MICROSOFT’S SHOCKWARNING

Without nasty side effects p58What & when you’ll have to pay

16SUE 476 ❘ 25MAY– 7 JUNE 20IS

Or lose ALL your

Your friendly guide to technology messages

p48 page 8thatBin there, done

1 Shortcuts to files and folders 9 Print anything in one click2 Turn off annoying sounds 10 Create groups of tiles3 Zoom into text 11 Access photos from the taskbar4 Find software faster 12 Log in without passwords5 Open most popular Windows tools 13 Unlock the hidden GodMode6 Make notifications appear longer 14 Uninstall built-in junk7 See all your open software 15 Speed upW10 on old PCs8 Make your PC start faster Page 50

C@ntrol MSS

3

WelcomeFrom the Editor

THIS ISSUE IN NUMBERS

Weuse snipcas to turn long URLs thatare hard to type into ones that areshort and simple. They aren’t websitesthemselves, whichmeans theywon’tbe recognised if you type them intoGoogle. Instead, you need to type theminto your browser address bar, thenpress Enter. Doing thiswill take you tothe correctwebsite.

HOW TO USESNIPCA URLs

EDITORIALGroup EditorDaniel BoothFeatures EditorMike PlantTechnical Editor Sherwin CoelhoProduction EditorGrahamBrownArt Editor Katie PeatSorry, no technical or buying advice.

ADVERTISINGAdvertisement sales &media pack020 7907 6799Advertising DirectorAndreaMasonDeputy AdvertisingManagerAlexa Dracos

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PRODUCTIONGroup ProductionManagerStephen CatherallProduction ControllerMaisie Harvey

MANAGEMENTManaging Director John GarewalMDof Advertising Julian Lloyd-EvansCommercial and Retail DirectorDavid BarkerGroupManaging Director IanWestwoodCOO Brett ReynoldsGroup Finance Director Ian LeggettChief Executive James TyeCompany Founder Felix Dennis

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Please contact Anj Dosaj-Halai for moreinformation and rates:020 7907 6132Email: anj_halai@dennis.co.ukRequests to use quotations from articles willneed to be approved by the editor. Please sendrequests to: editor@computeractive.co.uk

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ADENNIS PUBLICATIONComputeractive is publishedfortnightly by Dennis Publishing

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Average sales, Jan-Dec 2015, 87,565copies per issue.

© Copyright Dennis Publishing Limited

Number ofNHSmedicalrecordsGoogle has access to - p7

1.6 millionProportion ofpeople confused bybroadband ads - p11

80%

Number of bytes in a zettabyte - p49

1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

I moved into my house four years ago, but onlyin March this year did I discover a hiddenalleyway that halves my walk to the station everymorning. It means I can spend another fiveminutes savouring myWeetabix before beingsquashed like a butternut into a train carriage.Such alleyways are hard to find inWindows

10, but you won’t have to wait four years beforelocating them. Our resident Windows expertJonathan Parkyn has found the 15 best tricksfor using the operating systemmore efficiently.Editing his feature remindedme that whilean operating system becomes easier the moreyou use it, this is mostly down to basicfamiliarity. It doesn’t actually mean that

you’re using it as quickly as you could.Daniel Bootheditor@computeractive.co.uk

PS: At the time of writing, we’ve had 99reviews of our 2015 Back Issue CD on Amazon(agonisingly close to the century!). Thanks toeveryone who has left comments - you canread them at www.snipca.com/19124.

25May – 7 June 2016

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p35 p60

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4 25May – 7 June 2016

Contents 25May– 7 June 2016 • Issue476

50 Speed up Windows 10today

Put a spring in the step of youroperating systemwith theseperformance-enhancing tweaks

58 Hidden side effects ofremoving software

Escape thepitfallsof riddingyourPCofunwantedprograms

60 What I wish I’d done beforemy laptop was stolen

Wereveal how to limit the damagebefore, and after, someonemakes offwith your PC

In this issue…

6 News

11 Question ofthe FortnightIs this the endofmisleadingbroadband adverts?

12 Letters

14 Consumeractive

16 Protect Your Tech

18 Best Free SoftwarePortableAppsPlatform 14.0

30 Buy It!

33 CompetitionWin a Devolo dLAN 550Wi-Fi Powerline starter kit

49 What’s All the FussAbout?DNA storage

64 Problems Solved

70 Fast FixesConnecting laptop to TV

73 Jargon Buster

74 The Final StrawKen Rigsby wishes we’dall share just a little less

Share andshare?Dislike!p74

In every issue…

Avoid the hidden side effects ofremoving softwarep58

COVERFEATURE

P50

Protect yourlaptop fromthievesp60

SpeedUpWindows 10TODAY!

The 15 tricks youmust learn – to do everything faster

550ter kit

Fusse

ed

TV

awwe’dless

Share andshare?Dislike!p74

SubscribeNOW!Seepage62forour speciallsubsoffer

20 Amazon Kindle OasisIs it reallyworth £270?

21 Asus TransformerBook Flip TP200SAA budget hybrid full of surprises

22 Apple MacBook 12inApple’s new laptop has speed andstyle – for a price

24 LG G5The phone that offers room forimprovement

25 Ultimate Ears Boom 2

Am OaOasi 0OadlK Bluetooth speaker to take anywhereAmazonKindleOaOasisp2026 HTC ViveVirtual-reality goggles that are

AppleMacBook Ultimate EarsBoom2p25 virtually goodenough to buy12inp22

27 Huawei P9Is it a phone? Is it a camera? It doesboth prettywell

28 Iiyama G-MasterA4KPCmonitor that’s razor sharp

29 TP-Link Archer VR900Acompact and speedy router for allyour network needs

14 pages of brilliantworkshops andexpert tips

35 Use the best free 42 Reopen programs with aalternative to Office 365 keyboard shortcut

38 Explain PC problems as 43 Readers’ Tipsannotated videos Block adverts on an older iPad

40 Make your Command 44 Phone and Tablet TipsPromptpt easier to use Add colours to Google Drive folders

46 Make Windows BetterMake yourmouse easier to use

47 Make Office BetterRearrange text inWord quicker

48 Secret Tips For… BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZONRecycle Bin at www.snipca.com/19124

6

News The top stories in theworld of technology

No extension to Windows 10free upgrade

So there’s good news andbad news.We’re happy thatMicrosoft will stop naggingpeople into upgrading - attimes it felt like psychologicalbullying. But it’s a shamethat the companywon’tbudge on the 29 Julydeadline. However, let’s thinkabout this for amoment: ifMicrosoft is secretly planninga surprise extension, to beannounced perhaps in themiddle of July, then until thatdate it must do everythingto convince the publicotherwise. CynicalmarketingfromMicrosoft? Surely not!

COMMENT

to upgrade.In a statement to the

website WinBeta (www.winbeta.org), Microsoft said:“Details are still beingfinalised, but on July 29th theGet Windows 10 app thatfacilitates the easy upgrade toWindows 10 will be disabledand eventually removed fromPCs worldwide. Just as it tooktime to ramp up and roll outthe Get Windows 10 app, itwill take time to ramp itdown”.Themove will be

welcomed by the thousandsof users, including manyComputeractive readers,who felt they were beingbombarded by Microsoft’supgrade ‘nagging’.

