How-To Geek

I have noticed more self-hosting and homelab enthusiasts questioning whether maintaining their own infrastructure is still worth the effort. If you spend time browsing Reddit's homelab and self-hosting subreddits, you will increasingly come across people discussing maintenance fatigue, rising hardware costs, complicated configurations, and spending more time troubleshooting services than actually using them.

Your 3D printer can be used to enhance a whole range of hobbies, reading included. This includes fun ways to display your books, keep track of your progress, or even enjoy reading more comfortably.

When you plug a USB drive into your Windows PC, it should automatically appear in File Explorer. If it does not, follow this exact troubleshooting hierarchy to diagnose the issue without risking your data.

Microsoft is making its long-running Sysinternals troubleshooting toolkit more useful outside of Windows, and the latest releases are a good reason to pay attention. After bringing tools like Sysmon, ProcDump, and Process Monitor to Linux, the company is now adding Autoruns to Linux, giving users access to more of the diagnostic tools Windows administrators have relied on for years.

Microsoft Excel isn't just for work. In fact, by leveraging just three single, powerful formulas, I use the popular spreadsheet software at home to track warranties, manage my budget, and ensure I never forget a birthday. Thanks to Excel, I've ditched my chaotic life for one that's highly organized.

I’m not one to enjoy gaming in front of a monitor at my desk, and I don't want to be anchored to my TV or couch either. As a married man and a parent, I prefer a gaming setup that can travel with me to the places and times when gaming is actually an option — so I was excited by the prospect of PC gaming handhelds, back before they shot up in price.

Jellyfin is a popular free and open-source media server that's often considered the main rival to Plex. You can use it to stream your collection of TV shows and movies from a self-hosted server. There are Jellyfin clients for common devices such as smart TVs and smartphones, but the open-source community has managed to get Jellyfin working on some devices that you might not expect.

I've been a GNOME user for more than a decade, and I have a complicated relationship with it. I love its clean interface and workflow, but I wish it did a few things differently. I've tried several other desktop environments over the years, enjoyed some of them, and somehow always found my way back to GNOME. So when KDE celebrated its 30th birthday, I decided to revisit Plasma and see what it offers today.

If you're looking at starting a homelab, then you could be looking at using the free hardware you have in your house, whether that's an old mini PC, old desktop, or old laptop. If you need to rely on these services, that old system might not be the best idea. Old machines are great for tinkering, but they can be a bad foundation for things you need to depend on daily.

I keep running into the same annoying habit when a company announces a new model, calls it open source, and developers cheer. Then someone reads the license and finds a pile of conditions nobody mentioned in the press release that are the opposite of open source. Open source has a pretty clear history, but AI made it really blurry.

Google knocks it out of the park with Pixel phones every single time. The UI is just pure Android in its best form. Despite any glitches a Google Pixel might have at launch, millions of users love and adore the devices regardless, and flock to buy them right out of the gate.

Looking for a good microcontroller project to spend some time on this weekend, or just stashing away some inspiration for a rainy day? Here are some ESP32-powered builds for your car, garage, and driveway. Some are useful, others are just for fun.

Every homeowner and DIYer likely has a decent selection of cordless power tools, myself included, and they're always the basics. A drill or driver, impact wrench, screwdrivers, saws, and things of that nature. If you're a fan of Ryobi, you know the company makes all sorts of oddball tools, including these 4 outdoor products you'll probably want to buy.

As someone who loves foldable phones, I’m happy the iPhone Duo exists. Apple’s first foldable phone has brought a lot of excitement and attention to a device category that, despite being around for nearly a decade, most people haven’t experienced. There are many now asking themselves if the iPhone Duo should be their first foldable phone — that answer, sadly, is no.

My first Pi Pico purchase was on a whim. I didn't have any particular project in mind at the time, but after a bit of experimenting, I decided to try and build a motion-activated light that was situated under my bed so I could see at night without lighting up the entire room.

With so many new and returning shows arriving this week, it's difficult to keep track of them all. This pattern always emerges at the beginning of each month, as streaming services want to start off with a bang. It's a good problem to have, even if the shows follow binge models instead of weekly releases.

Are you tired of your unstable Wi-Fi connection? So was I, so I took a bunch of devices off my Wi-Fi and saw great improvements in network stability. But I get that wiring up every single room in the house isn't feasible, no matter how much you might want to.

In 2024, Microsoft announced Copilot+ PCs, the "fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever built." Copilot+ PCs were announced with a handful of new features, like the much-derided Recall, AI-powered image editing, and a few other things.

Whether you're looking to download a GPU-specific driver, trying to determine whether you'll be able to play a new game at a reasonable frame rate, or checking the specs on an unfamiliar PC, knowing exactly what GPU you're dealing with is an important piece of information. Here are a few ways you can do it.

When you get a new phone, everything seems to run faster. Apps launch quicker, menus appear snappier, and the whole experience feels less congested.