How-To Geek

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We explain technology. Learn more with our articles, reviews, tips, and the best answers to your most pressing tech questions.
Updated: 41 min 5 sec ago

How to burn your own movies on Blu-ray in Windows 11

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 16:30

Blu-ray discs remain one of the few ways to keep high-quality home movies on physical media you control. Windows 11 barely includes basic support to make a playable one, though — which might surprise some of you, considering native burning tools for formats like DVD have been a staple on Windows for almost 20 years now. Here's the hardware and software you need, how burning works, and whether it's all worth the effort.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Off-brand power tool batteries are fine for homeowners—here's 4 times when they're not

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 16:00

I've seen plenty of posts online saying you absolutely need to buy a name brand, but they always assume you're running tools all day on a job site. If you're not, that advice doesn't apply, and following it will cost you money you don't need to spend. Off-brand power tool batteries have a bad reputation that made more sense when third-party manufacturing was less reliable than it is now. You need to consider whether your situation actually calls for a name-brand battery.

Categories: IT General, Technology

One of DeWalt’s bestselling tools is just $99 ahead of Prime Big Deal Days

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 15:59

While you may be waiting for Amazon’s highly anticipated Big Deal Days to go live in two weeks, now may be a better time to shop, as the mega retailer just quietly slashed pricing on tons of gear, including some of its most popular power tools, like DeWalt's no. 1 bestselling 20V Max XR Oscillating Tool Kit—and right now, it's under $100.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Windows might be holding your RAM hostage. Here's how to free it

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 15:30

You've likely noticed that your Windows computer tends to slow down after it's been running for a while. This can happen even on brand-new laptops and powerful gaming PCs, yet few people understand why this happens. The good news is that I have a solution.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Motorola's software is the best and worst things about its phones

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 15:00

While the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 and the iPhone Duo may be grabbing all the headlines, the Motorola Razr Fold is the sleeper hit book-style foldable of the year. This phone undercuts the alternatives on price while outperforming them in many of the areas that matter most. Yet, just like other Motorola phones, it’s the software that attracts me, and it’s the software that pushes me away.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Your 75-inch TV was a mistake, and I know because I bought one too

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 14:30

My first "big-screen" TV was a 51-inch Samsung Plasma, which I held on to for such a long time that I made the leap from 720p straight to 4K in 2016, when I purchased a 55-inch Samsung LED LCD TV. Coming from CRTs, I already thought these TVs were enormous, but standards have changed.

Categories: IT General, Technology

I finally figured out why Windows 11's menus feel so slow—and the fixes that take seconds

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 14:00

For months, right-click menus and legacy context options on my Windows 11 machine felt like they were lagging half a beat behind my mouse. The delay wasn't imaginary — it's baked into several layers of the operating system, and untangling it revealed fixes that take mere seconds.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Why I always "burn in" new HDDs before adding them to my NAS

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 13:30

Hard drives rarely announce their flaws on day one. A new disk can sail through setup, then fail weeks later with your data on it. That's why I spend a fair amount of time stress-testing every new HDD first before I put it somewhere important. Here's what burn-in is, how it works, and whether you should bother.

Categories: IT General, Technology

FOSS app of the week: Kdenlive unlocks professional video editing without a subscription

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 13:00

For a long time, if you needed to do any video editing, it felt like you only had two real options: pay for software or settle for a free but incomplete replacement. Adobe's move to a subscription model has only aggravated the problem; Premiere now costs you at least $20 per month, usually more.

Categories: IT General, Technology

You don't need a separate app for these 6 Android features anymore

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 12:30

I’ve installed plenty of apps over the years simply because my phone couldn’t do something I wanted it to do. Need to identify a song? Download an app. Want to send a file to someone nearby? There was an app for that, too. But Android has come a long way, and many of those once-essential apps are no longer necessary. Modern Android phones now have built-in tools for just about everything.

Categories: IT General, Technology

The hidden costs of running a Home Assistant smart home (and why they're worse than you'd expect)

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 12:00

Home Assistant is free, open-source software that costs nothing to download and install. But the software is only the beginning. Running Home Assistant involves plenty of costs, many of which can be higher than you think.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Stop buying a new ESP32 for every sensor — your Bluetooth proxy has spare pins

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 02:00

ESP32 boards can be incredibly cheap. They're so cheap that it's easy to fall into the habit of using a new board for each project that you build. Doing so may be wasting the capabilities of your ESP32s, which can handle more than one job at a time.

Categories: IT General, Technology

These open-source Android apps are so polished, I stopped missing Google

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 01:30

I never planned to explore the open-source Android world. It started with a simple thought: what would my phone look like if I stopped reaching for Google’s apps for everything?

Categories: IT General, Technology

4 old gadgets an ESP32 can rescue and make useful again

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 01:00

Who would have thought that cheap microcontrollers would become such a booming business? The ESP32 is the culmination of years of enthusiasts making awesome stuff with single-board computers and microcontrollers like those from the Arduino family, and now you can buy a fistful of powerful ESP32s for very little money.

Categories: IT General, Technology

5 great Netflix sci-fi movies to watch this weekend (September 25-27)

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 00:30

Netflix's U.S. movie chart seems like it's gone into full recruitment mode, with Guy Ritchie's WWII caper flick The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare perched atop the pile at No. 1 and Top Gun: Maverick on loan from Paramount sitting pretty in the third spot.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Lenovo Yoga All-in-One i 32 Gen 11 Aura Edition review: So good, I may never go back to my desktop

Fri, 09/25/2026 - 00:00

A full-sized 45L gaming desktop and a 32-inch 4K OLED monitor — that's been my go-to setup for a long time, and the one I always return to between reviews. With the Lenovo Yoga All-in-One i 32 Gen 11 Aura Edition (my goodness, what a name, Lenovo), I feel the desire to return to my trustworthy gaming desktop less than ever. This may be the hero All-in-One PCs should look up to.

Categories: IT General, Technology

F-Droid isn't ugly anymore: The open-source app store gets its biggest update in a decade

Thu, 09/24/2026 - 23:58

The great thing about Android is how many choices it provides. You can swap out the home screen, dialer, keyboard, and even app stores. F-Droid is one of our favorite alternatives to the Play Store, but it's never been very pretty to look at. That's finally changing.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Your old phone number may still unlock your accounts — audit it before it gets recycled

Thu, 09/24/2026 - 23:30

Every year, millions of phone numbers get reassigned to strangers, and the accounts tied to them often stay behind. If you're switching numbers or carriers, a short audit now can save you from handing someone the keys to your email, bank, and messaging apps.

Categories: IT General, Technology

Your Galaxy's hidden maintenance mode keeps repair technicians out of your personal data

Thu, 09/24/2026 - 23:00

Handing your phone over to a repair technician can be surprisingly uncomfortable. Even if you trust the person working on it, your Galaxy probably contains years' worth of photos, messages, accounts, documents, and other personal information that you don't want a stranger casually browsing. The problem is that a repair technician may need access to the device to diagnose or fix it, leaving you with an awkward choice between protecting your privacy and giving them the access they need.

Categories: IT General, Technology

I automated my entire Linux desktop with 4 bash scripts—and reclaimed hours every week

Thu, 09/24/2026 - 22:30

The more you get into using Linux, the more likely you are to start using the Terminal for various tasks. Now, I'll admit that you don't need to do everything in the Terminal. But I truly believe knowing your way around it is pretty vital to the Linux experience (for me, anyway), whether it's learning basic short commands or playing video through the Terminal. Sometimes, though, it's nice to automate various Linux chores. So I use bash scripts to run commands for me, and to have a bit of fun along the way.

Categories: IT General, Technology

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