Many boxes you plug into your TV, including the Roku, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and even some smart TVs themselves offer DLNA (“Digital Living Network Alliance”) streaming support. They can stream video files and music over the network from your PC—as long as you set up a DLNA server on the PC first.
How to Turn Your Computer Into a DLNA Media Server
Many boxes you plug into your TV, including the Roku, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and even some smart TVs themselves offer DLNA (“Digital Living Network Alliance”) streaming support. They can stream video files and music over the network from your PC—as long as you set up a DLNA server on the PC first.
TeamViewer is a great free program, whether you want to access your computer from afar or help out friends and relatives with their computer. But its default settings are remarkably insecure, instead favoring ease of use. Here’s how to lock down TeamViewer so you can make use of its features without opening yourself up to attack.
Firefox Quantum‘s interface is still extremely customizable thanks to its userChrome.css file. You can edit this file to hide unwanted menu items, move the tab bar below the navigation toolbar, view multiple rows on your bookmarks toolbar, and do other things that normally wouldn’t be possible.
It’s been a complaint about Chrome for years: “it hogs so much RAM!” And now that Firefox Quantum is here, the fire rages on—some users see less RAM usage than Chrome, while others see similar amounts. And it seems to have a big hand in what browser people are using.
Cryptocurrency miners are a new scourge on the web. Web pages can now embed JavaScript code that runs in your web browser to mine themselves Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies using your computer. The website keeps the cryptocurrency, and you get higher electric bills, 100% CPU usage that drags down your computer, and reduced battery life.
Chromebooks have come a long way since their humble introduction with the CR-48 back in December of 2010, but people still think of them as “just a browser”. The thing is, this platform has grown significantly since then, and that mindset is just outdated.
With Spotify Premium, you get access to higher quality music streaming. By default (and if you’re on the free plan), Spotify streams at 96kbps on mobile and 160kbps on your computer. At these sort of bitrates, you’ll hear a small but noticeable drop in quality compared to a CD.
The idea of a home page has kind of fallen by the wayside with modern browsers, what with their auto-recall tabs and syncing across devices. But it doesn’t help that Chrome, arguably the most popular browser on full desktop operating systems, isn’t entirely clear on exactly what your home page is. This can be especially frustrating if your home page changes without your knowledge.
Sure, Firefox has become more like Chrome in a few ways, but it’s still more powerful and customizable than Chrome is—which are integral to Firefox’s DNA.
Pretty much every router on the market comes with the ability to forward ports, and the Eero Wi-Fi system is no exception, despite its easy-to-use interface.
Firefox Quantum‘s new tab page has a lot of stuff on it, from recommended articles to highlights from your history. But if you don’t like that design, you aren’t stuck with it. You can restore Firefox’s old new tab page, or set any address you like as your new tab.
The Intel Management Engine has been included on Intel chipsets since 2008. It’s basically a tiny computer-within-a-computer, with full access to your PC’s memory, display, network, and input devices. It runs code written by Intel, and Intel hasn’t shared a lot of information about its inner workings.
Firefox Quantum has deep integration with the Pocket read-it-later service, which is now owned by Mozilla. You’ll see a Pocket page action in the address bar, a “View Pocket List” feature in the Library, and recommended articles from Pocket on the new tab page. Firefox offers a way to disable this Pocket integration, but it’s hidden.
I’ve been using Firefox Quantum non-stop for more than a week now, starting from before its official release. For years, every Firefox release has felt slower than Chrome to me. But Firefox is now a real, speedy, modern option again. Enough so that I’m switching from Chrome back to Firefox.
Spotify and other streaming services have changed how people listen to music. While playlists were once the preserve of the radio DJ, annual compilation albums like Now That’s What I Call Music, or painstakingly put together mixtapes for a crush, now anyone can make one in a few minutes.
Firefox 57, or Quantum, is here, and it’s a huge improvement. Firefox has finally caught up with Chrome in terms of speed, the interface is a lot cleaner, and there are some great new features to boot. There’s not a lot to complain about here.
Firefox has its own profiles system that works like Chrome’s user account switcher. Each profile has its own bookmarks, settings, add-ons, browser history, cookies, and other data. For example, you might want to create a profile for work and a separate profile for personal use, keeping them separate.
Firefox Quantum is here, and it’s chock full of improvements, including the new Photon UI. Photon replaces the “Australis” interface that’s been used since 2014, and features a ton of customization options. Which is good, because there are a few annoyances—like all that empty space on either side of the URL bar.
Should you leave your laptop plugged in and charging when you’re not on-the-go? What’s best for the battery? It’s a tough question, and there are quite a few contradictory recommendations out there.
If you’re thinking about switching to Firefox Quantum—or at least trying to switch—Firefox makes it pretty easy. Firefox can import your bookmarks, saved passwords, browser history, and cookies directly from Google Chrome.
Firefox transforms today. It’s now a multi-process browser with a new design, gaining speed but leaving traditional Firefox extensions behind. If you’ve switched to Google Chrome, you might want to give Firefox another chance. But, if you’re already using Firefox, you’re in for some big changes.
If you’re a PC gamer, you’ve probably experienced this situation before: you wait months or years for an exciting new game to jump from major consoles to the PC, only to find out that the ported game is a buggy, broken mess.
Building your own desktop isn’t as difficult as it looks—it’s often called “LEGO for adults.” And while that phrase might be a bit condescending (adults can enjoy LEGOs too, ya jerks), it’s not wrong. Even so, the sheer breadth of choices, options, and compatibility issues can be intimidating, especially for a first-time builder. Here’s a collection of online tools to help you make sure that process goes as smoothly as possible.
Steam allows you to remotely install games from your smartphone, just like you can with a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. You can download games to your gaming PC from anywhere, ensuring those big downloads are complete and the game is ready to play when you get home. You can also do this from any web browser.
Starting with Windows 10’s Fall Creators Update, the Windows Subsystem for Linux now allows you to manually mount drives. It still automatically mounts all internal NTFS drives. However, you can now manually mount external drives and network folders using the Linux mount command.
