Apple’s Shortcuts app is as powerful as you want to make it, and it can do some incredible things if you know how to wrangle it. You can also use it for some super simple things, like searching a website for text. If you find yourself needing to search a website for something regularly, then you’re no doubt familiar with the site search operator. Head to Google—or use the address bar—and enter “site:nameofsite....
Windows hides many files and folders by default, preventing users from deleting or modifying files they shouldn’t touch. But you can make Windows show these hidden files by changing a single setting. There are actually two different types of hidden files on Windows: the regular hidden files that don’t show up by default, and the “super hidden” system files that are hidden using the system attribute instead. We’ll show you the difference, but it’s worth pointing out that regular hidden files are generally not shown because they are annoying — things like the desktop....
The Oculus Quest is a standalone VR headset that can render games and apps without a desktop PC. You normally install games and apps via the Oculus Store, but you can also sideload unofficial apps using a PC. Where to Find Sideloadable Apps Because you’ll need an APK file of the app itself to sideload it, you’ll need a place to get them. The best unofficial registry for sideloaded apps is SideQuest, an alternative store for Quest apps....
If you have Google Maps on your smartphone, you may receive notifications requesting a review for businesses you visit. Google usually asks “How was [Business Name]?” and expects a rating or review. Here’s how to turn those notifications off. Google Maps Knows Everywhere You Go Many apps request access to your location, even if they don’t need it. You shouldn’t give every app access to your location. But a map app requires location permissions to give you directions....
Windows 10’s Storage Sense feature automatically runs when you’re low on disk space. It automatically deletes files more than 30 days old in your Recycle Bin, too. This was on by default on a PC running the May 2019 Update. This is a useful feature! If your computer is low on disk space, you probably want more. Windows will clear old files out of your Recycle Bin. You shouldn’t be storing files in your Recycle Bin, anyway....
When you shut down or sign out, Windows 10 remembers which applications you had open. It automatically launches them the next time you start your PC. You can disable this if you’d like to sign into a clean desktop. How to Stop Windows 10 From Reopening Applications To change this setting, head to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in Options. Scroll down to the Restart Apps section and set the “Automatically save my restartable apps when I sign out and restart them after I sign in” option to “Off....
Have you ever wanted to know what day you last rebooted your PC? There’s more than one way to find that information — you can look in the Event Viewer under System for the Kernel-Power event, but that’s a lot of work. It’s much easier to type in a single command. The easiest way, for us, is to just use the SystemInfo command from the CMD prompt. It’ll give you a lot of information, and buried in there is the Boot Time....
How to Set Up Calibre on Your Computer We’ll be using the free and open-source eBook management app Calibre. It’s available on Windows, Mac, and Linux. The app is filled with pro-level features but is also easy to use if you want to do something simple like manage your eBook library or transfer eBooks between devices. RELATED: What Is a MOBI File (and How Do I Open One)? Go to Calibre’s website to download the app....
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is a great security tool, and we always recommend it. Most apps make it pretty easy to turn on 2FA, and LinkedIn is no exception. Here’s how to enable it and make yourself safer. You can turn on two-factor authentication from either the LinkedIn website or the mobile app, but either way, you’ll need to be logged in to your LinkedIn account. Go ahead and do this first....
Web research just got a little easier, thanks to the Collections feature in the new Microsoft Edge browser. This built-in feature allows you to take snippets from web pages and store them in a notebook you can access in Edge itself. Creating New Microsoft Edge Collections The Collections feature appears as an icon in the top-right corner of the Microsoft Edge window, between the favorites and user profile icons....
For the longest time, FaceTime has allowed no more than two users to video chat with each other, but with the release of Group FaceTime in iOS 12.1, you can video chat with up to 31 other people. Here’s how to do it. RELATED: How to FaceTime on Your Apple TV Anyone that you want to include in your Group FaceTime chat will need to have their device updated to at least iOS 12....
To put the Ribbon into minimized mode, just right-click an open area on the Ribbon and choose Minimize the Ribbon. Here is how your Word document screen looks without the Ribbon… much cleaner! With the Ribbon hidden you can still pull up the menus by clicking a tab which relates to a type of activity. The Ribbon will automatically hide once you move your mouse away from it. You might notice the small toolbar below the Ribbon, which is known as the Quick Access Toolbar....
RELATED: The 10 Best Hit Reality TV Shows You Can Binge-Watch American Factory Play Video The American factory in American Factory is not entirely American, and the movie is built around the tension between two cultures that collide in an Ohio town. Years after the shutdown of a General Motors plant, Chinese auto-glass company Fuyao takes over the former facility, bringing jobs back to a depressed area. But Fuyao also attempts to bring in Chinese workplace values, which clash with American individualism (and safety regulations)....
Using Define with Bing The installation consists of two steps. First, click on Add to Internet Explorer to start the process. Next you will be asked to confirm the installation. Once you have clicked Add your new accelerator is ready to use (no browser restart required). Whenever you encounter a word that needs defining highlight it, click on the small blue square, go to All Accelerators, and then Define with Bing....
“Crushed shadows” and “blown highlights” are both common exposure problems in photography. Let’s look at what they are, how to identify them, and what you can do about them. Crushed shadows and blown highlights are two sides of the same coin. When you crush your shadows, you underexpose your image so much that there are large areas of pure black in your image, like in this shot. When you blow your highlights you do the opposite: you overexpose your image so much that there are large areas of pure white....
What Is an SVG File? In the context of computer graphics, SVG stands for “Scalable Vector Graphics.” An SVG file is a computer file that uses the SVG standard, defined by the World Wide Web Consortium, to display an image. Typical image formats—such as JPG, PNG, and GIF—utilize raster graphics, which means that they display an image by storing a grid of pixels, called a bitmap. Each pixel’s color and location are stored in the file....
Sometimes, you’re using an iPad but the onscreen keyboard doesn’t show up where you expect it. There could be one of several things going on, including trouble with a Bluetooth keyboard or third-party keyboard apps. Here’s what may be wrong—and how to fix it. You Forgot That You Have a Bluetooth Keyboard Connected Whenever you have a Bluetooth keyboard connected to your iPad, iPadOS automatically disables the onscreen keyboard. That’s because the iPad thinks you don’t need an on-screen keyboard when you have a real one in front of you....
Wi-Fi Is Taking Over the World Until recently, if you wanted a smarthome, either Z-wave or ZigBee was your best bet. You picked a protocol and tried to stick with it. And most smart hubs support both, so, when necessary, you could use both in your home. Wi-Fi devices didn’t have much support or centralized hubs to tie all the gadgets together. But that changed this year—a fact that was evident at CES....
Windows 10’s April 2019 Update contains a change that causes some PC games to crash Windows with a blue screen of death. Not all games have fixed the problem, but Microsoft has confirmed it’s releasing the update anyway. Okay, let’s be fair here: Most affected PC games have fixed the problem and won’t freeze your system. But some will, and we don’t know which. This change feels like a betrayal of Microsoft’s commitment to backward compatibility....
If you think the only correct version of your password is the exact capitalization and letter/symbol sequence you use, you may be in a shock. Facebook will accept slight variations of your password, for your convenience. And it’s perfectly safe. Passwords Are Easy To Mistype Facebook and other sites like it have a problem. They’d like you to use long and complicated passwords, but those are hard to type. You should be using a password manager to take care of that for you, but most people don’t....
