How-To Geek

Your friends are reporting spam and pleas for money originating from your email account and some of your logins aren’t working; you’ve been compromised. Read on to see what to do right now and how to protect yourself in the future.

We’ve already shown you some great ways to get your keyboard clean. For geeks that aren’t faint of heart, check out how to make your keyboard dishwasher safe and clean it with half the work and in half the time.

HDR tone mapping is everywhere these days; it’s sort of like Auto-Tuning equivalent of photography. Want to create High Dynamic Range images without the “HDR” look? Open up Photoshop or GIMP, and get ready to hack some images!

Syncing files between your computer and your iOS device via iTunes can be tedious and requires that you tether to your computer. Break free and enjoy wireless access to shared files from anywhere on your network—and beyond.

We’ve featured a lot of nicely designed icons for Windows, but have you ever wondered how to customize your own? Load up a web browser and your favorite image editor, because here’s an easy way to do it.

If there is one thing the iPad doesn’t lack for it’s games. Unfortunately if you’re in love with retro games from a bygone era, you’re largely out of luck. Today we take a look at how you can play SNES games on your iPad (and iPhone too!)

Your keyboard is one of your most important peripherals, but it’s bound to get clogged with dirt and grime over time. Dust off, scrub down, and clean up your number one input device safely with these tips.

Product keys are one of the most important parts of your computer. Unfortunately, most people don’t have them backed up. Here is how you can recover your product keys in case your computer crashes.

What better way to kick off your summer than building something to dazzle your neighbors with a symphony of booms, zaps, thumps, and other assorted better-call-the-ambulance noises? Read on as we highlight 10 geeky and dangerous projects.

Troubleshooting an application crash is one of the most frustrating tasks for the everyday geek, but now Soluto has upgraded their already-awesome boot-speed-up application with an application crash analyzer—and it helps disable browser add-ons too.

Made for the photographer on the go, our newest HTG Cheat Sheet is designed to be printed and is conveniently credit card-sized to fit in most wallets. Carry critical photographic info with you wherever you go!

Backing up your data can be such a trivially easy affair that you don’t have an excuse for putting it off—and risking your data in the process. Today we look at the CrashPlan backup suite and how you can use it for free remote backups.

We’ve already covered installing Tomato on your router and how to connect to your home network with OpenVPN and Tomato. Now we are going to cover installing OpenVPN on your DD-WRT enabled router for easy access to your home network from anywhere in the world!

You might have heard the enigmatic acronym “HDR” in reference to photography. It stands for “High Dynamic Range” and it creates photos with gorgeous, impossible detail and clarity. Keep reading to learn more, and see how you can use it.

With so many musical genres, it’s no surprise there are plenty distortion pedals out there. But what makes them so different? Let’s take a closer look at what happens to audio signals as they pass through these relatively simple devices.

Most of us are guilty of coasting on our digital camera’s “auto” settings. But with a few quick lessons on the basic elements of proper exposure, you can learn how to be a more effective photographer, with or without it.

Every Apple fanboy will tell you that Macs are safe from malware, but it’s just not true. Recently a fake AV program has been targeting and infecting OS X computers in the wild. Here’s a quick look at how it works, how to remove it, and also how to prevent it in the first place.

Cookies can be useful when you’re in control of them. Today we’re taking a look at how you can control cookies by blocking them except for when you want them to enhance your user experience.

One art form that geeks really appreciate is soldering, but not all of us know the proper technique. It’s an easy skill to add to your geek resume, so let’s learn how and some old projects off the shelf.

Today we’re going to show you how to use the Android App Inventor tool to create your own Android app, without having to write a lot of complicated code. It’s a really simple process that only requires some dragging and dropping.

Confused by that digital SLR you have, and all the photography jargon that goes along with it? Take a look at some photography basics, learn how your camera works, and how that can help you take better pictures.

Old photographs seem to collect dirt, scratches, and bad textures as they collect dust in shoeboxes and photo albums. If you’ve taken the task of scanning them, but have found damage and scratches, here’s how to fix them.

Motherboards are the most complex component in your computer. Fitted with hundreds of components and dozens of options it can be difficult to choose. Let’s look at the most important factors to help you decide before building your next computer.

The iPad has been toted as the ultimate comic book reader but that doesn’t mean your can’t give it a run for its money with your Kindle. Read on to learn how you can optimize your Manga and comic collection for your Kindle.

We’re completing the 50+ Tools and Techniques today with this final installment. Read about advanced selection and masking tools, as well as some stupid graphics geek tricks, and ways to fake removing a background in seconds.