Microsoft has confirmedthat you will have to

pay to downloadWindows 10 after 29 July.There had been

speculation that thecompany would extendthe 12-month ‘freeupgrade’ offer forWindows 7 and 8 users,which began when theoperating system (OS)launched last year.But Microsoft

attempted to quash suchrumours by saying in ablog post (www.snipca.com/20596) that Windows 10will cost $119 (£99.99 in theUK) after 29 July.This is thesame price it currently costs toupgrade from aWindows XPor Vista PC.Even after this blog post

Microsoft had given anindication that it may extendthe deadline, tellingWindowsblogger Mary Jo Foley that theoffer is “currently” slated toend on 29 July.

However, the companyquickly changed this to a lessambiguous statement: “Thefree upgrade promotion isending on July 29 and weencourage all of our customersto take advantage of it whileit is still active”.Windows 10 will remain

free after 29 July for peoplewho use its “assistive” tools,which are built for peoplewith disabilities.These includethe Magnifier, which increasesa portion of your screen (see

page 51); Narrator,which reads text aloud;and an on-screenkeyboard you cancontrol with yourmouse.In its Accessibility

Blog (www.snipca.com/20598) Microsoftsaid that it is“committed” to keepingWindows 10 free forpeople who use thesetools. No further detailsare available, though

Microsoft said users should“stay tuned” for moreinformation.

Hooray – nomorenaggingIn a surprise announcement,Microsoft also said that on29 July it will turn off the‘Get Windows 10’ app thatpesters users into upgradingtoWindows 10. It meansthat people sticking withWindows 7 or 8 will no longersee messages urging them

You’ll like this…A new site helps you track down lost

pension savings (www.snipca.com/20597)

…but not thisTwo-thirds of UK companies suffered cyber-

attacks in the past year (www.snipca.com/20603)

25May – 7 June 2016

MICROSOFT SEES SENSE OVER WI-FI TOOLMicrosoft is closing its controversial Wi-FiSense tool, which raised privacy concernswhen it arrived as part ofWindows 10 last year.It automatically connected you to anyWi-Finetwork within range in order to “get you onthe internet more quickly in more places”. But italso shared yourWi-Fi password - albeit in anencrypted form -with your Outlook.com andSkype contacts, so youwouldn’t need to keepgiving it to people who shared your network.

The tool never proved popular, though,andmany users were angered by the factthat it was turned on by default. Microsofttried to calm privacy fears aboutWi-Fi Sensein the tool’s FAQweb page (www.snipca.com/20604), but has finally admitted defeat,saying that “low usage” of the feature madeit “not worth further investment”. ReadMicrosoft’s announcement at www.snipca.com/20605 (scroll to the bottom).

7

TheNHS’s controversial dealwith Google to share 1.6million patient records is to beinvestigated by the UK’sdata-protection watchdog.TheInformation Commissioner’sOffice (ICO) confirmed it willinvestigate after questionswere raised as to whether thedata would be encrypted onceGoogle had it.As part of the deal the Royal

Free Hospital Trust will passhealthcare records on toDeepMind, an artificial-intelligence company ownedby Google.The trust runs threehospitals inNorthLondon:ChaseFarm, Barnet and Royal Free.The contract between the

NHS gives patient records to Google –but data watchdog will investigate

Faster Wi-Fi at home –but not for a few yearsOfcom has set out plans toincreaseWi-Fi speeds tohelp households cope withincreased demand forbroadband.The telecoms regulator

wants to open up a newadditional ‘sub-band’ bandin the 5GHz frequency, whichis less congested than 2.4GHz.Many new routers are dual-band, letting you connect toWi-Fi on either band.The proposals would lead to

more data being transferred atfaster download speeds.Households that use severaldevices simultaneously standto benefit, particularly if theystream high-definition video,which requires a lot of data.Ofcom said: “As broadband

delivered to the home getsfaster, people increasinglyexpect their Wi-Fi to provideseveral services at once – suchas video streaming, videocalls, gaming and remoteworking.This demand putspressure on the airwaves – or

radio spectrum –which carryWi-Fi signals”.Philip Marnick, group

director of spectrum atOfcom, said that one reason tocreate a sub-band is to “closethe gap between advertisedspeeds and the wirelessperformance that people andbusinesses actually receive”.Adding a sub-band would

increase the number of Wi-Fichannels from four to six.Although these extra channelsare already being used in theUS, Ofcom admitted that theywon’t be available in the UK

for a couple of years at least.The regulator’s research

shows that nearly six millionUK homes and offices sufferWi-Fi that “may not beworking as well as it could”.This echoes a similar resultfrom a survey conducted lastyear by mobile networktesting company GlobalWireless Solutions, whichfound that a quarter of peopleuse mobile data at homebecause their Wi-Fi is so poor.You can read Ofcom’s

proposals at www.snipca.com/20609.

BBC IPLAYER LOOPHOLETO BE CLOSEDTheGovernment hasconfirmed that it will closethe loophole that lets peoplewatch catch-up TV showson the BBC iPlayerwithoutpaying the licence fee.Since the iPlayer launched in2007, only peoplewatchingshows broadcast live haveneeded a TV licence. JohnWhittingdale, Secretary ofState for Culture, Mediaand Sport, said the changewill make the licence fee“fairer”.

GOOGLE BANS PAYDAYADVERTS ONLINEGoogle has banned advertsfrom so-called paydaylenders appearing in itssearch results, in an effortto protect its users from“deceptive or harmfulfinancial products”. It willno longer showoffers forloans that ask for repaymentwithin 60 days, or have aninterest rate of 36 per centor higher. LisaMcGreevy,president and CEO of theOnline Lenders Alliance, saidshewas disappointed bythemove.

IN BRIEF

NHS and Google, uncoveredby New Scientistmagazine,states that there is no reasonto make the data anonymousonce it’s been transferred toDeepMind, which will receiverecords going back over thepast five years and continuinguntil 2017. It is using the datato develop an app that canidentify when a patient is atrisk of developing Acute

Kidney Injuries (AKI), whichthe NHS says is a factor in upto 20 per cent of emergencyhospital admissions.Privacy campaigners have

questioned why DeepMindneeds so many records, someof which relate to abortions,HIV diagnoses and drugoverdoses. DeepMind says thatit needs to analyse all 1.6million records because thereisn’t a separate database ofpatients with AKI. It insistedthe data will only ever be usedfor medical research, never inGoogle’s services or products.

Turn the pages ofComputeractive too roughlyand theymay rip.That’s nota problemwhen swipinga tablet screen, althoughGoogle envisages a futurewhere you’ll be able to tearoff sections, just like paper.In its patent for ‘tearabledisplays’ it uses an exampleof a ‘lost dog’ poster that hasinfo at the bottom that can beripped off (see it explained atwww.snipca.com/20544).

Tomorrow’sworld

25May – 7 June 2016

Would you trust Googlewithyourmedical records? Let us

know: letters@computeractive.co.uk

8 25May – 7 June 2016

News

The British public are largelyunaware of websites that helpthem stay safe online, despitethe Government spending£20m in 2014-15 on cyber-security campaigns.Some of this money was

spent to promote Safer InternetDay 2016, which was on 9February, but a survey fromYouGov and US securitycompany CSID found that84 per cent of British adultsdidn’t notice it.The same survey found

that only 13 per cent ofBritish adults had heard ofGetSafeOnline.org (seescreenshot), which is partlyfunded by the Government.

