What Is a "Bifacial" Solar Panel (And Should You Buy One?)

What Makes Bifacial Panels Different? As the name suggests, “bifacial” panels can absorb sunlight from both sides. How Much More Power Do They Make? That is, highly-reflective surfaces like metal or snow. It also makes them nicer to look at than traditional panels, but admittedly, that’s pretty subjective. Add to that the extra hardware and materials like glass, and it all adds up. So that hardware increases the complexity of the installation, and might not work for some people....

August 11, 2024 · 1 min · 109 words · Rebecca Rose

You Can Build a Simple To-Do List App in Python, Here's How

Python is a versatile language, and even beginners can design and implement something cool with only basic knowledge. Basic Python Concepts By now, you should knowwhat Python isand how it works. User Input and Output User Input and output are the core of our app. Jason Montoya / How-To Geek Lists are just collections of other data types. To keep things simple, we’re just using words (strings) to define our tasks....

August 11, 2024 · 2 min · 349 words · Lori Myers

10 Basic Windows Commands for Beginners

Quick Links Do you ever feel like navigating your Windows system is like a never-ending scavenger hunt? You click through endless menus and folders, just trying to find that one file or setting. That’s where these commands come in. Hannah Stryker / How-To Geek Its like having a secret shortcut to get things done faster. All the commands listed in this article can be used in both Command Prompt and PowerShell....

August 10, 2024 · 3 min · 489 words · Brandy Fletcher

6 Ways to Improve Your Microsoft Word Formatting

Many of the screenshots below containnon-printing characters, such as o, , and . However, pressing Enter twice can lead to issues down the line. Instead, use Microsoft Word’s paragraph prefs to force the program to create that space for you. In this example, we have typed the numbers manually. Instead, you should useWord’s built-in multilevel list creator. The best way to start a new page is to useWord’s built-in Page Break....

August 10, 2024 · 1 min · 151 words · Thomas Knapp

Everything You Need to Know About Animations and Transitions in PowerPoint

In this article, we’ll run through the nuts and bolts of these useful PowerPoint tools. What Are Animations? For example, you might apply an entrance animation to some text, followed by an emphasis animation. What Are Transitions? Before you add any animations, click “Animation Pane” in the Animations tab on the ribbon. Now, choose the item you want to animate. Then, choose the down arrow in the Animations tab, and choose the appropriate effect....

August 10, 2024 · 1 min · 194 words · Jeremy Johnson

GitHub is the Best Place for Free and Open Source Software

Lots of it is 100% free, and some of it is absolutely top-tier. However, because it’s made for developers, it’s not exactly user-friendly. Here’s how to find your way around. How to Find (Reputable!) Free Software Searching for “free” apps on the internet can be perilous. Now you’re ready to start searching. Some developers, however, do provide packaged code, either on GitHub, or on their own websites. You just have to find it!...

August 10, 2024 · 1 min · 103 words · John Lang MD

I Finally Paid for the Paprika App, and I Regret Not Doing It Sooner

Quick Links There are hundreds of recipe apps available in the App Store and Play Store. Despite all the glowing reviews, the paid full version kept me from giving it a fair chance. Boy, was that a mistake. Joe Fedewa / How-To Geek What Does Paprika Do? The killer feature of Paprika is the ability to convert an online recipe into an easy-to-read traditional recipe format. Long blog posts with SEO spam like “What is Flour?...

August 10, 2024 · 1 min · 210 words · Tom Gomez

My Setup for a Better File Browsing Experience on Windows

The search is as broken as ever. Im still waiting for bulk renaming, file locks, a bookmarks bar, or secure deletion. Panes have limited file previews and organization is bare bones. Lets fix it all. Thats why looking up files in Explorer can take such a long time. On occasion, I have manually located a file faster than Explorer search. Thats why I switched toEverything. Everything is an incredibly lightweight and fast search engine....

August 10, 2024 · 4 min · 735 words · Miguel Rogers

Nanoleaf Essentials Smart Multicolor Outdoor String Lights Review: These Are Cool

Illuminate your outdoor spaces with these Smart Matter-enabled Multicolor Outdoor String Lights. The Value of Outdoor String Lights The thing that elevates an outdoor space is the mood lighting. I recently wandered down an aisle of a retail store with dozens of string light choices. Tyler Hayes / How-To Geek There were small bulbs and big bulb options with different shapes with varying lengths. The prices were reasonable, mostly under $50, but none of them were smart....

August 10, 2024 · 2 min · 416 words · Sean Olson

The Best NAS Devices of 2024

Here’s a look at which products stand out from the pack. However, not all NAS devices are built to the same standards. Checking system compatibility is also important. With that in mind, here are the best NAS devices of 2024. But this should be more than enough firepower for most home applications or small businesses. A big selling point is the Synology DiskStation Manager software. If you already own a DS220+, then you may not need to upgrade to the DS224+....

August 10, 2024 · 2 min · 323 words · John Thompson

The CrowdStrike Outage Reminds Me of Y2K All Over Again

This problem was supposed to be the source of massive computer outages worldwide. How ironic was it that I’d see shades of Y2K all over again on a random Friday morning? The date problem was pervasive and not just limited to ancient systems. Because earlier systems used a two-digit year format, newer onesadopted the same format for compatibility. Millions of users around the world woke up to their machines blue-screening....

August 10, 2024 · 2 min · 364 words · Cindy Anderson

This Browser Extension Allowed Me to Switch Away From Safari

However, that largely changed when the iCloud Passwords extension from Chrome became available for Mac users. It’s a must-have, even for people who still primarily use Safari. Besides the way Arc handles bookmarks and favorites, I have very little to complain about. This utility allows my phone and desktop passwords to stay synced and up-to-date. TheiCloud Passwords extensionis freely available in the Chrome web store. It actually debuted for Windows and then became available on Mac afterward....

August 10, 2024 · 1 min · 170 words · Vincent Holden

What Is Personally Identifiable Information and How Do You Protect It?

Here’s what you’re able to do to protect your PII. What is Personally Identifiable Information? Personally identifiable information isanyinformation that can be used to figure out who you are. With just one data point somebody can know who you are. Think about things like yourIP addressor your birthdate. However, it should be clear that these puzzles are a lot easier to solve than you may think. Photon photo /Shuttterstock This lets you assume an IP address associated with the VPN service instead of your own....

August 10, 2024 · 1 min · 152 words · Gregory Thompson