How-To Geek

Chrome has the useful ability to open a website as a window that doesn’t show the browser interface or open external links in a new tab. Or, rather, it did: in a late 2018 update, Google disabled this functionality on Windows and macOS.

We can’t tell you why Google decided that only its own ChromeOS devices would get this functionality from now on, though if you’re upset at its loss, you’re not alone. I’ve spent years using the “Open as window” function to make impromptu web apps easy to open and manage.

But there’s a way to get them back, at least for the moment. Here’s how.

Update: As of Chrome version 72, the “open as window” functionality linked above has been restored to the Windows version of Chrome. It’s available in Chrome on macOS, too, but you need to enable the following options in chrome://flags:

• The new bookmark app system
• allow hosted apps to be opened in windows

Once both flags are enabled, click the Chrome menu button, then “More tools,” then “Create shortcut.” The “Open as window” option is there, just like in Windows.

Applicationize.me turns any standard website into a downloadable CRX file, which can then be “installed” in Chrome as if it were a Chrome extension. It’s not—the “app” will only be the website you choose, in its own thin window with a link. But it’s a useful little hack nonetheless.

Read the remaining 21 paragraphs

Manuel Esteban/Shutterstock

We’ve often thought of streaming services as our salvation from cable, but the world of streaming is starting to adopt some distinct cable television characteristics. How far will it go?

Streaming services have been successful because they do things differently. They’re known for being cheap, convenient, ad-free, and contract-free. They’ve also changed the way that we consume media, and they’ve offered us a reliable alternative to cable companies.

Early streaming services, like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, entered the streaming market with aggressive strategies that benefited consumers. They signed as many deals as they could with TV networks, and built massive libraries of hit movies and TV shows. There’s a good chance that you signed up for Netflix years ago specifically for Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, or the library of Disney movies that they offered.

Streaming services also gave us a new way to watch serialized TV shows. Instead of rushing home to catch a new episode of Bones every week, you could wait for it to come out on a streaming service and binge-watch it over a weekend, ad-free. Plus, a lot of these streaming services implemented learning algorithms that encouraged you to watch shows you might have missed. Netflix’s algorithms are particularly detailed, to the point that the website will show different thumbnail artwork to different users based on their preferences and the shows they’ve watched before.

But it turns out that the greatest strength can also be a weakness. Cord cutting only sucks if you’re trying to replicate cable—unfortunately, streaming services themselves are now trying to copy cable.

Years ago, it seemed like everything was on Netflix. The service didn’t have to compete with many streaming competitors, so it managed to sign some killer deals with networks like Starz, Disney, and AMC. These deals brought in thousands of shows and movies that people were familiar with and ready to watch, like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, NCIS, CSI, and Hannah Montana. These popular, contemporary shows brought a lot of subscribers to Netflix. And it wasn’t hard to keep people subscribed to Netflix, because it had such a massive library of shows and movies.

But that started to change very quickly. Competitors like Hulu and Amazon Prime began to outbid Netflix for big-name shows and movies. Services like HBO GO and Showtime cut out the middleman by building their own streaming services. And some of the networks that signed deals with Netflix early on felt that they were ripped off and tried to find better deals once their contract with Netflix ran out.

Let’s put things into perspective. In 2008 Netflix signed a 20 million dollar contract with Starz and gained 2,500 shows and movies from the deal, including hit titles like Ratatouille and Spiderman 3.  But just last month, Netflix had to cough up $100 million for a single TV show, Friends. They can’t afford to bring in as many hits shows and movies as they used to, which gives subscribers less of a reason to stick around.

The binge-watching format is also unsustainable. If you sign up for Netflix to watch Stranger Things, you’ll probably finish watching it in a week or two. If Netflix doesn’t have any shows that make you want to stick around, then you can cancel the service when you’re done with Stranger Things. And if you managed to do all of this in your “first free month,” then Netflix doesn’t get a penny.

Read the remaining 28 paragraphs

1. The Pittsburgh Steelers
2. The New England Patriots
3. The Denver Broncos
4. The Green Bay Packers

Think you know the answer?

