For example if you don’t want to support Nicki Minaj, just block them. Click the three dots next to their name and click “Don’t play this artist”

Whether it be utilities, government, credit card, etc.

When the computer says “in a few words, describe your problem.” At that point, I start speaking gibberish. Something like “Allgligblrrblrryie” The machine will ask you to repeat a couple more times and finally will say “I’m having a hard time understanding you. Let Me transfer you to a live agent.”

This has worked for me 100% of the time

There have been few scandals around the world over the years but I guess people forget and there are a lot of young people who were not around and now they are adults.

If you want to share a pdf but hide some private information (your address, your salary, whatever) you CANNOT edit the pdf with a black box or a scribble over the part you want to hide. PDF works in layers, and your scribble is simply on a different layer but the text is still all there.

Everyone can still select the “hidden part”, copy and paste and reveal the information.

Ways to really remove information from a pdf:

1. If you pay for acrobat (so NOT Reader) you can of course actually delete the text.
2. If you don’t have edit software, you can take screenshots of your document and then scribble the images. JPG and PNG images don’t save separate layers so the information underneath is lost. Like it would be on a physical paper. In a pinch, you can simply share the document as a set of images.
3. If you’re a bit tech savvy, you can save the pdf as multiple images, edit the images, and then collate them back into a single pdf, with the information you didn’t want to share truly gone. GPT can also teach you how do this.

If you want to see what I mean I made an example pdf:

https://files.catbox.moe/fmzhru.pdf

Edit to add:

Some people claim “print as pdf” flattens the pdf.

I read all comments and some people say it works (it “flattens” the pdf) some say it doesn’t.

Some even said you can “unflatten” pdfs.

My guess is that each implementation is different so I won’t trust this solution. I tested on iOS and it does NOT flatten the pdf.

I’ll stick to what I’m 100% sure works.

PDF -> PNG -> PDF

Edit2: since this keeps coming up in the comment (just print as pdf to flatten the layers) someone in the comment said

Just for clarity - Microsoft print as pdf will flatten the image. Print to pdf from Adobe, often standard after installing their software, doesn't usually do this.

Do you have a shitty laptop that runs real slow and you hate using? One that tempts you every time you open it to buy another wildly expensive MacBook or 2-in-1 tablet/laptop hybrid or (God forbid) a Chromebook? Before you pull that trigger, might I suggest that with a wee bit of tinkering, and maybe like $100 (less if you can find an e-waste place to salvage parts from), you can get that old clunky thing up to speed for pretty much anything except gaming?

Here's what you need

• SATA or M.2 SSD
• Laptop RAM (SODIMMs)
• 16GB USB drive
• Linux Mint (optional, but it's absolutely worth learning just a little imo and runs so good on old hardware)

The SSD will probably be the most expensive part but tbh any old cheap SATA one will work (UPDATE you can buy a decent SATA SSD for like $60), especially if the old laptop in question already has an HDD and you aren't sure if it has an M.2 slot. Laptop RAM can be salvaged pretty easy from other laptops, or you can buy PC3/PC4 SODIMMs taken from other old laptops online pretty cheap (UPDATE you can buy new SODIMMs online for like $17). Make sure they match size (GB), brand, and speed (a lot of them are 2400). Also confirm if the RAM already in the laptop are PC4 or PC3-- you can't usually put different types than the mobtherboard supports. I recommend getting two 8GB sticks. Confirm that the old laptop you have has two RAM slots, bc otherwise you'll need a 16GB stick.

Then, all you'll need to do is open up the laptop (a screwdriver and a plastic pry tool will do the job, and a lot of older laptops have removable panels for swapping RAM & drives-- those iFixit electronic tool kits are super handy though), identify where the RAM goes, remove the HDD, and plug in the new stuff. YouTube is your best friend here if you're unsure but I swear to you replacing RAM and drives is so easy once you know how it's done.

