“HTD Tech Tip” collection
Solve common technical frustrations with quick, actionable “Tech Tips” and expert software workarounds. This series provides fast solutions for optimizing your devices and resolving minor technical glitches in seconds.
HTD Tech Briefs
View all →May 7, 2013
How To Easily Remove, Install & Replace an Apple iPhone 4S Battery (Video)
I'm such a heavy user of my Apple iPhones that it really seems like about a year after I get one, I'm doing a how-to article on replacing the iPhone's battery. I now have an iPhone 4S and this past weekend, I replaced the battery. Other smartphone users may scoff at the fact that Apple has made their hardware quite…
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April 25, 2013
How to Stop CHKDSK from Running on Every Boot Up
Recently, my Windows 7 computer started running a CHKDSK each and every time that it booted up. For those that don't know, the CHKDSK utility is a way that Windows validates the system file structure and integrity of your computer's hard drive. You can scan your hard drive with it or run it with a fix (/f) flag to correct…
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March 18, 2013
How to Remove Little Black Square Paragraph Formatting & Page Break in Microsoft Word
Recently, I received a panicked email from my step-mom wondering why a page break could not be removed from Microsoft Word. Normally, if you click on the "show paragraphs" button (¶), you can see a page break or section break. However, in this case, there was no line signifying a section break or page break when the formatting was revealed.…
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March 13, 2013
How To Fix a Broken iPhone Home Button – A Free & Easy Software Fix
Yesterday I received a panicked call from one of my daughters - "Daddy, my iPhone's home button is broken!" Tears and wailing ensued. But, as with any broken gadget, I was up for the challenge, knowing that I could either replace the iPhone home button myself or figure out some other way to breath a few extra days or weeks…
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March 11, 2013
A Collection of My How-To Articles on GoGrid Cloud Computing
While I spend a lot of time writing articles for HighTechDad during the off hours and in my spare time, my day job as Technology Evangelist for the cloud infrastructure company, GoGrid, allows me to do a lot of other types of articles. These articles tend to focus on the cloud, GoGrid product and service features, How-To's, and reflections on…
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February 5, 2013
How To Change Your iOS Device’s Root & Mobile User Password After Jailbreak and OpenSSH Install
As many of you may know, the latest untethered jailbreak tool for iOS called Envisi0n was released to the general public yesterday (2/4/13). As a consequence, the Cydia installer which manages all of the repositories for 3rd party app that you can install on your jailbroken iOS device was pretty much hammered. Things are coming back to normal now (but…
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January 28, 2013
Apple Posts iOS 6.1 Release – Here’s What’s New & How to Update!
After releasing iOS 6.1 beta 5 to developers this past weekend, Apple released iOS 6.1 to the public today (Monday Jan 28, 2013). Updates can be obtained directly via your iOS update or via iTunes. You can also download the .ipsw directly from Apple. Details on these processes are below. So what is new in this iOS release? Honestly, there…
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January 28, 2013
How To Back Up Your WordPress Blog The Hard and Easy Way (DIY vs. blogVault)
If you are a blogger, probably one of the worst things that can happen to you apart from writer's block is having your blog crash or the server that it is on get corrupted in some way. Technology is imperfect and Murphy's Law always manages to find us one way or another. If suddenly all of your writing and your…
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January 11, 2013
How To Disable Java in Chrome, Firefox, Safari & Internet Explorer on Mac OS or Windows to Prevent 0-Day Exploit
If you have been reading any of the Technical publications online, you will probably know that there is currently an exploit in Java that affects most internet browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer on systems that have Java installed. This is being called a zero-day or 0-day exploit which essentially means that there is a security vulnerability in…
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January 11, 2013
A New Year Means New Security & a Google Nexus 7-Inch Multi-Tablet Twitter Party Giveaway with Trend Micro – #SecureNewYear
I am hoping that this New Year is already off to a great start for all of you, apart from my plumbing issues and a flu-ridden child, our family has been enjoying 2013 thus far. And as most of the celebrations should have died down by now, here's one more that you might want to attend. For the past year,…
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January 9, 2013
iOS Apps & Backups are Hogging Up Your Hard Drive – How To Easily Free Up Disk Space
I don't know about you but I am always looking for ways to clear up my laptop's precious free hard drive space. I have tools that clean caches, temporary files, language files, logs and files in my trash. But I never seem to get ahead of the game. I probably never will but a periodic cleaning is always an important…
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November 25, 2012
How Safe is Online Shopping? Tips to Get Ready for Cyber Monday and Beyond
Personally, I hate shopping. I do though, like the act of giving gifts. There is something always great about spreading joy to friends and family during the holiday seasons. My wife is a bargain hunter and loves the "sport" of the deal hunt. She went missing on Black Friday only to reappear a few hours later with lots of great…
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