8 ingenious Netflix hacks

Are you a Netflix adulterer? Do you continue watching a show on your own that you promised to watch with someone else? You can admit it, it's pretty common. According to one study of 2,000 American adults, 12 percent say they're guilty of cheating — and those are just the ones who admit it. They just couldn't control their impulses, leaving their partners feeling betrayed and behind on House of Cards.

What if we could pull ourselves back from the edge of Netflix infidelity? A recent hackathon hosted by Netflix produced a hack called "Dual PIN Protection" that would require both you and your partner to enter individual PIN codes before Netflix will play a show or movie you've agreed to watch together. "Together, we make happy couples," the hackers boast.

Unfortunately, Dual PIN Protection is just a concept and probably won't appear on your Netflix screen anytime soon. So you'll just have to show some self-restraint, ok? In the meantime, there are loads of other ways to improve your Netflix experience:

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Watch Netflix shows only available in other countries

Want access to shows or movies that aren't showing in the U.S.? The browser extension Hola is your best option. Hola makes Netflix think you're in another geographic location by using a virtual private network (VPN), which lets users "spoof their physical location — the user's actual IP address is replaced by VPN provider — allowing them to bypass content filters," explains Andrew Tarantola at Gizmodo. So while you're actually in rural Indiana, you can tell Netflix you're in the U.K. and watch the much-acclaimed Better Call Saul, which is currently only available on AMC in the U.S. As you can imagine, Netflix frowns upon this kind of workaround, so use Hola at your own risk.

Customize Netflix to your liking

In 2014, Lifehacker unveiled a Chrome extension called Flix Plus that allows users to custom-tailor their Netflix experience. Don't want to see that show recommended anymore? Flix Plus lets you hide it from your home screen. You can also get rid of those pesky spoiler images or blurbs, highlight titles that are scheduled to leave Netflix soon, and see how a show is rated on Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB. And these are only a few of the options Flix Plus has to offer.

Play Netflix Roulette

Not sure what you feel like watching tonight? Let Flix Roulette help. Plug in a genre, decide if you want a movie or a TV show, and if you feel like it, include some keywords. Press "Spin" and watch as that evening's entertainment is revealed. (The filters may take a few adjustments before they turn up anything worth actually watching.)

Keep up with new releases...

Netflix is regularly adding titles to the mix. You can use sites like Whats-on-netflix.com or HackingNetflix.com to stay on top of the new stuff. For example, I now know that on March 15, Saw, Saw II, Saw III, and Saw IV all went online. Happy viewing!

...and what's leaving soon

This website tells you what won't be available on Netflix much longer, so you can prioritize the stuff you don't want to miss.

Find critics' picks

There are a lot of mediocre movies on Netflix, so if you only want to see films that come highly recommended, use Instantwatcher.com and filter by "NYT Critics' Pick." Of course, just because the Times liked it doesn't mean you will, so Instantwatcher also displays the Netflix rating of each film as an added reference point.

Watch together even when you're apart

For those tough times when you or your significant other is traveling, you can still watch your shows together. A tool called Rabbit is like a live chat/video player combination, so you can see the look of horror on each other's faces when your favorite show kills off all of its main characters in one fell swoop.

Delete your viewing history

If you simply can't rein in your desire to binge-watch without your partner, do them the courtesy of keeping them in ignorance. Go to "Your Account," click "viewing activity," and erase any shows you wouldn't want them to know you've been watching. It's the least you can do.