Are you an experienced writer who has life skills you want to share with the world? We’re looking for general interest freelance writers for another publication, and we’d like to hear from you.

We need smart, curious, detail-oriented writers who are comfortable researching and writing advice about various aspects of life in general. This is an ongoing freelance position, and we’re looking for writers who can start immediately.

In particular, we’re looking for experienced writers in the following areas:

• Finance
• Cleaning & Organization
• DIY and Home Repair
• Travel
• Parenting & School
• Personal Care
• Shopping
• Fitness & Health
• Relationships
• Time Management

And don’t worry if you don’t have experience in all those topics. Even if you can write about one or two of them, we want to hear from you.

All of our writers should have the following qualities:

• You must be able to write tips, how-to articles, and more detailed explainers that are clear, well-researched, and easy to understand.
• You must be creative and able to generate article ideas, take suggestions, and make topics interesting and exciting.
• You must be at least 18 years old and have your own computer.
• You must have solid English writing skills.
• You should have some basic screenshot and image editing chops. HTML skills are a plus.
• You must be able to write several articles per week on an ongoing basis.

Send an email to jobs@howtogeek.com with the subject General Interest Writer and include the following in your email:

• Your name and location.
• Any previous experience you have writing and blogging on these topics.
• Whether or not you are currently employed and what you do if you are.
• A brief overview of the topics with which you’re familiar.
• Most Important: We need writing samples. If you have previous writing to showcase, include a link to it in your email. We are especially interested in samples that have not been professionally edited, so if you have your own blog be sure to let us know.

We don’t have normal office hours or even an office, so you can be located anywhere (including outside the US)—this is strictly a telecommuting job.

So what are you waiting for? Email us already!

Several months ago, Lowe’s announced that it would be seeking a buyer for its Iris smarthome platform. However, it appears no one wants it, as Lowe’s has announced it’s officially shutting down Iris.

In an official statement sent to Review Geek, Lowe’s says that it “will shut down the Iris smart home platform and services on March 31” and will be refunding eligible users who bought Iris devices, although the specifics on that aren’t yet known. You can read the full official statement from Lowe’s below.

Lowe’s announced today it will shut down the Iris smart home platform and services on March 31, 2019. We apologize for any inconvenience to our Iris customers and are committed to providing the resources and support needed to transition to a comparable smart home platform. We have created an online redemption process that will allow Iris customers to receive a Visa prepaid card for eligible, connected Iris devices.

After carefully evaluating a range of options, the decision was made to shut down the Iris platform once it was determined that none of the alternatives would allow Iris to continue to deliver the experience our customers have come to expect of us. Lowe’s remains committed to carrying the breadth and depth of smart home products and brands to meet our customers’ needs now and in the future.

Lowe’s launched Iris back in 2012, and the product line offered a handful of different ZigBee and Z-Wave devices and sensors, as well as a proprietary Iris hub. The nice part, though, was that these devices also worked with other smarthome hubs, like Wink and SmartThings. Iris also integrated with other product lines like Philips Hue and Nest.

However, now with Iris officially out of the game, we’ll see if any of the other players step up to bat in a big way.

Microsoft Community

Upgrading to a new version of Windows is often a straightforward affair. But when something doesn’t go right, you’re left with vague errors that aren’t helpful. In the next version of Windows, Microsoft will try to solve that.

If you’ve ever encountered an error during Windows Setup, you’ve probably been left completely frustrated and wondering what to do. The message you see most likely didn’t have any description of the problem and just listed the letters KB followed by a string of numbers. If you tried to search, you were lead to dozens of entirely different entries that didn’t match up to your KB numbers and did nothing to clarify the situation.

Microsoft has started showing off new setup screens to directly tackle this issue in a recent Windows Insider Webinar, as spotted by WinFuture. Starting at just after the hour mark, Microsoft’s James Atkins and Julia Troxell laid out the problem clearly, and the steps they are taking to solve this problem going forward.

