How-To Geek

Sometimes a Windows bug is too small to carefully fix but too annoying to ignore. For years, my sound card has had its output mode switched from stereo to 5.1 after every reboot. Fixing it manually isn't difficult or all that time-consuming, but over the thousands of reboots since I purchased the card years ago, it adds up to several hours just changing audio device configurations.

The one thing that makes it easier for me to get up at 6 am for a training session or video call with someone on the other side of the world is the guarantee that my first cup of coffee will be a good one.

I make heavy use of voice dictation—I'm actually speaking the words you're reading right now. But I'm squeamish about the privacy concerns of Gboard and the connectivity requirements of Wispr Flow. Fortunately, I've found a private, offline-only option that is just as good—if not better.

Unfortunately, the end of August means the end of summer is near. It's the last chance to get that last-minute trip in before the school year starts, and the weather starts to cool down. As one of those people taking a trip, I've started to realize that the most important tool in my suitcase is an Amazon Fire TV Stick.

A NAS is a simple way to add a miniature cloud storage setup to your home network. Most of them are even versatile enough that they can host some basic open-source services as well, like a Navidrome music server or a WireGuard VPN. However, if you have an old PC lying around, you probably don't need to buy a dedicated NAS—you can repurpose the old PC instead.

The compact luxury SUV segment is dominated by familiar German badges, but a newer challenger is making it increasingly difficult to justify paying extra for them. It offers a genuinely upscale interior, strong performance, generous standard equipment, and a driving experience that feels more engaging than you might expect from a luxury crossover. Better still, it manages all of this while costing roughly the same as its most obvious rivals.

There's a long-standing debate over which web browser you should use. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and plenty of others all have their fans, and most of us eventually settle on whichever one fits our particular needs. For me, Edge Drop makes Microsoft's browser considerably more useful—but now that's being taken away.

Do you love making things and getting your hands dirty? Whether you’re into arts, crafts, or both, a 3D printer could be a good investment. You don’t need model design skills to benefit either, since there’s a whole world of models out there just waiting to be discovered.

Modern cars are packed with technology. Touchscreens control everything from climate settings to drive modes, computers constantly adjust suspension and power delivery, and increasingly sophisticated driver-assistance systems are always watching what happens around you. Even the humble manual transmission is rapidly disappearing.

Netflix has plenty of new titles competing for attention every week. However, I sometimes prefer to revisit something that has already proven itself. Award-winning movies may not be everyone's favorite, but they're great to explore when I want to get out of my Netflix doomscroll.

Have you ever looked under your car's steering wheel at all the wires, fuses, and plugs? If so, you might find an odd plug called an OBD-II port. That's the same port any technician uses during a smog test, and mechanics access it to scan for check engine light errors, but that's not all it can do. You can plug several useful or weird things into that 16-pin port.

New cars have become so expensive that spending $25,000 no longer gets you much excitement. Instead of settling for a basic economy car, the used market opens the door to something far more engaging without requiring a much bigger budget. There are lightly used performance cars available for roughly the same price as a new compact sedan, combining everyday practicality with the kind of character that cheaper new cars often lack.

Unless you’re willing to settle for mid-tier hardware, it’s an unfortunate fact that phones don’t come with expandable storage anymore. As a response, external storage accessories are becoming more popular, but they lack the convenience of a built-in microSD card slot. I attempted to solve this problem with a 3D printed phone case.

If you've fired up HBO Max in the past few days, you've undoubtedly noticed the spotlight firmly focused on its new DCU series, Lanterns, and, if you're really caught up, the new season of Conan O'Brien Must Go—both of which we wrote about earlier this week. But while the superhero and traveling comedian have been distracting everyone, the streamer's documentary library—new and old—is still more than capable of entertaining you.

Gboard's Play Store privacy policy makes one thing clear: there is a lot of data collected about you. That isn't just a theoretical note, either. Researchers at Trinity College Dublin were able to decode payloads that showed Android keyboards transmitting installation IDs, hardware details, and keyboard interaction logs.

I'm not a fan of Wi-Fi—Ethernet all the way. But for some devices, it just makes no sense (or is impossible) to connect via cable, and on those devices, when Wi-Fi is sluggish, it's a massive nuisance.

Android smartphones have become so powerful that they can now run mobile games that look a lot like console games. In some cases, phones can actually run older console titles. So, if you want to experience console-grade graphics on your phone, here's a list of our favorite Android games.

If the last couple of weeks have been any indication, Netflix subscribers in the U.S. are definitely into documentaries—Conversations with a Killer: The Charles Manson Tapes and The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare are still holding court in the streamer's top 10. But don't be surprised if one of this week's newest releases (and my top pick this weekend) might just muscle its way into the mix as well.

Bluetooth trackers are one of the best modern inventions—anyone who's ever lost something and promptly recovered it thanks to a tracker will strongly agree. As someone who loses stuff on the regular, I've invested in some inexpensive Bluetooth trackers, and I've been putting them to work since acquiring them.

Whether you admire it or despise it, Windows’ style is often imitated by competitors, including some Linux distributions. A familiar look and feel can help new users adapt to a new system, and this is especially important when changing such a fundamental part of the experience as an OS.