How-To Geek

I have had AT&T Fiber for over seven years at this point. While I enjoy the service and have had very few reliability problems with it, I really just want to use my own router. AT&T doesn't allow you to use anything but its provided gateway, and it's always annoyed me. Here's how I got around their rules and started using my own router with AT&T anyway.

I wanted an app that seemed easy: the temperature and forecast displayed on a widget on my desktop. Instead, Windows 11 gave me a "widget" with ads and entirely too much extra stuff.

3D printing and Android are typically not things that go together. The best software is available for desktop computers, and that’s where I do 99% of my modeling and printing. However, there are a small handful of 3D printing Android apps that I like to keep on my phone for various purposes.

Xteink has quickly become a popular brand for low-cost tiny eReaders. The most recent model has caused quite a stir in the community, with a lot of people upset about two specific design choices. In fact, neither of them really matters that much.

An old PC with a few CPU cores, several GBs of RAM, and a working network connection can still be useful long after it stops being suitable for demanding tasks, but Linux can turn that hardware into something that quietly handles useful jobs around your home or small office.

For me, Google Messages is more than an inbox. From asking my husband what to cook for dinner to coordinating plans with friends and family, this app has quietly become one of those apps I reach for without even thinking. Because so much of my daily communication happens there, even small features can make a noticeable difference.

I have a home filled with devices connected to my router, but I'm not fully convinced that these have made my home smarter. In fact, many of my favorite purchases, those I can recommend with an unequivocal yes, don't require an app at all.

Apple TV has quickly become an Emmy darling. At the 2026 Primetime Emmys, Apple TV led all networks and streamers with eight wins during the broadcast, including six for Widow's Bay and two for Pluribus. Overall, Apple TV earned 89 nominations, bolstering its reputation as a streamer with critically acclaimed shows and star talent.

My first laptops were usually office hand-me-down machines and one I remember most fondly was a Pentium 133 system that was pretty thin and light for its time. The coolest thing it came with was a docking station, but this wasn't what you'd think of as a laptop dock today.

Your busted laptop from 2019 or that old desktop that has been gathering dust in a closet might not be suitable for use as a "normal" PC, but they have more than enough power to run useful services. You don't need a data center tucked under your desk to get started with self-hosting—almost any PC will do.

A while back, I repurposed an old Motorola phone as a kind of mini-tablet. I use it as a bedside display, a media center, and for gaming with a controller. I keep the display locked in landscape mode, since that's how I use it, but there's one problem. It doesn't let me rotate the home screen. To fix the problem, I installed the free and open-source Discreet Launcher.

Whenever you start reading about the best Linux distros for beginners, two distros tend to dominate the lists: Linux Mint and Ubuntu. There are good reasons for that—they're solid operating systems with large communities, which means there is a lot of support available.

Most people probably assume that the latest 4K Blu-ray release of a movie is the definitive version with the highest quality. It's the version that you should buy to preserve that title for yourself at the highest quality. Right?

Like most people, I've printed mostly decorative items and novelties since starting this hobby. I like an articulated dragon or a cool figure as much as the next person, but I honestly haven't unlocked that much true utility from these machines.

Microsoft is addressing more security flaws than ever before thanks to AI, but that might come at the expense of reliability. The company has released an emergency fix for Windows 11 after a record-setting "Patch Tuesday" broke multiple features.

My phone plays many roles. It's a source of entertainment, a useful tool for work, a way to communicate with people, and more. These different uses don't always play nicely together. When I'm working, I don't want to be distracted by unnecessary calls, messages, and notifications, so I built a one-tap system to stop my phone from stealing my attention.

Had a crap day at work? Again? We’ve all been there. But instead of glazing at your computer screen into the wee hours trying to write that reply email you’re never going to send, turn your work brain off, settle down, and let yourself get taken away for a while.

The average person now has several monthly cloud subscriptions, and the situation only gets worse when you look at households. You have cloud storage, a handful of apps, a photo subscription of some sort, not to mention Microsoft Office. Each one individually won't break the budget, but cumulatively, subscription costs can easily run into the hundreds of dollars per month.

Anyone who listens to podcasts on a long drive has probably run into a situation where Google Maps calls out a turn and the audio volume will lower, but never come back up. I've seen this cause multiple issues, especially when you try to fix it on the road. It feels random, but it happens so often that it's hard to blame anything but Android Auto, wireless or not.