The problem at hand isn’t just limited to the vague error, but also to the lack of actions the users can take to mitigate the problem. With the current setup dialog, you have an error message but no link to more info to learn exactly what is wrong. You have “Back” and “Refresh” buttons, but neither of these buttons solves the problem—they’re only options available to the user. Usually, the solution is as simple as uninstalling and reinstalling or updating a program or disabling encryption, but Windows Setup currently does a terrible job of letting the user know.

The new Setup dialogs present more information with direct links to error articles. If additional options are possible, such as upgrading a program instead of uninstalling, then you will be prompted to “learn more or update instead.”. Where possible, the dialog offers solutions; if it’s possible for Windows to handle an uninstall it will present that option, when it can’t (because the program isn’t in Add/Remove programs) then a manual installation is suggested.

The key point behind these new dialogs is to provide you with everything you need to know to complete the upgrade, or where it’s not possible to upgrade all the information you need to understand why. That should reduce frustration and help the Setup process go more smoothly.

Landing on over-informing users is usually the safest bet, and hopefully, Microsoft can bring this thinking to other areas like Crash Dialogs and Windows Update failure messages.

Read the remaining 3 paragraphs

Android Go phones are based around a lighter version of Android specifically designed to run on limited hardware. They’re generally reserved for countries like India and China, but now they’re starting to trickle out in the US.

While Cricket Wireless was technically the first US carrier to ship an Android Go phone with the Nokia 3.1 Plus (it fits perfectly with the low-cost, limited hardware devices the carrier usually sells anyway), Verizon is now the second US carrier—and the first of the big four—to offer a Go device.

Starting today, you can buy the Nokia 2 V—internationally known simply as the Nokia 2.1—on Verizon’s prepaid service, which will set you back a paltry $70. Given its Android Go roots, the 2 V is pretty hardware limited—the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425, just 8 GB of storage, a single gig of RAM are along for the ride here, so don’t expect a speed demon by any means.

All that said, it is running Android Go, which is specifically designed for this type of hardware. So while fast it won’t be, it should definitely still be pretty usable. If you’re into hit the button below to check it out.

For some inexplicable reason, Apple decided to disable Dashboard by default in macOS Mojave, and it’s nothing short of a travesty. Thankfully, turning it back on is a simple affair. Here’s how to go about restoring Dashboard to its rightful glory.

For those unfamiliar with Dashboard, it’s a collection of widgets that has been around ever since Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger shipped many years ago. Dashboard lets you select widgets you can easily access without interfering with other apps, or having to launch any apps to do a simple task. Calculators, sticky notes, easy access to the weather, and more were perfect uses for Dashboard. Think of how widgets work on iOS, and you’ve got the right idea.

We’re not sure why, but Apple has left Dashboard to languish, completely disabling it in macOS Mojave. That’s a real shame because we often find ourselves wanting to do a quick calculation, for example. Opening the Calculator isn’t difficult, but there’s no need if you have a calculator a key press away.

Dashboard is great if your workflow from previous versions of macOS relies on it, so here’s how to get it back.

To start things off, click the Apple logo at the top of the screen and select “System Preferences.”

With System Preferences open, click “Mission Control.”

Read the remaining 7 paragraphs

Giuseppe_R/Shutterstock

Pour one out for Google+, the latest Google social property to be axed. There aren’t many who care to keep their Google+ history saved—that’s part of why it’s dying!—but if you want yours, here’s how to download it.

Google’s “Takeout” page is your friend here. Head to this link and select one or more of the four categories for Google+ data. +1s are a record of all the sites you’ve pressed that little red button on, very much like Facebook’s “Likes.” Circles are your friends and contacts on Google+, Communities are the groups you joined and their posts, and the Google+Stream is all of your personal posts, +1s within the site, and comments on other users’ posts.

Note the downward-facing arrow in each of these sections: each one has options for downloading only some posts from specific communities or changing the download format. Most of the time HTML is what you want, but if you’re importing to a program that supports more complex files, JSON and CSV are supported, too.

