How-To Geek

Back in the day, buying a charger for your phone was as simple as ensuring the cable used the same port as your phone. However, as phones have evolved, so have the fast-charging protocols that come with them.

I've spent the past few weeks with Lenovo's brand-new Wildcat Lake-powered IdeaPad Slim 3i laptop, featuring Intel's latest Core 7 350 processor. While I really want to love this laptop, it feels like modern hardware housed in a design from several years ago—and I have mixed feelings about that.

A few years ago, Google introduced a cool new feature for its Pixel phone lineup and then pretty much stopped talking about it almost immediately afterward. I'm talking about the ability to output video to an external display via USB-C, allowing you to mirror your Pixel's screen to an external display with a USB-C, DisplayPort, or HDMI input. But there's more.

People love to share posts of their Home Assistant dashboards, and I've always been impressed by the 3D recreations of people's homes that people use to monitor and control their smart home devices. It's always seemed like too much effort to set up, but one Home Assistant user has created a home dashboard that's so cool that I'm sorely tempted to make one myself.

By default, Windows sets the refresh rate to 60Hz when you first boot a new PC or reinstall Windows, regardless of your monitor's native refresh rate. This is why one of the most popular pieces of advice for Windows users is to manually increase the refresh rate in Windows Settings after getting a new PC or reinstalling Windows. The catch is that Windows can revert your monitor's refresh rate to 60Hz in many other situations as well, without notifying you.

When I was forced to accept that Windows Phone was going the way of the dinosaurs, I decided LG best embodied what I adored about Microsoft’s ill-fated mobile efforts. Within a few years, LG began to show the same signs of degradation, and I begrudgingly moved on once again… with one exception.

Luxury sedans from Germany can be eye-wateringly expensive when new, but depreciation can turn them into surprisingly affordable used-car bargains. One three-year-old sedan now costs roughly the same as a mid-trim family car from a mainstream brand, yet offers the kind of upscale cabin, technology, and refinement that economy-focused automakers still struggle to match. For buyers willing to accept a few miles on the odometer, it's a compelling way to get genuine luxury without paying a luxury-car sticker price.

I know that reading the headline of this article must be pretty baffling, because hey, what's a better backup than a NAS? NAS systems were made to be backups, among other things. Their uses are endless, but pretty much everyone I know uses their NAS as a backup.

Animations have been part of the desktop experience for decades, starting with early graphical interface innovations and evolving into a staple of modern operating systems. But they’ve had a checkered history, falling in and out of fashion as tastes evolve and priorities vary.

Keeping houseplants can make being indoors feel more like being outside in nature. It only works if your plants stay alive. I used some cheap ESP32 boards and even cheaper soil moisture sensors to set up a system that alerts me when my plants actually need watering.

While it's easy to think of YouTube as just a place to watch videos, it's actually one of the biggest search engines in the world. Whether you're looking for a review, some entertainment, or trying to figure out how to fix something, YouTube is often the go-to platform when you need hands-on advice.

This week is all about intellectual property. The three thrillers on the list are part of long-running franchises. Some of them are certainly scarier than others, so if you love horror, you'll appreciate several of these picks. Our top selection is a direct sequel to a zombie movie from a beloved dystopian franchise.

Truck owners in the United States spent more than $15 billion in 2025 modifying their pickups for off-road outings, according to the 2026 SEMA Market Report, with lift kits and suspension upgrades accounting for more than $3 billion of that total. Pickup trucks, perhaps not surprisingly, generate the largest share of aftermarket sales, according to the SEMA report.

While modern Linux distros will come with a slick user interface, in the past, they tended to be basic affairs. Because Linux and Unix systems offer much more choice in how the interface is set up, there is a wide range of window managers available. Here are some classics that shaped the early days of the system. They're obscure, but they shaped a lot of modern desktops like GNOME and KDE Plasma.

The best part about Prime Video refilling its library coffers with more than 50 new movies at the beginning of the month is that it almost always includes more than enough iconic, sure-fire hits that are guaranteed to please. Sure, you could take Project Hail Mary for another spin, but when you've got the four top-shelf titles below to watch this week, why would you?

Many things that we consider temporary at first become a permanent part of our daily lives, for one reason or another. As an example, I placed my first SSD on top of my case's built-in 3.5-inch drive enclosure because I couldn't be bothered to properly install it and left it there for years until I built a new PC in a new chassis. In the case of Windows, a stopgap dialog box created in 1994 still lives on as a permanent part of Windows.

I've always found flashcards to be one of the most fun and engaging ways to learn new things. The idea of quizzing yourself and getting instant feedback just by flipping a card strikes an elegant balance between simplicity and effectiveness. Now, if you're like me and also enjoy flashcards, you probably know about Anki—it’s one of the most popular student apps out there. And while it’s really powerful, setting it up can be a huge hassle, which keeps many students from creating personalized quiz decks tailored to their specific needs. But now, with Claude, you can automate that entire process. Here’s how it works.

Apps are always competing for your attention. I easily get more than 300 notifications a day on my Android phone, and maybe 50-100 are important enough to go through. Unwanted or less important notifications steal your attention and drain your phone’s battery a little as well.

Do you have old Wii Remotes lying around your house? Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t throw them away years ago. Thanks to modern software, those Wii Remotes can live a new life on your desk in several fun and unique ways.

Most people assume their phone's lifeline is something you either accept or ignore. Samsung builds in fast charging, so fast charging is what you get. The phone heating up while it's plugged in feels like a normal side effect instead of a sign that something's slowly going wrong. If you want your phone's battery to last longer, you shouldn't keep this option on forever.