How-To - Fresh From Cache

Fresh From Cache 5-Minute Tech Tip card over a clock face, reading: Why did nobody tell me about these shortcuts?

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Five shortcuts I wish somebody had told me about

Five small things your phone and computer have always done. I learned most of them late, and I use every one of them almost daily.

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Your phone says storage is almost full. Don't delete anything yet.

The standard advice is to delete some photos. On the wrong phone, that advice destroys the only copy. Answer one question first.

A black Wi-Fi router with two antennas sitting on a wooden wall shelf.

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Check Your Router's Expiration Date. No Manufacturer Is Required to Tell You It Has One.

Washington spent this month regulating where your router was manufactured. The far more dangerous question is how long anyone will keep patching it, and on that one you are entirely on your own.

Fresh From Cache 5-Minute Tech Tip card with a clock face and the question: Can your phone read the fine print to you?

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Your phone has a magnifying glass

The camera app zooms. The magnifier holds the image still, turns up the contrast, and on an iPhone it will even read the small print out loud.

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You just got scammed. What now?

The hours lost to embarrassment are what turn a bad afternoon into a drained account. Here is the order to work in, and what is actually recoverable.

5-Minute Tech Tip card: Can you make the robocalls stop?

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Make your phone stop ringing for robocalls

Your phone can send robocalls straight to voicemail, or make them say who they are first. Here is the five-minute setup on iPhone, Android, and Samsung.

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How to get a deepfake of you taken down

The full platform-by-platform companion to our deepfake explainer: where the real removal paths are, what each report form actually covers, and what to save before you file anything.

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I lost ten years of photos. Now I print a photo book every January.

Half an hour in January, and a printed book of your whole year shows up at your door. I started because I lost a decade of pictures.

Fresh from Cache 5-Minute Tech Tip: can your phone copy text out of a photo?

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Your phone can copy text out of any photo

The two-minute trick that ends retyping wifi passwords, codes, and recipes off a screen.

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Start using a password manager

One password used everywhere is one key to every lock. A password manager fixes that, and starting is easier than you think.

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Freeze your credit before someone else uses it

Breach notices arrive constantly, and most people answer with credit monitoring. A freeze is the free step that stops new accounts in your name before they open, and almost nobody sets it up.

A person's hand unplugging the yellow network cable from the back of a white Wi-Fi router on a desk.

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Why rebooting your router works, and when it won't

Restarting the router clears out clutter and starts every connection fresh. That fixes most home internet hiccups. When a reboot doesn't work, here's what to do.