How-To Geek - For Geeks, By Geeks.

How to Disable SMBv1 and Protect Your Windows PC From Attack

The WannaCry and Petya ransomware epidemics both spread using flaws in the ancient SMBv1 protocol, which Windows still enables by default (for some ridiculous reason). Whether you’re using Windows 10, 8, or 7, you should ensure SMBv1 is disabled on your PC.

How to Find Your Tile Tracker With Alexa or Google Home

Tile trackers are handy for finding your keys, wallet, or anything else you might lose. Normally, you need to use your phone to find your Tile, but if you have an Amazon Echo or any device that can use Google Assistant, you can find your stuff with a simple voice command.

How to Sync Your Android Notifications to Your PC or Mac

If you’re working at your computer and your phone goes off, you can grab it, unlock it, and check the notification, likely throwing off your workflow. Or, you could just sync your notifications to your computer, so they show up right there—which really makes a lot more sense.

How to Report a Whole Facebook Group

Facebook is a great tool, but it isn’t without its issues. Anyone can create a Facebook Group for any purpose. While lots of sports teams and clubs use Groups to organize things, there are also Groups that are used to coordinate abuse, sell illegal substances, and generally just violate Facebook’s Terms of Service. If you find one, here’s how to report it to Facebook.

What Does the Builtin Command in Bash Do?

The builtin commands in Bash can be extremely useful, but what does “builtin” itself actually do? Today’s SuperUser Q&A post has the answer to a curious reader’s question.

How to Enable Automatic Firmware Updates for Your Wink Hub

Firmware updates are annoying, but they’re essential to a properly working (and secure) device. The Wink Hub is no exception, but if you’d rather not have to deal with updating the hub every time new firmware comes out, you can actually enable automatic updates.

How to Find You Wi-Fi Connected Roomba When It Gets Lost

If you leave your Roomba to do its thing unattended—which is the whole point, after all—every once in a while it can get stuck in a corner or under furniture. If you can’t figure out where it went, and you have a Wi-Fi connected model, you can ring it from the app to help you track it down.

Is Now a Good Time to Buy an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive?

The Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, the only retail-available VR headsets to use conventional gaming PCs as a platform, have been on the market for over a year. That’s long enough for fans to wonder when new models will be coming out…and long enough for sellers to want to move some of the existing stock. So, is it a good time to dive head-first into virtual reality?

How to Build Your Own NES or SNES Classic with a Raspberry Pi and RetroPie

The NES Classic Edition is an official clone of the original Nintendo Entertainment System, and one of the best ways to play your favorite retro games. The SNES Classic is its successor. Unfortunately, it’s so popular that it’s nearly impossible to get your hands on either. Don’t pay $300 on eBay when you can use the modestly-priced Raspberry Pi to build your own—with even more games.

The Best Tools for Editing Pictures on a Chromebook

Chromebooks have long been touted as great machines for users who “don’t need anything more than a browser.” But as time has gone on, the machines have gotten more powerful, with more program options are available than ever before. If you thought editing photos from a Chromebook wasn’t possible, it’s time to give it another look.

What Is a Macro Lens in Photography?

A macro lens is a lens designed for taking extremely close-up photos of the subject. If you’ve ever seen a photo of a spider’s eyes or the veins of a leaf, that was a macro photo.

How to Skip the Wait and Update to Android Oreo on Your Pixel or Nexus Now

Android Oreo is here, but it’s rolling out to Pixel and Nexus devices slowly. If you still haven’t gotten the upgrade notification, here’s a little trick to upgrade sooner.

The Best New Features in Android 8.0 Oreo, Available Now

Android “O” is officially Android Oreo, which is beginning to roll out to compatible devices now. As with most major Android releases, this one brings a host of new features and improvements over its predecessor, Android Nougat. Here’s a glimpse of what to expect when Oreo lands on your device.

How to Randomize Your Hue Lights for Extra Vacation Security

If you want to give the illusion that you’re home when you’re really on vacation, your Phillips Hue smart bulbs now have a “presence mimicking” feature that makes crafting the illusion dead simple.

Are Smart Locks Secure?

You might think that smart locks are a security disaster just waiting to happen. After all, why would you trust an internet-connected device with the security of your house and everything in it? But consider this: locks are pretty insecure in general.

How to Middle Click on a Laptop Touchpad

Most laptop touchpads make it possible to perform a middle-click, but not all do. In some situations, you may need to enable this option in your mouse driver’s control panel or install the appropriate drivers first.

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What’s the Best Antivirus for Windows 10? (Is Windows Defender Good Enough?)

Windows 10 won’t hassle you to install an antivirus like Windows 7 did. Since Windows 8, Windows now includes a built-in antivirus called Windows Defender (which used to be available separately as Microsoft Security Essentials). But is it really the best for protecting your PC–or even just good enough?

18 Things You May Not Have Known Google Photos Can Do

Google Photos may seem like a simple image hosting service, but it’s actually quite powerful. Google Photos bridges the gap between cloud storage, image hosting, and image sharing services, giving stiff competition to Flickr, iCloud, Dropbox, and OneDrive.

Wi-Fi Security: Should You Use WPA2-AES, WPA2-TKIP, or Both?

Many routers provide WPA2-PSK (TKIP), WPA2-PSK (AES), and WPA2-PSK (TKIP/AES) as options. Choose the wrong one, though, and you’ll have a slower, less-secure network.

How to Fix Windows Update When It Gets Stuck

Windows Update is supposed to work silently in the background, but it may refuse to continue if it can’t install an individual update.

10 Handy Uses for Your Old iPad or Android Tablet

Tablet sales are slumping at the moment, probably as a result of big smartphones and convertible laptops chip away at a tablet’s usefulness. But if you have one or more tablets at home gathering dust while you happily poke away at your giant smartphone, there are probably some good ways to put them to use rather than selling them or recycling them. Here are a few ideas.

How to Change Microsoft Edge to Search Google Instead of Bing

Microsoft’s new Edge browser uses Bing as its default search engine, but if you prefer something else you can change that. Edge can use any search engine that supports OpenSearch as its default.

How to Turn Your Windows PC Into a Wi-Fi Hotspot

Windows can turn your PC into a wireless hotspot, allowing it to share its wired or wireless Internet connection with other wireless devices. But how you set it up that depends on what version of Windows you’re running. Here’s how it all works.

Everything You Can Do With Windows 10’s New Bash Shell

Windows 10’s Anniversary Update brings a “Bash on Ubuntu on Windows” environment to Windows 10. But don’t be deceived: This is more than just a Bash shell. It’s a full compatibility layer for running Linux applications on Windows.

How to Find and Remove Duplicate Files on Windows

Duplicate file finders scan your hard drive for unnecessary duplicated files and help you remove them, freeing up space. Here are our picks for the best duplicate file finders, whether you’re looking for something easy to use, an application you may already have installed, or a powerful tool with the most advanced filters.

Amazon Echo vs. Google Home: Which One Should You Buy?

Amazon blew the industry wide open with its release of the Echo back in 2014, and has since become the company’s most popular hardware product. However, Google has since gotten in on the fun with the Google Home, a direct Echo competitor that aims to reign supreme. But which one should you buy if you’re in the market for a virtual home assistant? Here are some key points to know about both devices to see which one might be best suited for you.