How-To Geek

As we say so long to June and get ready to celebrate a long weekend, July looks promising on Paramount+ with the season finale of Dutton Ranch on the table and a brand-new season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds at the end of the month! But for the time being, why not let a good documentary or two give you some food for thought?

It’s a tale of terror, paranoia, and skeletons in the closet. Back in the late 1990s, Microsoft was riding high, with the recent success of Windows 95 cementing its hold on the home and office desktop market. So high, in fact, that the US government was about to indict it for holding a monopoly over the industry.

I've had some pretty good luck with my SSDs. I own several now, and have owned a bunch more over the years, and for the most part, they've all lived long, happy (I guess) lives. But I know that an SSD can fail even at 100% health, so it's no wonder that one of mine died after hitting the 10-year-mark. I've also seen a couple die well before that, and one SSD that was pretty much brand new (or so I was told) nearly ruined an entire PC for me.

When you're obsessed with your smart home, you want to show it off. While a light bulb that turns on when you walk into a room is useful, it doesn't really have much of a wow factor. Often, it's the utterly pointless projects that are the most fun to show off.

If you’re a fan of documentaries and docuseries like I am, you might agree that June really spoiled us on Netflix. In fact, the first half of 2026 had been chockablock for docs (docablock?), with HBO Max, Paramount+, and Prime Video throwing out some award-worthy titles, too. And if you let any slip past last month, our roundup of June's best docs is right here to fix that.

DirectStorage can do wonders for your games. But you'd be surprised by how many people don't use it, or aren't aware it exists, despite being a staple Windows feature.

Most Windows users think of USB history only when something goes wrong. A flash drive refuses to show up, an external hard disk keeps disconnecting, a phone charges but will not transfer files, or a strange device name appears in Device Manager with no clear explanation. Windows remembers far more about USB devices than many people realize, but it does not present that history in a friendly way. The information is scattered across system records, device entries, and old hardware associations that remain long after the device has been unplugged.

Do you have an old computer that you want to use 10 Gigabit Ethernet on? You actually can probably take advantage of the faster networking standard without having to replace your system. Here's why your old PC probably supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

Summer is in full swing, which means it's time to give your phone a little extra attention to prevent it from overheating. Cars, in particular, heat up very quickly, and since many of us rely on our phones for everything from Android Auto to streaming music and navigation, all of that puts an extra strain on the device and can cause it to overheat.

ESP32 projects are often useful, creative, and satisfying to make. Some of them can even add a touch of visual splendor to your home, whether that’s a piece of decor, an interactive toy, or a more immersive media consumption experience.

There are lots of Linux distros to choose from. While some have fallen by the wayside, these distros were around from almost the beginning yet are still going strong.

As you settle in for what is hopefully a long holiday weekend, do so with some high-quality character-driven shows that will make you laugh, keep you guessing, and fuel your adrenaline. With strong female leads nestled in high-stakes environments and stylized storytelling, each of these series explores themes of control and reinvention with a sharp focus on identity, ambition, and evolving power dynamics.

I'm not the biggest fan of Google services at the moment. So, when I discovered Gemini was going to be incorporated into my beloved Android Auto, it wasn't exactly my favorite thing. After an unexpected update prompted me to test it out a little bit, I figured out why I feel that way.

I recently wrote about buying a mini-PC for under $300 and using it to run a local LLM. I expected that process to be interesting, but I also expected it to feel a little rough around the edges. Local AI has always sounded useful in theory, but it also carried a lot of baggage. You had to think about system requirements, model sizes, command-line tools, and whether your computer was actually powerful enough to do anything meaningful.

I’ve never been one for tabletop roleplaying games or wargaming. Even so, when I used to attend PAX every year, I’d always frequent the free “paint a miniature” area. It’s a lot of fun.

We live in a world where free and open-source (FOSS) apps can often outperform their paid alternatives. But despite being powerful and free, many of them go unnoticed because they lack the marketing budgets behind commercial software—a tradeoff of being free to use. That’s the gap I’m trying to close with this series. Here are three more hidden gems that deserve more attention—and maybe a spot on your system.

Desktop CPUs have been evolving at a relentless pace for decades. Intel and AMD have introduced a new processor generation roughly every one to two years, with each bringing architectural improvements, higher core counts, better thermal efficiency, new platform features, and, often, a more advanced manufacturing process.

These days, we all want better battery life and a little more privacy on our smartphones. But what if I told you there's one Samsung feature hiding deep in the settings menu that not only drains your battery but also collects your data?

You might still spot the Ford Edge in dealership lots, but it’s officially done—production wrapped up in 2024 after an 18-year run. Built in Canada at Ford’s Oakville plant, it never got a replacement lined up, and there’s no new generation coming.

In 1976, as the country marked its bicentennial, Chevrolet built an entire ad campaign around a simple visual: nothing says American summer like baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and a new Chevy.