Click “Next” to go to the next page. You have the option of downloading this data in ZIP or TSV archive format. The Archive size option lets you split it into multiple downloads if it’s too big for only one.

The “Delivery method” field is of particular note. Google’s Takeout system will send you links to your Gmail address by default, where you can download each archive individually. But you can also import them directly into Google Drive, or log in to Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive, or Box.com to add them to those services instead.

When you’re ready to proceed, click “Create Archive.” (The button is “Link Account and Create Archive” if you’re using a non-Google service.) You’ll get an email when your links are ready, or if you’re using a cloud service, the ZIP or TSV files will be loaded onto the cloud shortly. That’s it: you can sift through all those posts at your leisure.

Read the remaining 3 paragraphs

Harry Guinness

While you can take great landscape photos with nothing but your camera, the right gear makes it easier and gives you more options.

I’m a huge fan of landscape photography so I’ve put a lot of thought into gear. Everything on this list is something I’ve personally used. Let’s dig in and have a look at the stuff that will take your landscapes to the next level.

The most essential bit of landscape photography gear you can buy is a solid tripod; it opens up a range of possibilities and lets you use narrower apertures and slower shutter speeds—both key things for landscape photos. They also make it easier to take photos in the low light of dawn and dusk.

We have a full round-up of the best tripods, but the best one for most people is the Vanguard Alta Pro 263AB. I bought one for around $200 but it’s now down to $110—that is a ridiculous steal.

The Alta Pro folds up small enough to carry (25.75”) while extending to a maximum height of 65”. At 4.4lbs, it’s not super light—it’s made from aluminium—but it’s not too heavy either. It can support 15.4lbs so way more than enough for any reasonable DSLR setup. The multi-angle center column and highly adjustable legs mean you can set the tripod up to get whatever shot you want.

For your $110, you also get a decent ball tripod head. It’s never let me down.

Landscape photography tends to involve a fair bit of hiking and climbing. Nothing more than 10 miles from a carpark is over photographed. To lug in your camera gear, you need a decent bag. It has to be comfortable, able to carry all your stuff, and keep it protected.

For this sort of adventuring, my go-to bag is the f-stop Ajna. It’s been discontinued (and is too big for most people) but, if I was to replace it, I’d grab this f-stop Guru bundle ($270).

The Guru is a 25L hiking pack with proper hip straps so your camera’s weight won’t rest on your shoulders. It’s big enough to carry all your camera gear, plus a jacket, some food, and a bottle of water. The Gatekeeper straps let you mount your camera to the outside of the bag. The internal camera unit keeps your camera stable and surrounded by foam. Put simply, it’s the complete package.

Read the remaining 13 paragraphs

Late last year, it was revealed that Hulu would start showing ads when users pause a stream. While this sounds absolutely terrible, how this is going to work in reality doesn’t sound so bad.

First off, these won’t be video ads, but instead just static images on the side of the screen. That immediately makes it less obtrusive and keeps the ads out of the way. Really, it’s a smart way of doing it, because it doesn’t bother users that much and keeps the ad revenue coming for Hulu.

The second part of the equation here is who will see these ads. That answer is equally as simple: according to Engadget, any user who subscribes to Hulu’s ad-supported tier—which just got a couple dollar price drop, by the way—will be subject to this new ad format. Users who subscribe to Hulu’s ad-free tier will continue to, well, not get ads. Pretty simple.

Finally, there’s the when. These ads will start to roll out “this spring,” which is just right around the corner despite what weather reports look like today.

via Engadget

GNOME Shell 3.32 is set for release on March 13, 2019. This new release brings some real performance improvements, making this heavy Linux desktop environment more lightweight. GNOME Shell is used by default on Ubuntu and many other Linux distributions.

The GNOME Shell desktop environment has long been rather heavy compared to other Linux desktop environments. As Ubuntu news site OMG! Ubuntu! points out:

See, the GNOME Shell desktop is often criticised as being a bit on the ‘heavy’ side. Folks blast it for having comparatively high memory usage on start-up, for being taxing on the CPU, and for having a UI that often stutters or drops frames during usage.

