How-To Geek

The whole point of running a home server is being able to reach your files, media, dashboards, and other self-hosted services whenever you need them. Unfortunately, the easiest way to use remote access is also the riskiest one: through port forwarding.

A sound system isn't a cheap proposition, and if you're going to spend the money, you don't want any regrets a year or two down the road. Rather than buying a soundbar, you should piece together your own system—it'll age better and offer better performance.

Emissions regulations, electrification, and ever-stricter fuel economy standards have forced manufacturers to downsize their engines or abandon internal combustion altogether. Even Ferrari has an EV now. The days of the V12 engine are numbered. But they aren’t over, thanks to Zenvo.

Home Assistant is the best smart home platform in almost every way. The problem is that it has a bit of a reputation for being overly complex, which can put a lot of people off. But the project is actively focused on improving the user experience, prioritizing user-friendliness to increase adoption.

We typically think of a smartwatch as an extension to a phone, but there’s no reason it can’t be a useful companion for a computer, too. I was able to set up a simple automation to launch apps on my desktop from my Galaxy Watch—and I did it with two apps I already had installed.

I love streaming services. I see them as an affordable way to watch movies, and when those movies rotate away, I can stream something new.

There was an age where partitioning drives was not only common, but encouraged. But PCs have changed a lot in the past few years. Nowadays, while partitioning is still an option, I'd argue that 90% of users probably shouldn't.

If you've ever dual-booted a PC, you've probably noticed a pretty marked difference between how quickly apps launch on Linux compared to Windows. On Linux, everything seems to snap open instantly, while on Windows there is a perceptible hesitation. Installing Linux on an old PC only exaggerates that even more.

Pull the plug on your internet connection and your Amazon Echo suddenly seems useless. But there's a difference between Alexa being offline and Alexa being completely switched off. I took my Echo offline to find out what still works and what doesn't.

There was a time when AIO (All-In-One) liquid coolers were the perfect middle ground between expensive and complex custom loops and loud and ineffective air coolers. No matter which AIO you chose, it was probably better than most air coolers you could have used in the same build.

Excel has changed dramatically since I first started using it. Microsoft has added features like AI tools, dynamic arrays, Power Query improvements, Python integration, and many new functions—but one of the first "advanced" features I learned is still one of the tools I use most. Setting up Custom Lists only takes a few minutes, yet it quietly saves me time every time I enter or sort recurring data.

The Raspberry Pi may have fallen out of favor among homelabbers and hobbyists for its high price-to-performance ratio, but the single-board computer still has some compelling use cases. Detecting earthquakes and other seismic activity is up there with the best of them.

If you struggle to learn terminal commands, I have four perfect remedies I've picked up over many years, some of which will boost your skills instantly.

I've heard about Linux distributions designed to be difficult to break, and it got me wondering whether I could build something similar with Windows. I actually have a few good reasons to want one. I keep a PC in my garage connected to a large monitor next to my workout equipment. In addition, I do a lot of software testing for my job, and there's a shared media PC in my living room that my family and guests can all use. In all three cases, being able to restart the computer and immediately return it to a known-good state could be incredibly useful.

Even as August's newest movies and TV show titles trickle in on HBO Max, for documentary enthusiasts, one new series that's been building some excitement has finally arrived, and I can confirm after watching the first episode that it's been well worth the wait.

A few years ago, running low on storage for a laptop meant a ten-minute fix with a screwdriver. Now it means either buying a new machine or paying a premium to have more storage configured. Neither option feels reasonable when the laptop itself works fine. I've dealt with this across multiple machines, and the workaround I've landed on costs almost nothing to start and scales as you need it. If you can't upgrade your laptop easily, use my method instead.

If you've bought a Framework PC, you'll want to keep an eye out for identity thieves. The modular computer maker informed all its customers on August 6 that a data breach compromised their sensitive information.

August has a ton in store for Netflix subscribers in the U.S., particularly if you're a fan of thrillers (The Last House, The Whisper Man), insane documentaries (Big Chicken: A Fast Food Conspiracy), and Shane Gillis (Tires, season 3). But the streaming gods do like to tease us, so unfortunately, it's not all available just yet. But what is available isn't too shabby either, and I've got some new and new-to-Netflix shows you can binge all weekend long, below.

The Xbox Kinect was Microsoft’s big push into motion and gesture-controlled gaming, debuting right around the same time as the PlayStation Move and the up-on-your-feet console that started the craze, the Nintendo Wii. The only issue is the latter hardware had a head-start over the competition by about four years. Microsoft never really knew how to market the Kinect, which is too bad because—for 2010—it was pretty cutting-edge.

A Raspberry Pi is a great way to get started in the world of self-hosting. Some models are still relatively inexpensive; they use very little power, and you can run a surprising number of self-hosted services. Some services, such as Pi-hole, can run well on a Raspberry Pi indefinitely, but there are other services that can soon grow beyond what the single-board computer can handle.