Featured Articles - The Best of How-To Geek

How to Install the Linux 5.0 Update on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Canonical just released Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS, which features Linux kernel 5.0. This kernel, also found in Ubuntu 19.04, includes improved hardware support and performance tweaks. But, if you installed the original Ubuntu 18.04 ...

Chris Hoffman Aug 9th

How to Stop Companies From Listening to Your Voice Assistant Recordings

It’s been in the news for weeks: Employees and contractors at Amazon, Google, Apple, and Microsoft are listening to recordings of you talking to voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, Cortana. Here’s...

Mouse Left-Click Button Not Working? Here’s How to Fix It

Even something as simple as a mouse button can fail. If your mouse’s left-click button is sticking, isn’t consistently responding, or is accidentally double-clicking, this often indicates a hardware problem with t...

Chris Hoffman Aug 8th

Netflix’s Parental Controls Are Terrible

Netflix has a parental control problem. You can create “Kids” profiles, but kids can easily escape them. You can set a PIN to block content, but Netflix still bombards kids with mature trailers. Netflix’s pa...

How to See How Much RAM Is In Your PC (and Its Speed)

Your computer’s RAM is the speedy short-term memory it uses for running applications and open files. The more RAM your computer has, the more you can do at once. Here’s how to check how much your system has....

Chris Hoffman Aug 7th

How Do Holograms Work on Stage?

Whether holograms of Tupac and Michael Jackson give you the heebie-jeebies or a dose of nostalgia, you’ve got to admit the technology is impressive. But how does it work? And are these really holograms or just projectio...

How to Add a GUI to Linux Shell Scripts

You can use GUI windows, sliders, radio buttons, progress bars, and more in your Bash scripts. Learn how to use the zenity toolkit and give your Bash scripts a facelift. We’ll show you how.

Dave McKay Aug 6th

Why Does Windows Defender Firewall Block Some App Features?

Almost everyone who uses Windows has seen it. You launch an application or game, and Windows Firewall pops up and says it’s “blocked some features of this app.” What does this mean, and should you allow acce...

Chris Hoffman Aug 6th

Why Free OTA TV Beats Cable on Picture Quality

It sounds ridiculous, but free broadcast TV offers noticeably higher visual quality than expensive cable. But they both operate at a 1080p resolution, so what gives? Why does a simple antenna get you a better picture than pri...

How to Watch FXNow Without Cable

FXNow is an impressive streaming service that offers most FX shows on-demand. But it requires an expensive cable subscription. So, how can you get FXNow cheaper? Subscribe to a less-expensive streaming TV service....

Andrew Heinzman Aug 5th

What’s the Worst Thing Someone Can Do With Your Unlocked iPhone?

We use our phones for event tickets, reservations, insurance cards, and even driver’s licenses. But what happens when someone takes your unlocked iPhone out of view for a moment—what’s the risk? What’s...

Chris Hoffman Aug 5th

How to Quickly Turn Emails Into Tasks

If you’re using OHIO (Only Handle It Once) to triage your email, you probably want to turn some of your emails into tasks. Here’s how to do that quickly and efficiently so you can get on with handling your other e...

How to Protect Your Smarthome from Attack

Every new device you introduce into your smarthome is another device that can be attacked. You can secure your smarthome with simple steps like locking down your router and taking proper care of the gadgets in your smarthome....

A Beginner’s Guide to Making Music on iPhone and iPad

You don’t need to be able to sing, play an instrument, or read sheet music to make music. With an iPhone or iPad you’ve got a mobile production suite, recording studio, and mixing desk all in one....

How to Work with Trendlines in Microsoft Excel Charts

You can add a trendline to a chart in Excel to show the general pattern of data over time. You can also extend trendlines to forecast future data. Excel makes it easy to do all of this.

Alan Murray Aug 2nd

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

Unlike most internet acronyms, TLDR (or TL;DR) has found its way into news articles, professional emails, and even Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary. But what does TLDR mean, how do you use it, and where did it come from?...

Andrew Heinzman Aug 2nd

Why I Switched From Ubuntu to Manjaro Linux

For more than a decade, Ubuntu was my Linux distribution of choice. But, for the first time in a long while, I distro-hopped. I now run Manjaro and couldn’t be happier. It’s just that good!...

Chrome Now Hides WWW and HTTPS:// in Addresses. Do You Care?

Google Chrome 76, released a few days ago, has a surprising change: It hides the www. and https:// for website addresses in the omnibox, or address bar. This comes after an outcry when Google tried this back in Chrome 69....

Chris Hoffman Aug 1st

Some Windows 10 Users Are Trapped in S Mode

Windows 10’s S Mode won’t let you install software from outside the Store or even change Edge’s default search engine. If you purchased a Surface Go this week, you’ve likely been trapped in S Mode....

Chris Hoffman Aug 1st

How to Use the xargs Command on Linux

Need to string some Linux commands together, but one of them doesn’t accept piped input? xargs can take the output from one command and send it to another command as parameters.

Dave McKay Aug 1st

How to Secure Your Synology NAS from Ransomware

Recently, some Synology owners discovered that all the files on their NAS system were encrypted. Unfortunately, some ransomware had infected the NAS and demanded payment to restore the data. Here’s what you can do to se...

Josh Hendrickson Aug 1st

Should You Pay Up If You Get Hit by Ransomware?

It might be your worst nightmare. You turn on your PC only to discover it’s been hijacked by ransomware that won’t decrypt your files unless you pay up. Should you? What are the pros and cons of paying off cyber-criminals...

How to Disable Windows 10’s Annoying Focus Assist Notifications

Windows 10’s Focus Assist feature automatically hides notifications while you’re playing games or using other full-screen applications. But Cortana loves to announce that it’s silencing notifications. Here&#...

Chris Hoffman Jul 31st

How to Factory Reset a Router

A factory reset wipes your router’s custom settings and returns it to a like-new state. This is an important step when troubleshooting some network problems. Factory-resetting is relatively easy, but every router is a b...

Josh Hendrickson Jul 31st

Why Are Companies Still Storing Passwords In Plain Text?

Several companies have recently admitted to storing passwords in plain-text format. That’s like storing a password in Notepad and saving it as a .txt file. Passwords should be salted and hashed for security, so why isn...