After that, put it back together, and on another PC, download Ventoy and use it to create a bootable USB drive. Download the Windows Media Creation Tool and get a Win10 .iso, slap it on the Ventoy drive. Alternatively, do the same thing with a Linux distro (Mint is very easy). You can actually just put both on there if you want. Plug in the USB. Mash Enter, Delete, F5, whatever to get into BIOS. Arrow-key over to the Boot section, then the Boot Priority menu. Move the USB drive to the top of the list. Reboot. Select the .iso you want to install, and follow the instructions for the respective OS. There might be some issues you could run into like changing other BIOS settings, again, Google is your best friend, but for me a lot of it has to do with disabling Secure Boot/Quick Boot or enabling UEFI BIOS. Still, boom. Brand new laptop if it goes smooth. Activate Windows with the Microsoft Activation Scripts project on GitHub.

Now, I know, this seems like a lot. I do think my experience makes me a bit biased to how easy this process is, and things can definitely go wrong. I wish there were more people out there who could do this for their relatives/friends who are less technically inclined, because there are so many perfectly good laptops going in the garbage all the time. When Windows 10 goes out of service, ridiculous numbers of Lenovo ThinkPads from the early-mid-2010's are gonna go to the dump and it sucks. But if you're up for a lil project, you'd be surprised at how well this works for how little it costs

Edit: somebody mentioned backing your shit up. do it before doing any of this if you have anything on your laptop you care about lol

Edit 2: I'm aware there are some "devices that aren't worth saving" but I still think it's a good learning opportunity for relatively little risk! Most SODIMMs you can get for dirt cheap, like $17, and you can get decent SSDs for less than $100-- I vastly overestimated the price of an upgrade like this lol, especially if you can source some of the parts from e-waste. Even if it turns out to not work, the SSD is very useful still and you can put it in an enclosure and turn it into a portable drive. The point of the post is to maybe think a little bit more creatively about what you can do with your old devices before throwing them away or trying to get a decent profit from selling it! At the end of the day, do what you wanna do lol, I personally have fun seeing what old shit can turn out to be usable. It's also worth noting there may be security vulnerabilities with older hardware, so definitely be careful!

I used to get 20+ robocall a day. Ever since I started doing this it's dropped to only 1-2 per week.

DON'T LET THE CALLER KNOW YOU HAVE AN ACTIVE LINE!

The best thing is to not answer unknown phone Numbers numbers and make everyone leave a voicemail. But that's not always possible.

If you have to answer, avoid saying trigger words that let the caller's system know you are there. They listen for phrases like "hello", "what do you want?" and "stop calling me". This tells the calling system's ai that there is a person on the other end which then triggers multiple future phone calls.

Try this instead:

Answer the phone and don't say anything for a second or two. Listen to see if there's another person on the other end. If there is, you are likely in the clear. If it's a robot you will hear emptiness, static, or random sounds. You may even hear the robot talking already.

If you aren't sure if it's a human or robocall make some kind of noise indicating that you've picked up the phone (cough, breathe deeply/loudly, drop a pen, whistle, type on your keyboard, etc) Do something that sounds human. Robots don't listen for these noises and thus can't distinguish an active line vs static. But, if there's a human on the other end it will sound like you left your phone in your pocket and they'll say hello.

I am using an older MacBook Pro to build an app (circa 2016, because I’m poor), and it gets HOT sometimes. Like I don’t know how this laptop is still alive hot, then it slows way down.

My easy trick to solve this that everyone has on hand: place your laptop on an upside down metal cookie sheet. Acts a giant heatsink and works much better than your desktop (or legs, still waiting for the leg cancer to get me).

Of course you can also buy one of those fancy fan platforms on Amazon, but this is much cheaper, and better for the environment!

Just learned this after 20 years of coding, thought I’d share my totally amazing revelation.

Edit: from the comments, this only works well if you have a solid metal laptop bottom with a cookie sheet that makes contact with the metal bottom (sits between any nubs).

Use the YYYY.MM.DD format for dates in Excel or when naming filenames. That way you can sort them numerically and the dates will still be sequential.

YYYY-MM-DD works too. YYYY/MM/DD won’t work with filenames.

It's on the right side of the page under the "about" section. That's where the downloads are.

Edit: releases section. It's not a tab.

Police can use your prints or your Face ID without a warrant. They cannot force you to enter the code. To disable biometric ID on an iPhone press the power and a volume button concurrently for about two seconds.

