How To

How to delete your Google+ account

Google+ is estimated to have hit 20 million users in just three weeks. If you've happily migrated over to your Google+ account and want to delete your Facebook account, Dennis O'Reilly goes over how to deactivate or delete accounts (no, they're not the same).

If, on the other hand, you've tried Google+ and just aren't impressed, we'll show you how to delete your Google+ content without affecting your other Google services. Don't worry; it seems Google has learned its lesson from the Google Buzz fiasco by making it simpler to remove Google+ from your digital life. Here's how:… Read more

How to follow Facebook pages anonymously

Facebook and anonymity don't play well together, for the most part, but only rarely is it a problem. One possible issue is the desire to follow a page without letting friends know you're following. Maybe it's a business, a political organization, or a TV show that you want to keep down-low, at least from one particular FB friend (oh, let's just say it: your mom), but there's probably one or more pages you've resisted following in order to maintain your privacy. There's an easy way to keep abreast of new info without letting … Read more

How to share files of any kind with your Facebook friends

Facebook makes it easy to share a few things: thoughts, links, pictures, and videos. It's not exactly known as a productivity enhancer (quite the opposite), but that doesn't mean you can't get fancy and use it to share other files, like documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more. Filefly is a great free FB app that lets you do all that. Here's how to use it: 

Log in to Facebook and visit the  Filefly app page (or just type "filefly" into the search bar), then click "Use Filefly" and accept the … Read more

How to share your Google+ photos using a Creative Commons license

When it comes to photos on the Web, there are two kinds of sharing: letting others only view your pics, and letting others repost, remix, or otherwise have their way with them. Google+ makes it so you can easily share pictures through Creative Commons licensing, which gives you control over how they may be used by others, if at all. Here's how to do it:

From Google+ (or any other Google site), select "Photos" from the top bar to bring up Picasa. Over in the top right corner, click the Options icon (it looks like a gear), … Read more

How to tweak your Google+ profile

If Google+ is the new Facebook, then it's one of the first places people will go when searching for you online. In fact, Google indexes your Google profile by default, landing it at the top of search results for your name. With all its exposure, it's important that your Google+ profile is pristine. 

With this How To, we'll show you how to tweak your Google profile with privacy settings, photos, and your Twitter feed.

Make multiple phone calls using Gmail

Those of you who use or want to try out Gmail's voice calling feature to make phone calls can now set up multiple calls at the same time.

Unveiled almost a year ago, Gmail's phone call feature lets you make calls to other Gmail users as well as to regular cell phones and landlines. Calls to the U.S. and Canada are free, while calls abroad typically cost a few pennies per minute. The feature even includes video chatting.

Until now, you could only make one phone call at a time. But in a recent update to the … Read more

How to easily maintain secure passwords on your Android device

Knowledge is power, but it's also only the first step--we need to act on what we know. We eat our greens, try to exercise a few days every week, and floss between meals, but too few of us bother with secure passwords (to say nothing of changing them regularly). We know we ought to do so, but it's a pain. Ease the pain of keeping your Android device secure with a few simple tricks. Here's how to get started: 

Since you likely use the same passwords on your computer, start by downloading the Password Hasher extension … Read more

Control who can view your Facebook photos

One of Facebook's best features is sharing photos with family and friends. But indiscriminate sharing of personal photos can be dangerous. Facebook encourages its users to share with everyone, and most of the service's default settings make the information you share available to anyone who stumbles upon your profile.

To manage who can access your Facebook account, click Account in the top-right corner and choose Privacy Settings to view your current settings for sharing in nine categories. The option to let friends of people tagged in your photos view the images is selected by default.

It may be … Read more

Commenting rules: Stay on topic, lay off the ads, watch for spam

Anybody who writes about technology on the Web owes a debt of gratitude to the knowledgeable readers who comment on our posts. Sometimes the comments are more informative than the original post, and they often lead to topics for future posts.

You might think I would object to the negative comments, but I learn more from the critiques than I do from the praises, so please keep the complaints coming. Many CNET readers are serious gearheads, and some of them will always know more about the topic of a particular post than I do. I sincerely appreciate these readers sharing … Read more