£20m ‘wasted’ telling you to be safe online

Microsoft hasurged users ofWindows LiveMail 2012 (WLM)to switch to Outlook.comafter announcing that it willend support for the emailclient at the end of June.The company sent an email

to all users, warning them thatafter 30 June they won’t beable to useWLM to read emailssent to any address that ends@outlook.com, @hotmail.com,@hotmail.co.uk, @live.com, or@msn.com. From that dateusers will also be unable tosynchronise contacts andcalendar entries.Microsoft apologised for any

inconvenience, and said thatthe change has beenmade“only after thoughtfulconsideration”.As it explains in a blog post

(www.snipca.com/20549),Microsoft wants to move allusers to a new email“infrastructure”, which isincompatible withWLM. Itsays that users will enjoy“enhanced performance,

RANSOMWARE ‘GIVESMONEY TOKIDS CHARITY’A new strain of ransomwaresays that it donatesmoneypaid by victims to a children’scharity.The unlikely claimismade by CryptMix, whichwas discovered by the Danishsecurity company Heimdal(www.snipca.com/20530),who called the tactic“psychologicalmanipulation”.CryptMix infects PCs bytricking you into clicking alink in a scamemail, whichtakes you to awebsitecontainingmalware.

SEARCH PANAMAPAPERS ON THEWEBYou can now search thePanamaPapers online, afterthe databasewas postedonline by the InternationalConsortium of InvestigativeJournalists (ICIJ). It containsthe details of 214,000companies that have offshoretax accounts, but no bankdetails, phone numbers andemail addresses.The ICIJ saidit put the info online “in thepublic interest”. Search it atwww.snipca.com/20536.

IN BRIEF

China has a habit of banningthings it doesn’t like on theweb.The latest target of itsinternet police are “seductive”videos ofwomen eatingbananas, which are “harmingsocial morality”.Websites thatstream videos livemust nowmonitor them 24 hours a dayto check for all “inappropriateand erotic” content, not justthe indecent consumption offruit. For example, stockingsand suspenders are alsoforbidden, thoughwe can’timagine bananas look goodin them anyway.

Use Windows Live Mail?Switch now or lose your emails

Were you aware of SaferInternet Day 2016? Let us know:

letters@computeractive.co.uk

security and reliability”.If you have a Microsoft

email address, your servicewill be upgraded at somepoint before 30 June.Instead of switching to

Outlook.com,WLM userscould move to Microsoft’sMail app (www.snipca.com/20550, see screenshot),which was introduced inWindows 8, and works inWindows 10. It lets you reademails sent to your Yahoo and

Gmail accounts, as well asto Outlook.com and otherMicrosoft services.WLMwas launched in 2007

as a replacement for WindowsMail in Vista, and OutlookExpress in XP. Its demise is acasualty of Microsoft’s attemptto update all its email servicesso they’re compatible witheach other.•We’ll explain your choices inmore detail in our next issue– outWednesday 8 June.

Fewer people – only sixper cent – were aware ofCyber Streetwise (www.cyberstreetwise.com),which accounted for £4mof the budget. Both websitesaim to provide independent,easy-to-understand adviceon staying safe.

The Government’s intentionwas to “drive engagement andawareness” among smallbusinesses and individuals,but CSID said that its efforts sofar have been “uncoordinated,ill-informed and utterlyineffective”.Citizens Advice was the most

recognised organisation in thesurvey, being known by 88 percent of people (95 per centamong the over-55s). CSIDcalled this service “part of theUK social fabric” and suggestedthat it could replace the currentcrop of cyber-security websites.

25May – 7 June 2016 9

Researchers into dementiahope that a new phone andtablet game will help themdevelop tests to diagnoseearly signs of the disease.One of the first things

to be affected by peoplesuffering dementia is theability to navigate physicalenvironments, but doctors canfind it difficult to diagnosewhether this is a symptom ofthe disease or simply old age.In the game, called Sea Hero

Quest (www.seaheroquest.com), players have to movearound a 3D environmentbeneath the sea, looking for

New British game to help identifyearly dementia symptoms

‘Arrogant’ Govt says rural areasnot entitled to fast broadband PAY LESS FOR USING

YOUR PHONE ABROADTheEU has introduced tightercaps on roaming fees, whichiswhatmobile networkscharge you for using yourphone abroad. For calls,chargeswill be limited toonly four pence over andabove domestic rates, downfrom amaximumof 15 pence.Sending texts is also cheaper(an extra two pence ondomestic prices), and usingdatawill also cost you less atfour pence perMB.The EUwill abolish roaming chargeson 15 June, 2017.

BLOCKWEBADVERTS INMICROSOFT EDGEAdblock Plus is nowavailable as an extensionforMicrosoft’s new browserEdge, letting you blockadverts on the internet. It canbe downloaded for free fromtheWindows Store (www.snipca.com/20525), althoughfor themomentworks onlyin the Insider preview ofWindows 10 (https://insider.windows.com). It’s expectedto be added to the full versionofWindows 10 as part of theAnniversary Update, which isdue in the summer.

USE NEWVPNAPPON YOUR IPADThebrowser Opera haslaunched a free VPN (virtualprivate network) app foriPhones and iPads. Like allVPNs, it lets you disguiseyour location so you canaccess content onlinethat’s blocked in the UK.Many people use them towatch films and TV that areavailable only in the US. InApril, Opera announced thatit had built a VPN into thebeta version of its browser.Readmore about the app onOpera’s blog: www.snipca.com/20523.

IN BRIEF

Countryside campaignershave reacted angrily to theGovernment’s decision tostop rolling out super-fastbroadband to the whole of theUK.Instead of automatically

providing speeds of 10Mbps toall rural areas – referred to bypolicymakers as the final fiveper cent of the country – theGovernment says that localcommunities must request itto prove they actually want it.The Department for Culture,

Media and Sport (DCMS)outlined the plan in theBroadband Universal ServiceObligation consultationdocument, saying that manypeople in remote areas don’twant fast broadband.It added that providing

broadband to such areaswithout knowing whetherthere’s demand for it wouldnot “represent value formoney”.The decision was greeted

with fury and disbelief bymany critics. Graham Long,who campaigns for better

aquatic monsters. Scientistswill monitor how players dothis, building up ananonymous database of‘normal’ navigational skills.They will then compare theresults with patients showingearly signs of dementia.The game is available for

free for iOS and Android, andhas been developed by the

charity Alzheimer’s ResearchUK, together with analystsfrom University CollegeLondon (UCL) and theUniversity of East Anglia.UCL’s Dr Hugo Spiers told

the BBC that he can test 200people in one minute in thegame, compared with 200people a year otherwise.Hilary Evans, chief executiveat Alzheimer’s Research UK,said that this is “exactly thekind of innovation required tounlock the next breakthroughin dementia research”.The first batch of results is

expected in November.

broadband in rural Devon andSomerset, said that it was“sheer arrogance to assumethose in rural areas don’t usebroadband”.Tim Bonner, chief executive

of the Countryside Alliance,accused the Government ofbeing biased towards townsand cities. He said that peopleliving in remote areasshouldn’t have to make“special requests” to receivefast broadband.Others questioned how the

request scheme would work.Dan Howdle, editor-in-chiefat broadband-comparison siteCable.co.uk, said: “Will anentire village have to speakwith a single voice to warrant

consideration?”However, some analysts

agreed with the Government’sdecision, pointing out that thetake-up of fast broadband inmany cities has beenmuchlower than expected.The Government first

indicated that it wanted tomake broadband a universalutility – like electricity andwater – in November 2015. Ithopes to deliver broadband ofat least 10Mbps to 95 per centof the UK by December 2017,leaving around 1 millionpremises off the pace.A Government spokesman

told the BBC that it was“absolute nonsense” to suggestit was abandoning rural areas.

e

10

News

Pop-up offender: Avast‘To free or not to free? Avast is thequestion’. I asked this very question inNamed & Shamed in Issue 472. Many ofyou had wondered the same thing. I’venow found the answer, after trippingover a passing pop-up.Avast Free Antivirus has spent several

weeks battering my newWindows 10 PCwith sales pitches for its paid-for version.The pop-ups went from annoying to plainscary, claiming my antivirus (AV) “expiresin 3 days” and “recommending” that Icough up cash (see screenshot).

