Whether or not your smart TV is spying on you, LG wants to make sure the apps aren't part of the problem. The tech giant is banning webOS apps that use residential proxies to rent out your TV's internet connection to third parties.

HDMI-CEC was supposed to make home theater setups a lot easier to work with. At first, it seems like the kind of feature that would just work, but then the problems arise. The annoying part is that the protocol isn't broken exactly. It just has issues when it comes to handling the way most people actually build their setups. So it's better to turn it off.

LG display users are pushing back against two contentious policies. Some LG monitors are reportedly installing McAfee adware without users' permission, while smart TVs have a new policy raising concerns about recording people for AI purposes.

Two brands win readers over, but for different reasons.

Smart features on a TV can be very useful. You can stream content using apps such as Netflix or control your TV remotely with your smart home. You need to connect your TV to the internet to use some of these features, and doing so can expose a lot of your data.

If you look at the back of your TV, there are many ports that you probably never use. Some older TVs include an RS-232 serial port similar to those that you'd find on the back of old PCs. While the main uses of this port include professional diagnostics and servicing, there are several ways you can use your TV's serial port for other things.

Most people worry about outsiders breaking into their home network, but few think about what the devices already inside their home can access. While your trusted devices talking to each other is usually harmless, smart TVs are a different story: many models collect viewing habits, run outdated software, and frankly have little reason to see everything else connected to your network.

If your Google TV seemed fast and smooth at first, but is getting slower the longer you own it, you're not alone. One of the most frustrating aspects of a smart TV is how great they are at first, but eventually get laggy, stutter, and run out of storage space. A quick unplugging helps for a few weeks, but then it's back to running slow. Thankfully, you just need to adjust a few settings, kill background tasks, and free up some space.