Since Windows 8.1 has launched, a lot that has changed. Not so much with the Control Panel, but the Metro-themed “PC settings” that have definitely taken on more and more responsibilities; many control panels have finally been rolled into the PC settings, and we can probably expect that trend to continue as Microsoft introduces new versions of Windows 8. Some time ago, we published an article on how to find the Control Panel in Windows 8....
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. The Question SuperUser reader Dan Dascalescu is curious why all search isn’t table-based: We’re pretty confident this is the reaction of every computer user upon first encountering just how blisteringly fast file table-based search is. So why isn’t it built into everything? The question is, why isn’t this capability way more popular among file managers, and Windows Explorer Search (Win+F) to begin with?...
If you bought a new replacement laptop battery as a precaution, will it go bad if you let it sit around unused until some future date when it might be needed? Today’s SuperUser Q&A post offers advice in response to a curious 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. Photo courtesy of Quentin Meulepas (Flickr)....
Google’s Chromecast allows you to send anything you can view in a Chrome browser tab to your PC. You’re not limited to just web pages, as Chrome can play local videos and music files and display PDFs and Office documents. Sure, you could Chromecast your entire desktop, but this is an all-around cleaner solution that allows you to cast only the content you care about and switch between browser tabs, doing other things with your computer while one tab streams....
Although we live in the age of HD video that doesn’t mean all of us have upgraded our old DVDs to HD content. Let’s look at how you can improve the appearance of standard definition content on your high definition television. Like a good doctor, we’re going to give it to you straight. Once you’ve watched enough HD content you will never be able to look at SD content the same way again....
Customizing the Windows “Send To” context menu is a handy trick people have employed for years to speed up their workflow. Let’s take a look at how you can edit the “Send To” menu in Windows 8 to enjoy a productivity boost. 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. The Question SuperUser reader Mondain wants to add items to his “Send To” context menu, but the technique that he used for Windows 7 doesn’t work for him in Windows 8....
Leaving comments in a Word document is a good way to leave feedback on a piece you’re reviewing. If the issue you commented on has been resolved, you can remove the note to keep things looking clean. Here’s how. How to Add Comments in Word First, open a Word document and highlight the content that you would like to leave a comment on. Once selected, head over to the “Review” tab and select “New Comment”, which is found in the “Comments” group....
In order to enjoy more diverse media playback on your Raspberry Pi micro computer, you need to manually enable the MPEG-2 and VC-1 codecs. Read on to see how to do so and enjoy DVD playback and more on your Pi. Why Do I Need To Do This? The Raspberry Pi was designed to be an educational computer. As part of that educational mission, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has gone out of their way to minimize the manufacturing and licensing costs in order to keep the final cost of the device down....
Google develops the Chrome browser, but you don’t have to use Google’s search engine with it. You can choose from any number of search engines and make them the default. We’ll show you how to do it. Chrome, on all platforms, including Windows 10, Mac, Linux, Android, iPhone, and iPad, has the ability to change the default search engine. This determines which search engine is used when you type in the address box....
Depending on what version of Android you’re using (and what type of phone), it’s possible that you may be able to change just the text size, or even make everything on the screen larger. We’re going to talk about all of those options here—as well as a few other things you can do to make your phone easier to see. RELATED: How to Change the Navigation Buttons or Gestures on Android...
A Microsoft account is required for most things you do in the Microsoft ecosystem—signing into their various services and apps, and even into Windows itself. Here’s how to create one. You Might Already Have a Microsoft Account If you’ve used Outlook.com, Microsoft OneDrive, Office 365, Skype, or Xbox Live, the chances are good that you already have a Microsoft account. You might not have noticed it because a Microsoft account can be associated with any email address....
Upgrading to Windows 8 was rather different to previous versions of the operating system – this time it could be done entirely online. You may well have decided to keep upgrade costs as low as possible by not buying a backup DVD. Here’s how you can create your own. To create your own DVD you’ll need to download the installation files. Start by visiting the Windows Order Summary page and fill in the form with all of the details requested of you....
FaceTime is a great way to video chat with long-distance friends and family, but if you’d rather keep your hands free while you chill on the couch, you can FaceTime on your Apple TV instead of your iPhone or iPad. RELATED: The Best Ways to Video Chat from Windows, Mac, iPhone, or Android You might be thinking: “But a FaceTime app doesn’t exist on the Apple TV!” And you’re correct, but there’s a workaround that you can take advantage of using AirPlay....
If you’ve ever used the flash on your camera to take a picture of someone in a dark room, you’ve probably seen the red eye effect. It’s where the person’s pupils appear a bright red rather than their natural black. Red eye was a major problem when you were shooting photos using film but, thankfully, there’s a quick digital fix. I’m going to demonstrate the technique in Photoshop but you can easily follow along with another image editing app like GIMP—just use the equivalent tools and techniques....
One of the upsides to the explosion of science and geek culture over the last few years is an absolute tidal wave of great books that appeal to geeky interests of all stripes. Read on as we highlight great books for every geek on your list. This is the fourth of the How-To Geek 2013 Holiday Gift Guides; to keep up with the rest of the guides throughout December, be sure to keep an eye on the article tag GiftGuide2013....
Apple continues to produce mobile devices with incredible screen resolution and clarity. Retina display or not, however, even if on-screen text is sharp enough to rival print, it makes little difference if you can’t read it. Super tiny screen text is all the rage these days, and just as Android’s text can be upsized, so too can iOS’s. In fact, while Android’s solution is basically large or nothing, Apple’s solution is quite a bit more elegant and nuanced....
If you are a fan of 1980s and 90s point-and-click adventures and you have a Wii gathering dust, well then, do we have a proposition for you. Read on to see how you can replay all your point-and-click favorites from the comfort of your couch. Anyone playing computer games between the late-1980s and the mid-1990s is most certainly familiar with a point-and-click adventure or two. Titles that filled game store shelves (and home PC hard drives) during that period included such hits as Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island series, the Space, Police, King’s, and Hero Quest series from Sierra Games, and other gems of the era like The Island of Dr....
Crouton is the best way to run Linux alongside Chrome OS on your Chromebook. Now it’s even better — you can run that Linux desktop in a browser tab. This isn’t official Google software, but the extension itself was created by David Schneider, Crouton developer and Google employee. It’s as close as you’re going to get! How It Works RELATED: 4 Things to Keep in Mind When Buying a Chromebook For Linux...
Quora is one of those question and answer sites that sadly decided to follow in the footsteps of Expertsexchange and create a terrible user interface that forces you to sign in to read past the first answer. But we can bypass that with a simple trick. You would think, with the success of Stackoverflow and Stack Exchange, that they would have realized it isn’t a good idea to hide your answers and make the site lousy for your users....
