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Most of the default settings for your SimpliSafe security system work fine. However, for full customization, you’re better off digging into the settings and changing some things around to meet your needs. Change the Arm/Disarm Delay Whenever you arm your security system, you have one minute (by default) before it actually locks in, which gives you time to leave and lock the door on your way out. Similarly, there’s also a delay whenever a sensor is tripped before the alarm starts sounding....

Bose’s New QuietComfort 45 Noise-Canceling Headphones The new headphones are set to release on September 23rd, and Bose has seemingly packed them with every feature you could need. For active noise cancelation, they come with two modes. First, Quiet comes with improvements that better block midrange frequencies and other outside noise. Then, there’s Aware, which opens up the headphones so you can hear the world around you in a natural way that Bose promises will feel like you’re not wearing headphones at all....

We often talk about “functions” and “formulas” when discussing Microsoft Excel. In fact, some people use them interchangeably. However, there are differences between the two. To help you understand and use what you need, we’ll explain how they’re different. What Is a Function in Excel? A function in Microsoft Excel is a predefined formula. Built behind the scenes of the application, functions allow you to make calculations, formatting, and similar tasks without needing to know operators or programming languages....

As reported to Ars Technica, a group of researchers from ThreatFabric discovered the string of applications that steal bank account credentials and funds from said accounts. “What makes these Google Play distribution campaigns very difficult to detect from an automation (sandbox) and machine learning perspective is that dropper apps all have a very small malicious footprint,” researchers from mobile security company ThreatFabric wrote in a blog post. “This small footprint is a (direct) consequence of the permission restrictions enforced by Google Play....

For How-To Geek, No Blue Screens So Far We’ve been running Windows 11 Insider Preview every day since its release on June 28, 2021. Just over two weeks later, we can report that in our experience, Windows 11 has been very stable on our test hardware. We’ve seen no crashes, no blue screens, no issues with rebooting, and no issues with receiving or applying updates to the Windows 11 preview as they come in from Windows Update....

Dark mode works slightly differently depending on the device, but typically it will change the color of the Quick Settings, the Settings app, and other various menus. But, if you use a light-colored wallpaper, it will still be blinding bright. Enter an app called “Dark Light Mode Scheduler.” The concept behind this app is very simple. You choose a wallpaper for light mode and you choose a wallpaper for dark mode....

By default, Windows 11 doesn’t display any special icons (such as “This PC” or “Recycle Bin”) on your desktop. If you’d like a classic Windows look, you can enable special desktop icons easily. Here’s how to do it. First, right-click an empty spot on the desktop and select “Personalize” in the menu that appears. The Windows Settings app will open to the “Personalization” page. In the list of Personalization categories, select “Themes....

A majority of Apple Arcade games officially support a controller, making an Arcade subscription more fun. Pairing the PS5’s DualSense controller over Bluetooth is straightforward. That said, don’t be surprised if the DualSense controller shows up as the PS4’s DualShock 4 controller on the Apple TV. That’s a minor inconvenience that, hopefully, Apple will fix with a tvOS update. RELATED: What Is Apple Arcade? Here’s Everything You Need to Know...

There are two ways to remove emails from Gmail: “Archive” and “Delete.” When you delete an email, it gets sent to the “Trash,” which is where it stays for 30 days. You can also empty it sooner to immediately free up space. While an “Archived” email is not actually removed, “Deleted” emails do eventually disappear forever. Gmail keeps them in the “Trash” for 30 days just in case you change your mind....

What Is Conversation Boost? Apple doesn’t explain exactly how Conversation Boost works, but the option for the feature explains that the feature focuses on the person talking in front of you, meaning that it likely uses head tracking. Aside from this, Conversation Boost likely works similarly to a prescription hearing aid. This boosts the level of incoming audio in specific frequency ranges (mainly the frequencies of the human voice). This processing keeps the overall volume from going over a specific level, so you don’t need to worry about loud sounds becoming deafening....

Sometimes you’re working on a project and need access to a high-quality version of a Windows 10 application icon, but you can’t find one on the internet. Luckily, a free utility called IconViewer makes it easy to extract a high-quality icon from an application’s EXE file. Here’s how. First, download IconViewer from the developer’s website and install it. It’s important to note that IconViewer doesn’t run in a standalone program window....

While trying to install Windows 10 into a virtual machine so that I could upgrade that virtual machine to Windows 11, I was stopped by the useless error message “Windows cannot find the Microsoft Software License Terms. Make sure the installation sources are valid and restart the installation.” After fiddling around for a while, I was able to find a solution that worked. It turns out that this error message actually means something completely different than what it says: there’s something wrong with this computer....

By default, Word automatically drops text to the next line when there’s a space or hyphen at the end of that line. But what if you want to keep those words containing the space or hyphen together on the same line? With a bit of tweaking to spacing or inserting a manual break, you can certainly make this happen. But there’s another way. We’ll show you how to use nonbreaking spaces and hyphens to keep words together in your Microsoft Word document....

If you need to quickly remove all the images and graphics from a Microsoft Word document, it’s easy to use a built-in option to delete them all at once. Here’s how to do it. How This Image Removal Technique Works Microsoft Word includes a feature called “Find and Replace” to find items in your documents and replace them with something of your choice. Using this feature, you can find all the images in your document and replace them with nothing....

What Is Activation Lock? Activation Lock is a safeguard that locks your Mac to your Apple ID. The feature works in tandem with Apple’s Find My network, and while Find My is enabled on a device it is also secured with Activation Lock. If you haven’t manually disabled Find My, Activation Lock is enabled on your device. The feature prevents your Mac from being used by someone else for as long as Activation Lock is enabled....

If you have a list of values in a text file separated by a character (such as a comma or pipe) but would rather have each item on its own line, you can do the newline conversion automatically in Notepad++. Here’s how. Convert Any Character into a Newline with Notepad++ Notepad++ includes a feature to replace any separator in your text files with a newline character, which is a special invisible character that signifies the end of a line and the beginning of a new one....

What Is the Alexa Energy Dashboard? Alexa’s Energy Dashboard lets you monitor energy usage throughout your home. It tracks energy usage for all types of Alexa-enabled devices, including light bulbs, water heaters, televisions, clocks, and Echo devices. It can also monitor energy usage for non-smart devices connected to your smart plugs, such as ’90s-era televisions and microwaves. How to Access the Alexa Energy Dashboard Open the app and tap “Devices” on the bottom menu bar....

The Initial Setup Apple’s initial setup process is virtually foolproof, so we won’t spend too long walking you through it. The first thing you’ll need to do is unbox your machine and connect it to a power outlet. If you have an iMac, then you’ll also need to connect a Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad. With everything connected and plugged in, it’s time to hit the power button on your Mac....

Game streaming services like Twitch are bigger than ever. Whether you want to let your friends watch you play a game or try to build up a larger audience, streaming is easy. Twitch.tv only supports public streams. If you want to broadcast a private stream to just a few friends, you can try using Steam’s built-in Broadcasting feature, which allows you to restrict game streams to your Steam friends....

Snapchat’s new Snap Map feature is incredibly creepy—it shares your location with all your Friends every time you open Snapchat—and might make you want to consider blocking Snapchat from seeing your location at all. This will affect a few Snapchat features, so let’s look at what you lose. The Features You Lose Obviously, if you turn off location permissions, the Snap Map feature won’t work. If you try to use it, you’ll be prompted to enable location services....