Avast strikes backI’m not happy about that kind of pressureat all – and Avast wasn’t happy that I saidso. It emailed me to tell me that I musthave installed a free trial of its paid-forversion bymistake. I’m not a tech genius,but I’m not daft either. Doubting myself,I went back and checked to see exactlywhat I had installed – and itwas AvastFree Antivirus.

In a special edition ofNamed&Shamed, JaneHoskynbattles a blizzard ofpop-ups and confusing jargon froma certain antivirus giantIn a special editi f

‘Standard’) blocks malware (“viruses”)and concluded that my PCwas safe,because I had installed the free version.This pop-up, to all appearances, wasintended for trial users. Even Avast’semail tome said asmuch. Except it wasn’t.

Registration, registration,registrationWhat I didn’t realise when closing thispop-up is that I left myself wide open tomalware. ‘Standard protection’ might befree, but you have to register for it towork properly.That scary word ‘expire’actually referred to the registrationdeadline.This should be stated upfront,the moment you click Download – and itisn’t. I had to trawl Avast’s FAQ to find anexplanation (www.snipca.com/20559).Norwas the need for registration explainedin the installer, though I confess I didn’tread the Terms & Conditions. But whatreally annoys me is the fact that thispop-upmessage fails to explain it.

The great Avast pop-up saga

Glancing at this, you’d assume it’s an upgrade-prompt after a paid-for trial - but it’s not

25May – 7 June 2016

So, not only have I hadmy laptopstolen by a burglar (see page 60), I’ve alsofailed to register Avast. Frankly, I’ll belucky if my identity isn’t stolen by ateenager in a hoodie.I should add, for anyone worried

they’ve been left vulnerable, thatAvast Free Antivirus and its many otherprocesses (including pop-ups) continuedto run. When I tried to test other securitytools, they warnedme I was alreadyrunning Avast.That aside, if you’ve installed Avast Free

Antivirus, youmust go to its registrationpage (www.snipca.com/20558) and get aone-year licence, then run a full scan.Next year, youmust register again.With a program as important as your

antivirus, it pays to read the T&Cs. Iassumed I’d installed a free product andtrusted it to do its job as advertised, justlike I trusted my boiler – until that time Iwas forced to get better acquainted withits user manual.

Avast’s pop-upswent from annoying toplain scary, claiming it‘expires in 3 days’

Marketing pop-ups are like the boywho cried wolf. After you get hit witha few shameless upgrade prompts, youlearn to click them all into oblivion.The pop-up we’ve pictured herecontained a slightly different message,but I just heard “WOLF!” and didn’teven stop to ponder the semantics of‘Standard’ and ‘Complete’.No doubt, some people will be

intimidated into needlessly buying theupgrade. Others, including me, noticedthat the free version of Avast (called

25May – 7 June 2016 11

?Questionof the

Fortnight

Do you have a PhD inmaths? No?Then youmay

struggle to understand thepricing structure ofbroadband contracts. DanHowdle from broadband-comparison website Cable(www.cable.co.uk) says theircomplexity would “tax amaths professor, let alone aconsumer who just wants tofind the right deal”.Many customers would

agree. A survey in Januaryconducted by Ofcom and theAdvertising StandardsAuthority (ASA) found thatnearly 80 per cent of peopleshown a broadband advertcouldn’t work out howmuchthey would be paying eachmonth. At the time theorganisations accused internetservice providers (ISPs) ofdisplaying prices that were“likely to confuse andmisleadconsumers”.

For years, the Government,ASA and Ofcom have beencalling for ISPs to make theiradverts easier to understand,with limited success. But weshould soon see somesignificant developments afterthe ASA announced thatstronger rules will come intoforce on 31 October.The ASA’s recommendations

comprise three key points:adverts must show allmonthlycosts as one amount, includingrental for a landline (whichcurrently is presented as aseparate fee); there must be

“greater prominence” given tothe length of contract andprices after the discountperiod ends; and ISPs mustclearly state the upfront costs,such as installation fees.Taken together, these rules

should make it easier for youto know preciselywhat you’llbe paying every month. It’s

particularly welcoming thatISPs will no longer be able tohide the cost of line rental. Atpresent, they’re allowed toadvertise a tempting monthlycost that doesn’t include linerental, which then addsaround £18 to your bill. Youalmost always need a landlineto use broadband, so this costis unavoidable, but ISPs oftentry to bury it.To see what difference this

will make, look at thescreenshot (above) fromTalkTalk’s website. It gives theimpression that you’ll be

paying the eye-catching priceof just £10 a month, butbeneath, in small print, comesthe bad news: the deal rises to£17.50 a month after a year,and it doesn’t include £17.70line rental. So eventually,instead of £10, you’ll bepaying £35.20 a month. Togive TalkTalk credit, it was thefirst ISP to say that it willchange its offers so line rentalis included in the price. OtherISPs are expected to follow.But will they abide by every

new rule?There’s nothing tostop ISPs continuing topublish misleading adverts,but from 31 October the ASAwill have the power to banthem. If past practice isanything to go by, ISPs willcontinue to bend the rules.In 2012, new guidelinesrestricted how ISPs can usethe word ‘unlimited’ toadvertise broadband, but asrecently as 2015 the ASAbanned adverts from VirginMedia and Plusnet thatbreached these regulations.However, one broadband

expert thinks ISPs will playfair “for the most part”. MattPowell, editor at Broadband

Is this the end ofmisleadingbroadbandads?

Tougher rules may finally lead to offers you can actually understand

These rules should make it easierfor you to know precisely whatyou’ll be paying every month

Genie (www.broadbandgenie.co.uk), says that there will be“limited wiggle room to hideimportant details in the smallprint”. And because the pricesof ISPs’ similar packages don’tvary that much, he expectscompanies to offer “additionalvalue” such as free tablets orshopping vouchers.So, finally, the customer

may be winning the battleagainst deceptive adverts, withfreebies thrown in. Nomathsqualifications are required torealise that adds up to a goodresult.

•• FromOctober 31, ISPsmust show all costs as oneamount in their adverts,including line-rental fees

•• This autumn, TalkTalkwill merge customers’bills into onemonthlycharge, becoming the firstISP to scrap a separateline-rental fee

•• Adverts are so confusingthat nearly 80 per cent ofpeople can’t work out thetotal cost of a contract

THE FACTS

Letters Tell uswhat’s on yourmindEmail: letters@computeractive.co.uk

Facebook:www.facebook.com/computeractiveTwitter:@ComputerActive

www.twitter.com/computeractive

12 25May – 7 June 2016

Microsoft should chargefor XP support

Your news story in Issue 475 ‘Allcash machines can be hacked –

and XP is to blame’ says that “over 100million home computers still run XP”,indicating the continued popularity ofthe OS. My view is that Microsoft is toblame and has acted irresponsibly byabandoning all these millions of homeand commercial Windows XP users, whoinitially paid them goodmoney to buytheir product. Why should these users– who have been perfectly happy with XP– be expected to fork out yet more moneyjust because Microsoft abandoned themon some arbitrary date?The concept that Microsoft has forced

users to accept is that their Windowsproducts will only be supported for afixed number of years, which makesthem vulnerable to being hacked. AsMicrosoft wants to make more money outof us all, why don’t they providecontinued XP software updates andsupport for cash machines and privateusers for an annual fee?

