Launch Bash on Windows 10 and it will automatically open to your UNIX account’s home folder. Rather than using the cd command to change to another folder, you can launch Bash directly from a folder in File Explorer. You can do this without any registry hacks or changes. It’s just hidden. But if you’re willing to dive into the registry, you can make it a little more convenient. Here are our two recommended methods....

Product keys are becoming less and less common these days, but if you have a piece of software on your computer—and can’t find its product key—this simple program can help you extract it. NirSoft’s ProduKey lets you view product keys for Windows, Microsoft Office, and many other software programs. It can show the keys from the current computer, or you can use it to view the keys stored on a broken computer’s hard drive....

Sometimes, Mac users need to run Windows software. Maybe there’s a program you need for work that doesn’t offer a Mac version, or maybe you occasionally need to test websites in Internet Explorer. Whatever you need Windows for, Parallels is the best tool for the job. Why Use Parallels Instead of Boot Camp or VirtualBox? RELATED: How to Install Windows on a Mac With Boot Camp Sure, you could set up your Mac to run Windows with Boot Camp, but that means restarting your computer every time you need to use Windows....

Feeling safe is important, but in this day and age it can sometimes be difficult. Fortunately, we’re surrounded with brilliant technology that can be put to good use. Google’s Trusted Contacts does just that by allowing you to share your location with, well, people you trust. Whether you’re walking home alone after work, lost in the woods, or caught in natural disaster, this app can help you (or your loved ones) stay safe....

Apple Notes syncs between devices for anyone with an Apple ID, which is required to use devices like the iPhone, iPad, and Mac computers. Unfortunately, there’s no native app for Windows or Android users, but the web version can make a suitable substitute. Turn on Apple Notes iCloud Sync If you use Apple Notes on an Apple device, first ensure you have iCloud sync enabled so that new notes and changes are pushed to all of your devices....

Note that you should not attempt this if you aren’t ready to troubleshoot any problems that might occur. The first issue we encounter is that computers with pre-installed operating systems take up the entire drive. Luckily Microsoft included the Shrink volume feature in Vista, so we can easily shrink the Vista partition down to make room for XP. Open the Computer Management panel, which you can find under Administrative tools or by right-clicking the Computer item in the start menu and choosing Manage....

Although you’ll stumble upon some variations, there are three popular types of ergonomic mice—vertical, trackball, and traditional. Vertical mice are designed to position your hand as if you were giving someone a handshake, relieving pressure on your arm and hand. Trackball mice are typically built with a slightly inclined design, and they offer a trackball under your thumb to manipulate your on-screen cursor. The last group of ergonomic mice are built similar to a standard mouse but offer several customizable components or minor design tweaks to provide a comfortable user experience....

Getting a good PDF viewer is easier than ever. Modern web browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge can all read PDFs out of the box, so you may not even need one. But if you want a separate PDF viewer, perhaps for the advanced PDF features some documents require, we have some options. Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge: Your Browser Handles the Basics Modern web browsers come with integrated PDF readers....

Bitcoin, the digital currency, has been all over the news for years. But because it’s entirely digital and doesn’t necessarily correspond to any existing fiat currency, it’s not easy to understand for the newcomer. Let’s break down the basis of exactly what Bitcoin is, how it works, and its possible future in the global economy. Editor’s Note: We want to make it very clear right up front that we are not recommending that you invest in Bitcoins....

Why Bother With a Laptop Stand? A laptop stand can make the experience of using a portable computer at a desk more comfortable. The stand achieves this by elevating the laptop into a position less likely to cause posture-related issues like a sore neck or back. The optimal way of using a display at a desk is to look straight forward, but laptops require that you crane your neck downwards. This isn’t usually an issue for short sessions, but over several hours (or whole days) it can cause neck pain....

Removing a program in Windows 10 is a good idea if you no longer need that program or if you just need to free up some storage space. There’s more than one way to do it, too. Here are eight ways. Uninstall a Program From the Start Menu One of the quickest ways to uninstall a program is by accessing it through the Start menu. Click the Windows icon in the bottom-left corner of the desktop to open the Start menu....

Android 13 has been available in a handful of phones from makers like Google, OnePlus, and Samsung for some time now, but being Android, it’ll naturally make its way to lots of other devices as well. It’s next stop? It’ll soon arrive on your smart TV as well. Google has announced that its Android TV OS, on which Android TV and Google TV smart streaming dongles and TVs run, is getting an update to version 13, just like smartphones did....

With the NSA peering into everyone’s pockets without permission, and nosy siblings snooping through your message history while you’re away, there has never been a better time to start encrypting your text messages than there is today. As we’ll explain in this article, encrypted texting isn’t always necessary, but it can still be a welcome safeguard for whenever you, your family, or business partners need to communicate sensitive information from one side of the globe to the other....

A Quick Example In the image below, the outliers are reasonably easy to spot—the value of two assigned to Eric and the value of 173 assigned to Ryan. In a data set like this, it’s easy enough to spot and deal with those outliers manually. In a larger set of data, that will not be the case. Being able to identify the outliers and remove them from statistical calculations is important—and that’s what we’ll be looking at how to do in this article....

Spotify Playlists are a huge part of the music-streaming experience. With the “Blend” feature, you and a friend can mix your music into an automatically curated playlist. It’s an even more personal way to share music with others. Here’s how the Blend feature works in Spotify. A “Blend” is simply a playlist that combines two people’s music. The playlist is automatically generated and is refreshed daily. Any two Spotify users can create a Blend together, whether they have a free or premium (paid) account....

Videos can make presentations even more interesting or exciting. If you’re looking to add a video to your Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, it’s easy to do so. We’ll show you how. Embedding Videos Versus Linking to Videos In PowerPoint, you can either embed a video or link to a video from your presentation. If you embed a video, your video becomes part of the presentation, which increases the overall size of the presentation file....

Whether you’re overclocking your computer, comparing different systems, or just bragging about your hardware, a benchmark quantifies your computer’s performance. Windows has a large ecosystem of useful benchmarking applications, and many of them are free. Before performing any benchmark, ensure that nothing else is running on your computer. If an app is crunching away in the background, it will slow down the benchmark and skew the results. And plan to run your benchmarks when you won’t need your PC for a while, since some of these tools can take a while to run their tests....

You don’t really need a full Internet security suite. However, many people like having them — and they pay dearly with subscription fees. But you can assemble your own security suite for free. We’ll be using a variety of free programs to get you all the features you would get out of a comprehensive security suite. All you lose is the integration — there’s no single interface that brings all of these features together....

Android Wear watches aren’t necessarily like your phone: they’re more of an auxiliary device than a standalone unit, so most of the time you don’t install a bunch of stuff directly onto the watch itself (though with Android Wear 2.0, this is possible). But you can store music on it for freedom from the phone, so sometimes you just need to know how much storage is left on the watch so you don’t run out....

Windows Server passwords expire. After a while, your password will be invalid, and you will need to “contact your IT administrator” to reset it manually. But what happens when you are the IT administrator? The Problem By default, Windows Organizations have password expiration turned on. The idea is that you must change your password every so often (The default is only 42 days.) to minimize the impact of security breaches....