Windows 8: How to Open PowerShell

Windows PowerShell is an administrative tool that utilizes command line functions. This tutorial describes how to open the PowerShell in Windows 8.

1. Right-click on the taskbar.
2. Go to the Navigation tab.
3. In the Corner navigation, check the third box. This replaces the command prompt with PowerShell when you right-click on the start button.
4. Right-click on the start button and select Windows PowerShell.

Windows 8: How to Open Command Prompt

The command prompt is useful for performing command line functions. This tutorial describes how to open the command prompt, also known as cmd, in Windows 8.

1. Navigate to the desktop.
2. Right-click on the start button.
3. Select either Command Prompt or Command Prompt (Admin).
4. The command prompt will appear.

How to Choose a Blog Site

There are many different websites to start a blog from. This tutorial goes over the various sites and what each one offers, as well as which one is best for you. The numbers don't indicate any particular order.

1. Blogger. All purpose. Google's blogging service is a good all-around one. It can be used for professional and causal purposes. It is highly customizable, offers unlimited storage, and shows up quickly in Google search results.
2. WordPress. Professional. This one is on the professional side. It offers many features, but often at a cost. Making full use of WordPress is recommended for advanced bloggers that also have web hosting experience.
3. Tumblr. Casual. This blog service is best used for entertainment content. It has a tighter community than other blogging services. That means it can deliver better results, but only if your content is relevant to a certain niche that also happens to use Tumblr.
4. SETT. Excellent Mix. Although I have not used SETT myself, there are several blogs hosted on this service that I read frequently. There is a big focus on user engagement without being over complicated to use.

How to Make Money Online

There are many ways to make money online, either full time or as a side job. This tutorial lists the many ways to make money online. This is just a list, however, and not in-depth guides for each. The numbers are there for organization and don't mean that one is better than the other.

1. Work for Amazon's Mechanical Turk.
2. Start a blog and place Google AdSense ads on it.
3. Start a website for any other purpose and use the above ad service.
4. Create videos on YouTube and enable monetization. (Requires AdSense account.)
5. Online gambling. (Not recommended.)
6. Sell items on Amazon, eBay, or Craigslist.
7. Use your skills to freelance at websites such as oDesk and Elance.
8. Create mobile phone applications and publish them.
9. Write eBooks and publish them.

How to Upload Files to Google Drive

Google Drive can be used as an online flash drive. This tutorial describes how to access Google Drive, upload files, and download the files to another location.

1. If you don't have a Google account already, create one.
2. Search for "Google Drive" and access the page.
3. Once you are in Google Drive, locate the red up-arrow button on the left side of the screen.
4. It will say "Upload" if you hover over it.
5. Click this button.
6. Select Files or Folder, depending on which you want to upload.
7. Select the desired file or folder from the computer.
8. It will upload to Google Drive.
9. When it is done, you may or may not be able to preview the file depending on what type of file it is.
10. To download the file, right-click the file and select Download near the bottom of the list.

Windows 8: How to Type Special Characters

From the Character Map in Windows 8, you can type a variety of special characters that cannot be found on the keyboard. This tutorial describes how to access the Character Map and how to use it.

1. Navigate to the Start screen.
2. Press the down arrow at the bottom to see a list of all apps.
3. Search for the app Character Map.
4. Select a font. Different fonts may have different symbols and characters.
5. Click on the character or symbol you want to use.
6. It will be magnified.
7. Press the Select button near the bottom.
8. The chosen symbol will appear in the Characters to copy box.
9. You can select several more symbols if you wish.
10. Once you have chosen the symbols or characters you want to use, press the Copy button.
11. Paste these symbols or characters anywhere by right-clicking and choosing paste or with CTRL + V.
12. If the symbol is really weird, then it might not display properly in all places outside of the Character Map.

How to Download YouTube Videos (2014)

How do you download a YouTube video? This tutorial describes how.

Note: Only download videos for which the owner allows.

1. Find the video you want to download, making sure there are no "&" symbols and the ?v=long-code-here is the last thing. In other words, make sure it is the direct and shortest link to the video.
2. Visit the website http://www.convertfiles.com/
3. Paste the video's URL into the download it from box.
4. Make sure the input format is MPEG-4 Video File (.mp4).
5. Make sure the output format is also MPEG-4 Video File (.mp4), otherwise it won't download properly.
6. Select default or highest quality.
7. Press the Convert button.
8. When it's done, right-click on the link and select Save link as... or similar. In modern browsers like Chrome, you can click on the link itself, and it will download.

Windows 8: How to Empty Recycle Bin

When you delete a file, it doesn't completely disappear. Instead, the file goes to the recycle bin in case you change your mind. However, all this junk in the recycle bin builds up over time, so it's good to empty the recycle bin once in a while. This tutorial describes how to empty the recycle bin in Windows 8.

