Featured Articles - The Best of How-To Geek

What Is Smishing, and How Do You Protect Yourself?

You’re probably familiar with email-based phishing, where a scammer emails you and tries to extract sensitive information like your credit card details or social security number. “Smishing” is SMS-based phis...

Wi-Fi 6E: What Is It, and How Is It Different From Wi-Fi 6?

Wi-Fi 6 hardware is finally arriving on the market, and you’ll be seeing more and more of it released throughout 2020. But people are already talking about something new: Wi-Fi 6E, which promises to reduce Wi-Fi congest...

How to Add Custom Ringtones to an iPhone from macOS Catalina

Creating your own iPhone ringtones isn’t as easy as it should be, but it’s still relatively straightforward. You can do it using the new Music app in macOS Catalina, which replaces iTunes.

Tim Brookes 2d ago

The Ultimate Guide to Cleaning Your Icky AirPods

Your AirPods are probably gross. Earwax, sweat, dirt, and grime all get caked on the buds and in the charging case. It’s helpful to clean them regularly, but you have to be careful not to damage them. Here are a few way...

Microsoft Is Testing Ads in WordPad on Windows 10

Microsoft can’t stop inserting advertisements into Windows 10. The latest experimental advertisement appears in WordPad. It’s a banner inviting you to use Office’s web apps instead of the included WordPad ap...

Chris Hoffman 3d ago

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About inodes on Linux

The Linux file system relies on inodes. These vital pieces of the file system’s inner workings are often misunderstood. Let’s look at exactly what they are, and what they do.

What Is a GaN Charger, and Why Will You Want One?

Gallium Nitride (GaN) chargers were everywhere at CES 2020. This modern alternative to silicon means smaller, more efficient chargers and power bricks are on the way. Here’s how it works.

What Does “IKR” Mean, and How Do You Use It?

IKR is an abbreviation for the phrase, “I know, right?” It’s rhetorical and indicates that you agree with someone’s opinion or observation.

How to Create and Use Memoji and Animoji on an iPhone

When you think of playful camera filters, Snapchat is probably the first app that comes to mind. But did you know that you can create your own interactive avatars using your iPhone or iPad?

PSA: Watch Out for This New Text Message Package Delivery Scam

We’ve been trained to expect and look out for spam emails. But now, scammers are sending realistic-looking text messages (like the one above) posing as shipping and package delivery companies such as FedEx....

How to Use the history Command on Linux

Linux’s shell saves a history of the commands you run, and you can search it to repeat commands you’ve run in the past. Once you understand the Linux history command and how to use it, it can significantly boost y...

Dave McKay Jan 17th

How to Upgrade From Windows 7 to Linux

If you’re still using Windows 7 because you just don’t like Windows 10, that’s understandable. But there’s an alternative upgrade path: You can install Linux on your PC for free, and you’ll have ...

How to Set a Maximum Frame Rate in NVIDIA’s Drivers

At the beginning of 2020, NVIDIA released new GeForce drivers with a highly requested feature. You can now cap your PC’s framerates—either for all games on your PC or just for specific games. Here’s how....

Chris Hoffman Jan 16th

How to Secure Your Windows 7 PC in 2020

Microsoft is no longer supporting Windows 7 with security updates. In other words, Windows 7 is now just like Windows XP—an older operating system that will gradually accumulate unpatched security holes. Here’s ho...

Microsoft’s New Chromium-Based Edge Browser Is Now Available

Microsoft’s new Edge browser is now finished and available for download. This new browser is based on Chromium, which forms the basis of Google Chrome. Windows 10 users will also get the new Edge browser automatically ...

Chris Hoffman Jan 15th

How to Use at and batch on Linux to Schedule Commands

If you want to schedule a Linux job that will happen only once, cron is overkill. The at family of commands is what you need! And if you want to run processes only when your system has free resources, you can use batch....

Dave McKay Jan 15th

How to Upgrade to Windows 10 From Windows 7 for Free

Windows 7 is dead, but you don’t have to pay to upgrade to Windows 10. Microsoft has quietly continued the free upgrade offer for the last few years. You can still upgrade any PC with a genuine Windows 7 or Windows 8 li...

What Is Reddit Karma and How Do I Get It?

Karma is Reddit’s voting system. The posts with the most karma are the ones you see on the front page. Reddit tracks how much karma each of its users has earned, too. We’ll explain how Reddit karma works and how y...

Vann Vicente Jan 14th

Windows 7 Dies Today: Here’s What You Need to Know

Microsoft released Windows 7 in October 2009. Now, more than a decade later, it’s being retired. Your Windows 7 PCs will keep working, but Microsoft is no longer issuing security patches as of January 14, 2020....

How to Enable the Secure Folder on Samsung Phones

The Secure Folder is a useful feature on Samsung devices that allows you to keep apps and files out of sight. Here’s how to enable it and use it.

Vann Vicente Jan 13th

RIP Windows 7: We’re Going to Miss You

More than a decade after its release, Windows 7 support ends on January 14, 2020. Let’s look back at what made Windows 7 so awesome and why it’s a great operating system we’ll remember for the rest of our l...

Sanity Returns: How USB4’s New Logos Will Simplify Shopping

Buying the right USB cable can be confusing, thanks to obscure naming schemes that are hard for even techies to remember. This will change this year when the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) introduces simpler labeling for USB...

How to Use rclone to Back Up to Google Drive on Linux

There’s still no official Linux client for Google Drive, but you can back up to your Google Drive using the rclone utility right from the command line. We show you how.

Dave McKay Jan 10th

How to Share Music Over the Network on macOS Catalina

Media sharing is one of the perks of having your own home network, and Apple makes it easy. Once you’ve shared your music and video content, you can access it from Macs, Windows PCs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs on the...

Tim Brookes Jan 9th