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Once a week we round up some great tips from the Tips Box and share them with everyone. This week we’re looking at cheap LED illumination (waterproof to boot!), emailing files to Dropbox folders, and managing your wallpaper collection. Set Up Simple LED-Powered Outdoor Illumination Ted writes in with the following geeky entertainment hack: As if it weren’t obvious we love to tinker already, we’re already dreaming up ways to make this simple hack even cooler....

It’s recession economics 101—you can’t always afford to shell out for a whole new PC! HTG is here to help you repair and upgrade the parts that are in desperate need. Today’s topic: how to upgrade your hard drive. In this first of a new series of “Hardware Upgrade” posts, we’ll cover the basics for buying new drives, backing up old system disks, and opening up your PC to swap out drives....

What Is a Linux Signal? We all understand a red light means that we have to stop walking or driving. Similarly, in Linux and Unix systems, one can pass a signal to a running program or service to interact with it. For example, one could send a red traffic light sign to a program by simply issuing a SIGTERM signal. Just like with a red traffic light, people may choose to continue to walk or drive when the light is red....

There are a lot of different streaming devices in many shapes and sizes. Some are larger “set-top boxes,” while others are small “streaming sticks.” The power consumption varies by device. Let’s see which ones use the most. RELATED: 7 Roku Features You Should Be Using The Data The world of streaming devices is vast. Most companies that make devices in this category have numerous options. We picked out a few of the most common streaming devices you might have....

The Mail app included with Windows 8 only supports IMAP, Exchange, Hotmail/Outlook.com, and Gmail accounts. Mail offers POP3 as an option when setting up the account – but if you select POP3, you’ll be informed that Mail doesn’t support POP. To use the Mail app with a POP3 email account, giving you features such as live-tile email notifications and a touch-friendly interface for reading your email, there’s a trick you can use....

VLC includes a web interface, which you can enable to access your VLC player from a web browser, controlling playback from another device – particularly useful for a media center PC. VLC also offers a mobile web interface for smartphones. The web interface is turned off and locked down by default – you have to edit the web server’s .hosts file or VLC will disallow all incoming connections from other devices....

Backup and Restore in macOS Catalina and Newer In macOS Catalina, iTunes has been disbanded into multiple apps: Podcasts, TV, and Music. The responsibility of backing up and syncing the iPhone and iPad goes to the Finder app. After connecting your iPhone or iPad to your Mac, open the Finder app. Here, you’ll see your iPhone or iPad in the “Locations” section. Select your device from the sidebar. If this is the first time you’re syncing your iPhone or iPad, you’ll be prompted to trust the device....

Facebook, Twitter, Google, Dropbox, and all the other web services out there can be accessed by various applications and other services. Here’s a couple of links that you can use to quickly remove anything that has access. Your Google Account Perhaps the most important of your accounts is your Gmail or Google account. You can use the following link to see every app and service that has access to your account....

RELATED: USB-RF vs. Bluetooth for Mice and Keyboards: Which Is Better? Connect a USB-RF Mouse A USB-RF mouse connects to your Windows 11 PC via a dongle. In order to connect a USB-RF mouse to your PC, your PC will have to have an available USB-A port (if you don’t have any, consider expanding with a USB hub). The good news is Windows handles most of the setup process for you....

At Photojojo! they have a detailed tutorial outlining how to create a cinemagraph that covers the planning and execution of your image. If you’ve never heard of the process before it’s pretty neat. You take a series of photographs and then, using image editing tools, mask off only the parts of the photo you want to move (like the eyes in the photos sample seen here). Then you blend the photos together and create an animated GIF where in only the small portion of the image actually moves....

Do you get tired of looking at the orange Firefox menu button? Firefox’s interface is completely customizable, so you can change the color, text, and other properties of the Firefox menu button to create your own custom look. To change the appearance of the Firefox menu button, we will be editing the userChrome.css file. This file allows you to change the appearance of any part of Firefox, as well as its functionality....

The Windows Store is a great addition to Windows 8, but in true How-To Geek fashion we are here to show you how to disable it. There are a number of reasons you might want to do this, most notably if you are testing Windows 8 in a corporate environment. Please note that we’re not recommending that you do this. Disabling the Windows Store Press the Windows + R key combination to bring up a run box, type gpedit....

Put a Face to the Name It’s ideal to meet your professor in person before sending off that first email. Introduce yourself during the first week of school. Let your professor know about your interests, your questions, or something else unique to you. Showing that you care enough to get to know them more personally encourages them to respond timely when it comes to your requests. The better impression you leave, the better they can remember you....

We have all been in that awkward situation where you sit down in a meeting room only to have your Windows laptop play the Startup sound. Here’s how to disable it or even enable it if you so choose. RELATED: How to Disable the Startup Sound on Windows 11 How to Disable The Startup Sound in Windows Right-click on your Desktop and choose Personalize from the context menu. When the Personalization control panel applet loads up, click on the Sounds link....

Install Ubuntu’s new web app feature – included by default in the upcoming Ubuntu 12.10 – to see unread email in your messaging menu, control music playing on websites from the sound menu, and more. This feature makes web apps first-class citizens of Ubuntu’s Unity desktop. The preview release supports over 30 websites, including Gmail, Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Angry Birds. Installing Web Apps Integration To install this feature in Ubuntu 12....

How Tinder Messaging Works Unlike with other messaging services, you can only send a message to a Tinder user if you match with them. Tinder doesn’t allow users to send messages to just any user. A match happens when you swipe right on a profile and that profile user also swipes right on your profile. You’re then considered a match and can send messages to each other. How to Message with the Tinder Mobile App On an iPhone or Android phone, you can use the official Tinder app to message your matches....

Locked in an Endless Loop An ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon that’s eating its own tail. If you forget your Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) user’s password, you’ll find yourself locked in an equally unpleasant and endless loop. The first time you launch a newly installed Linux distribution under the WSL, you’re asked to provide a user name and a password. This is your user password....

Ubuntu One lets you easily synchronize files and folders, but it isn’t clear how to sync configuration files. Using Ubuntu One’s folder synchronization options or some symbolic links, you can synchronize configuration files across all your computers. The same method should work with other cloud storage synchronization programs, including Dropbox. It also creates an online backup of your important files, so it’s useful even if you don’t have multiple Ubuntu systems....

There’s no built-in way to take screenshots if your device is using a 2.x version of Android, such as Gingerbread or Froyo. However, you can take screenshots by connecting your Android phone to your computer and using Google’s Android SDK. If you’re using Android 4.0 or later, you can take screenshots by pressing the Volume Down and Power buttons at the same time. if your device is rooted, you can also install one of many screenshot applications from Google Play....

To summarize, you can disable Wi-Fi calling on Android by heading to Settings > Wi-Fi & Network > SIM & Network, choosing your SIM card, and turning off the Wi-Fi Calling option. For detailed instructions with screenshots, please read further. RELATED: What Is Wi-Fi Calling, and Should You Use It? Disable Wi-Fi Calling on Your Android Phone To begin the Wi-Fi calling deactivation process, launch Settings on your Android phone....