alone dozens. Instead, you should use Cloudflare Tunnels or Tailscale—here's why.

I spend most of my workday in front of a screen. I'm developing projects, reading, editing, writing, and making decisions for hours at a time. Since I work from home and my wife doesn't, the end of my workday usually means feeding and walking the dogs, making dinner, and getting things ready for the next morning.

I was tired of Amazon getting all of my audiobook listening history (and money), so I knew there had to be a better way. Taking an old Raspberry Pi I had lying around and installing Audiobookshelf on it was just the ticket to building the private audiobook server I had always wanted.

Android's notification system is one of its best features. However, we've all experienced those moments of notification overload, where you end up swiping everything away or start scrolling for what's important. And while there are tons of ways to supercharge or improve Android notifications, I've been using one Galaxy feature that calms the chaos and does all the work for me.

Honda has built its reputation on more than just reliable engines and fun-to-drive cars. Some of its smartest engineering has gone into making everyday vehicles feel far roomier and more practical than their size suggests.

I like to give Windows a lot of grief when it deserves it, but when it comes to File Explorer, even with some questionable changes to it, it's still a powerful application. Even though I'm mainly a macOS user these days, File Explorer is the better app compared to Apple's Finder if you ask me.

Some smart home automations are simple but effective. When I walk into my home office, the lights will turn on, and when I leave, they turn off again. While I have plenty of functional automations like this, there are also some slightly weird ones that I use on a daily basis.

Milwaukee is one of the most popular power tool brands on the market, and you'll be happy with just about anything you buy. The company delivers powerful tools with a solid reputation, often at a higher cost than many competitors. With that in mind, here are some expensive Milwaukee tools worth saving up for.

An SSD is obviously a lot faster than an HDD, but there are ways to absolutely fry its performance without meaning to. Worse yet, some of these are things many of us are guilty of doing, and some are invisible -- you won't know it's happening until you dig deeper.

Roku has been making streaming players since 2008, so some of the earliest models are almost two decades old. While many of these devices still work perfectly well, some older models are not supported by Roku anymore. It's worth checking if your faithful streaming device is due for retirement.

A handful of early Android apps had a hold on the community that we don’t see anymore. They brought powerful features to the platform that weren’t built-in, but things change. Pushbullet is a classic Android app that went from indispensable to invisible.

Android is based on Linux, but that doesn't mean the two are the same. If you want to use desktop Linux apps on your Android phone, you have to jump through a few hoops. Fortunately, it isn't impossible, and it's getting easier by the day.