But it’s getting better. These latest improvements are thanks to both the “upstream” GNOME Project and Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. Georges Stavracas, a developer who did a lot of the work, lays out a lot of technical details on his blog. A number of improvements result in improved frame rates, smoother startup animations, and faster icon load times. There’s also some work being done on reducing GPU usage.

Canonical’s Daniel Van Vugt has also been doing a lot of work on GNOME Shell’s performance. These patches aren’t just for Ubuntu—they’re being contributed to the GNOME Project and every Linux distribution will benefit. Linux news site Phoronix lays out many of the issues he’s working on, but much of it boils down to lower CPU and GPU usage. GNOME Shell is getting leaner and faster.

These improvements will be available as part of GNOME 3.32.0, which should ship on March 13, 2019. But you won’t get it then. You’ll have to wait for your Linux distribution to ship the new GNOME—often as part of a new release. For example, GNOME 3.32.0 will be included as part of Ubuntu 19.04 “Disco Dingo,” which is scheduled for release on April 18, 2019.

RELATED: Ubuntu 19.04 is Named “Disco Dingo,” Arriving April 2019

Take a look at your mouse. Is it old? Is it crusty? Does it go unresponsive every few minutes? Why don’t you replace that dumpy old mouse with something clean and responsive, like the Logitech G603?

Right now, Amazon is selling the popular Logitech G603 wireless mouse for just $25. We’ve covered the G603 before—it’s our favorite wireless gaming mouse. It’s a comfortable, responsive mouse that can get you through an arduous gaming session or a tough work week. This premium mouse retails at $60, and it has some features that are usually reserved for more expensive mice.

The Logitech G603 sports the HERO optical sensor, which happens to be Logitech’s most advanced sensor. It can connect to your computer via Bluetooth or LIGHTSPEED RF connection, which has a lag time of about 1 ms. The G603 also has six programmable buttons, so you can adapt the mouse for any video game or application.

If you’re excited to finally replace your old mouse with the G603, then you may be interested in the other Logitech items that are on sale today. Now might be the perfect time to replace your keyboard or buy a gaming headset. But you’ll want to act fast, these Amazon sales tend to disappear by the end of the day.

Years ago, Mozilla’s “Test Pilot” initiative encouraged users to beta test mobile versions of the Firefox browser. Now, Mozilla is asking users to use its new Reference Browser to help bring a new generation of Firefox to Android phones.

Firefox is one of the most popular browsers for Android. It’s fast, can sync with the Firefox browser on your desktop, and implements tab features better than most mobile browsers. But the world of mobile phones is beginning to shift. By the end of the year, we’re going to see phones that use 5G, phones that fold open into tablets, and phones that have 1 TB of internal storage. With all of these changes coming right around the corner, Mozilla needs to bring its mobile browser to a new level.

In a post in the Mozilla community, Paul Wright, a leading Firefox contributor, announced that Mozilla is starting to build more powerful mobile apps. These apps will take advantage of Geckoview and Glean, and they’ll utilize more account integration. Presumably, the next big Firefox app for your Android phone will feel more like a proper browser and less like a phone browser.

In order to test all of this new technology, Mozilla needs some guinea pigs. That’s why the company is launching the Reference Browser, a quiet beta testing project. Users who sign up to use the Reference Browser will get a small preview of Mozilla’s new technology, and they’ll help speed up the company’s development process by providing user data and feedback.

The Reference Browser isn’t a finished product, and it isn’t meant to be anybody’s primary mobile browser. Paul Wright emphasizes that the Reference Browser should be looked at as a “technology preview,” and that Mozilla is only doing this to speed up the development of their future mobile browsers.

If you want to help Mozilla build its new browser technology, you’re going to have to sign up for the Reference Browser Google Group. Just make sure that you use the same Google account that you use to download apps in the Google Play store. Once you’re signed up, you can download the Reference Browser from Google Play. And that’s all there is to it. You’re a Test Pilot now.

