How-To Geek

Trying a new Linux distribution can be exciting, but I’ve learned that one missing feature can turn the whole experience sour. For me, that dealbreaker is simple: if a distro doesn’t support Flatpak, I won’t bother installing it.

I’ve lived in Florida for over 25 years. In that time, I’ve experienced at least 8 major hurricanes, many heavy storms, and countless power outages. Dealing with the fallout of these storms can be tough. Power outages and brownouts are simply part of life here. Most times the power is back on relatively quickly, but at least a couple of times a year, I experience extended outages.

A robot vacuum can be the missing piece for any busy family looking to keep their home clean. If you're like me and don't have the extra time in the week to vacuum three or four times, a robot vacuum can be a valuable addition to your cleaning routine.

Do you want to try Arch Linux but hear it’s not stable enough for daily use? Or have you tried Arch but left because it felt technically overwhelming? Well, I personally use Arch as my main PC, and here’s everything you need to know to use it as your daily driver.

September on Paramount+ is all about keeping you entertained, which they’re ensuring with this month’s addition of new content, which features the streaming premieres of two new movies, The Wedding Banquet, starring Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone, andthe Jenna Ortega-led Winter Spring Summer or Fall. You can also expect two tantalizing true-life documentaries, the series premiere of NCIS: Tony & Ziva, and the season three premiere of Taylor Sheridan's hit series Tulsa King.

Are you confused about why everyone around you swears by running everything past ChatGPT? Are you tired of being told how much better the next iteration of Big Tech’s large language model (LLM) is going to make your life?

Whether you're looking to capture a picture of a porch pirate, someone playing ding-dong ditch, or just keep an eye on your place while you're away, the Baseus Security S2 Outdoor camera is a great all-around option, especially if you need something that can last forever without a charge or plugging in.

7-Zip is one of the best archive managers for Windows, offering a long list of features. However, I recently came across PeaZip, an open-source archive manager, and I find it very similar to 7-Zip. Let's compare both tools so you can determine which one to use on your computer.

Good backups are an essential thing in the modern digital era, when so much of our lives revolves around computers, phones, and the internet. Here is how I back up my Linux laptop to make sure I don't lose anything important.

Dads rejoice – this one’s for you. It’s an excuse to have a mid-life crisis of a maturely immature kind, and a cool one at that. Just bring a fresh pair of New Balance 530s. You know you deserve it, so ditch the SUV and instead buy a car that celebrates your life stage without too much compromise. Go buy a performance wagon.

Picking out a computer to travel with is difficult. You want to have a computer that is powerful enough and big enough, without being too large and unwieldy. It’s also nice if you can entertain yourself, whether it’s through streaming, playing games, or maybe even some drawing.

This electric hatchback stands out as one of the smartest budget-friendly cars you can buy, offering low running costs and everyday practicality. With its compact size, easy maneuverability, and quiet electric drive, it’s perfectly suited for city life while still capable enough for longer commutes.

Are you looking for a replacement for Windows File Explorer? If so, I would recommend trying the Files app, which is one of the best file managers for Windows 11.

Copying large files has always been problematic on my Windows 11 PC. Luckily, I now use another built-in copy feature called Robocopy for many file transfer tasks. Here’s how you can use this robust copy tool on your computer.

When was the last time you heard about someone "jailbreaking" their iPhone? When was the last time you thought about doing it? While jailbreaking still happens,and some hackers still work on removing the guardrails from iOS devices, it's not nearly as common as it once was.

If you weren't around (or paying attention) during the early days of flat panel display, you might not be aware of the scourge that dead or stuck pixels represented. These pixels either didn't light up, were fully lit the whole time, or got stuck on some intermediate color. For those of us coming from CRT monitors, this was a whole new problem that never existed before.

Most people plug the usual stuff into their motherboards—CPUs, GPUs, RAM, SSD, etc. That doesn't mean these are the only devices your motherboard could handle. Far from it!

With every Google search now, first comes the AI summaries. Then, the wall of SEO paste: Rehashed Reddit threads, blogs that read like content farms, affiliate links stacks. Then more YouTube embeds. Then somewhere below that or maybe on the second page, you find what you need. I remember a time when clicking the second page on Google was an oddity.

Internet Explorer might be one of the most controversial applications in history. Included with every copy of Windows after Windows 95 and several versions of 95 itself, this browser gave Microsoft plenty of legal headaches, but it also developed a poor reputation from a technical point of view.

I admit it: I'm a certified distro-hopper. In the past few months I've moved between several Linux distributions in search of my perfect operating system. Well, it doesn't have to be perfect. It really just needs to make using my computer enjoyable. Which is part of how I picked my next target.