John Hale

Make Windows 10 worklike Windows 7

I’ve been usingWindows 10 sinceOctober 2015 on a new laptop and

have since upgradedmy oldWindows 7laptop as well. There’s a lot of negativepublicity aboutWindows 10, some of itjustified, but most of it isn’t. I really likethe fast startup and hope that the nextupdate does not mess about with thattoo much.But what I don’t like are the tiles on the

Start menu, so I have deleted them all,and reverted to theWindows 7 system ofdesktop shortcuts. This was initiallydifficult to do because there seemed to beno way to right-click a program in the‘All apps’ listing to ‘send’ a shortcut to thedesktop, as in previous versions ofWindows.However, this is simply done - just

click and drag the tile on to your desktop,and a shortcut is magically created. Youcan then delete the tile. By doing this forall the programs you want shortcuts for,you end up with conveniently sizedshortcuts. Any other tiles left on the Startmenu after doing this can be deleted at

will. So, I have a quick-startingWindows 10machine, that looks like aWindows 7 machine. QED.

Roy Phillips

Landlinesare ‘moreconvenient’ thansmartphones

I’m not sure what theobsession is with cancelling the

landline. In Issue 475 the subject wasraised twice: in News, and then by KenRigsby inThe Final Straw. I can see whyKen and others call it a “tax”, but the waythat people dismiss the landline you’dthink that nobody ever uses it these days.Well, I still do, and so domost of myfriends. Needless to say, we’re notteenagers texting every minute of everyday, or taking daft selfies. We just findlandlines a more convenient way oftalking thanmobile phones. Also, thecall quality onmobiles is frankly rubbish.I bet millions of people would agree,though probably not many people agedunder 30.

RuthMariner

It seems as if everyone has amobile phone and uses it instead

of a landline phone. Why? I’ve got amobile phone, which I bought in

December 2013 for £12.99, ofwhich £10 was pay-as-you-gocredit. I’ve only used about £7! Ijust can’t see the need to pay theexorbitant price for what I assumeis a ‘smart’ phone. I’m quite happyto make my calls from home. Ihave a tariff with Plusnet, whichallows me to make calls any timeof day. It’s an extra fee but I don’tthink it costs anywhere near as

much as I would have to pay per monthto use a smartphone. I don’t need aphone to access the internet or receiveemails - that’s what I have a computerfor. I don’t need a phone to take photos –I’ve got a camera. I recently received a callfrom someone who had the temerity toask me to call him back on his mobilephone. I have to pay extra to do that!It’s interesting to see that 98 per cent of

young people don’t use a landline phone.It would be interesting to knowwho paysfor their mobile phone – the ‘Bank ofMum and Dad’ perhaps?

Jack Luxon

BT must provide ‘excellence’to its customers

I have to correct Brian Hargrave forso valiantly defending BT in Issue

474’s Letters page. His defence of thecompany is based on the fact that BT isnow a commercial enterprise, and he

When I read your reply to SheliaWoodhouse’s letter about

making greetings cards on her PC(‘What Should I Download?’, Issue 474,page 19) I thought your suggestionoverlooked perhaps the best card-making software out there - Serif’s

Making greeting cards?Use Serif CraftArtist

CraftArtist (www.serif.com/craftartist),which costs £25, though there is a freeversion called Craft Artist Compact(www.serif.com/digital-scrapbooking,pictured). The software is enhanced byan army of avid users who share ideasand how-to videos, so even a novice

can follow step-by-stepinstructions to createfantastic cards andscrapbook pages. I havealso used the software toedit photos, and createposters and flyers. It isworth every penny.

Caroline Howell

e

tohaalofth

25May – 7 June 2016 13

STAR LETTER

Sticking with Windows XP,but ditching my iPad

likens it to VirginMedia and Sky. However,when BT was sold off it was on theunderstanding that it continued to providea certain standard of service to all itscustomers – in the same way that RoyalMail has to deliver mail to remote areaslike the Scottish islands, which is not atall profitable. Yet the Royal Mail does soexceedingly well in the circumstances.

Ron O’Brien

Record-breaking lines in ExcelIn Issue 474, David Brooker wantedto knowwhat I needed 520,000

rows for in an Excel document. Well, it’sa record of deaths and burials in Kent,and I have now reached 693,000 records,with another 700,000 to add. I haveOffice 2013 on a 64bit computer and haveswitched off auto calc and auto save. Itried contacting Microsoft about myproblem (see Problems Solved, Issue 473,page 65), but received no answer. I have atop-of-the-range laptop with 16GBmemory and an Intel i7 quad-coreprocessor.

Robert B Sear

Is 520,000 lines in Excel a lot? Noway. As an aviation historian I have

a copy of the USA aircraft register, whichcovers 322,653 aircraft. Each aircraftrequires 11 lines, so that’s a total of3,549,183 lines, and I have deleted somethat I don’t need. Also, I have copies ofregisters from other countries that I couldmerge to produce an even bigger file, butfor convenience I keep them separate.Not sure if Excel can cope with this

many lines, but I prefer to use databaseprogram PC-File instead. PC-File islimited only by the amount of storage youhave. It runs happily inWindows 7Ultimate and it’s blindingly fast. I havenot tried later versions of Windows as Ihave no use for them.

Ian J McGarrigle

I have just finished creating agraph of trend data points. The

data was exported from an SQL databaseinto a .csv text file, which was 115MB.That file contained two sets of data points.Each data point was a temperature recordtaken every 30 seconds over a two-yearperiod.The column count came in ataround 2 million. As the limit is 520,000,I had to chop up the file into four andimport it into Excel one at a time. Yes, itdid take ages!

Jags Semi

EBay does look aftersellers, too

With reference toPatrick Hamilton’s

letter in which he said that eBay alwayssides with buyers (see Issue 474), that’snot my experience.A few years ago someone bought a

second-hand bath fromme. He pickedit up in person, but after he got it home,he contacted me claiming that themeasurement I’d given was an inch outand that he would have to re-tile hisbathroom to make it fit – and that Iwould have to pay for the re-tiling!I refused and he then said that I must

take back the bath at my expense andrefund him. He opened a complaintwith eBay, and threatenedme that if itdid not find in his favour, he would takethe case to the county court. EBay didfind in my favour and I never heard fromhim again.

S Strauch

Well done EE forreturning call centre to UK

I’d like to applaud EE’s decision tomove its call centres back to the

UK, as you reported in Issue 475 (News,page 9). Finally, these big companies arebeginning to put customers first. BTrecently said it would bring back its callcentres, too, so the tide is turning.In the past I’ve used services that

required you to ring India to speak tosomeone.They were always perfectlypleasant, and tried to help, but it’s notrocket science – a customer who speaksEnglish as their first language will getbetter help from an assistant who alsospeaks English as their first language. Youwere often branded xenophobic, or worse,if you offered this opinion. But commonsense has prevailed. In retrospect, it seemsincredible that so many companies riskedtheir reputation by outsourcing their callcentres thousands of miles from the UK.

