How-To Geek

Nearly three decades after helping establish the large luxury SUV segment alongside the Cadillac Escalade, the 2026 Lincoln Navigator is showing off its new exterior and a tech-focused interior that centers on wellness and relaxation. Lincoln sometimes refers to the 2026 Navigator as a “spa” or “sanctuary” on wheels, a mantra the automaker adopted after the large SUV's redesign in 2025.

Every time I install Ubuntu, whether it's a fresh setup or an upgrade—I follow a checklist of tweaks I immediately apply. It's a set of changes I always make to ensure the system feels comfortable, familiar, and efficient for me.

It's hard to believe that the whole real-time ray-tracing thing started all the way back in 2018, with the release of the NVIDIA GeForce 20-series of GPUs. Suddenly, the lighting method used in high-end pre-rendered Hollywood movies could be used in live video games. Well, at least that was the promise.

It's important to make your workspace comfortable. You'll likely be spending 8 hours a day there—and staring at a drab, lifeless setup isn't conducive to productive work, especially if the space isn't even designed to make working easier.

Everyone loves a good television show, but what makes one a classic is its ability to stand the test of time. That means immense rewatchability, cultural impact, and consistent, high-quality storytelling. Shows that do are often nostalgic and resonate across generations, creating memorable characters and embedding themselves in the public consciousness.

Android’s notification system is one of its strongest features. However, as much as I try to keep things tidy, there are a lot of settings to check. Thankfully, a recent “Notification Organizer” feature does all the hard work for me.

I recently repurposed an old laptop I had lying around into my first makeshift NAS by adding a hard drive and USB-C hub to it. It initially started mostly as a curiosity, mostly to see what it’s like to own a NAS. What I thought would be a quick weekend project quickly turned into an ongoing learning experience, but I’m glad I did it.

Have you ever had a Home Assistant automation grind to a halt because something went wrong during one of the actions? Sometimes this is desirable, but in some circumstances, it might be better if the rest of the automation continues to run even if one of the actions fails. Thanks to a recent Home Assistant update, it's now possible to get your automations to continue running even when an error occurs.

Apple TV has all kinds of new shows and new seasons scheduled to land over the next five or so months. But that's kind of the problem—you're paying for the service, so what's there to watch right now? I've got you.

AirTags used to be the best trackers in Apple's Find My network, but that is no longer the case. The ecosystem has expanded, and there are now many more devices to choose from. Here is how the AirTag lost its crown as the top Bluetooth tracker—and what you should buy instead.

When we think of PC upgrades, we usually think of a graphics card, RAM, maybe a CPU, maybe an SSD ... Coincidentally, all but one of those components are outrageously overpriced right now, and CPUs were never that cheap to begin with.

Storage fills up faster than it should, especially when you're juggling multiple machines. Between older PCs, test systems, and everyday use, I've learned that low disk space rarely tells the full story. Windows will give you a vague breakdown, but it doesn't actually show you what's going on. I've had drives that looked full for no obvious reason, and digging through folders manually never gave me a clear answer.

If your Linux system crashes and locks you out, you risk losing everything—files, data, time. If you have a bootable Linux USB recovery disk, tough, you'll be ready to restore, repair, and rescue your system before it’s too late.

Windows is a (mostly) useful operating system out of the box, but if you use it enough, you find that there are things that might make life a little easier. Savvy users will install PowerToys. Here are some things in the latest version that I hope become standard in the future.

Did you know that your smart TV is tracking your viewing and streaming habits? Your smart TV knows what you watch, when, for how long, and even what you passed over before choosing that specific movie or show. To make matters worse, your smart TV is actually capturing screenshots of your browsing habits and sending them back to the manufacturer.

When Plex starts buffering or stuttering, it's easy to assume that hardware problems are to blame, especially if you're using a NAS. But that often isn't the case. With Plex, the overall setup is so important. If your media files aren’t in the right format, Plex has to convert them on the fly, and that’s what causes many performance problems.

You’re used to using your phone, shouting at a smart speaker, or tapping a dashboard on the wall to control your smart home. But adding a select few controls to my Apple Watch has been more useful than any of these when I’m in a rush, on a bike, or otherwise preoccupied.

Linux is often held up as an example of an operating system that is more private and secure than Windows, and not without reason—it does have some distinct advantages. However, Windows hasn't been totally left behind either. There are several ways that Windows matches, or even surpasses, Linux on the privacy and security front.

I still clearly remember the first portable CD player my parents bought me in the early 2000s. I'd always wanted one, but I had to make do with a cheap Walkman clone instead, dubbing CDs to tape using our home Hi-Fi.