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His roundups of new features in Windows 10 updates have been called "the most detailed, useful Windows version previews of anyone on the web" and covered by prominent Windows journalists like Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley on TWiT's Windows Weekly. Instructional tutorials he's written have been linked to by organizations like The New York Times, Wirecutter, Lifehacker, the BBC, CNET, Ars Technica, and John Gruber's Daring Fireball. The news he's broken has been covered by outlets like the BBC, The Verge, Slate, Gizmodo, Engadget, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, ZDNet, The Next Web, and Techmeme. Beyond the column, he wrote about everything from Windows to tech travel tips. He founded PCWorld's "World Beyond Windows" column, which covered the latest developments in open-source operating systems like Linux and Chrome OS. He also wrote the USA's most-saved article of 2021, according to Pocket.Ĭhris was a PCWorld columnist for two years.
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Beyond the web, his work has appeared in the print edition of The New York Times (September 9, 2019) and in PCWorld's print magazines, specifically in the August 2013 and July 2013 editions, where his story was on the cover. With over a decade of writing experience in the field of technology, Chris has written for a variety of publications including The New York Times, Reader's Digest, IDG's PCWorld, Digital Trends, and MakeUseOf. Chris has personally written over 2,000 articles that have been read more than one billion times-and that's just here at How-To Geek. However, it probably won't be possible to install a custom recovery without factory resetting your device if you haven't already done so.Ĭhris Hoffman is the former Editor-in-Chief of How-To Geek. If you've already unlocked your bootloader and installed a custom recovery, you may be able to use that environment to remove the code.
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Other manufacturers might offer similar features if they have a device-tracking website you've signed up for. For example, on Samsung devices, if you've logged into the device with a Samsung account, you can go to the Samsung Find My Mobile website, log in with the same Samsung account, and use the "Unlock my screen" option to remotely remove your device's lock screen. You're left using a few other tricks that might work. You can take your phone to that home Wi-FI network and it will automatically unlock for you, even if you can't remember the normal unlock code.
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For example, let's say you've set up Smart Lock on your Android phone and have it automatically log in when it's on your home Wi-Fi. Android's Smart Lock feature may be able to save you.
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