Tweak the Audio Sync on Your TV Many televisions allow you to deliberately introduce video delay to match the audio delay inherent to your audio equipment. By using this feature, you can get a perfect match between your Bluetooth audio output and the video you see. Unfortunately, this solution isn’t suitable for video games since you’re adding input latency equal to your Bluetooth audio delay. If you want to watch movies and TV shows, this is the easiest solution, but anything interactive will need something different to fix the issue....

When you need a data set for testing or demonstration, and that set needs to represent Personally Identifiable Information (PII), you generally don’t want to use real data that represents actual people. Here, we’ll walk you through how you can use PowerShell to generate a list of random names and phone numbers for just such an occasion. What You Need Before you get started, there’s some tools and information you should have:...

Should You Upgrade an Unsupported PC? First, let’s be clear: If you’re on the fence, we recommend against upgrading an unsupported PC to Windows 11. Windows 10 will be officially supported with security updates until October 2025. Windows 11 doesn’t have any huge features that make it a must-upgrade, and Microsoft warns that unsupported PCs may experience bugs. In fact, Microsoft warns that it may eventually stop providing security updates for unsupported PCs running Windows 11....

Windows 10 is packed full of keyboard shortcuts, but you can also create your own keyboard shortcuts to launch the applications they are assigned to. Here’s how to create one for launching Google Chrome on Windows 10. You’ll need Google Chrome installed on your PC to do this. You’ll also need to create a desktop shortcut for Chrome if you don’t already have one. To do this, open the “Start” menu by clicking the “Start” button in the bottom-left corner of your desktop....

Google Alerts lets you receive email notifications regarding topics you care most about on the internet, without having to actively search for them. Set up an alert for every time a topic, word, or phrase shows up in Google Search. What Is Google Alerts? Google Alerts is a way to stay on top of things that matter most to you, without having to do any of the legwork of searching around the internet....

What Is the Eyedropper For? Using this nifty tool, you can pinpoint the precise color (and hex code) you need to match various items in your slideshow. Maybe you inserted an image and want to use a color from it for your font. Or maybe your company logo uses a certain shade that you need to match exactly. You can even step outside the bounds of PowerPoint and grab colors visible in other applications!...

Privacy is a big topic when it comes to mobile devices. iPhones and iPads show little orange and green indicator icons when apps access the device’s camera or microphone. Here’s an Android app that can do the same. Like the LED light on a webcam, the iPhone and iPad show colored dots in the status bar when an app is accessing the camera or microphone. Android shows when apps are accessing your location, but it lacks these indicators....

At this writing, this feature is only available through the Twitter app for iPhone and iPad. When it comes to Android, though, it should work in a similar fashion. RELATED: How to Send Disappearing Tweets Using Fleets on Twitter To get started, open Twitter, find the tweet you want to share, and then tap the share icon under it. In the share menu, tap “Snap Camera.” The first time you use this feature, a pop-up message will inform you Twitter wants to open the Snapchat app; tap “Open” to allow it....

Excel’s spell check feature doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that Word’s does, but it does provide basic spell-checking functionality. You can check the spelling of words in the cells of a worksheet and add words to the dictionary. Unfortunately, Excel does not check your spelling as you type (by underlining them in red) like Word does. You are only notified that a word is spelled wrong when you run the spell check....

Do you have a problem with the search function in Windows 10’s Start menu or File Explorer? Whether Windows can’t find your files, indexing is using too much CPU or search isn’t working, Microsoft’s Indexer Diagnostics tool can help troubleshoot. This tool provides insight into the inner workings of the Windows Search indexer service, and it can help you identify problems and fixes. It’s similar to the Diagnostic Data Viewer—a power user tool that provides extra information you can’t normally see about Windows 10’s internals....

In case you’re new to the feature, AirDrop is Apple’s file transfer feature that allows you to share files between your Apple devices. This feature works wirelessly so you don’t have to use cables to transfer your files. When you’ve finished using the feature, you can turn AirDrop off to prevent people from sending you files. RELATED: How to Instantly Share Files with AirDrop on iPhone, iPad, and Mac...

As long as your iPhone is running iOS 14.5 or higher, you have access to a Shortcuts action called “Set Orientation Lock.” Using this action, you can create a shortcut automation that will enable or disable the portrait orientation lock. RELATED: How to Lock Your iPhone or iPad’s Screen Orientation The Automation feature in Shortcuts supports many triggers, ranging from the time of day to opening or closing apps. In this guide, we’ll focus on the opening and closing app trigger....

If you’re one of the millions of people that have used Zoom for video conferencing, you know that virtual backgrounds are a big deal. These virtual backgrounds can replace the real background behind you. The Android app can also use this feature, here’s how to do it. The Zoom app doesn’t support virtual backgrounds for all Android devices. It seems that only relatively new and powerful devices have the feature....

If you can’t find the slide background that you’re looking for in PowerPoint’s presentation library, you can use any image of your own choosing. PowerPoint makes this possible in just a few simple steps. Here’s how. A word of caution before you begin. The image you select will be stretched to fit the slide size. If you use an image that’s too small, the image will be distorted when used as the background....

When you’re adding comments to a Word document, Excel spreadsheet, or PowerPoint presentation, Office 365 lets you mention another user using the “@” sign (like most chat apps). Here’s what Office 365 mentions are for and how to use them effectively. Mentions only make sense when you’re working with other people, so although you can use them with a personal Office 365 (O365) subscription, you’ll need to add other people to that subscription for them to have much use....

In Microsoft Excel, COUNTIF is one of the most widely used formulas. It counts all cells in a range that matches a single condition or multiple conditions, and it’s equally useful in counting cells with numbers and text in them. What Is the COUNTIF function? COUNTIF allows users to count the number of cells that meet certain criteria, such as the number of times a part of a word or specific words appears on a list....

If you think about how a smart speaker or smart display works, logic would tell you that they need to be constantly listening. After all, how can your device hear your “Alexa” or “Hey Google” command if it’s not listening? Well, you’re right. These devices are always listening, but it’s not as scary as it sounds. Listening vs. Recording When people hear that smart speakers are always listening, what they’re really afraid of is the possibility that the smart speaker is always recording them....

Note that we’ll also cover how to protect yourself against somebody else resetting your password, so stay tuned! Of course, this method will also work if you’ve installed your Ubuntu Live CD to a thumb drive. Resetting the Password You’ll want to boot from your Ubuntu Live CD, choosing “Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer” from the boot menu. Once the system boots, open up a new Terminal window from Applications \ Accessories and then type in the following command:...

This is a similar restriction to the one Evernote put in place. Evernote’s free account only lets you sync your notes to two devices. Both services are clearly trying to convert more free users to paying customers. Google Drive – 15 GB Free Google Drive is a great storage service. It offers 15 GB of free storage—although that’s shared with your Gmail account—and can sync to an unlimited number of devices....

If you live far away from the people you care about, video chatting is the best way to feel more like you’re there with them in person. But there are so many video chat apps out there, many of which only work on certain platforms. How do you know which one to use? If you’ve tried to set up an initial video chat with someone, you know the problem here....