Your PC’s hard drive could fail tomorrow, or a software bug could erase your files, so backups are critical. But you don’t need to back up all the files on your PC. That would just waste space and make your backups take longer to complete. The All-Important Rule of Backups The most important rule of backups is that any important data should exist in two or more physical locations at once....
First, Assess Your General Network Before we dive into the common reasons your Wi-Fi performance is less than expected, let’s get a few things out of the way so you can better troubleshoot your Wi-Fi speed issues. First, don’t rely on a smartphone (or a laptop using Wi-Fi) for your speed test. Speed testing with a smartphone is not an accurate way to test the speed of your internet connection....
Consider Upgrading Your Router By all means, work through all the tips in this list to squeeze the most you can out of the gear you have. But we’re leading by throwing out the idea of upgrading your router first and foremost because in our decades of experience with wireless tech in both consumer and corporate settings it has consistently proven to be a silver bullet. If your router is relatively new (or even fresh out of the box!...
Update: Web of Trust has been found to track and sell users’ browsing history to third parties. This is a serious breach of…well, trust, so we no longer recommend using the Web of Trust extension, under any circumstances. Installation Installing WOT in Chrome is quick and simple but you will have to click on “Install” when the confirmation message windows appears in order to finish adding the extension to your browser....
If your SD card is slow to mount when you plug it into your computer, throwing up errors, or otherwise misbehaving, you can often whip it back into shape with a little careful management. Let’s take a look at how we can help a fellow reader squeeze a little life out of their SD card. I have an old SD card that’s, in a word, misbehaving. When I remove the card from the camera and plug it into the SD card reader on my computer it takes ages to mount....
Building a gaming PC is an expensive proposition, even on the “value” side of things—we’re talking about at lest $500 for a new machine. Penny-pinchers often forego unnecessary extras. And since most CPUs come with a cooler right in the box, why bother with a big bulky aftermarket cooler, especially if you’re not going to overclock anything? We decided to quantify this sentiment: we know aftermarket coolers are better, but how much better are they?...
Desktop gadgets and the Windows Sidebar were a big hallmark feature in Windows Vista and Windows 7. But Microsoft removed desktop gadgets, and you won’t find them in Windows 8 or 10. Windows Desktop Gadgets Were Discontinued Because They’re a Security Risk There’s a reason these were discontinued in Windows 8 and 10: Microsoft’s desktop gadget platform has a variety of security problems. That’s not just our opinion–that’s what Microsoft says....
Android Auto does a lot to make your phone more useful and safe in the car—it simplifies the interface and limits functionality, only allowing access to key apps that you need while on the go. More recently, Google incorporated an “auto-reply” feature that allows users to quickly reply to incoming messages. RELATED: What Is Android Auto, and Is It Better Than Just Using a Phone in Your Car? By default, this action is executed with a simple tap of a button, regardless of whether you’re using Auto on the phone or a dedicated Auto head unit....
Changing your display name in Microsoft Teams is a good idea so that others don’t confuse someone with the same or similar name. It’ll also make it easier for other members to tag you or invite you in calls. A different display name can also help to tag you in group chats. Don’t worry: updating your display name in the Microsoft Teams app won’t change your Microsoft account name....
You never know when that “Recent Documents” jump list will come back to bite you. Maybe you share your user account with other people, or maybe you’re just really cautious. Your reasons are your own. We’re just here to show you how to make sure it clears every time you shut down. With a quick Registry or Group Policy edit, you can have Windows automatically clear the recent documents list every time you exit Windows....
If you’re particular about how Windows displays the contents of your folders, you can cut your customization time down considerably by taking advantage of File Explorer’s five built-in folder templates. You may have noticed that when you open folders with certain types of files–like pictures or music–Windows displays the contents of those folder a little differently from other folders. In Windows, every folder on your system is “optimized” for one of the five following templates:...
WhatsApp offers a self-destruct mode for chats. When you enable this for a particular group or private conversation, the messages are automatically wiped from your and the recipient’s phone after a week. Here’s how to access it. First, make sure you have the latest version of WhatsApp on your phone from the Play Store on an Android device and the App Store on an iPhone. Now, open the “WhatsApp” app on your iPhone or Android device and enter the group or private chat you want to set on self-destruct in the “Chats” tab....
Want to figure out what is taking up all your space in Gmail? It’s easy — just use the size operator in the search box. You can combine it with the has:attachment operator to make sure that you’re just filtering for attachments, but it will work either way. Use a search like this to return all emails larger than 10 MB: You can also use regular numbers, like size:10000000 for the number of bytes if you want to get even more crazy....
One thing to note before we get started: Google TV is not the same as Android TV. While both are based on the Android operating system, they function very differently. You can think of Google TV as the new version of Android TV. RELATED: What’s the Difference between Google TV and Android TV? How to Install Apps and Games on Google TV First and foremost, your Google TV experience will really only be as good as the apps and games you have....
The touch bar on Apple’s new MacBook Pro makes sense. The top row of keys have served specific functions on Macs for over a decade; why not let those specific functions change depending on which application you’re using? But there’s one key that old-school UNIX users—particularly Emacs fans—are going to miss: Escape. The touch bar completely replaces this key, which is going to make a lot of Terminal-based applications nearly impossible to use....
Ever wish you could take your Mac with you on an external drive? You can actually install macOS Sierra on an external drive, flash drive, or SD card, then use that device as your macOS system disk wherever you go. We’ll show you how to set it up. Keep in mind, this is not the same as using an external device to install macOS, which lets you install macOS from an external USB device....
High pixel density displays are now common on new Windows PCs, just as they are on smartphones, tablets, and Macs. But be careful what you wish for—many desktop apps still have problems on high-DPI displays. Windows has offered DPI scaling support for long time, but many Windows desktop applications never took advantage of it. Microsoft is working on the problem, however, and so are many app developers. In the meantime here are some settings you can change to make applications look better....
RELATED: Basic Computer Security: How to Protect Yourself from Viruses, Hackers, and Thieves Microsoft Office document files you download from the internet can harm your PC. Office files can contain dangerous macros, but macros aren’t the only risk. With new malware attacking PCs through dangerous Office documents that don’t even contain macros, keeping yourself safe in Office is just one of the security practices you should follow. Stay In Protected View When you download and open an Office document, it will open in “Protected View” by default....
Sometimes a GIF alone isn’t enough; sometimes you want to add a little bit of text. Photoshop can do the job, but the process isn’t as intuitive as you’d imagine, especially if you’ve never edited animation in Photoshop before. When you import a GIF in Photoshop, you’ll notice that every frame shows up in “Layers.” Notably, changing the order of the layers does not change the order that frames play back in....
When you hook a game controller up to your PC—whether it’s an Xbox controller, PlayStation controller, Steam controller, or something else—you can remap the buttons for individual Steam games however you want. Here’s how. This feature began with the Steam controller and the PlayStation 4 controller, but a recent update allows you to remap buttons on any controller you want—including Xbox 360 and Xbox One controllers. This support was added in the January 18, 2017 build of Steam....
