Quit Apps You’re No Longer Using Clicking the red “X” in the corner of a window won’t always close a Mac app. In fact, most Mac apps will stay running in the background when you close their windows. You may have only closed the window, and the app is still open as signified by its presence in your dock. Running apps appear in the dock with small dots next to them....

Track Your Caloric Intake If you burn more calories than you eat, your body should turn to stored fat for energy instead. One way of ensuring you stay below a certain caloric intake each day is to track what you’re eating using a calorie counter app. Before you start losing weight, you’ll need to work out total daily energy expenditure or TDEE for short. This will differ from one person to another and depends on factors like your age, weight, height, and activity level....

A Mac’s Recovery Mode is for more than just reinstalling macOS. You’ll find many other useful troubleshooting utilities here—which you can use even if your Mac won’t boot normally. To access Recovery Mode, restart your Mac and press and hold the Command+R keys during the boot-up process. This is one of several hidden startup options on a Mac. Reinstall macOS RELATED: Troubleshoot Your Mac With These Hidden Startup Options...

This adapter connects to the USB port from your car’s entertainment system, and creates a virtual wireless Android Auto device for your phone. The result is that you can use Android Auto without taking your phone out of your pocket, as long as your car already has wired Android Auto and you have a supported phone (any device with Android 11+ and select older phones).

Why Does Signal Want Your Contacts? Signal works based on phone numbers. You need a phone number to sign up. That phone number identifies you on Signal. If someone knows your phone number, they can send you a message on Signal. If you send someone a message on Signal, they’ll see your phone number. You cannot use Signal without revealing your phone number to the people you contact. In other words, your Signal address is your phone number....

Extensions Have Access to Everything in Your Web Browser Have you ever paid attention to the message you see when installing a browser extension in Chrome, for example? For most browser extensions, you’ll see a message stating that the add-on can “Read and change all your data on the websites you visit.” This means that the browser extension has full access to all the web pages you visit. It can see which web pages you’re browsing, read their contents, and watch everything you type....

Technically, there are two ways to play Steam on a Chromebook. You can download the Steam Link Android app, which streams games from your PC to the app, or the newer method that lets the games actually be played on your Chromebook. That’s the method we’ll be focusing on. Chrome OS ❤️ Linux It may not look like it, but Chrome OS is a Linux-based operating system. That’s why it’s possible to install Linux apps on Chromebooks that support the feature....

“Location Services” Is More Than GPS Modern operating systems—including iOS, iPadOS, Android, Windows 10, macOS, and Chrome OS—have their own “Location Services” systems built in. When an app—like a map or navigation app, for example—wants to request your location, it doesn’t just access your device’s GPS radio directly. Instead, it asks your operating system’s “Location Services” where you are. Modern Location Services systems use a variety of techniques to find your location....

Upside down text is actually just a trick that uses special Unicode symbols that appear to be upside down letters, though they really aren’t turned upside down. By replacing the regular letters with the correct upside-down letters, it appears as though you’re writing upside down. Upside Down Example Here’s what it looks like when you write “how-to geek” upside down using Unicode characters: ʞǝǝƃ oʇ-ʍoɥ In case your browser or email client can’t process Unicode properly, this is what it should look like:...

Although not as customizable as Android, your iPhone or iPad can change app icons and add widgets to your home screen. Complete your dynamic home screen by automatically changing your wallpaper using the Shortcuts app. If you have an iPhone or iPad running iOS 14.3, iPadOS 14.3, or higher, you have access to a new “Set Wallpaper” action in the built-in Shortcuts app. As the name suggests, it lets you set the wallpaper from any input....

Passwords can be reset or bypassed on every operating system, so even if you’ve forgotten yours, there may be a way in. This also means that evildoers can likely get into your system if they have access to it—and it’s way easier than you think. RELATED: Why a Windows Password Isn’t Enough to Protect Your Data We’ll detail how to bypass the password on Windows, macOS, and Linux below, but first: if you want to protect yourself from others using this trick on you, you need to enable encryption....

Put Your Joy-Cons on Your Switch The main way to charge your Joy-Cons is to simply slide them onto your Switch. However, some conditions must be met before the Joy-Cons will actually charge. You can use your Joy-Cons in portable mode attached to the Switch even if they have no battery power left, since they get power directly from the Switch. However, they will only charge if the Switch is attached to an AC adapter....

While you can configure some of these settings on your Apple Watch, it’s kind of awkward. It’s best to use the Watch app on your iPhone. That’s what we’ll demonstrate in this guide. Only Install the Apps You Want Everything starts with the apps you have installed. If your watch has started to get cluttered or you’re getting notifications from apps you haven’t opened in months, you should get rid of them and cut out the root of the problem....

When fixing problems on a Mac, sometimes you need to roll up your sleeves and directly modify system settings files in your Library folder. Apple hides the Library folder by default, so it can be tough to locate. Here’s how to find it. Be Careful in Your Library Folder Apple hides the Library folder for a good reason: It contains essential configuration files for both macOS and your applications. If you accidentally delete or modify those files, you might cause problems serious with your system....

How to Lock Notes on iPhone and iPad You can lock individual notes in the Apple Notes app on the iPhone and iPad using the Lock Notes feature. Open the “Notes” app and go to the list of notes. Use Apple’s built-in Spotlight Search if you can’t locate the app on your Home screen. Find the note you want to lock and swipe left on it. Here, tap the Lock icon....

If you have a huge number of unread text messages in your Messages app on iPhone or iPad, dealing with them one-by-one can be a hassle. Luckily, it’s easy to mark every one of your unread messages as read in the blink of an eye, but the feature is a bit hidden. Here’s how to do it. First, open “Messages.” On an iPhone, look in the upper-right corner of the screen and tap the ellipses button, which looks like three dots in a circle....

Change the Target Display In-Game Most modern games are designed with the knowledge that multi-monitor setups are common. That means you’re likely to find an in-game setting where you can specify which display you want the game to be on. Usually, you’ll find this option under the “video” section of the game’s menu rather than under “graphics,” although some games may combine these sections. Use a Keyboard Shortcut Windows has a universal keyboard shortcut to move an application from one display to another....

Want to save paper? You can print on both sides of the paper for individual print jobs as well as all future printing tasks. We’ll show you how to configure both of these options on your Windows 11 PC. Depending on your printer type, you will use either manual duplex printing or automatic duplex printing. If your printer supports automatic duplex printing, the subsequent pages for your print job will automatically be fed into your printer....

Apple is pretty strict when it comes to what apps are allowed to do on its platform, and it draws a hard line on call recording. But with a little hackery, you can record a phone call from your iPhone. Here’s how. First, Know the Local Laws Before we go into how to do this, it’s important to understand whether recording a phone call is legal. The super-short version is if you’re an active participant in the call, you’ve got a good chance that it’s legal....

Should you need to see which version of Chrome OS your Chromebook is running, you can view it and a bunch of other detailed information about the OS in the Settings app. Here’s how to find it. After you sign in to your account, click on the clock in the bottom right to open the system tray and notification panel. From there, click on the Settings cog. Next, click the hamburger menu icon and then click on “About Chrome OS” at the bottom of the menu....