Without a doubt you have probably seen many advertisements on TV and online which emphasize the importance of your credit rating. While these advertisements may be a bit of an exaggeration, your credit report is never-the-less important as it details accounts which have been opened in your name. As such, it is a good idea to periodically review your credit report as any suspicious activity could be an indication of identity theft....

Docker images can bundle arbitrary binaries and libraries into a single blob of data. Inspecting what’s actually inside an image helps you assess its suitability and identify any security hazards. The easiest way to explore an image’s content involves starting a container, getting a shell session, and then using regular terminal commands like ls and cd to view its directory structure from within. This isn’t ideal in security-critical environments though – creating a container with an unknown image could expose you to a malicious entrypoint script....

Linking to a whole plan in Microsoft Planner is easy, but it’s a blunt tool when you want to talk about a single task. Here’s how to link to an individual card to make discussing specific tasks a bit easier. If you’re responsible for a plan in Microsoft Planner, you probably have to talk to people working on the tasks and also report up the chain using a spreadsheet or bespoke reporting tool....

Microsoft PowerPoint provides built-in tools for creating and arranging different types of flowcharts. Here’s how they work. Making a Flowchart in PowerPoint Since you’re going to be working with shapes, you might find it helpful to have PowerPoint show a grid you can use to size and line up objects. To show the grid, check the box next to “Gridlines” in the “Show” section of the “View” tab. Gridlines will now appear on your slides....

If you have files that are encrypted with the Encrypting File System, you will probably have noticed that they don’t get indexed by Windows, and therefore don’t show up in search results. Here’s how to fix that. Make Windows 8 Index Encrypted Files Right click in the bottom left hand corner of your screen and select System from the context menu. When the System Window opens, in the bottom left hand corner you will see a Performance Information and Tools link, click on it....

Power Off with Physical Buttons On almost every other Android smartphone or tablet, you can turn the device off by long-pressing the power button. This action typically launches the power menu that allows you to power off the phone, restart it, or more. On Samsung’s new flagships, this opens the Bixby virtual assistant. With the Galaxy Note 10 and 10 Plus, Samsung included a new key combination for launching the power menu....

We have already shown you how you can share external folders with your SkyDrive, but what if you actually want to copy a file or folder into your SkyDrive folder? Of course copying and pasting is nowhere near geeky enough, so here’s how to add a SkyDrive entry to the Send to menu. Creating a SkyDrive Link in the Send To Menu The first thing we need to do is open the path for where the “Send to” shortcuts are stored, so press the Windows + R keyboard combination to open a run box and type “shell:sendto” then hit enter....

We’ve recently shown you lots of ways to remove backgrounds from photos using Photoshop and some other tools, but did you know you can do the same thing from within PowerPoint 2010? Here’s how to do it. Be sure to check out our comprehensive guide to Remove Image Backgrounds in Photoshop, and then check out the second part of the series. Otherwise, keep reading. Removing Backgrounds Using PowerPoint We will take a presentation we have and insert any picture right in it....

Docker makes it easy to run apps using serverless cloud solutions, but many people will prefer to manage multiple containers running on a few powerful machines. In this case, using multiple IP addresses can be a great way to manage multiple services on the same port. How Do Network Interfaces Work? Linux uses network interfaces to represent physical hardware, as well as creating virtual networking components like VLANs, bridging, or aliases....

If you find yourself needing to be reminded about regularly occurring tasks, you can easily schedule a repeating reminder using the Reminders app on your Mac. These reminders will pop up in your Notifications section at the correct time. Here’s how to set them up. First, launch the Reminders app, and click the “Today” button in the sidebar. Then click the “+” (Plus) button in the upper-right corner of the window....

grep is a search utility for finding strings and patterns in files and console input. By default, it prints the line that contains the match, but it’s also useful to print out the preceding lines around a match for context. Printing Context For grep Matches When using grep, you can add the uppercase -C flag for “context,” which will print out N number of lines before and after the match....

If you want to put a video on your Android phone, you’ll probably need to shrink it down to fit the size of the screen and make it take up less space. There’s lots of conversion software out there, but did you know you can do it with VLC? There’s a lot more you can do with VLC, for instance, you can also copy a DVD with VLC, take snapshots of your favorite movie scenes, or you can use it to convert video from one type to another....

By Default, Ubuntu uses apt-get to install packages and updates. Apt-get is a good tool but you can get much faster download speeds using Apt-Fast when downloading and updating your Ubuntu box. Apt-Fast is a script created by Matt Parnell that allows for up to 26x faster downloads. So how does it work? It is a script which uses Axel, a command line application which accelerates HTTP/FTP downloads. Well, the magic behind this is simple; it opens multiple connections to the server or multiple servers to download from....

We’ve already shown you how to celebrate Halloween by turning your friends into ghosts, now we’ll show you how to turn them into the hungry dead with a fun video how-to. Grab some Facebook photos and give it a shot! Zombies have become an internet staple. How could we have gone so long without showing HTG readers how to do this? Grab your mouse or stylus, and get ready for some artsy fun, as you turn your friends and family into horrible monsters....

Do you have an old PC you want to sell, but also want to use your Windows license on your new PC ? There is a hidden command in Windows that allows you to do just that. Read on to find out more. Note: Between Microsoft and your OEM there are a number of different laws that determine whether you are allowed to use your license on another PC, so follow this tutorial at your own risk....

Docker’s concept of the “build context” is one of its most restrictive and misunderstood characteristics. The build context defines the local files and folders you can reference in your Dockerfile. Content outside it cannot be used, which often hinders complex build procedures. BuildKit v0.8 improves this situation by letting you use multiple contexts with each build you perform. This makes it easier to reference files that may reside in completely separate locations, such as a file within your working directory and a dependency at a remote URL....

Pipes Are Everywhere Pipes are one of the most useful command-line features that Linux and Unix-like operating systems have. Pipes are used in countless ways. Look at any Linux command line article—on any web site, not just ours—and you’ll see that pipes make an appearance more often than not. I reviewed some of How-To Geek’s Linux articles, and pipes are used in all of them, one way or another. Linux pipes allow you to perform actions that are not supported out-of-the-box by the shell....

On Air is an easy to set up application that turns your Android phone into a Wi-Fi storage device allowing you to easily and wirelessly access your files. Because the interface is very spartan and icon-based it’s easy to overlook the configuration options and jump right to pressing the big button. When you first run the application resist the urge to mash the huge power button in the middle of the screen and do the following instead....

Opera 11 has just been released, with lots of great new features. Let’s take a quick tour through the best features for the world’s most alternate browser. If you’d rather see the new stuff in the form of a video, here’s the official Opera 11 release video. Otherwise, scroll down for all the screenshots. Tab Stacking In Opera 11, you can drag tabs on top of each other to combine them into a single tab, which you can then hover your mouse over to see the sub-tabs....

Got yourself some hackintosh compatible hardware? Great! So follow along, because in this guide, we are going to show you how to INSTALL Mac OS X Snow Leopard on your custom built PC! In the previous part of this guide, we discussed the basics of hackintoshing and described what compatible hardware is all about. If you missed it, be sure to read it first. Today, we are going to put that compatible hardware to work, and so our hackintosh will start coming to life....