OliverWhitlock

The letters in Issue 475regarding Apple users

pityingWindows usersprompts me to turn theargument around.Until recently I owned

an iPad, which allowedmeto check emails withoutpowering up a desktop PC.However, Apple invited meto update to iOS 9.0 withoutwarning of theconsequences. Once my iPadupdated I was unable to accessany of its content unless I updatediTunes, but this required me to berunning Internet Explorer 11, whichcould not be installed onmy three XPPro Service Pack 3 PCs.I’m one of the few people happy with

XP Pro and findWindows 10 a poorreplacement inmany respects, certainlyfor business users and serious PC usersnot enamoured of gimmicks. It lacksmany of XP Pro’s most useful features.Furthermore, the cost of upgradingwould involve repurchasing external

components and softwaretotalling over £3,000.

I never have a problemwithsecurity because I use onlyone of my three PCs for onlinetransactions, and it’s protectedby the likes of Kaspersky.Theonly problem nowwith XP Prois the annoying loss of InternetExplorer 8, because manywebsites now require a laterversion of the browser (thoughto some extent this can be

overcome using Firefox).But to return to Apple, while their

expensive equipment is exquisitelydesigned, I find the company verygreedy and controlling. Repairs areexpensive and difficult to acquirewithout long waits. By contrast, localcomputer repair centres quickly andcost-effectively repair PCs as a matterof urgency. So, I gave my iPad to mygranddaughter, and will neverpurchase another Appleproduct.

John Jefferis

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14

ConsumeractiveWho’s responsible for my warranty –Amazon, Asus or Freshtech?

to find out who is responsible. If thethree-year warranty isn’t valid, thenFreshtech may be guilty of mis-sellingthe motherboard under the UnfairTrading Regulations.However, Brian may have more

success pursuing a refund underSOGA. Because six months have passedsince purchase he would need to provethat the motherboard is inherentlyfaulty – he can do this by paying for aninspection. SOGA says that retailers areresponsible for inherently faulty goods,which means Freshtech here.Should the inspection prove that the

motherboard is faulty, Freshtech wouldneed to refund Brian the cost of this,followed by a repair or replacement,or a refund for the original purchase.We think he has a good case becauseif the motherboard has a three-yearwarranty, how can Freshtechuse ‘fair wear and tear’as a defence after only18 months?

Q I bought an Asus motherboard18 months ago from FreshtechSolutions through Amazon

Marketplace.Themain reason forchoosing the motherboard was thethree-year warranty offered by Asus.Now the motherboard has stoppedworking, and no company involvedwill take responsibility. Both Amazonand Asus say Freshtechmust help me,because it’s the retailer in this case.But Freshtech won’t help because itsays it offers only a one-year warranty.Who is actually responsible?

Brian Robb

AResolving this classic case ofpassing the buck depends onwhether Asus or Freshtech

offered the three-year warranty. Wecan definitely rule out Amazon. It wasacting only as the middle-man in thistransaction, as is the case with all itemsbought via its Marketplace.In effect, warranties are a way for

companies to promote the quality oftheir goods by guaranteeing areplacement if something goes wrongwithin a certain time. Although awarranty can’t override statutory laws,such as the Sale of Goods Act (SOGA),they are legally binding. Whoeveroffers it must abide by it.We’ve contacted Asus and Freshtech

Q Four years ago, I bought anAmica fridge-freezer from anappliance repair engineer, who

has since become a friend.The fridge-freezer has developed a gas leak so Icontacted Amica. It told me to contactthe seller, but I don’t want to involve myfriend. Do I still have a claim againstAmica for inherently faulty goods?

NicosMichael

AThere’s no question of ‘still’ inthis scenario – Nicos was neverin a position to make a claim

against Amica for inherently faulty goodsunder the Sale of Goods Act. The reasonis simple: he never had a contract withthe company because he didn’t buy thefridge-freezer from it. Instead thecontract was made with the person hesays is now his friend.Nicos’s friend was acting as a sole

trader when he sold the fridge-freezer, sois legally responsible forany refunds and repair.If Nicos wants to pursuethe case, he would haveto prove that the faultis inherent (not theresult of wear and tear),which won’tbe easy to doafter fouryears.

Should I claima refund frommy friend?

junk folder, so we’ve asked him tocheck. However, if no licence key wasemailed to him, and Samuel no longerwants BullGuard’s software, he isentitled to a refund.This is becauseBullGuard has breached its contractwith Samuel by not supplying theproduct he paid for.We’ll let you knowwhat’s happening

as soon as we hearback from BullGuardand Samuel.

Q I ordered BullGuard InternetSecurity via its websitea fewweeks ago,

but althoughmy bankstatement shows themoney’s been taken, I’venot received the downloadlink or licence key. I’veemailed BullGuard’ssupport team, but had noresponse. Can you help?

Samuel I Nicholl

AYes, we’ll try. BullGuardtold us it’s not sure whathas happened, and

wants Samuel to provide moreinformation about his order so it caninvestigate. However, we’re puzzledbecause at the very least Samuelshould have automatically receivedan email with the licence key oncehe’d paid for the software.It’s possible that BullGuard’s

emails have ended up in Samuel’s

How do I get my BullGuard licence key?

25May – 7 June 2016

ebsite

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waininbeshanhe

em

15

Q In January, our home broadbandspeed was very slow, whichmyinternet service provider

Plusnet confirmed. It was a problemwithcables that Openreach was responsiblefor fixing. After five attempts, and oneengineer not showing up, it’s finally beenfixed. Plusnet refundedme £16 for loss ofservice, but can I claim compensation fortime off work, because I needed to be athome for each visit by the engineers?

Moishe Poolat

AWe sympathise with Moishebecause he’s been seriouslyinconvenienced, but he’ll find it

difficult to make a case against eitherPlusnet or Openreach. For his claim to besuccessful Moishe would need to provefinancial loss. He won’t be able to claim

for the aggravation and annoyanceof taking time off, no matter howmany days he wasted.Even if he wanted to make this

claim because he runs a businessfrom home, it’s still unlikely to beconsidered because Moishe’s contractwith Plusnet is for domestic broadband.If it had been a business account, he mayhave been able to claim for compensationbeyond the £16 for having lost potentialrevenue from being unable to trade.He also has to consider which company

to pursue. His contract is with Plusnet,which has already compensated him forloss of service. Openreachwas responsiblefor repairing the cables. However,although it needed access to Moishe’shome, this doesn’t mean it formed acontract with him.

Contact us sowe can investigate your caseEmail: consumeractive@computeractive.co.uk

Write: Consumeractive, Computeractive, 30 Cleveland Street, LondonW1T 4JDPlease include both your phone number and address.

Unfortunately, we can’t reply to all your letters.

