Google introduced full-device encryption back in Android Gingerbread (2.3.x), but it has undergone some dramatic changes since then. On some higher-end handsets running Lollipop (5.x) and higher, it’s enabled out-of-the-box, while on some older or lower-end devices, you have to turn it on yourself. Why You Might Want to Encrypt Your Phone Encryption stores your phone’s data in an unreadable, seemingly scrambled form. (To actually perform the low-level encryption functions, Android uses dm-crypt, which is the standard disk encryption system in the Linux kernel....

Find a Lost AirPod Case Without Your AirPods In It If you’ve only lost your AirPod case and you still have both your AirPods, then, unfortunately, your only option is an old-fashion manual search in the last place you know the case was. This is because your AirPod case isn’t equipped with any kind of hardware that you can use to trace it. It’s just a case that supplies power to your AirPods and lets you charge them....

How to Unfreeze a Frozen Windows PC There are several ways you can recover your frozen PC, depending on what caused the problem. Sometimes, all you have to do is wait a few seconds—the PC might get hung up while doing some work and unfreeze itself a few seconds later. If a full-screen application, like a game, freezes and prevents you from leaving it, press Alt+F4. This closes the application if the game is just experiencing graphical problems, but it won’t work if the application has frozen completely....

Out and About: Public (and Business) Wi-Fi Free Wi-Fi hotspots are commonplace in urban areas. But, even if you’re on a road trip, you’ll probably drive past many businesses that offer free Wi-Fi. Some cities offer public Wi-FI networks, which may be available in parks and other public attractions. This is more common in bigger cities than smaller ones, however. Many businesses offer free Wi-Fi hotspots. Coffee shops like Starbucks and other smaller independent cafes are famous for it, but it doesn’t stop there....

Like Facebook, Instagram uses a feed sorting algorithm rather than have everything show up chronologically. This is great because it means you should see all the photos you most likely want to, but sometimes it means a post from a person you want to see everything from will get buried. RELATED: How Facebook’s News Feed Sorting Algorithm Works While you can’t control the order stuff shows up in your feed, you can get notifications whenever specific people post to Instagram....

Oh, the Finder. It’s been Apple’s default file browser on the Mac since it was called Macintosh, and users have been complaining about it ever since. We can’t fix the Finder for you: no one can but Apple. We’re betting that doesn’t happen any time soon. Having said that, we can point out a few ways to make Finder suck less, which honestly is about all you can ask for....

Most audio you listen to is in “stereo”, which means that different things are played in through both the left and right speakers. However, you can have your PC mix the sound to mono, playing everything combined through both speakers. This would allow you to use just one earbud with your PC, but still hear both the left and right audio tracks. It’s also very helpful if you have trouble hearing through one ear....

Google Chrome normally updates your extensions automatically, but when you see the news about a new extension version, you want it right now. Here’s how to force Chrome to upgrade all your extensions without reloading. Forcing Chrome to Update Extensions Now Head to chrome://extensions by either right-clicking on an extension and choosing Manage extensions, or just typing it into the location bar. Once there, check the Developer mode box on the right-hand side....

Blocking someone on Twitter is pretty extreme. You won’t be able to see their Tweets, but they also won’t be able to see yours. If someone’s only crime is Tweeting too much (and you can’t unfollow them because they’re your friend or you want to be able to Direct Message them), then blocking them is a little over the top. Instead, the best solution is to Mute them. RELATED: How to Block Someone on Twitter...

If you’ve ever wanted a scientific calculator app on iPhone, don’t fret—your iPhone already comes with one built in. Apple’s Calculator app includes a scientific mode that has been hiding in plain sight since 2008, as The Verge recently noted. Here’s how to use it. First, open the “Calculator” app. If you can’t find it, swipe downward with one finger in the middle of the screen to see a search bar....

If you use a shared computer, one way to keep other users off certain apps is to require a password for opening that app. You can password-protect individual applications with a third-party application. Should You Even Do This? Read These Limitations In this tutorial, we’ll be using My Lockbox, which provides a free and paid version. There are other third-party applications available that provide free-trials—including Folder Guard, which can also protect apps—but require you to purchase a license after the trial ends....

Copying and pasting text is one of those things everybody who uses a computer needs to know, but even though copy/paste is one of the simplest functions you will learn, it can bring with it one big hassle: special formatting. You know what we mean: you copy something from a webpage into an email message or and that it retains its font, size, color, and other features, when all you want is just the text....

When it comes to arranging windows, macOS is lagging behind…well, Windows. On Microsoft’s operating system, you can easily arrange two applications so they both take up half the screen, which is perfect for things like researching and writing at the same time. On macOS, though, you need to do any such arranging on your own. Unless, that is, you find the right third party program for the job. There are a few great ones, but Spectacle is open source and lightweight, and works entirely using keyboard shortcuts....

Since Windows 7 and Vista utilize Shadow Copy, otherwise known as Volume Snapshot Service, to power the “Previous Versions” feature, there are snapshots of important files taken over time, including registry hives, so we can access the older versions of registry files this way without having to do a full System Restore. This article was jointly written by myself and Ramesh from WinHelpOnline, who has also covered how to do the same thing on Windows XP....

Find the Origin of (Almost) Any Image You can find out where just about any image saved to your iPhone came from by finding it in the Photos app, tapping on it to display it, then swiping up on the image. A panel will appear that lists relevant information for that image: If it’s a photo with EXIF data, you’ll see parameters used when the image was captured including aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and focal length....

If you’re going away on vacation (or just planning to stay home and ignore everyone), you might want to let people know that you won’t be reading or answering emails during that time. Most email services provide a way to send out an automatic out of office reply to anyone who emails you during the time frame you specify. Here’s how to set up the auto-response feature in Yahoo Mail....

We love Apple’s Continuity features, including the ability to receive calls and text message from your iPhone on your Mac or iPad. If you want to automatically forward text messages to your Mac or iPad however, you first need to set it up. Text message forwarding works great because you don’t have to actually be on your iPhone to communicate via text. Any text messages that arrives on your iPhone will automatically be forwarded to your Mac or iPad via the Messages app....

Celebrating Super Bowl Sunday with your friends and family by streaming the big game might be the best way to ring in the special occasion. This year, Fox is stepping up its live broadcast and showing one of the most-viewed television events in 4K HDR. To watch the game in all of its high-resolution glory, you’ll have to stream it from the Fox Sports app or website. The 4K stream is also available for Verizon customers with the Fios TV One box....

How to Stop YouTube Autoplay on Desktop On desktop, all you have to do is turn off a toggle to prevent YouTube from automatically playing the next video. To do that, hover your cursor over your current video to reveal the player options. At the bottom of the video, you’ll see a toggle allowing you to disable or enable autoplay. To turn autoplay off, click the toggle. A Pause icon will display....

The Short Answer: Use a VPN or Proxy The short answer is that you can use a proxy or virtual private network to get around YouTube blocks—or any other blocks, for that matter. For proxies, we like HideMyAss’ proxy or Hide.me’s proxy For VPNs, take a look at our guide to the best VPNs on the market. To know which one is the best option for you, though, we need to look at the reasons why you can’t access YouTube first....