How-To Geek

New models of smartphones get released on a constant churn, and even if you don't upgrade every year, it's a safe bet that your current phone is not your first. The chances are that you have some old phones lying around your home. The same is probably true of other devices such as tablets and e-readers.

You might have heard the idiom about the guy with his feet in a freezer and his head in an oven: on average, he's perfectly comfortable. In Excel, we do this with our data every day. Averages are great summaries, but they can quietly sabotage your decisions.

For years, I used a gas generator as backup power during outages, whether they were expected or unexpected blackouts. I recently replaced the gas generator with a battery-powered one. While both serve the same purpose, the battery-powered generator proved to be a true upgrade.

Ignoring the Applied Steps pane in the Power Query editor means you're stuck in a loop of trial and error. That's how you end up with a bloated workflow that turns a five-minute cleanup into an afternoon chore. You don't need to learn any code to fix this—you just need to learn how to manipulate your existing steps.

Luxury buyers usually expect a calm, cushy ride as part of the deal. For years, European SUVs have set the benchmark, leaning on sophisticated suspension setups to deliver that smooth, planted feel.

One of the main reasons I bought my first 4K TV was to watch nature and science documentaries. Watching animals in the jungle, the desert, or the depths of the ocean is one of the most obvious places you could see that 4K difference.

The best thing about Linux is that it has something for everyone. Want a system that just works with minimal effort? You have options. Want to surgically customize every single aspect of your operating system, so it feels less like an appliance and more like a craft project? You have options. The trick is to figure out which distros are meant for you, and which aren't.

If you own an old Nook eReader and don't know what to do with it, I've got a few suggestions. Since it runs Android, you can root it, install custom software and give it a new lease of life as an eReader, or repurpose it into an e-ink dashboard.

I've been running Linux on a laptop for several years now, and I even bought one that came with Linux preinstalled. I need Windows for barely anything anymore, but that didn't happen without some effort and hard-learned lessons.

Early March always feels like the week when things start to lighten up—new month energy combined with warmer climes on the horizon. It also comes with a swath of renewed movies on Paramount+. When you’re ready to unwind, there's plenty to pick from ... maybe too much. So let us throw a few ideas your way this week.

The skyrocketing prices for flash memory have already affected RAM sticks, SSDs, laptops, pre-built PC desktops, phones, and many other devices. Now, you can add the OrangePi Neo to the list—a handheld gaming PC using Linux that was supposed to be released soon.

March is here, which means a fresh month (and a fresh batch of movies) has landed on Netflix, which is perfect timing if your watchlist needs a little spring cleaning. There's only one problem: with that huge library, getting lost in the endless scroll. We're here to help with that.

The hybrid SUV race is still being led by the usual suspects. The Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V Hybrid continue to dominate thanks to loyal buyers and massive dealer networks that keep them comfortably on top.

Like most people, the last optical drive I had in my computer was a plain old DVD writer. I just never saw the point of a PC Blu-ray drive. In many ways, I think it's a small miracle that you can still readily buy a Blu-ray drive for PC today.

The versatility of thrillers is their greatest strength. These tense movies come in various shapes and sizes. Some are lengthy political thrillers where the dialogue creates suspense and drives the story. Other thrillers rely on action and feature heroic performances that turn actors into stars. Because of its large library, Netflix is one of the best streamers to watch thrillers.

Jellyfin, the popular open-source media server and Plex alternative, just got better on Roku TVs and players. The app’s latest update adds support for more HDR modes and anamorphic video, along with a pile of bug fixes.

Using a hash symbol (#)—also known as a spilled range operator—in an Excel formula is a way to tell the program to consider all results in a spilled range. As a result, even if the spilled range grows or shrinks, the formula containing the # will automatically reflect this change.

There was a time when the Android community was obsessed with modding and customizing their devices. A seemingly endless stream of custom ROMs allowed you to replace your phone's default OS. For an Android enthusiast, it was like walking into a candy shop. Sadly, those golden days of Android are in the past, but I like reminiscing about their charm.

Luxury badges look great in the driveway, but they’re usually brutal on your wallet. Depreciation hits hard, and once the warranty’s gone, repair bills can pile up fast enough to make ownership feel like a gamble.

Windows has a lot of random settings that most of us never dig our way to. For some of them, that's actually a good thing, and one of them is "Turn off write-cache buffer flushing."