Westand up for your legal rightsWes

Discontinued products

THIS WILL COME IN USEFUL

Acerwww.snipca.com/20389

Adobe softwarewww.snipca.com/20396

All printerswww.snipca.com/20392

Applewww.snipca.com/20387

Brother printerswww.snipca.com/20393

Canonwww.snipca.com/20397

Epsonwww.epson.co.uk/offers

HP printerswww.snipca.com/20390

Lenovowww.snipca.com/20402

LGmonitorswww.snipca.com/20401

LG TVswww.snipca.com/20399

Microsoft softwarewww.snipca.com/20388

Netgearwww.snipca.com/20400

Philipswww.snipca.com/20398

Samsung tabletswww.snipca.com/20403

SonyVaiowww.snipca.com/20391

Toshibawww.toshiba.eu/discontinued-products

Dell uses up one-and-only chanceto replace reader’s laptop

Dell has provided uswiththe perfect example tohighlight one of themost

important changes in the newConsumerRights Act (CRA), introduced last October.The new law gives companies only onechance to repair a faulty item. If that fails,theymust refund the customer or replace the item.In Issue 475, we told you about Denis Griffiths’ problem

with the keyboard on a Dell Inspiron laptop, which he boughtin November 2015. He said that the printed letters on the keyshad faded, a fault that Dell claimedwasn’t covered by thewarranty. But aswith all products, this is irrelevant if the fault isinherent. And because fewer than sixmonths had passed sincepurchase, it was up to Dell to prove that Denis had caused thefault throughwear and tear. However, we find it hard to believethat, in normal usage, keyboard letterswould start to fade sosoon after purchase. It seemed to us that the keyboardwasinherently faulty.Since Denis’ email to us Dell has sent a technician to his

house to replace the keyboard. But that’s not the end of thestory. Denis is concerned that the new keyboard appears tohave the same kind of faded printing on the keys, so he thinksthe problemwill recur. That’swhen the CRA comes into play.Dell won’t be allowed to replace the keyboard again, and sowillhave to refund Denis.

CASE UPDATE

25May – 7 June 2016

You can read Plusnet’s terms andconditions at www.snipca.com/20468.For its refund policy, scroll down tosection 13, titled Compensation. Plusnetsays it will refund customers on apro-rata basis for “an intermittent orcontinuous total loss of service”,although it does give fourexceptions, includingwhen the failure is beyondits “reasonable” control.

Can I get extra compensation for loss of broadband?

16

Protect Your TechScamsand threats to avoid, plus newsecurity tools

One of the reasons ransomware is sucha serious threat is that there’s rarelyone single tool that unlocks your files.It’s why some security experts say thatthe only way to get your files back is topay the ransom, however improperthat may feel. But before you pay up,first check whether a security companyhas released a decryption tool for theparticular strain of ransomware that’s

infected your PC.The latest such tool, from Kaspersky,

releases files from the grip ofCryptXXX, which locks your files, givesthem the ‘.crypt’ extension, demands a$500 ransom (see screenshot), andthen for an unwanted encore stealsyour personal data. Fortunately,Kaspersky says that CryptXXX “turnedout to be not that difficult to crack”. As

a result, the companyhas been able to updateits RannohDecryptortool – built for theRannoh ransomware– so it also protectsagainst CryptXXX.Read advice on how touse it on Kaspersky’sblog - just click thelink above.

New tools

What’s the threat?A new type of malware, spotted bysecurity experts at McAfee, that exploitsthe ‘God Mode’ inWindows. Officiallycalled theWindows Master ControlPanel shortcut, God Mode – which wasintroduced in Vista and has appearedin every version since – creates adesktop folder that provides access tojust about everyWindows setting.To turn on God Mode, create a new

folder on your desktop then type thefollowing to name it: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} – or simply cut andpaste it from our Pastebin page: www.snipca.com/20479.This will turn thefolder into a blue monitor icon.This trick of renaming folders to give

them new powers is how this malware– called Dynamer – does its dirty work.

Windows ‘God Mode’ malwareWATCH OUT FOR…

Convincing scammerpretended to be from BTRecently I received a call fromsomeone purporting to be from BT.She convinced me by quoting ourBT account number. She took overmy PC and said she had fixed aproblem, and then said that we wereentitled to £200 compensation. Sheasked for our bank details, which Irefused to give, having by this timesmelt a rat. I told her we’d be happyto receive a cheque or have themoney sent to our local hospice. Ihung up. She rang back about 12times. My husband and I are in ourlate eighties and can do without thistype of hassle.

Joyce KirkWarn your fellow readers about scams atletters@computeractive.co.uk

Ransomware decryptorwww.snipca.com/20485

ScamWatchREADERSWARNREADERS

25May – 7 June 2016

It worms its way into yourPC’s AppData directory(where your software storesinfo), placing itself in afolder with a similar nameto God Mode. By default,AppData is hidden inWindows, making it theperfect location formalware to lurk unseen.If you click the folder to open it, you go

to an empty page within the ControlPanel. This is a devious touch by thehackers because it means you can’tremove themalware by deleting the folder.

What should you do?First, check whether you’ve been infectedby opening the AppData folder - type%appdata% into the Start menu thenclick the Roaming folder. Dynamer

appears as the icon circled in thescreenshot above. If you see it, typetask manager into Start, click ‘Viewrunning processes with Task Manager’,then look for the process named‘com4.{241D7C96-F8BF-4F85-B01F-E2B043341A4B}’. Right-click this, thenclick ‘End process’. You can nowremove Dynamer by typing intoCommand Prompt the code at www.snipca.com/20481.

18

Best Free SoftwareBrilliant newprograms thatwon’t cost you anything

25May – 7 June 2016

PortableApps Platform 14.0http://portableapps.comWhat you need:Windows XP, 7, 8/8.1 or 10

1 Launch the program,browse the list then tickthe portable programsyouwant to add to yourlibrary and click Next.The programswill thendownload to your library.

2 Once your programshave downloaded, clickFinish.Then click the grey-and-white arrow icon onyour taskbar, and yourPortableApps Platformlibrarywill open.

3 Click a program in your list torun it instantly. Right-click aprogram for options, including‘Run as Administrator’,Favourite, Category, Renameand Uninstall.

4 To findmore programsfor your library, click Appson the right, then ‘GetMore Apps…’ You can thenbrowse newprogramsor search by name orcategory.

PORTABLE PROGRAMS

programs, using the steps outlined below. Copy any programfrom your library to a USB stick for running on another PC,including XP and Vista PCs that are no longer safe for browsing.The Platform stores and syncs your library of chosen

portable programs securely online, with a backup andrestore feature that can resurrect your library in case of aUSB or PC disaster.Version 14 adds hundreds of new portable programs,

including system tray tools that you can set to quitautomatically – something we wish ourWindows system traytools could do. It also introduces a 64bit mode to speed thingsup on newer PCs, and the team has fixed a bug that preventedsome programs from running in XP.Note that like many sites, PortableApps uses ‘apps’

interchangeably with ‘programs’. We’ve always found thatmisleading.These aren’t apps in the phone, tablet andWindows Store sense, so don’t be disappointed if you can’tfind anything here for your Android device.

