Maintenance & Optimization Articles

How to “Clean” a Flash Drive, SD Card, or Internal Drive to Fix Partition and Capacity Problems

If your USB flash drive, SD card, or another drive isn’t working quite right, “cleaning” the drive and removing its partitions is one possible solution. This can fix problems with a drive that can’t be...

How to Fix Z-Wave Connection Issues with the Wink Hub

Overall, the Wink hub works extremely well…but sometimes the devices you have connected to it can act a little wonky. Here are some things you can do in order to fix any connection issues with all of those Z-Wave sensor...

Craig Lloyd Jun 15th, 2017

How to Boot Your Computer From a Disc or USB Drive

Usually, you boot your computer from its main hard drive, which contains your operating system (like Windows). But occasionally, you may need to boot from a CD, DVD, or USB drive—say, if you’re running a recovery ...

Chris Hoffman Jun 12th, 2017

Five Handy (and Free) Windows Tools for Gamers

Windows is the home of PC gaming, but that doesn’t mean it can’t use a little bit of remodeling. Here are some handy tools to make your gaming life a little easier.

Michael Crider Jun 12th, 2017

How to Optimize Your Android Phone’s Battery Life with Greenify

At this point, smartphones are prolific. We use them for calls, text messages, social networking, photos, quick searches, streaming music, watching videos…the list goes on. But each thing you do drains your battery life...

Want Fast Charging? Don’t Use Your Car’s USB Ports

If you have a relatively new car, it probably has a USB port in the dashboard, glove box, or center console. So naturally, you should just use them to charge your devices, right? Not so fast: if you want speedy charging, thos...

3 Ways to Access Your Linux Partitions From Windows

If you’re dual booting Windows and Linux, you’ll probably want to access files on your Linux system from Windows at some point. Linux has built-in support for Windows NTFS partitions, but Windows can’t read Linux partit...

Chris Hoffman Jun 7th, 2017

How to Maintain Your Lawnmower So It Lasts (Almost) Forever

The lawnmower is one of those tools that many people don’t really think much about except for when they need to use it. However, if you want it lasting for a long time without much fuss, there are a few quick things you...

Craig Lloyd Jun 6th, 2017

How to Uninstall and Block Updates and Drivers on Windows 10

Windows 10 automatically downloads and installs all updates. This includes security updates, feature updates, and driver updates provided through Windows Update. This is generally a good thing, but if a driver or update cause...

How to Increase the Battery Life of Your Netgear Arlo Pro Cameras

Netgear’s Arlo Pro wireless security cameras can last anywhere from 3-6 months on a single charge, but there are a lot of factors that can affect the battery life. Here’s how to stretch it out as much as possible....

Craig Lloyd Jun 5th, 2017

How to Use the iPhone 7 Plus‘ Portrait Mode

The iPhone 7 Plus’ new dual camera setup is great, but there’s one feature that stands out more than any other: Portrait mode. Using both cameras, the iPhone 7 Plus is able to work out where things are in relation to each...

Harry Guinness Jun 5th, 2017

How to Maximize Battery Life on Your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch

Whatever you do, don’t leave your iPhone or iPod sitting in a hot car—heat kills batteries faster than any other factor, and your device that used to keep a charge for hours will eventually barely hold a charge, and y...

Lowell Heddings Jun 3rd, 2017

Why Some Scenes In Your Favorite Action Movies Look Jerky

If you’ve watched recent action movies, you may have noticed a slightly disorienting jerkiness to the video. No, it’s not because of shaky cam and excessive jump cuts. Many modern (and some older) movies have an...

Eric Ravenscraft Jun 3rd, 2017

How to Disable the Microphone on Your Netgear Arlo Pro Camera

The Arlo Pro camera not only records video when it detects motion, but it can also capture audio as well. However, if that’s not a feature that you’ll really take advantage of, here’s how to disable the micr...

Craig Lloyd Jun 2nd, 2017

How to Rip Blu-Ray Discs With MakeMKV and Handbrake

To this day, there are very few ways to watch your Blu-Ray collection on your computer without shelling out cash for the privilege, even if you already own a Blu-Ray drive and bought your movies. Instead, it’s simpler...

How to Track Your Routine Car Maintenance With Dash

Your car needs a lot of routine maintenance, from changing your oil to rotating your tires, and a bunch of things in between that you forget about until they start to break. Fortunately, Dash makes it easier to keep track of...

Eric Ravenscraft May 31st, 2017

Wi-Fi vs. Ethernet: How Much Better Is a Wired Connection?

Wi-Fi is obviously more convenient than wired Ethernet cables, but Ethernet still offers significant advantages. Join us as we take a look at the pros and cons of wired and wireless connections.

How to Hide Pages from Windows 10’s Settings App

You can now hide pages in Windows 10’s Settings app, just as you can hide icons in the Control Panel window. The pages won’t just be hidden in the app itself—there will be no way for users to access the hidd...

Chris Hoffman May 30th, 2017

How to Find and Remove Duplicate Files on Windows

Duplicate file finders scan your hard drive for unnecessary duplicated files and help you remove them, freeing up space. Here are our picks for the best duplicate file finders, whether you’re looking for something easy...

What to Do When Your iPhone or iPad Won’t Turn On

iPhones and iPads are supposed to “Just work,” but no technology is perfect. If you’ve pressed the Power button and the screen won’t turn on or you see an error message, don’t worry. You can p...

Can High Humidity Damage Electronic Devices?

Getting your favorite electronic device soaking wet is always a gut-wrenching experience, but can high levels of humidity also damage electronic devices? Today’s SuperUser Q&A post has the answer to a worried reader...

Akemi Iwaya May 25th, 2017

The Best (and Worst) Things About the Samsung Galaxy S8

The Galaxy S8 is Samsung’s newest flagship phone, a triumphant return to the spotlight after the disastrous Note 7. There’s a lot to love about the latest from Android’s largest manufacturer, but there&#821...

Cameron Summerson May 24th, 2017

What Are the $GetCurrent and $SysReset Folders, and Can You Delete Them?

Windows 10 automatically creates the $GetCurrent and $SysReset folders in your C:\ drive in certain situations. These folders can use gigabytes of space, but what do they do, and can you delete them?

Can I Control My Laptop’s Charging Cycles to Extend the Battery’s Life?

When it comes to taking care of the batteries in our laptops, it can be a bit of a trick at times, like how high and low we should allow the charge and discharge levels to be, for example. With that in mind, today’s Sup...

Akemi Iwaya May 23rd, 2017

How to Fix the Green Tint in the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition Blu-Ray

The Lord of the Rings is easily my favorite movie of all time. (Which one, you ask? All three, obviously.) But the latest Blu-Ray collection has one glaring problem.