How-To Geek

Planning a trip to see family for the holidays? With a significant number of home intrusions being opportunistic crimes, putting off would-be thieves by simulating presence in your smart home is a good idea.

Buying a budget CPU is trickier than it seems. Which ones are worth your money?

It seems like streaming services are always raising their prices, so I'm thankful for the Black Friday sales that let me grab some genuinely good entertainment deals. If you're looking to enjoy some movies and shows this holiday season and into 2026, these are the discounts I think you should check out.

Upgrading your setup doesn't always have to break the bank. In fact, I'm a huge fan of affordable desktop accessories—they're some of my favorite things to spend money on. One such addition I've recently made is a humble boom arm for my dynamic microphone, which lets me position it exactly where I want, and now my setup looks and feels so much cleaner.

Ubuntu is shaking up its default application lineup for the upcoming 26.04 Long Term Support (LTS) release. The developers will be swapping out the classic Totem video player and GNOME System Monitor for two new options called Showtime and Resources.

As car enthusiasts, we all want the basics covered—comfort, style, and some modern conveniences—but with a side of sporty fun. Rear-wheel drive, crisp handling, punchy power, and a dash of luxury are the essentials, and BMW has long perfected the formula.

There aren't that many options for running Linux on an Apple Silicon Mac, but you can do it. Whether you want to install it on your internal SSD as a genuine dual-boot setup or run it inside a virtual machine, here's how to get started.

I know for a fact that you can own a PC for years, do nothing to keep it in good shape, and still get away with it. But I also know that neglecting some basic maintenance can result in anything from performance drops to full-on disasters.

Relying on Microsoft Word's default numbering results in generic-looking documents, poor alignment, and inconsistent formatting. By spending just a few minutes creating a custom style list, I make my work recognizable, professional, and uniform.

We've finally reached the point where color eReaders are common and affordable. You can buy one from a dozen different brands, including Kindle, for as low as $150. And although I'm excited for this color E-Ink technology, I have no interest in using the color eReaders that are available today. They're worse than the black-and-white models in all of the ways that matter to me.

November, you had a good run, but now it's time for December to take it from here and ride the year off into the sunset. And speaking of sunsets, Hulu has a swath of titles leaving the service you should check out before they're gone.

Everyone has their toolbox of favorite programs that they install on their machines whenever they get a new one. Working with Python, I've built up my own essential toolkit. Here are the libraries and programs I reach for whenever I get a new machine.

If you’re budgeting around the cost of a new Honda Civic, you might be surprised at what the used market can offer. For the same money, a well-equipped luxury SUV from a few years ago delivers far more space, comfort, and versatility than most compact sedans, making it a smarter choice for drivers who need practicality without sacrificing refinement.

If you're tired of repeated calculations, hard-to-read formulas, and sluggish Excel worksheets, the LET function is your solution. It assigns simple names to complex calculations, making formulas clearer, easier to update, and much quicker by calculating expressions only once.

Do you prefer graphical applications? Are you hunting for Windows-like applications after the switch to Linux? Are you on the lookout for a powerful search utility? FSearch is a simple yet promising little utility that's difficult not to find appealing. I have four reasons why I think you'll love it.

If you spend any amount of time in a Windows environment, you know the routine: every new update brings a few helpful tweaks, a few head-scratchers, and at least one new way for OneDrive to wedge itself deeper into your workflow. I love Windows, truly, but OneDrive has always been one of the many parts of it that I tolerate rather than enjoy or use. It tries to sync things I never asked it to, moves files around in ways I don’t expect, and sometimes acts like it knows better than I do about what should actually live on my own PC. After a while, the whole thing started feeling less like a convenience and more like a negotiation.

Self-hosting can save you a lot of money, even when the cost of your hardware is taken into account. I run most of my services on a cheap mini PC, and I've been able to ditch several subscriptions by self-hosting similar versions of the same services for free. There are some subscriptions, however, that I won't be getting rid of any time soon.

The Amazon-owned smart security camera brand Blink offers a wide range of cameras suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. After years of using Blink cameras and wishing for a higher-resolution option, the new Blink Outdoor 2K+ is finally here, and the picture quality is excellent.

It’s time for USB-A to retire, plain and simple. For nearly 30 years, USB-A has held center stage, but I’m ready for USB-C to be the only port my desktop has.

Shoppers looking for a dependable daily driver often gravitate toward familiar nameplates, but one affordable Japanese hatchback is quietly outperforming its rivals where it matters most: long-term reliability. In a segment crowded with budget-friendly options, this model stands out by delivering durability levels that competing small cars simply can’t match. For buyers tired of costly repairs and unpredictable ownership experiences, it offers one of the most worry-free paths in the compact-car market.