Scammers are now using AI tools to clone voices of family members, coworkers, or even bosses. All they need is a short audio clip (like from a TikTok, podcast, or voicemail), and they can generate a fake “urgent call” asking for help or money. These calls feel very real the voice sounds just like your spouse, your child, or your friend. That’s what makes them so dangerous.Even a quick double-check can prevent a major financial or emotional scam.....

I use this i.e. for gaming. Usually I would use an alternative mail account but then I randomly found this out and felt like sharing. Is this commonly known?

Most people try to dig through the "Event Viewer," which is a nightmare to read.

​Instead, just hit the Windows key and type "Reliability".

​Open "View reliability history".

​You’ll see a graph with red "X" symbols for every day your computer had an issue.

​Click on a specific day, and it will tell you exactly which program crashed or which Windows update caused the conflict.

​It’s the fastest way to find out if your "blue screen" was caused by a specific driver or just a buggy app you installed yesterday. It turns "My computer is broken" into "Oh, this specific update failed.

The rule is that every 20 minutes you need to stand up and look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds, while blinking 20 times.

This will greatly reduce eye strain from your monitor. You can also throw in something like 20 squats or calf raises to get the blood moving in your legs.

This will protect your privacy and allow you to use other software that doesn’t get turning off by the test monitoring software.

UPDATE TO ADD

I'm aware of cloud storage and other options, this was meant to be a quick-desperate option if needed before cloud option and/or additional options were available.

If you email was [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]), if your friend sends an email to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]), it will go to the same inbox.

This is useful if you want to sign up for multiple accounts on the same website, but they only allow 1x email per account. You can now create two accounts on the same inbox.

Just bought my son his first gaming laptop. When checking out, there was the Windows 11 version of the exact same device for about $100 more. I declined, for a few reasons, and chose the Windows 10 version. As I'm setting up the computer for the first time it offers me the ability to upgrade it to Windows 11 for free anyway. So, even if you want to use Windows 11, buy the Windows 10 version and upgrade for free.

You can use this to get multiple “x% off you first order” offers, creating new accounts when you can’t recover your old one, and more. I used this recently when my pharmacy insisted I already had an account but wouldn’t let me recover it.

If you’ve been following the 3-2-1 backup rule for your photo library, you’ve been good — Santa probably brought presents 😁 If not, a reminder that offline backups (ideally two) are essential for keeping your digital memories secure. Remember that syncing isn't the same as backup - so if you sync your phone and computer that's NOT a backup.

Below is a quick primer for Mac / iCloud users, but PC / Windows users also need to do something similar:

For Apple users: You’ll need external storage — either an external hard drive (Mac OS Extended / Journaled) or an SSD (APFS).

• When originals are on your Mac: If you don’t use iCloud Photos, or use it with “Download Originals to this Mac”, it's very easy. Either use Time Machine, or periodically copy your Photos Library file to an external drive.
• When originals are in iCloud: If you use Optimize Mac Storage setting, the full-resolution originals are stored in iCloud, so Time Machine and direct copy method cannot be used. Backing up is a little more involved, but still very doable:

- Apple’s native method: Create a new Photos library on external drive > Set it as the system photo library > Turn on iCloud Photos and select Download Originals. This downloads your entire library to (may take hours or days). Afterwards, switch back to your original library and re-sync everything.

- Apple Privacy portal method: Log in to privacy.apple.com > select "Get a copy of your data" > select iCloud Photos. The process can take several days, but you'll receive a full dump of all your photos as several zip files.

- Third-party apps: Export the Photos library directly to external drive or NAS, into folders. More efficient and easy, but not free.

Whichever method you choose, do back up. It's a very worthwhile (and very achievable) New Year Resolution.

Apple's Look Around and Google's Streetview are great, but you might not want your property visible on it for whatever reason. You can request blurring on both systems and it takes only a few minutes.

Apple Maps' process is very easy. An email to [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) with a request was all it took for me. How our property looks in Apple's Look Around and Google Streetview now (Apple's is very Minecrafty!)

Google Maps is a bit more involved.

1. Find your address in Google Maps
2. Click "Report a problem"
3. Select the appropriate choices in the "Request Blurring" options.

Apple took a couple of days, Google a bit longer.

Edit: for those who seem so against this, please post your home's full address in the comments. (Joking, duh.)