If you happen to have a number of .docx files in your Mac and would like people to only have read access to them, the best way is to convert them to PDF format so others can access them without having to install an office suite. While there are multiple ways to convert a DOCX file to PDF, the most convenient and fastest way is described below. The reason I call it the fastest way is because it only requires right-clicking on the DOCX file....

The good thing about Format Junkie is that it supports a good variety of file formats where you can convert from one to another. Audio – mp3, mp2, wav, ogg, wma, flac, m4r, m4a, aac Video – avi, ogv, vob, mp4, flv, 3gp, mpg, mkv, wmv Image – jpg, png, ico, bmp, svg, tif, pcx, pdf, tga, pnm ISO – iso, cso Installation Format Junkie is hosted on Launchpad, so Ubuntu (and any other Ubuntu based distro) users can easily install it....

Did you know that there’s an easier way to mount your secondary hard drive on Linux? It’s an easy process that just involves a few, simple edits to the fstab file on your system. Determining drive information Before you can set up your second hard drive, you’ll need to determine some information about it. This can be easily done by opening a terminal and entering the command below. You’ll notice that entering this command prints out some detailed information on the storage drives connected to your machine....

1: What Is SSD Caching? When your programs load up, your computer must read their data from the hard drive. This is a process that may take a long time, mostly due to the fact that the hard drive is still the same mechanical, clunky piece of hardware it was back in the early 70s, only it doesn’t take up an entire desk anymore. Obviously, a device with no moving parts and ultra-fast flash memory will trump the hard drive....

Built-in Shortcut One of the fastest ways to look up a word definition on a Mac is built right into the software. It’s as easy pressing Command + Control + D on your keyboard. Whatever word is currently beneath the mouse cursor will have a pop-up appear with the definition(s). There are some caveats to this process, as it doesn’t work everywhere. On most browsers, it should work across the Web, but sites like Google Docs are seemingly excluded from the function....

FeedSquares is a Google Chrome extension that shows your Google Reader feeds in a beautiful feed wall. Each square on the wall represents a single feed and the first image from each feed is used as the background for each square. The result is a visually stunning photo wall. When you click on a square (or feed), the article list from the feed will appear as a scrolling (horizontally) panel at the bottom of the wall....

FreeNAS and Unraid are two popular options, but it can be tough to figure out which one is best for you. There are a few factors that make it easier to choose which one to use. Pricing FreeNAS is free, both in terms of price and in that it’s open source. The project is based on the FreeBSD operating system, and its source code is freely available on GitHub. If you’re using FreeNAS for a business, commercial support is available via TrueNAS, the project’s enterprise version....

This is where GalliumOS comes in. It’s a specialized Linux distribution based on Ubuntu for Chromebooks only. Is it worth using? Let’s find out! What Makes GalliumOS Special? If you’ve bought a Chrome device explicitly to modify it and replace the operating system, you’re left with only a few options to choose from. Not to mention these Linux distros are not made with Google-designed hardware in mind, so even if you do get Ubuntu, Arch or any of the others installed, good luck getting it to work 100% perfectly....

Whether you just want to take a peek at your email or check your Facebook for new updates, multitasking is simply an unavoidable option. Luckily, you don’t have to fiddle with your mouse to keep clicking back and forth through your windows and tabs. If you use Firefox, you can install an add-on called Tab Notifier (only works for Windows and Linux). This add-on notifies you of any new activity from a webpage, including email and social media apps....

Multi-Touch Gestures The first big change is Multi-Touch Gestures. This is a feature that definitely seems like it was ported directly from iOS. More often than not, people own laptops instead of desktop computers, and because of that, people are more apt to be using a trackpad than a mouse. For people who use the iPhone and iPad, doing Multi-Touch Gestures is an easier adjustment. For me, I still struggle going back and forth between the iPad and MacBook, automatically expecting both to be Touch Screen....

About Arch Arch does not come as a complete, all-in-one pre-built shiny desktop OS. This is on purpose. The idea behind Arch is that upon installation, you’ve got a fast, light, minimal OS to use as the base to make your own shiny desktop. If you don’t like the idea of putting together your own version of what Linux should be like, then Arch may not be for you. Installation The Arch website provides torrent links here....

How Digital Cameras Work Digital cameras are found on many devices in this day and age. Webcams, smartphones, camera phones, wrist watches, and even some pens have such mechanisms attached to them. The digital camera owes its success to its ability to fit in almost anything that people use daily. But what’s behind a digital camera? Is there some magic going on? The digital camera is basically a piece of hardware with a light sensor chip, known as a Complementary Metal Semiconductor (CMOS), a couple of filters, a digital or mechanical shutter, and a set of lens....

Do You Use Your Phone in The Bathroom? This is an important question because if you take your phone to the porcelain throne, you may be in danger of more than just dropping it in the toilet. According to a report by LiveScience, your phone could contain up to 10 times more bacteria than your toilet. And if you take it with you to the toilet, you could be swiping the germs that come from it onto your screen....

Let’s discuss how these technologies are changing gaming and what effects they’re going to have on the wider tech world. What Are HD Rumble and Haptic Feedback? “HD rumble” is really just Nintendo’s term for the form of haptic feedback they’re using in their latest JoyCon controllers for the Nintendo Switch. Industry-wide, this term is called “haptic feedback,” and haptics have been a part of technology for time immemorial. Haptic feedback is basically using force and vibration to simulate a sense of touch or add extra interactivity with a device or application....

But with mobile devices, it’s different. The ones that are “built in” are less than ideal sometimes, and it leaves users looking for alternate choices like keyboard apps that allow you to “slide” instead of tapping characters and hardware keyboards that can extend a tablet to simulating a laptop. We asked a few of our writers, “How important are keyboards to your mobile experience?” Our Opinion Trevor feels they’re pretty important and that the “quality” of the keyboard is important as well....

How the App Locker works? After you have installed the app locker, you will be able to choose which apps you want to protect and the unlock mode (password, pin or pattern). What the app does is to continuously monitor the running apps and see which one is freshly opened. If it fits the apps in the protect list, the app locker will intercept and show a challenge screen for you to unlock the app....

Some users may prefer to have a couple of essential applications start up with Windows upon booting. You can resolve all these peculiar needs in a few simple steps in Windows 10. This article will show how to create a custom startup app list. Identify and Disable Apps that You Don’t Need To modify the list of custom apps, you must first identify the unnecessary apps that take up your startup time....

If you want to be able to add notes and save webpages at the same time, a Chrome extension called AnnoPad is a great solution. AnnoPad allows you to save a webpage and add lengthy notes along with it, making it easier for you to remember some details about a certain website without having to open it. It’s also ideal for long annotations, as the tool acts just like a notepad, allowing you to type as many lines as you want with ease....

Add Language Packs in Windows 10 Microsoft created a dedicated page within the Windows 10 Settings app to quickly manage language packs and change the Windows display language. As such, adding language packs in Windows 10 is just a few clicks away. First, open the Settings app by clicking on the Notification icon and then on the “All Settings” button. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Win + I. In the Settings app go to “Time and Language -> Language....

1. WriteRoom for Mac There are many applications out there that allow you to type up some words into a story, many of them are free. What sets WriteRoom apart from the rest is the ability to help you stay focus. Writing a story isn’t necessarily a walk in the park, but WriteRoom makes the workplace less distracting by giving you a blank canvas to write out your work. This doesn’t mean that WriteRoom skimps on the key features....