How-To Geek

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.

So, you have a 3D printer and a smart home, and want to combine the two. Today I'm going to show you five unexpected ways that you can combine your love of extruding plastic and making your smart home more accessible.

Before the comments blow up on me, I'm not claiming these are the four most technically impressive Linux applications ever written. There are plenty of more ambitious or technically complex programs out there. What makes these four stand out is that they helped solve the kinds of problems almost every desktop user runs into, especially people defecting from Windows, whether that's browsing the web, working with documents and spreadsheets, playing media, or editing images.

Buying a luxury SUV usually means paying for more than a nicer cabin and a prestigious badge. For many shoppers, the bigger question is whether that premium experience is worth the added complexity and potentially higher repair bills.

I have a degree in Computer Animation, but there was so much research attached to it that I really felt like I was drowning. I spent more time than I'd like to admit dealing with highlighters and index cards, trying to absorb material that felt like it was written to confuse instead of explain. The problem was never motivation or effort. It was that building study materials, getting through dense papers, and keeping organized notes ate up the time I actually needed for learning.

Google Pixel phones come loaded with genuinely useful features, but not all of them are enabled out of the box. In fact, it's a bit backwards sometimes—some of the most useful features are disabled by default, while features I don't care for are turned on from day one. That's why going through the settings and tweaking them to your liking is worth the few minutes it takes. Here are the five features I always change on every Pixel phone I set up.

SSDs are fantastic, but they're not immortal. They can fail even at 100% health. How can you tell whether your SSD is just having a bad day or it belongs in a e-waste recycling center?

Many smart home devices offer subscription plans that can add additional features. Some of these subscription plans are worth the price for what you get, but there are plenty of smart home devices that can actually do more without a subscription.

Every time you uninstall a program on Windows, you're probably leaving more behind than you realize. It's not dramatic, but it adds up. Luckily, there are plenty of third-party apps that will find what a regular uninstaller misses and get rid of it by themselves.