Featured Articles - The Best of How-To Geek

What Is Microsoft’s Outlook Spaces? (aka Project Moca)

If you have an Office 365 or Microsoft 365 subscription (O365 or M365), you might have noticed a new icon called “Project Moca” in Outlook Online. Here’s what it is, and how you can use the project managemen...

Rob Woodgate Jul 14th

How to Clear Your PC’s Cache in Windows 10

As with clearing the cache in your browser, clearing the cache in Windows is a good start for troubleshooting system issues, improving system performance, and freeing up disk space. Here’s how to clear your cache in Windows...

Marshall Gunnell Jul 14th

How to Download NVIDIA Drivers Without GeForce Experience

Want to download drivers for your NVIDIA GeForce GPU without installing NVIDIA’s GeForce Experience application? NVIDIA doesn’t make them easy to find, but you can do it. Here’s how to avoid GeForce Experien...

Chris Hoffman Jul 14th

8 Ways to Make Your Mac Boot Faster

Your Mac probably takes longer to go from the login screen to a usable state than it does for macOS to cold boot, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some ways you can get your Mac ready to use in record time....

How to Claim Your Cash From Apple’s iPhone-Slowdown Lawsuit

Remember that iPhone battery throttling news back in 2017? If Apple slowed down your iPhone, you may be eligible to claim “around $25” from a $500 million lawsuit settlement.

Chris Hoffman Jul 13th

How to Scan with Microsoft Defender Antivirus on Windows 10

Windows malware is still a big problem. That’s why Microsoft ships an antivirus named Microsoft Defender with Windows 10. It scans for malware in the background, but you can also perform a full-system scan with Defender...

Benj Edwards Jul 13th

How to Paste Text Without Formatting Almost Anywhere

Copy-and-paste moves more than just text around. It often brings along formatting from web pages and other documents. You can paste without formatting in nearly any application to get just the text without the extra formattin...

Chris Hoffman Jul 13th

Are Camera Lens Add-ons for Smartphones Worth Buying?

If your smartphone doesn’t have a trio of lenses (like the iPhone 11 Pro), you might be tempted to purchase a snap-on set. These allow you to add telephoto, ultrawide, and fisheye focal lengths to virtually any smartpho...

Tim Brookes Jul 13th

Does Private or Incognito Mode Make Web Browsing Anonymous?

Private is a relative term. This is abundantly clear when it comes to “private browsing”—the setting in a web browser that supposedly allows you to hide your history from others who use the same computer....

How to Quickly Switch to Windowed Mode in Almost Any PC Game

Windows PC games often let you choose to play them either in full-screen mode or in a window on your desktop. You don’t have to dig through settings to change this—just press this keyboard shortcut to switch betwe...

Chris Hoffman Jul 12th

How to Set a Room’s Mood with Smart Lighting

Color can affect your mood. Businesses spend thousands of dollars each year researching which colors of decor will encourage customers to drop the most dough when they walk through the door. You can also use this mental tric...

Why You Need a Graphics Tablet for Photoshop

A graphics tablet is a computer peripheral that enables you to use a pen or stylus to interact with your computer. They closely mimic pen and paper, making them useful for digital and comic book artists, photographers, design...

How to Stream UFC 251 Usman vs. Masvidal Live Online

Held in a private resort in Abu Dhabi, welterweight champion Kamaru Usman takes on the 2019 Fighter of the Year Jorge Masvidal. Also on the card: a featherweight championship rematch between Max Holloway and Alexander Volkano...

Walter Glenn Jul 11th

How to Customize Automatic Updates on iPhone and iPad

The Automatic Updates feature brought background updates to the iPhone and the iPad, making it easy to always stay up-to-date. Now, if you’re iOS 13.6, iPadOS 13.6, or higher, you can customize how automatic updates are...

Khamosh Pathak Jul 10th

Can You Move Windows 10’s Notification Pop-ups?

Windows 10’s notification “toasts” appear near the bottom-right corner of your screen by default. Windows itself doesn’t let you move the notifications, but there are some ways you can move certain pop...

Chris Hoffman Jul 10th

CPUs Decoded: Understanding Intel’s Microarchitecture Names

What’s in a name? A lot, actually, if we’re talking about Intel processors. Intel uses internal code names designed to hide what the company is working on until it’s ready to go public. So, it’s no wonder thes...

How to Scan a File or Folder for Malware with Microsoft Defender on Windows 10

On Windows 10, Microsoft Defender (formerly called “Windows Defender”) always scans files before you open them unless you’ve installed a third-party antivirus. You can also perform a quick scan of any file o...

Benj Edwards Jul 9th

How to Use the whois Command on Linux

A whois lookup will tell you a lot of information about who owns an internet domain. On Linux, you can run whois lookups from the command line. We’ll walk you through it.

Dave McKay Jul 9th

Don’t Worry: Windows 10’s Control Panel Is Safe (For Now)

Is Microsoft about to remove the Control Panel from Windows 10? That’s how some websites are spinning recent news. But that just isn’t true. Here’s what is going away—and what’s really going on w...

How to Skip the Recycle Bin for Deleting Files on Windows 10

Windows 10 normally sends files you delete to the Recycle Bin. They’ll be kept until you empty it—or, in some cases, until Windows 10 automatically empties your Recycle Bin. Here’s how to skip the Recycle Bi...

Chris Hoffman Jul 8th

How to Select and Edit Messages with the Up Arrow in Slack

If you’re a new Slack user and press the Up arrow key on your keyboard, the productivity app moves your highlighted focus to the message list. Here’s how you can change the Up arrow’s functionality to edit y...

Justin Duino Jul 8th

How to Install Free HEVC Codecs on Windows 10 (for H.265 Video)

Windows 10 supports video files encoded with High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265 video. However, Microsoft charges for its official codecs and doesn’t include them in Windows 10. You can get them fo...