How-To Geek

When it comes to long-term value, few cars hold their resale power like this popular hatchback. Even after five years, it retains a surprising percentage of its original price, making it a standout in a market where depreciation often hits new vehicles hard.

Drive encryption on Windows is still technically a "business" feature, but if you have Windows 11 Pro, you can fully encrypt your drive using BitLocker. Your TPM is supposed to handle the decryption process on every reboot, which can led to you just forgetting to take care of your keys. Which is a problem if you download the latest Windows update.

You have to hand it to free ad-supported streaming services like Pluto TV. They really do throw a huge amount of movies and TV shows—not to mention live TV, in some cases—against the wall that you can pick and choose from until the cows come home.

You can breathe a little easier the next time you hike far outside of cell service. T-Mobile is making its Starlink-powered emergency texting to 911 free and open to everyone—including AT&T and Verizon customers.

We mostly use our phones in "app mode." We tap an app and launch it in a separate window to get things done. For most people, that's how computers work, too, because even desktops are app-centric now. However, there's another way to control your computer or phone, and that's with a terminal window. I'm going to try and convince you why a terminal on your phone is worth it.

I’ve been a Waze driver for years. It’s fast, crowd-sourced, and built for people who just want to get from point A to B as efficiently as possible. The live reports, police alerts, and shortcut-happy routing make it perfect for my daily drives around my county. Even though Waze is my go-to, there are times when Google Maps just makes more sense, and reminds me why I keep both apps on my phone.

Whether you're an experienced Excel pro or you've just switched from another spreadsheet software, many of the default settings make the program frustrating to use. But you don't have to settle for these defaults! Here are some tweaks that will make life easier and speed up your workflow.

Cooler Master has revealed a new PC case with an adaptable design and two color options, and it might look familiar to anyone who has seen Apple's Mac Pro desktop. Meet the Cooler Master Qube 540.

Google Maps is getting an upgrade thanks to the integration of Gemini. This should make Maps a lot more conversational and have as much information as a tour guide would. The idea is to help you understand where you are going, instead of giving flat directions.

Android has a neat built-in feature for separating your digital work life from your personal life. You can create separate profiles for work and life, isolate both spaces, and switch between them as needed. That way, you won’t get Slack notifications during dinner or family text chain notifications during your work hours. It’ll effectively turn your phone into two devices—one for work and for everything else. Let me show you how.

Resale value matters more than ever when you’re buying an SUV. Nobody wants to watch half their money vanish the moment the wheels leave the lot.

Valve has just released a major upgrade for the Steam Deck that should make it much easier to download games and updates. The device now has a new display-off low-power mode that lets the handheld complete all active downloads before automatically going to sleep.

I watch a lot of Prime Video. Whether it's from their own catalog of Prime Originals like The Boys, Fallout, or (one of my favorites) The Legend of Vox Machina, or tucking in to its huge library of movies, there's a lot to choose from.

Few things are more frustrating than realizing the YouTube video you just spent much of your precious time watching was actually uploaded 10 years ago, and its content is outdated. Luckily, you can take some steps to limit the number of old videos you encounter on the popular streaming app.

The physical nature of media has some built-in limitations and vulnerabilities. Those things can really get in the way of true portability and data security, especially as technology gets better. You've got the constant threat of losing the drive or damaging it, and you're always dealing with the limits of hardware speed and capacity. The traditional USB drive is familiar, sure, but it might not be the best answer anymore for managing portable software and apps.

You're watching a movie or TV show, a character says something, and you don't catch a word of it. Perhaps it just sounds like a mumbled mess or the background audio is too loud. You rewind, watch it again, and still can't understand. In the end, you either give up or enable the subtitles. It's a common problem that plagues modern media.

I spend more time watching YouTube than any other streaming service, which is probably why I'm happy to fork out for YouTube Premium, but it also means I encounter some common annoyances among content creators too.

Want to upgrade your smart TV experience before the holidays? The excellent Google TV Streamer 4K is currently 25% off at Amazon and Best Buy—at $75, this is the best Google TV Streamer 4K deal to date.

For a long time, I overlooked Jellyfin's music streaming capabilities. Occasionally, I used the first-party Jellyfin app to listen, but the experience just felt limited and clunky, especially compared to the convenience I was used on Spotify and other music streaming apps. It turns out, I just hadn't been using the right app.

If you’ve been following tech news, you’ve probably seen AMD step on a rake. The company announced it was pulling game-ready driver support for its RDNA 1 and 2 GPUs by putting them in "maintenance mode."