1. Open the Recycle Bin.
2. Click the Manage tab.
3. Select the Empty Recycle Bin option on the left.
4. It will ask if you are sure you want to permanently delete these items.
5. Click Yes.
6. All files will be deleted, and the recycle bin will be empty.

How to Play Blocked Flash Games at School

It can be annoying when schools block certain websites, such as sites that host flash games. They do this for a good reason - so you wouldn't become distracted during class. However, sometimes there is nothing else to do, and playing these games wouldn't be a distraction to anything, as you're already doing nothing. This tutorial describes how to access all of these blocked games.

1. Visit the website http://flashgames1337.weebly.com/home.html
2. Click Games in the menu bar.
3. Scroll down to the list of games, which are displayed in alphabetical order.
4. From Bloons Tower Defense to QWOP, this site has many of the popular flash games.
5. From using the site at school myself, I have experienced excellent quality and variety in the games. This is why I recommend this website.
6. Keep in mind that the layout of the website may have changed by the time you read this article.

How to Bypass Blocked Sites Using Google Translate

School or work environments often block their users from accessing certain sites. If they block these sites, then they most likely also block any proxy sites. How do you bypass these restrictions to get to your favorite website? This tutorial describes how. Keep in mind that this, like all proxies, does not work perfectly on all websites. It works best on static websites.

1. Copy the URL of the website you want to visit.
2. Visit http://translate.google.com/ 
3. Paste the URL into Google Translate.
4. Click on the link.
5. Make sure the "from" language is not the language that the site is in.
6. For example, to view Reddit in English, translate the website from French to English, even though the website is already in English.
7. Otherwise, an error will be displayed and you won't be able to view the site.

Google Chrome: How to Delete History

Did you visit a website that you are not supposed to visit? Are you worried that your parents will find out? Or maybe you want to clear your browsing history just to keep things fresh. Whatever you may want to delete the history for, this short tutorial will show you how - specifically in Google Chrome version 32.

1. Press the menu button on the right side of the address bar.
2. Click on History. (You can also use CTRL + H.)
3. A new tab will open with the browsing history.
4. Near the top, press the button that says Clear browsing data...
5. Choose how much you want to delete and what specific items to delete.
6. After selecting the time and types of history to delete, press Clear browsing data.
7. The selected (or all) history will be deleted.
8. Next time, consider using CTRL + SHIFT + N.

iPod Touch 4G: How to Monitor Data Usage

You have an iPod Touch, not an iPhone, and you wish you could see how much data you've used like is possible on the iPhone. There are no built-in apps or settings to see the data usage over Wi-Fi, but there are third party apps that can display such information. This tutorial describes how to find, install, and use such apps on iOS 6 and 7.

1. Open the App Store.
2. Press the search tab.
3. Search for "my data manager".
4. Choose the app with My Data Manager in the title and Mobidia Technology as the author. I've found this one to work the best. The one described in this tutorial is version 3.5.3
5. Download the app. It's free.
6. Press the settings icon in the top-right corner, then press Views.
7. Deselect all views except for My Data Graph or My Data Summary. The other views mostly include data usage over 3G/4G, which the iPod doesn't have of course. You can play around to see what best suits your needs.
8. The My Data Graph, when set to month, will display each day as a bar for how much data was used. There is a total for the month at the top, and you can go several months back.

How to "Subscribe" to YouTube Channels Without an Account

Do you want a way to "subscribe" to your favorite YouTube channels without an account? No matter for what reason you are unable to have an account, there is an easy way to "subscribe" to and keep up with YouTube channels.

1. On the bookmarks bar of your web browser, create a folder called "Subscriptions".
2. Visit the main page of the YouTube channel you wish to save.
3. Save the page as a bookmark (CTRL + D) in the folder.
4. Do this to all the channels you want to "subscribe" to.
5. When you're ready to check and see what videos you've missed, right-click and select Open all bookmarks. All of the channels will open, and you can go through them one by one and watch the newest videos.
6. To unsubscribe, simply delete the bookmark from the folder.
7. Don't worry about not being able to like or comment on the video to show your support. Watching and enjoying the videos is the greatest gift you can offer to the creators.

How to Check Site Popularity in Google

Do you want to find out how popular your site is within the Google search results? This tutorial describes how to do it.

1. Open Google.
2. Type in the website address with "site:" before it, like this: site:simpletechtutorials.blogspot.com
3. A list of results only from the specified website will be displayed.
4. If there are many results, then Google has crawled your site many times and it is fairly popular.
5. With this, you can also see how people view your website's pages when they appear in the search results.
6. This also works in several other search engines such as Bing.