How-To Geek

As someone who spends the bulk of my time on my Windows PC, having the right tools at my disposal makes all the difference. I use these tools for both work and personal tasks, and they’re so good that they’ve earned a permanent spot on my toolbar.

Not too long ago, I wrote that we should all get over our TV brand snobbery. That manufacturers like Hisense and TCL are now bringing the latest and greatest display technology to us at rock-bottom prices, and that clinging to brand power doesn't make much rational sense.

Is your laptop stuck in the Stone Age with standard gigabit Ethernet? Or maybe no Ethernet at all? I had that exact problem, and found the solution for just $29 with a simple 2.5G Ethernet adapter. The kicker is that you have to buy the right one.

Satechi’s OntheGo Bluetooth Keyboard with Stand has great keys for typing, but its strength of being unconnected to a tablet might also be its weakness. Anyone looking for a part-time keyboard is in for a treat. But if you want a long-term commitment, you should look at a dedicated keyboard case.

Most mechanical keyboard enthusiasts stick to just one type of switch per board. While that’s perfectly reasonable, why limit yourself? Mixing and matching switches can create a more fun, unique typing experience and make your keyboard truly your own.

Excel is constantly changing, and this month, you can use the enhanced capabilities of Copilot and Python to speed up your workflow, focus on data analysis, and tailor the program to your requirements. Here are four new features to look out for this October.

I didn't use AI tools until someone told me, as a writer and creative, I should learn to work alongside them. Since embracing AI, I've enhanced my workflow, boosted my creativity, and optimized my time. Here are the tools I actually use daily.

If your smart TV is starting to feel sluggish, like apps taking forever to load, those frustrating menu lags, and generally acting like it needs a long nap, you're not alone. Before you start planning a weekend trip to the big box store or just resign yourself to a painfully slow browsing experience, take a moment to work on the TV yourself.

Tired of paying for streaming services like Netflix and HBO Max? Maybe it's time to set up a Plex media server. The price of entry is somewhat steep, but there are plenty of great home server deals during Prime Big Deals Day (October 7th and 8th), so now's a good time to spend a couple hundred bucks and decouple yourself from all those monthly streaming fees.

Has your power ever gone out for days (or weeks) at a time? Mine has, and I learned a lot during that time. Here’s how I keep all of my technology safe when the power flashes or goes out completely due to crazy weather.

The Logitech POP Icon Keys has been my main keyboard for close to a year, and it’s a great option for a low-profile desktop keyboard with simple software customization. Now you can get it on sale for $40 at Amazon and Logitech, as part of Amazon’s October Prime Day sale.

Do you long for the days when you had dedicated devices, like brick phones, PDAs, CD players, and handheld game consoles? Do the smartphones that have taken the role of all those devices bore you? I've got good news: the world of fun little gadgets is alive and well.

Do you want more control over the types of texts, images, and videos you get on Google Messages? If so, we have some good news. This week, we learned that Google is rolling out an optional new feature to prevent NSFW and other unwanted videos from appearing on your phone.

You can get the newest Apple iPad Mini for an incredible $379.00 on Amazon for a limited time. This is a 24% discount from its original price of $499.00, making this a great price for the latest version of Apple's tablet.

Python 3.14 is officially here, and brings a mix of changes to the core language, the interpreter's guts, and the standard library. These are major updates like template string literals, deferred evaluation of annotations, and even official support for subinterpreters in the standard library.

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.

Esteemed British actor Stephen Graham is finally seeing the stardom he has long deserved. The chameleon of talent recently won his first Primetime Emmy for his role in the hit Netflix psycho-drama series Adolescence. Weeks prior to its release, Graham snatched viewers’ attention with his powerhouse portrayal of 19th-century boxer Sugar Goodson in Hulu’s A Thousand Blows.

Notepad++ just dropped version 8.8.6, and now you can finally paste multiple lines of text directly into the Find and Replace fields. You no longer have to rely on workarounds or plugins for multi-line text manipulation, among other fixes.

When you buy service from an internet provider, they usually give you a router to go along with it. You might be inclined to use this router instead of going out to buy your own, but trust me: there are many reasons to ignore that ISP router.

Mozilla's Firefox is one of the few non-Chromium browsers that exist these days, and it remains one of the most solid browser options out there. But that doesn't mean that it's not allowed to take a page or two from Chrome every so often. Now, it has just got a pretty useful Google feature that you might like.