How-To Geek

Insurance costs are one of the biggest, and most overlooked, expenses of vehicle ownership, and in 2026, one Japanese SUV stands out for offering the lowest average insurance rates of any new model. For budget-minded buyers, that can translate to hundreds (or even thousands) of dollars saved over the life of the vehicle, making it a remarkably affordable choice beyond its sticker price.

The ChromeOS Files app isn’t just a place to browse downloads. It’s the control center for everything your Chromebook stores, syncs, and touches. Local files, Google Drive, Android app data, and Linux files all funnel through here. If you don’t understand how Chromebook storage actually works, you’re already using it wrong.

When it’s time to make your way through town during rush hour traffic or head off on a road trip, which mapping app do you use? Back in the day, I’d say Google Maps, but these days my first choice is Apple’s pack-in.

A new year has begun, and we all start off with great intentions. If you've promised yourself that you're going to do more with Home Assistant this year, you may be facing the common issue of not knowing what to automate next. Here are three Home Assistant projects you might want to take on this weekend.

I love the weekend because it's a great time to test out Linux distros and applications. This week, I've come across some software I think will be useful to someone out there, including a document converter tool, a headphone controller, and a brew timer.

Paramount+ has been in a fantastic groove for series that are great to binge over a weekend (or a few weekdays)—perfect if you want to be hooked quickly and just keep going.

We use Excel every day, but we rarely appreciate the sheer scale of its dominance. Excel isn't just a spreadsheet—it's a global phenomenon that has survived every major shift in tech history. Here's why this familiar, 40-year-old green icon still sits on our task bars today.

If Windows is your operating system of choice, you probably know about a few keyboard shortcuts that include the Windows key. The fact of the matter is that the Windows key is probably the most useful key on the entire keyboard.

I had used Windows since its XP days, and most of my life I stuck with it. Occasionally, I would dual-boot with a Linux distribution, but I always went back to Windows. About three years ago, I deleted Windows off my work computer and permanently switched to Linux. Here's how that decision slowly reshaped my tech habits.

The weekend's almost here, so whatcha gonna watch? If you're like me, it'll be something on Netflix you can make your way through in a weekend, or even into next week.

I used to dread sharing my screen during meetings because my Excel spreadsheets were a mess of raw data. I'd spend forever hiding columns and zooming in, only to have to undo it all later. Then I found custom views—a "save state" that toggles between layouts in just two clicks.

Are you still being rudely awoken by the grating screech of an alarm clock in the morning? Ditch the din and put this smart home gadgetry to good use to make waking up a gentler and more pleasant experience.

This weekend, I decided to embark on an international getaway with three shows on Amazon Prime Video, and you’re coming with me. We’re headed around the world with a witty comedy and a dark sci-fi mystery-thriller, then it’s game-on back in the States, psychologically speaking.

Now that we’re a week into 2026, it’s time to take a look at some more homelab projects to try out this weekend. Instead of complex and complicated projects, I’m focusing more on getting organized and setting myself up for a successful year from the start, so here are three projects to work on over the next few days.

I want to learn something when I watch a documentary or docuseries, but I don't want it to feel like I'm cramming for an exam. Entertaining while enlightening are two traits I look for in a doc, and I think this weekend's Prime Video picks hit that nail right on the head.

Microsoft is now rolling out Visual Studio Code version 1.108, also known as the December 2025 update. It some great terminal improvements, more Git features, new capabilities for AI agents, and other changes.

Smart home technology has made it possible to add features to your home that once cost thousands of dollars. You can now recreate many of those features for very little cost, or even for free if you already own the right smart home tech.

The typical reaction to many of Netflix's best documentaries and series that I've watched (and I watch a lot of them) is, "wait, what?!" That can be a good thing or a bad thing, but if you're in the mood for something shocking, illuminating, or just a train-wreck you can't turn away from, shake a stick, and you'll hit something with Netflix's selection of docs.

I've spent years watching people move data in Microsoft Excel by cutting, inserting blank rows, pasting, and then deleting the old empty space. Most people don't realize there's a right-click-drag menu that handles all of that in one motion.

Microsoft Word is rolling out a small quality-of-life update that fundamentally changes how you add hyperlinks to your documents. This update, which is already available in Word for the web, lets you instantly turn selected text into a link simply by pasting the URL directly over it.