How-To Geek

Over the past decade, Fedora has earned its reputation as the go-to cutting-edge Linux distro. But the landscape has changed. Today, several popular distros offer newer packages, faster updates, and comparable stability—making Fedora no longer the obvious default for Linux power users.

Installing Linux has a reputation for being difficult or technical, and depending on your choices, it could be. You'll find dozens of tutorials about dual-booting from one drive and manually working with partitions. Luckily, for the vast majority of people, none of that is necessary.

I was looking for smart home devices online when I stumbled across a smart knob and immediately wanted to buy it. Then I noticed that exactly what I needed was staring me in the face. My mini hi-fi system on my desk has a large knob that feels gorgeous to turn, so I wondered if I could turn it into a smart home controller.

Spreadsheet formulas used to feel fragile. One wrong column number could throw off an entire report. But when I finally replaced VLOOKUP with XLOOKUP, Excel started feeling predictable, flexible, and surprisingly hard to break.

Many "dead" electronics aren't actually dead. Cracked joints, loose wires, and worn-out connectors are extremely common problems, and they're all easily fixable if you have a decent soldering iron. Over a few years, the small repairs you can make with a soldering iron will save you money and reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill.

If you're having issues with your home internet and urgently need a connection for work or some other reason, or if yet another outage has flat-out taken down your connection, there's a way to get your router back online and reconnect all your devices to the web.

I’ll admit that I was quite excited when I found out that my 3D printer could be fully integrated into Home Assistant. If you have a smart home server running, you might as well connect as many devices as you can, right?

Whether you're tracking monthly spending, utility bills, hobby data, or other recurring numbers, predicting future trends usually means wrestling with complicated formulas. But Excel already has a built-in forecasting tool—and most people never realize it's there. Here's how to use it.

There's nothing quite like going to the movies, but a good projector can bridge the gap, giving you a small taste of the theater experience at home. A budget projector may be a more affordable option than a giant TV, but the results can sometimes be disappointing. A few simple and affordable upgrades can make your projector experience far better.

When Microsoft first revealed Windows Recall, the reaction was immediate and brutal. The headlines called it spyware, security researchers threw warnings around like confetti, and actual WIndows users seemed very unhappy with the idea that their desktop would be screenshotted and saved every few seconds.

I have subscription fatigue, and if you're like most people, you probably do too. It feels like every useful AI feature now comes with a price tag attached to it, and those costs add up fast. I've paid for more than a few AI platforms, but I'm much less likely to do that now.

Getting into a new hobby can be daunting. Enthusiasts brag about spending thousands on fancy bits of equipment, while you’re still trying to figure out if you’re going to stick with it long-term.

There's no shame in admitting that your PC's downloads folder is in disarray. Mine was, and it had been for years. The last time it was in a state you could call orderly was right after I installed Windows 11 on my desktop PC. A few weeks later, it once again turned into a cluttered jungle filled with all kinds of files: documents, installers, ZIP archives, media, and everything else under the sun.

For years, buying a mainstream SUV new felt like the sensible choice, while used luxury models carried a reputation for being risky or expensive. These days, depreciation has flipped that equation on its head.

When Harley Earl arrived at General Motors in 1927, he brought Hollywood with him. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Earl spent his early career building custom cars for movie stars before GM tapped him as its first design director. He went on to pioneer clay modeling as a tool for shaping vehicles, a practice the industry still relies on nearly a century later.

As one of my go-to platforms, HBO Max has a plethora of outstanding shows in its catalog that serve as major draws for anyone interested in looking for something to watch. Each year, that catalog grows and continues to strengthen the platform’s reputation as home to some of the most iconic TV shows ever made.

Electric SUVs have quickly moved from niche experiments to mainstream choices, but pricing and value still vary widely across the segment. Some models lean heavily into luxury pricing, while others compromise too much on range or performance to hit lower price points. For buyers trying to balance cost, technology, and everyday usability, it can still be difficult to find an EV that feels like a clear win rather than a trade-off.

If you spend a lot of time working in the Terminal, you undoubtedly have your favorite CLI (command line interface) and TUI (terminal or text-based user interface) apps. One of mine is a TUI app called cmus.

Like sharks, the viewing public must always be moving forward to survive, with life-giving new movies and TV shows always sweeping past our gills. When Netflix released its list of everything coming for the month of June 2026, the equal and opposite reaction is that there's a pile of things that must inevitably leave the streaming service, too, as licensing deals expire. That also means that time is running out for you to tick them off your watch list before they ride off into the sunset.

When the original Range Rover debuted in 1970, it introduced something the automotive world had not quite seen before: a vehicle as capable on a muddy trail as it was parked outside a five-star hotel. That unique combination of rugged capability and refined luxury few, if any, SUVs can pull off today. Yet, Land Rover has been doing it for five decades.