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6 days ago | 
xda-developers.com | Joao Carrasqueira |João Carrasqueira
Setting up my home lab was one of the best projects I have undertaken, and I'm very happy to have this computer at home that can store all my documents, photos, and even media so that I can consume it at any time without relying on the internet or expensive cloud services. But as I started setting up more and more of these services, I realized that it would be a bit inconvenient to remember all the port numbers to access each of them.
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1 week ago | 
xda-developers.com | Joao Carrasqueira |João Carrasqueira
Google Chrome has grown to masively dominate the web landscape. Not only is Google's browser the leading choice in terms of market share, but the open-source project it's built upon — Chromium — is also the foundation for the vast majority of competitors, including Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Vivaldi. The last beacon standing against Google's absolute dominance is Mozilla Firefox, which has its own engine completely independent from Google's development efforts.
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1 week ago | 
xda-developers.com | Joao Carrasqueira |João Carrasqueira
To some extent, we all have a (sometimes irrational) fear that our computer could be spying on us. Not just what we do on the computer, but what we do in front of it. I remember some classmates would tape pieces of paper over their laptop webcams, which always seemed a little paranoid to me. And I was kind of right. The truth is, it's extremely unlikely someone would be able or want to hack into your webcam.
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1 week ago | 
xda-developers.com | Joao Carrasqueira |João Carrasqueira
Customizing your Windows PC is still one of the most fun things you can do with it. Changing the behavior and looks of your PC can make it work better for you, and it's usually worth the effort of setting everything up. Over the years, though, and especially since Windows 10, customizing Windows has become more and more difficult, and the effects you can get out of it have been reduced.
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1 week ago | 
xda-developers.com | Joao Carrasqueira |João Carrasqueira
Cloud storage is an incredibly useful technology that makes it easier than ever to keep copies of your files forever. But it also has a few downsides, including cost, the potential for someone to gain access to your account, or the simple fact that you're trusting a major corporation like Google or Microsoft to keep your data away from prying eyes. And when Microsoft has a list of file types that aren't allowed on OneDrive, you know the company has at least some access to that information.
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1 week ago | 
xda-developers.com | Joao Carrasqueira |João Carrasqueira
When you use something all your life, it can be easy to overlook some of the problems it has. You grow so accustomed to things that they just work how you expect, even if it's not the most technically efficient. I suspect many people go through this with Windows 11, and to help address that, I've compiled a few utilities that can make your Windows experience that much better.
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1 week ago | 
xda-developers.com | Joao Carrasqueira |João Carrasqueira
Stardock's Fences was already one of the coolest apps to improve your desktop workflow on Windows 11. I reviewed Fences 5 a couple of years ago and came away very impressed with what it offers. Today, the company released Fences 6, a new version requiring a paid upgrade that comes with a few big enhancements. Fences 6 adds tab support for fences, and it also brings in some new customization options to make the experience even more your own.
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1 week ago | 
xda-developers.com | Joao Carrasqueira |João Carrasqueira
To some extent, everyone enjoys traveling, and the memories you create while visiting new and old places are something you should cherish for the rest of your life. We live in a time when capturing those memories and saving them for later is easier than ever, but it often comes at a cost. Cloud storage costs can add up, and if you use a service like Google Photos, you're giving Google access to your pictures, which can be used to improve facial recognition and other Photos features.
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2 weeks ago | 
xda-developers.com | Joao Carrasqueira |João Carrasqueira
Ensuring that your system is running smoothly and as expected is important in order to be able to keep doing your work efficiently. Windows comes with a few tools that help you stay on top of these performance metrics, including Task Manager, which I'm sure almost any Windows 11 user is familiar with. But there's another tool you might not know about or checked out before: Performance Monitor.
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2 weeks ago | 
xda-developers.com | Joao Carrasqueira |João Carrasqueira
File management on Windows 11 is something you probably don't think about that often, and you might be fine just using the built-in File Explorer. However, once you start playing around with alternatives, it quickly becomes apparent that this default experience is nowhere near as good as it could be. I've stated before that File Pilot may just be the best file manager for Windows, but once the beta period is over, that app will cost $50 at minimum.
