Top 10 Best Tech Life Hacks Ever

There are huge numbers of tech-related tips and tricks out there that can totally simplify your daily routine and make your life much easier in general.

For instance, Apple's charging cords for iOS devices and Macs tend to fray after a few years of wear, which means you'll have to spend money every few years to replace them (unless you don't care about them catching fire and ruining everything you own and love). Well, we know a nifty hack that'll prevent your Apple cords from fraying in the first place. We're not even kidding.

In fact, we know stacks of different hacks - and every single one of them will either blow your mind or make you wonder how you ever survived this long without them.  

1.

Improve your WiFi signal

If you're finding your home WiFi is a bit flakey, then it might be because you're getting some interference from your neighbour's WiFi overlapping with yours. The Wifi Analyzer app may be the answer to your woes. This app scans frequencies and makes recommendations on the optimal channels to use on your network to avoid overlap. The result is faster WiFi with far less hassle. 

2.

Download YouTube videos

You can download any YouTube video just by typing "ss" before the "youtube" part of a video's URL link in your address bar. Here's an example for Justin Bieber's Sorry music video:

• Original - www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRh_vgS2dFE
• Download - www.ssyoutube.com/watch?v=fRh_vgS2dFE

Not only can you choose from different file types but also any resolution up to the original quality. Just remember downloading copyrighted content from the internet is illegal.

3.

Search YouTube without going to YouTube

Searching YouTube has never been easier than it is with this trick: when using the Google Chrome browser, you can type YouTube.com into your address bar, then hit tab, and search YouTube directly from your address bar. Gone are the days of actually going to YouTube to find something. 

This little trick also works with other sites too. You can search Amazon, Netflix, even Pocket-lint right from your address bar. 

4.

View a 'TV' version of YouTube from your desktop

We all love a distraction-free, clutter-free viewing experience when using the web from a desktop computer. Well, you'll be glad to know YouTube has a "TV" desktop site that lets you play videos without seeing all the junk on normal YouTube pages, such as comments. Just go here to access it.

5.

Hide people on Twitter without blocking them

Twitter's mute button is a little-known trick that is severely understated. It allows you to keep following an account but hides its tweets and retweets from your timeline.

It's a simple way to rid a person from your Twitter without unfollowing them and thus offending them. They'll never know when you mute them! Just click on the settings menu to the right of someone's profile, and then select mute. Easy peasy.

6.

Remotely log out of Facebook

Privacy tips are always worth a mention, especially when it comes to Facebook, considering everyone and their mother uses the social network. Have you ever checked Facebook on a strange device and then realised you forgot to log out?

Never fear - you can log out still, remotely. Go to the "settings" drop-down menu on your Facebook, then select "security", and navigate to "when you’re logged in".

From there, you can see all open sessions and close any of them.

7.

Use Spotlight search as a calculator

You'll never have to use a calculator again with this trick - so long as you own a Mac: Use command (⌘) + space to perform quick calculations in Spotlight search.

8.

Use Preview to create a digital signature

If you have a digital document you have to sign, now is the time to finally use the Preview app on Mac. Instead of printing off the documenting to sign, you can open the Tools menu in Preview, then choose Annotate > Signature > Manage Signatures, and a Signature Capture dialog box will appear. Simply use your mouse to draw a signature you can save/insert into any document.

9.

Find direct download links to music

To find a direct download link for music, search "[album or song name] -inurl:(htm|html|php|pls|txt) intitle:index.of "last modified" (mp3|wma|aac|flac)".

It tells Google to show webpages that offer direct download links to the music you're trying to find. Here's an example for the album Straight Outta Compton:

Google search this phrase: straight outta compton -inurl:(htm|html|php|pls|txt) intitle:index.of "last modified" (mkv|mp4|avi)

This is what Google will surface.

Click one of the top links, such as this one, to get direct download links for the songs in the album.

Just remember downloading copyrighted content from the internet is illegal. You're better off just using Spotify. 

10.

Text mobile devices via email

Don't own a smartphone? Well, that's weird.

But anywho, you can still text mobile phones from your desktop. All you need is an email account and a person's phone number and carrier information. From there, use this site to look up the email address associated with their carrier. Just be sure to add their phone number to the address, and then you'll have an email address for them that you can send texts to from your desktop.