Mozilla asks that users report bugs and issues to a Github group, but the company will benefit from your Reference Browser usage whether you report issues or not. As you can imagine, Mozilla is collecting a lot of data from the Reference Browser. The company has talked about how collecting data from beta programs is a necessary evil, and Test Pilots should know that they don’t have as much privacy in beta programs as they do in full versions of the Firefox browser.

Read the remaining 4 paragraphs

If you’ve ever thought it would be useful to save objects or entire slides from your PowerPoint presentation as images to use in another program, then you’re in luck! You can do precisely that in a few simple steps.

Saving an object, or even multiple objects, from your PowerPoint presentation is extremely handy. The thing that makes this trick so useful is that the objects are saved, by default, as a transparent PNG file, meaning that you won’t have the invasive background that you would otherwise have if you just took a simple screenshot.

We’re going to use the following slide as an example over the next few sections. In this slide, we have a total of four objects.

1. Image (“The Geek”)
2. Text box (Title)
3. Text box (Subtitle)
4. Shape (Line)

To save an object as an image, we first need to select the object to be saved. In this example, we’ll select our title.

Right-click the object and select “Save as Picture” from the menu that appears.

Read the remaining 25 paragraphs

Diana Minaeva/Shutterstock

Of all the hobbies on earth, indoor gardening can be the most satisfying. That’s why your plant-obsessed friends stick to it. But buying a gift for an indoor gardener can be a little confusing.

There are a lot of different tools and accessories in the world of indoor gardening. You’ve got all kinds of different pots, chemicals, lights, and decorations. But if you stick to a few ideas when you’re shopping for an indoor gardener, then you’re sure to end up giving a great gift.

When buying for an indoor gardener, you want to strike a good balance between decoration and utilitarianism, and you don’t want to buy anything that will go unused. If you’re buying something bulky, you want to make sure that it can pass as a decoration—no ugly pots or watering cans. If your indoor gardener has a deep distrust of fertilizer, then you should just avoid fertilizer. Go with their indoor gardening flow.

When you have a lot of indoor plants, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. Spider mites and fungus are silent killers, and a lack of nutrients can slowly march a plant toward death.

The gift of fertilizer and pest control can be a great gift for any indoor gardener. But like all plant-related gifts, you need to make sure that they’ll be put to good use.

If your indoor gardener isn’t a fan of chemicals or powerful plant potions, then you’ll want to keep things natural. Luckily, there are lot of inexpensive natural insecticides and fertilizers, many of which your indoor gardener may not be aware of. Surprise! A great gift.

Here are our favorite plant foods and pest management products:

Eucalyptus Oil ($7): Essential oils have become a hot product in the last few years. But they can also be used as natural pest repellents. Spider mites hate the smell of eucalyptus oil, a natural insecticide. Tell your plant lover to mix one ml of eucalyptus oil in a spray bottle with one liter of water. They just need to mist their plants with it every once and awhile.

Neem Oil 2-Pack ($11): Neem is also a natural insect repellent, and it can be used both indoors and outdoors. It’s inexpensive, and can be used to scare off any insects. Just tell your plant enthusiast to mix one teaspoon of neem in a spray bottle with one liter of water, and couple drops of dish soap. The dish soap helps it stick to the leaves, so you don’t need to reapply this solution very often.

Read the remaining 38 paragraphs

If you’ve been in the market for a new keyboard, mouse, headset, webcam, or speakers, today’s Amazon sale on a handful of Logitech products has you covered.

Granted, this isn’t the first time that a bunch of Logitech stuff has been discounted on Amazon, nor is it the largest Logitech sale we’ve seen, but it’s never a bad time to buy when you can get a good chunk knocked off the price of that one gaming mouse you’ve had your eye on for a while.

Case in point, you can grab the Logitech G602 wireless gaming mouse for just $25, which is a steal considering the product that you’re getting.

Furthermore, if you need a cheap gaming headset, the G430 is just $30 right now. And if you need a basic wireless keyboard and mouse to just get you by, the MK270 combo is just a bit shy of $15.

