If you are new to the process of converting audio files, then many of the details and how they work can be a bit confusing when you get unexpected results. So what do you do to fix the problem? Today’s SuperUser Q&A post has the answer to a confused reader’s question. Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites....

Windows XP won’t be officially supported for much longer. Sure, you could keep using it — it won’t just stop working one day. It will just become more insecure over time as Microsoft and everyone else stops supporting it. Let’s face it, Windows XP has had a good run. It has been officially supported for more than a decade. If you’re still using Windows XP, you should be making plans to upgrade to something that will be supported....

Browser extensions extend your web browser with additional features, modify web pages, and integrate your browser with the other services you use. This guide will introduce you to the world of browser extensions and help you get started. If you’re a geek, this stuff is obvious to you. We geeks take this for granted — we know exactly what browser extensions can do, when to use them, and what to avoid....

Steam Deck designers Pierre Loup-Griffais and Lawrence Yang sat down with The Verge for a wide-ranging interview about everything related to the Steam Deck. Among the things that were discussed, the Valve designers talked about current efforts to improve the Steam Deck hardware that’s being shipped to customers. But one of the bigger takeaways was that the company wouldn’t be necessarily looking at a performance bump on a second-gen product....

Windows 8.1 and 8 brought big changes to Windows. Even the process of logging in and setting up user accounts is extremely different, with new types of user accounts and login options. You can still set up basic local user accounts without any online service integration, parental controls, or fancy login methods. Whether you like Microsoft accounts or prefer not to use them, there are interesting options for you here....

The All Apps view in Windows 8 is quite useful, considering many of the applications a geek might want to use won’t be pinned to the Start Screen – but it is a pain to get there. We set out to find a better solution. When it comes right down to it, the All Apps view is the most similar analog to the All Programs view from the Start Menu going all the way back to Windows 95....

In the last two articles, we looked at how to prepare your PC for network access. In this installment, we are going to look at wireless network configuration. Be sure to check out the previous articles in this Geek School series on Windows 7: Introducing How-To Geek School Upgrades and Migrations Configuring Devices Managing Disks Managing Applications Managing Internet Explorer IP Addressing Fundamentals Networking And stay tuned for the rest of the series all week....

Many of us have had the occasional problem with our computers and other devices retaining accurate time settings, but a quick sync with an NTP server makes all well again. But if our own devices can lose accuracy, how do NTP servers manage to stay so accurate? Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites....

Ads are a part of life on the Internet, but when an unscrupulous extension starts purposely injecting ads into your browsing experience, then it is time to take action! Today’s SuperUser Q&A post has the answer to help a frustrated reader clean up his browsing experience. Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-driven grouping of Q&A web sites. Screenshot courtesy of Oliver Salzburg (SuperUser)....

If you are a private reader, don’t want your kids (or anyone else) having free access to your books, or otherwise want to password protect your Kindle, it’s really easy to do. Here’s how. How to Set a Kindle PIN On the Home Screen, tap the three little dots in the top-right corner. Next, tap “Settings” in the menu that pops up. Then, tap “Device Options.” From the options, choose “Device Passcode....

What Is an ISO File? In simple terms, an ISO is a file that contains an exact copy of the entire contents of an optical disc. When you burn an ISO file to a blank disc, the new disc will have all the properties of the original. This includes files, folders, and programs contained on the original disc. You can also mount an ISO file on your current OS if you want to use it as a virtual CD or DVD at some point, and you can create backups of your own discs by creating an ISO file from them....

Reading is cool, but we live in busy times and not everyone has time to sit back with a book—and even if you do, you may not have enough time to finish said book in a reasonable amount of time. That’s where audiobooks can be great. And now Google sells them in the Play Store! Audiobooks are a great alternative traditional books, because you can pop in for a listen those times when you have some “free time,” but reading isn’t an option—like your morning commute, for example....

You can use backgrounds on slides to spruce up your Google Slides project and help captivate those who see your presentation. Here’s how to change the color or add a custom image to the background of your presentation. Fire up your browser, head to Google Slides, open a presentation, or upload an existing PowerPoint presentation. RELATED: How to Import a PowerPoint Presentation into Google Slides Select a slide and then click Slide > Change Background....

For work, school, kids, and more, you can easily add and customize your own Google Calendar. Name the calendar what you want, give it a color to make its events pop, and even hide it if it’s a seasonal calendar. RELATED: How to Add, Hide, and Remove Birthdays in Google Calendar Create a New Google Calendar Visit the Google Calendar website and sign in. Click the gear icon on the top right to open the Settings Menu and pick “Settings....

Hyper-V is a virtual machine feature built into Windows. It was originally part of Windows Server 2008, but made the leap the to desktop with Windows 8. Hyper-V allows you to create virtual machines without any additional software. This feature isn’t available on Windows 7, and it requires the Professional or Enterprise editions of Windows 8, 8.1, or 10 It also requires a CPU with hardware virtualization support like Intel VT or AMD-V, features found in most modern CPUs....

Emoji convey emotions and reactions when words just can’t cut it. There are hundreds of emoji to choose from, but what if you could mash them together and create new ones? That’s exactly what Gboard can do. The Gboard feature is called “Emoji Kitchen” and, at this writing, it’s available only on Android. There’s a chance it will come to iPhone and iPad later, but Google has yet to confirm availability....

How Is Deactivating Different from Deleting? When you delete your Facebook account, you’re saying goodbye to your profile, posts, friends, and messages. This means that you’ll have to start over from scratch if you ever want to use the service again. This might not be a bad option if you’ve had a negative experience and don’t intend to return. Deactivate via Facebook. com Deactivate via the Facebook Mobile App But for many, the thought of losing years’ worth of interactions and tracking down friends again is a daunting one....

Are you one of those people that has a Mail icon with a gigantic number next to it that never seems to go away? Here’s how to easily disable that feature instead of cleaning out your inbox. The correct way to get rid of the giant number is to login to your email account and either clean out your inbox or select them all and mark as read. But you’re not going to do that, are you?...

When you open an Office 2013 program, a start screen automatically displays showing you the various templates available and a list of recent documents opened in the left column. If you find this screen annoying and would rather pass it by, it’s easy to disable. To do this, we will make a change to the registry. NOTE: Before making changes to the registry, be sure you back it up. We also recommend creating a restore point you can use to restore your system if something goes wrong....

You may like using the Unity Launcher in Ubuntu 14.04, but you may not like it taking up room on your desktop. However, there is a way to have the Unity Launcher automatically hide when you’re not using it. NOTE: If you’re using Ubuntu 14.04 in a virtual machine, you can hide the launcher, but you can’t seem to show it again by moving the mouse to the left side, or the upper-left corner of the screen....