Got some files you don’t want other people to see? Or maybe they’re just cluttering up your Documents folder, and you want to hide them? Here are a few different ways to obscure your files, and when you might want to use each. Editor’s Note: This article, originally published in 2014, used to contain instructions that claimed to password protect folders without extra software. But that trick, while mildly clever, did not actually protect anything behind a password....

The Magnetic Charging Station is currently on sale for $63.99, a discount of 36% from the original MSRP, and the lowest recorded price yet. It’s a desk charger with three AC wall outlet plugs, two USB Type-C ports, and two USB Type-A connectors. The USB-C ports can reach charging speeds of up to 65W, making it an excellent option for charging your devices at your desk, or overnight power on a bedstand....

Few amenities in the modern digital workflow are so widely available but so widely ignored (or outright abused) as the the email BCC function. If you’re guilty of misusing or neglecting its power (and there’s a good chance you are), it’s time to repent and, in the process, cut down on spam and protect the privacy of your friends and family. What Is BCC and Where Did It Come From?...

One of the questions I get asked most often about my landscapes is “What settings did you use?” Beginner photographers often feel that there is some magic combination of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO that will make their photos amazing. While there’s a lot more to it than that, understanding what settings to use makes it easier to take photos that match your vision. Let’s dig in. RELATED: How to Develop a Better Eye for Taking Good Photos...

Windows 10, 8.1, 8, and 7 all include BitLocker drive encryption, but that’s not the only encryption solution they offer. Windows also includes an encryption method named the “encrypting file system”, or EFS. Here’s how it differs from BitLocker. This is only available on Professional and Enterprise editions of Windows. Home editions can only use the more restricted “device encryption” feature, and only if it’s a modern PC that shipped with device encryption enabled....

You don’t hear much about Internet Relay Chat (IRC) these days because social media and Slack have stolen some of its thunder. However, it’s far from dead! In fact, 2020 might be the best time to join (or rejoin) the text-based chat revolution. IRC Is Still Kicking 32 Years Later IRC is a standard Internet protocol that allows people to run their own text-based chat servers with its own selection of channels organized by topic (for example, a channel called #music for talking about music)....

Smartphones have been around for almost a decade, but even now, when I’m browsing the web on my iPhone, I run into websites that don’t work very well. Sometimes the problems are with the technologies used in the websites, but sometimes they lie with the apps I have installed on my phone. So with this in mind, let’s look at some of the reasons websites might not work properly on your mobile device....

Apple released an update for its iCloud Utility for Windows and it brings with it support for Apple ProRAW and ProRes codecs, which were previously not available for Windows users. It also adds a handy password generator. With the new update, Apple is making it so Windows users can take advantage of the ProRAW and ProRes image and video codecs. These files store more information in each file and have less quality loss, which means your photo and videos will look nicer....

Nintendo seems too large to be sold; it’s one of the three pillars of the video game industry. But Activision Blizzard also seemed too large, seeing as it’s one of the largest video game publishers. That didn’t stop Microsoft from shelling out $67.8 billion for it. Sony responded by buying Bungie, creators of Halo and Destiny. Those are two massive video game companies sold in a very short time. That made us think about Nintendo....

Do you want to add percentages in Excel? There are a few ways to do this. In one sense, you could be talking about adding percentage values. Or, you could be looking for a way to add a 15% increase to a value. We’ll take a look at both. How to Add Percentages Together You can add percentages like any other number. Choose a cell to display the sum of your two percentages....

RELATED: What Is A File Extension? What to Know When Changing a File’s Type In Windows 10 and 11, you have “Rename” and “Save As” options to change your files’ types. Each option works differently, so you should use the one that’s suitable for your file type. In general, you shouldn’t use the Rename option to change a file’s extension. This is because you’re simply changing a file’s type without converting it to the target format....

In LibreOffice programs, you can undo one action after another…to a point. The default number of actions you can undo is 100, but that number is easy to change. The Undo button on the toolbar allows you to select multiple actions to undo at once, as pictured above. Most people don’t need that many undo actions to be stored in memory, and the stored undo actions for a document are cleared when you close it anyway....

There are quite a few different plans you can select from when it comes to Hulu. From live TV, ad-less streaming, and several premium channels that you can add on, there’s something on Hulu for everyone. Here’s how you can change your Hulu plan to have everything you want. From Hulu’s desktop website, sign in to your account, then select your account icon in the top right-hand corner. Select the “Account” option from the drop-down menu....

By using a drop-down list, you can make data entry more efficient and error-free. You can also create a dependent drop-down list in Google Sheets so that the first list choice determines the options for the second. Dependent drop-down lists are useful for many situations. You may list products with specific attributes, car makes that have particular models, or websites with certain sections. By creating a drop-down list where the choice controls what appears in the second drop-down list, you can speed up data entry....

The Windows Control Panel and Settings interface both expose a lot of settings that you might not want some users messing around with. Here’s how to disable them in Windows 7, 8, and 10. Why disable the Control Panel and Settings interface? Perhaps you share a computer and want certain users not to have access to settings. Or perhaps you have a computer in your business that is available to guests and customers and that you just want to lock it down a bit....

Android Nougat brings a host of new changes to the mobile OS, with native split screen being one of the most prominent. The problem is that it requires developers to enable the feature before it’ll work, making some (many!) apps incompatible right. But like always with Android, there’s a workaround. Best of all, it’s easy peasy. RELATED: How to Access Developer Options and Enable USB Debugging on Android The first thing you’ll need to do is enable Developer Options, if you haven’t already....

Why Do This? Now, you may be asking yourself why kids may need to access sideloaded apps—an understandable curiosity. Basically, while Fire Tablets are based off of Android, they’re not actually Android tablets in the sense you may have come to think of them. The biggest omission here is the lack of Google Play Services, the Play Store, and basically everything else Google—the things that make most Android tablets, well, Android....

If you’re lucky, you can place your TV antenna wherever you want and get crystal-clear HD channels over the air for free. However, most of the time you need to go through a little trial and error to get everything working properly. RELATED: How to Get HD TV Channels for Free (Without Paying for Cable) There are a lot of factors that affect a TV antenna’s signal, so if it looks like your TV is constantly glitching and lagging, you’ll likely need to make a few adjustments....

Halloween is fast approaching, so why not use this how-to and haunt your friends? A few minutes Photoshop or GIMP handiwork, and you can be making scary pictures to send to everybody you know. Keep reading! This how-to is a lot of fun, and hopefully you’ll enjoy making your own horrific images. Take a look and see how easy it is, and maybe even send us some examples of your handiwork once you try it yourself!...

Instagram’s new Story feature is…divisive. I’m a big fan, but other members of the How-To Geek team think they’re just a waste of screen real estate. Or maybe there are just annoying people you want to follow on Instagram, but not see everything they post to their Story. In that case, the best thing to do is mute them. Here’s how. RELATED: What Are Instagram “Stories,” and How Do I Use Them?...