Featured Articles - The Best of How-To Geek

How to Make Your Garage Door Smart

Have you ever left your home or gone to bed only to wonder if you closed the garage door? Turning around or getting out of bed isn’t fun. If you make your garage door smart, you can close it from anywhere! Here’s ...

Windows 10 Will Let You Load a Custom Linux Kernel

Microsoft is adding a Linux kernel to Windows 10 to power the Windows Subsystem for Linux. But, guess what: You don’t have to use Microsoft’s Linux kernel. You can build your own custom Linux kernel for Windows to...

Chris Hoffman Jul 26th

How to Use the rev Command on Linux

Linux’s rev command reverses strings of text. This command can operate either on provided text or a file, and it seems deceptively simple. But like many command-line utilities, its real power becomes apparent when you ...

Dave McKay Jul 26th

How to Hide the Games You’re Playing on Steam

Steam shares your gameplay activity by default. If you’re playing Hello Kitty: Island Adventure or Bad Rats, you might want to keep your gameplay a secret. Here’s how to hide your Steam activity from your friend...

Chris Hoffman Jul 26th

What’s New in Chrome 76, Available Now

Chrome 76 hits the stable channel today, July 30. This latest release brings some serious changes to the web. Flash is now disabled by default, and websites won’t be able to detect whether you’re using incognito m...

Josh Hendrickson Jul 26th

Free Download: Remove PC Bloatware With Malwarebytes AdwCleaner

AdwCleaner just got better. The latest version of the free Malwarebytes tool can now remove manufacturer-installed bloatware on Windows PCs. We already loved it for removing potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) like adware an...

Chris Hoffman Jul 25th

How to Print Web Pages Without Ads and Other Clutter

Articles on the web come with advertisements and other clutter. If you print them, you often get all that junk. But you can cut out the ads and other extraneous elements with a feature built into your web browser....

Chris Hoffman Jul 25th

Which Gaming Monitor Features Actually Matter?

There’s only one thing the PC gaming world loves more than games, and that’s inscrutable terminology. “Yeah, my display’s got G-Sync, 1ms GTG, a 16:9 aspect ratio, plus it’s HDR, of course. Man, you won’t see ...

Microsoft Just Leaked a New Start Menu. Which Do You Prefer?

Microsoft messed up today, releasing an internal build of Windows 10 to Windows Insiders. This build was never meant to see the light of day, but it features a new Start menu design—without live tiles....

Chris Hoffman Jul 24th

How to Set Up Remote Desktop on Ubuntu

Need to get your hands on a distant Ubuntu Linux computer? Set up Ubuntu’s Screen Sharing and take remote control when you need to. You can connect to Screen Sharing with any VNC client. We’ll show you how....

Dave McKay Jul 24th

USB-RF vs. Bluetooth for Mice and Keyboards: Which Is Better?

When you buy a wireless mouse or keyboard, you can choose either Bluetooth or wireless peripherals that communicate through a USB dongle over radio frequencies (RF.) USB-RF has less latency, in our experience, but Bluetooth h...

Josh Hendrickson Jul 24th

Master Windows 10’s Alt+Tab Switcher with These Tricks

Alt+Tab lets you switch between open windows, but there’s more to it than that. The Alt+Tab switcher has other useful-but-hidden keyboard shortcuts. These tips apply to both Windows 10 and 7.

No, You Don’t Need to Uninstall VLC

This commotion all started with the publication of CVE-2019-13615, which is marked as a “critical” vulnerability with a score of 9.8 out of 10. VLC’s developers aren’t happy they weren’t even con...

Chris Hoffman Jul 23rd

Windows 10 Now Lets You Reply to Your Android Notifications

Windows 10’s powerful “Your Phone” app is getting better. It already lets you mirror your Android phone’s notifications to your PC, and now it will let you use inline replies to reply directly to any n...

Chris Hoffman Jul 23rd

How to Install Software Using Git on Linux

Have you been told to “clone the repo and build it,” and don’t know what to do next? We’ll show you how to get that program on GitHub running on Linux, even if you’re a beginner....

Dave McKay Jul 23rd

What’s the Difference Between NTSC and PAL?

Whether you’re a movie nerd, a gamer, or an amateur filmmaker, you’ve probably heard of NTSC and PAL. But what’s the difference? And how are these formats still relevant today?

Andrew Heinzman Jul 23rd

Not All 5G Is Equal: Millimeter Wave, Low-Band, and Mid-Band Explained

You’ve probably heard that 5G uses the millimeter wave spectrum to reach its 10 Gbps speeds. But it also uses the low- and mid-band spectrums, just like 4G. Without all three spectrums, 5G wouldn’t be reliable....

How to Use the look Command on Linux

The Linux look command races through a file and lists all the lines that begin with a particular word or phrase. But watch out! It behaves differently on different Linux distributions. This tutorial will show you how to use i...

Dave McKay Jul 22nd

How to Reboot Your Router and Modem

If web pages aren’t loading or streaming video keeps buffering, resetting your router and modem is one of the first things you should try, as it can fix a slew of Wi-Fi or Internet connection problems....

Chris Hoffman Jul 22nd