Make your decisions quickly, though, since this deal will only be around today. Hit the button below to see all the goodies on sale today—some of it is going for up to 70 percent off, so it’s worth a peek.

UltraViolet/Wayback Machine

UltraViolet, one of the largest digital rights locker for your movies (at one point, anyway), is shutting down on July 31st. You don’t have to lose your content though; you can connect VUDU and move your library to Movies Anywhere.

UltraViolet was all but the de-facto method for digital copies of your movies for years. Unless it was a Disney movie, chances are if you bought a disc that came with a digital code, that code was for the UltraViolet service. But all that changed when Disney unveiled Movies Anywhere, an expansion of its Disney Movies Anywhere service. Combined with the might of Amazon Video, Google Play, Vudu, and others, Movies Anywhere became an unbeatable service, as evidenced in part by this shutdown notice.

UltraViolet states that you have until the July 31st to connect a partner retailer to preserve your library. The good news is that list includes VUDU, which means you can transfer your movie library to Movies Anywhere. Your TV shows will transfer to Vudu as well (but won’t make the jump to the other services with your Movies).

First, log into UltraViolet and choose the Retailer Services option.

Then click on the Vudo option (if you see a checkmark, then you’ve already connected, so you’re finished).

Sign into Vudu.

Read the remaining 15 paragraphs

Storage Sense is the Disk Cleanup replacement for the modern world. It frees up space on your computer by deleting things like recycle bin contents, temporary internet files, and app temporary files. This also includes the Downloads folder, but you can change that if you don’t want Storage Sense emptying it.

We’ve mentioned before how the Free Up Space tool in Windows 10 will delete your downloads by default (though you can turn it off, too). Storage Sense is the automatic equivalent to that tool and is the intended replacement for the venerable Disk Cleanup tool. By default, Storage Sense treats your Downloads folder as a temp folder, deleting anything older than 30 days when it runs. If you use your Downloads as a more permanent storage area for downloads, you can prevent Storage Sense from deleting your downloads.

Open the Settings app by pressing Win+I, then clicking on “System.”

On the left side of the System page, click the “Storage” category.

Under the “Storage Sense” section on the right, click the “Change how we free up space automatically” link.

Read the remaining 6 paragraphs

Small Smiles/Shutterstock.com.

Browser bookmarks can become a mess over time. Do you need bookmarks to hundreds of web pages you never visit? Here’s how to back up your bookmarks, purge them efficiently, and keep a more organized browser going forward.

Deleting large numbers of bookmarks can be tough. What if you need some obscure web page you bookmarked three years ago?

To avoid this stress, back up your bookmarks first. Your browser can export your bookmarks to an HTML file. If you ever need some bookmarks you deleted, you can view the HTML file in your browser—or even import it and get all your deleted bookmarks back.

It’s easy to start deleting large numbers of bookmarks if they’re backed up. You can always find them again if you need them—and there’s a good chance you won’t need them.

Here’s how to back up your bookmarks in all the big browsers:

• Google Chrome: Click menu > Bookmarks > Bookmark Manager. Click the menu button at the top right corner of the Bookmark Manager page and select “Export Bookmarks.”
• Mozilla Firefox: Click menu > Library > Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks. In the Library window, click Import and Backup > Export Bookmarks to HTML.
• Apple Safari: Click File > Export Bookmarks. Give your file a name and choose a save location.
• Microsoft Edge: Click menu > Settings > General > Import or Export. Select “Favorites” and click the “Export to File” button.
• Internet Explorer: Click the Favorites (star) icon on the toolbar, click the down arrow to the right of Add to Favorites, and select “Import and Export.” Select “Export to a File,” click “Next,” select “Favorites,” click “Next,” select the main “Favorites” folder, click “Next,” choose a location for the file, and click “Export.”

Save your bookmarks somewhere safe, such as a Dropbox, Google Drive, or Microsoft OneDrive folder.

After you’re done, you can double-click the .html file to view its contents. You can open the file and use Ctrl+F to search for bookmarks, or use your browser’s bookmark import function to restore the bookmarks into your browser.

Read the remaining 17 paragraphs