You have read a hundred of these
You’re right to be sceptical. Most tech advice online is written by people who assume you already know half the terms, or by companies pushing their own products. We don’t do that.
Every guide here starts with the problem you’re actually facing—not the one some forum moderator decided was ‘basic enough’ to ignore.
We test every command, every workaround, and every ‘fix’ in a real workflow, not a sterile lab. If a solution only works if you’re willing to reboot your system three times or edit a file you’ve never seen before, we’ll tell you.
And if there’s a simpler way that doesn’t involve memorising obscure flags, we’ll find it.
This isn’t about sounding clever. It’s about giving you the exact steps that work the first time, even if that means admitting when the ‘official’ method is overcomplicating things.
It’s not that we’re hiding anything—it’s that the answers you find are usually either too vague or too deep, like a manual written for a computer engineer instead of someone who just wants their printer to stop jamming.
Anyone can write that they test things
Testing isn’t a checkbox. For troubleshooting guides, we simulate the same error on three identical machines, then document what fails on the fourth.
For reviews, we put hardware through its paces: a keyboard gets typed on for 12 hours straight; a monitor’s colour accuracy is checked against a calibrated reference; a laptop’s battery life is tracked until it drops below 20%—then we do it again with Wi-Fi on.
We throw out anything that doesn’t hold up. If a ‘fix’ for a driver issue works on one Windows build but crashes another, it’s rewritten. If a productivity tip only shaves 10 seconds off a task, it’s not worth writing.
And if a piece of hardware fails before its rated lifespan, we say so—no manufacturer sponsorships, no exceptions.
The process isn’t fast. A single review can take 15 hours to complete, and we’ve spent entire weekends chasing down why a specific Linux distro’s package manager behaves differently from the docs. But that’s the point: we’re not writing for the average user’s *hope*—we’re writing for their reality.
We run every guide through at least three different setups—Windows, Linux, and macOS—before it’s published, and we keep a log of which versions of software, drivers, and OS updates break what.
About the author
Warren Gallagher is the founder and editor of *Screen Tips*, and he still flinches when he sees the `DEL` key on a keyboard.
The rules we work by
- 1No shortcuts for you
Every command, script, or ‘pro tip’ is written to work the first time, even if that means including the full path to a binary or explaining why you shouldn’t use `sudo` for this one thing. Cutting corners isn’t a feature—it’s a bug.
- 2Admit when it’s broken
If a method only works on one OS, or if a piece of software is actively harmful (looking at you, certain ‘optimisation’ tools), we’ll say so up front. No sugarcoating failures—just facts. This costs us readers who want easy answers, but it keeps the site useful.
- 3Assume the reader knows nothing
We define every jargon term on first use, even if it feels obvious. Skipping basics isn’t patience—it’s laziness. This slows down writing, but it means a guide on `chmod` won’t leave you Googling ‘what’s an octal permission?’ halfway through.
- 4No free samples from vendors
We’ve turned down hardware loans, software beta access, and ‘exclusive’ previews that came with strings attached. The moment a review or tutorial starts reading like a press release, it gets rewritten—or scrapped. This loses us access to new tech early, but it means our recommendations aren’t just thinly veiled ads.
- 5Fix it before you write it
If we can’t resolve an issue ourselves—like a driver conflict or a misbehaving app—we won’t write about it until we can. This means some guides take weeks to research, and some never get written. But if it’s on this site, it’s because we’ve made it work, not just documented how to suffer through it.
Breaking one of these rules isn’t a firing offence—it’s a red flag. If a guide skips a step because ‘it’s obvious,’ or if a review glosses over a flaw because ‘most users won’t notice,’ the whole piece gets rewritten. The cost isn’t just time; it’s trust.
Once a reader realises we cut corners, they won’t come back.
This will not be right for everyone
Close this page now if you’re looking for clickbait headlines like ‘10 Keyboard Shortcuts That Will Make You a Productivity God.’ This isn’t a list of hacks—it’s a collection of solutions that actually fit into a real workflow, even if that means admitting some tools are overkill for 90% of users.
You should also leave if you want fluff pieces about ‘the future of tech’ or ‘how to think like a programmer.’ We don’t cover spec sheets, industry trends, or abstract concepts.
What you’ll find here is the opposite: the gritty, specific details that turn a ‘maybe it’ll work’ into a ‘yes, it does.’
You could just be told what you want to hear
We could write that every Linux distro is ‘fast and secure,’ or that Windows updates never break anything, or that Apple products just ‘work.’ But that’s not how tech actually behaves.
Instead, we’ll tell you which distro’s package manager is faster for your use case, why that Windows update bricked your printer, or how to recover when Apple’s ‘seamless’ update turns your Mac into a paperweight.
Worth telling us
- The exact error message that appears when a ‘simple’ fix goes wrong—and how to undo it.
- Why a ‘recommended’ software tool is secretly phoning home, even in its free version.
- The one setting you *shouldn’t* change in a tutorial, because it’ll make your system unusable until you reset it.
The guides are grouped by category: App, Coding, Hardware, Operating System, Outlook and Review.