Articles about How To

We found out last week that one billion Yahoo accounts were hacked in 2013, only a couple months after we learned about a separate hack, that took place in 2014, which compromised an additional 500 million accounts. Combine that with the 360 million compromised MySpace passwords, 117 million from LinkedIn, 65 million from Tumblr, and 32 million from Twitter, and you can almost guarantee that you or someone you know was affected by the mega-breaches announced in recent months.

Being as most people use the same password over and over, these breaches give hackers access to multiple accounts. In a proactive security screen this fall, Netflix found a number of users whose Netflix passwords were compromised as part of another company’s breach. These instances do not simply let attackers tweet on your behalf; they can affect all of your accounts. How many people use the same password for LinkedIn or Yahoo as they do for their corporate email? An unsettling number.

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As much as I tried not to spill anything on my beloved MacBook Air, last month I knocked over a cup of coffee, getting almost all of it over the keyboard. I feared this would happen, but I did not think it would happen to me. I'm super careful with any coffee, soda or water that I bring to my desk. But, the thing I dreaded the most happened.

There was coffee all over the keyboard, touchpad and the left side of my Mac. It is not a pretty sight, unless you are dying to get a new laptop -- which, really, wasn't the case. Knowing that liquid damage can be the end of it, I quickly powered it off, turned it upside down, and the coffee started to drain from it. With a bit of luck, I knew that I could fix it. And I did. Here is how I did it and what I learned from it.

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In addition to news and reviews, we also regularly publish 'How to' guides here on BetaNews.

These are often very popular and cover a range of topics, software, and services. Taking a look back, as is the tradition at this time of year, I thought it would be good to revisit the most popular guides published in the past 12 months.

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There's lots of information available on how to change the country associated with a Google Play account, but nothing works for me. I have been unable to switch to the US store despite following the recommended methods to the letter. Everything is in order, but when I open the Google Play app on my Android smartphone afterwards I still see my local store. And I am not alone.

For one reason or another, lots of fellow Android users want to change their Google account country to get access to a different Play store, but only few succeed. But I have found a method that actually gets the job done, and it involves Family Library. I have tested it on two different Google accounts and Android devices and, yes, it worked like a charm. Here is what you need to know.

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Your PC suddenly locks up. Nothing responds. The screen turns black. It looks like disaster…

But no. There’s a beep from the speaker, your screen comes back to life, and a message explains that your display driver stopped responding, but had now recovered.

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Just the other day users started to notice that Microsoft was using Windows 10 to push ads for its Edge browser. Already riled by ads for Windows 10 itself and the appearance of app ads in the Start menu, people were soon asking how to stop the unwanted popups.

One suggestion that started doing the round was that simply unpinning Microsoft Edge from the taskbar does the job -- but it doesn’t seem to work for everyone. Here are a few more things you can do to prevent the appearance of Microsoft's ads.

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If you visit Google Play on your computer, you can install apps to any of the Android devices you own. All you need to do is click the Install button and you'll then be presented with a list of your phones and tablets to choose from.

Over the years, you've probably owed a number of Android devices, and it's possible that this list has become a bit unwieldy. Why should you be forced to make a selection when you only have one phone? Here's how to clear up the list and make your life a little easier.

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One of Windows 10’s biggest new features is the inclusion of Microsoft’s personal assistant, Cortana. She can do all sorts of things for you, from searching the web, to setting reminders, and even looking up songs as they play.

You can summon Cortana at any time simply by saying "Hey, Cortana", but if you’d rather call her something different -- "Siri", perhaps, or "Darling", or "Ava" -- it’s possible to give her a name change. This is how.

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Things can go awry with any computer from time to time, and getting things back to normal is often just a matter of knowing the right trick. With a Mac, resetting NVRAM is a quick fix for a number of issues, and Apple has changed the way you go about doing this with the late-2016 MacBook Pro models.

One of the reasons for the change is that these latest models do not feature the startup sound, so timing the required key presses is a slightly different matter now. Here's what you need to do.

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If you've updated Chrome on your Android smartphone to version 54, you may have noticed an annoyance. When you open a new tab, Google has now decided to spam users with "article suggestions". These -- you will be pleased to hear -- can be banished.

There's more than one reason that you might want to get rid of these suggestions, not least of which is that the feature involves Google keeping an eye on the sites you visit to come up with the suggestions. But the feature also replaces the far more useful bookmarks, and this is going to be enough to tip many users over the edge. Here's how to disable article suggestions.

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Linux 4.0 introduced a wonderful feature for those that need insane up-time -- the ability to patch the kernel without rebooting the machine. While this is vital for servers, it can be beneficial to workstation users too. Believe it or not, some home users covet long up-time simply for fun -- bragging rights, and such.

If you are an Ubuntu 16.04 LTS user (with generic Linux kernel 4.4) and you want to take advantage of this exciting feature, I have good news -- it is now conveniently available for free! Unfortunately, this all-new Canonical Livepatch Service does have a catch -- it is limited to three machines per user. Of course, home users can register as many email addresses as they want, so it is easy to get more if needed. Businesses can pay for additional machines through Ubuntu Advantage. Want to give it a go? Read on.

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With Windows 10, Microsoft has encouraged users away from the Control Panel in favour of the newer Settings. This is fine for many things, but there are still times when the Control Panel is needed.

In recent builds of Windows 10, the Control Panel shortcut has vanished from the Win + X menu (which can also be accessed by right clicking the Start button), leaving some people perplexed about how to change certain settings. Thankfully, there is a way to get the shortcut back in the latest Insider builds.

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There are a number of benefits to being a Windows Insider, the primary one being that you gain access to the latest features before anyone else. If you're running build 14936 of Windows 10, there's a new option available that will be of interest to many people -- the ability to remove built-in apps.

It's something that Windows 10 users have been looking for for some time, and it's not quite clear why it has taken Microsoft so long to make the option available. The good news is that it is now possible to remove some of the default apps that you simply do not need; the bad news is that there are still some that remain untouchable.

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Apple is doing something out of the ordinary. Shortly after launching macOS Sierra, it started to automatically download the latest version of the operating system onto Mac devices. This is great if you want to upgrade to macOS Sierra now, but annoying if you planned to wait a bit longer to make sure all the major kinks are ironed out, or want to forgo the upgrade altogether.

Fortunately, it is very easy to close the door shut on any attempts to push the large setup file onto your device. All that you need to do to prevent macOS Sierra from automatically downloading on your Mac is to disable automatic updates.

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Windows 10 Anniversary Update introduced a cool dark theme to the operating system, transforming the look of the user interface.

It’s a fairly global theme -- it affects much of the UI, although not all elements of it. File Manager, for instance, keeps the light look.

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