We love portable programs. Unlike installable programs, theyrun as soon as you click their EXE file – no setup wizard toworry about. Unlike web-based tools, you don’t need a fastconnection. In fact, portable programs don’t need anyinternet connection at all – just insert a USB stick containingthe program’s EXE file, then click the file to run the program.Open-source program PortableApps Platform is your portable

programsmixtape. Choose from a range of portable programs,organise them into categories and select your favourites.The Platform itself is an installable program, so youmust

install it using a fully supported version of Windows.However you can then run your portable programs in olderversions of Windows.Click Free Download, then ‘Download 14.0’, then save and

run the junk-free installer. You can choose to install it on aportable device or even in an online storage service such asGoogle Drive or Dropbox, but we chose our PC (‘Local’).Straight away you can start filling your library with portable

1

2

3

4

1925May – 7 June 2016

CLIPBOARD TOOL

http://1clipboard.ioWhat you need:Windows 7, 8.1 or 10

TheWindows Clipboard is the best and worst of tools. Cutting,copying and pasting is now second nature, but we’re all guilty ofcutting or copying again before pasting – a classic mishap ofmodern life. Your previous clipping is gone forever, lost to thedark world of overwritten content.Depressing, eh? Here’s something to cheer you up. 1Clipboard

is a new tool that saves your whole clipboard history and stores itsecurely in Google Drive, so you can access it from any PC ordevice that supports your Google account. You can search yourclipboard history, copy and paste any item from it andmark

items as favourites soyou’ll never lose themagain. Sadly, we couldn’tget the tool to store cut orcopied photos, only text.If you don’t want your

clippings saved online,skip signing up with yourGoogle account. You canstill track your clippingsby clicking the paperclipicon in your system tray.

www.snipca.com/20428What you need:Windows XP, 7, 8/8.1 or 10

Another Computeractive issue, another new tool from prolificproducer of portable system tools, Nir Sofer. The latest treatfrom his NirSoft site displays a list of all the files you’ve openedinWindows, from documents, photos and videos right throughto program installers andWindows tools.You can then sort the list in various ways by clicking the

appropriate column headings. For example, sort them byFilename, File Size (particularly useful for weeding out space-hogs and duplicates), Extension, File Created Time and so on.To get the tool, scroll right down the page and click the

Download link that matches your system. Open and extract theZip file, then click ‘OpenSaveFilesView.exe’ to run the program.

1Clipboard 0.1

FILE MANAGER

OpenSaveFilesView 1.10

Q We recently moved from the UK to Spain, and welove it here but our Spanish language skills arevery basic. We’re using Duolingo for learning, but

it can’t translate in real time when I need to speak to adoctor or understand a letter. Is there a laptop program(Windows 10) or Android app that can do this?

Liz Kendrick

ABest place to start is Google Translate (https://translate.google.co.uk), which automaticallytranslates your typed English to Spanish (or

French, Polish and dozens more). Open it in the browser onyour laptop, tablet or phone, click English in the left row ofbuttons and Spanish in the right, then type.Typing on Google Translate’s free mobile app (Android

www.snipca.com/20475; iOS www.snipca.com/20476) ismore fiddly, but it may suit your needs when you’re outand about. It can also do extra tricks such as translate aphoto of a word.We’d also recommend

Microsoft’s free newmulti-purpose Android app HubKeyboard (www.snipca.com/20474), which hasMicrosoft Translator built in soyou can type in English andhave your words translatedautomatically.For software that translates on the hoof and includes

dictionaries, text-to-speech andmore, try Lingoes (www.snipca.com/20480). It supports Windows 8 andWindows10. Click one of the blue Download links, then click thedownload mirror link ending ‘UK’ (see screenshot).

WHAT SHOULD I DOWNLOAD?

How can I translatebetween English andSpanish instantly?

We tell you what software to use

Do you need our advice onwhat software to use?Just email us at letters@computeractive.co.uk

You’ll findmore superbfree programs in our144-page book: TheDefinitiveGuide to Free Software

TheDefinitive Guideto Free Software

BUY IT NOWFROMAMAZONatwww.snipca.com/16785

e

Reviews Newproducts tested by our experts

20 25May – 7 June 2016

Two hundred and seventy pounds? Foran ebook reader?We had to double-check to make sure we hadn’t misreadthe info or been transported back to the1980s.These days, Amazon itself sells afull-blown all-purpose colour tabletcomputer for 50 quid. Is it seriouslyexpecting people to pay more than fivetimes as much for a gadget that justshows text in black and white?

a reasonably sharp 300dpi greyscaledisplay that reflects light (like paper)rather than emitting it (like a tablet).That makes reading comfortable on theeyes, and if it gets dark you can turn onthe built-in light, which uses plenty ofLEDs to provide soft, even illumination.Because the screen sits flush with thefront panel, rather than under a raisedbezel, it feels evenmore like a page in abook, rather than on a device.As with the Voyage and the Paperwhite,

you can turn a page by swiping thescreen, if you prefer that gesture. If not,Forward and Back buttons sit handily byyour thumb, so you needn’t move yourhands at all. This is much better than thePaperwhite’s buttonless design, and putsit on a par with the Voyage’s fancytouch-sensitive system.Wementioned when we tested the

latest version of the Paperwhite (see ourreview, Issue 458) that Amazon wasworking on the look of the Kindlesoftware. Text does now look neater, butthe typesetting still doesn’t match thequality of traditional books.To be fair, a printed book gets typeset

once by experts; your Kindle has totypeset each book itself, while you read,using the font and size of your choice. Butthe range of options remains very limited.Text looks better on rival readers such asKobo’s Glo (see our review, Issue 452).That aside, the Oasis feels gratifyingly

free of compromises, and if you read alot, that might justify the relatively high

price. Calculating whether or not it’sactually value for money is tricky.Some Kindle editions are cheaper thanpaperbacks, so you’d eventually makeyour £270 back reading them on theOasis rather than ordering traditionalbooks, but it would take quite a while.On the other hand, a surprisingly large

number of titles are actually cheaper tobuy physically, at Amazon’s discounts,than electronically. So you’re payingAmazon extra for the hardware, thenpaying Amazon extra again. Something isamiss here: doing away with paper andprinting and shifting books around thecountry must mean someone is savingmoney, but it doesn’t seem to be thecustomer.

SPECIFICATIONS6in E Ink touchscreen •• 4GBmemory •• 802.11nWi-Fi(3G optional) •• Supports AZW, AZW3,MOBI, PRC,PDF formats •• 143x122x8.5mm (HxWxD) ••One-yearwarrantywww.snipca.com/20483

VERDICT: It’s pricey, butwith storageformore than 2,000 books and a greatscreen to read themon, the Oasisleaves little to be desired

★★★★☆

ALTERNATIVE:KoboGloHD£110More of a rival tothe Kindle Paperwhite, thissupports generic EPUB andEPUB3 books rather thanAmazon’s Kindle Store

Expensive, butprobably worth it foravid readers

AmazonKindle Oasis

E READER ❘ £270 from Amazonwww.snipca.com/20483

The best ebook reader yet

Apparently so – and it’s not as daft as itsounds. First of all, it’s not really muchmore expensive than the £160 KindleVoyage when you consider that it comeswith a case – an almost essential accessorythat costs extra with other e-readers.The leather-fronted folio, available in

brown, black or maroon (see imagebelow), attaches with magnets, so youcan easily leave it behind and nearly halvethe weight, which is less than a tabletanyway. One USB cable charges both theOasis and its case. Clip the case on andyou get four times the battery life – over24 hours. Amazon reckons this shouldlast you ‘months’, although this might beoptimistic if you’re an avid reader.The 6in screen is similar to the Voyage

and the cheaper Kindle Paperwhite, with

25May – 7 June 2016 21

HOWWE TESTComputeractive is owned by DennisPublishing, which owns a hi-tech facilityfor testing the latest technology. You’lloften read references to our benchmarktesting, which is amethod of assessingproducts using the same criteria. Forexample, we test the speed of everyPC and the battery life of every tabletin exactly the sameway. Thismakesour reviews authoritative, rigorousand accurate.Dennis Publishing also owns

themagazinesPCPro,ComputerShopper,WebUser andMicroMartand thewebsite Expert Reviews(www.expertreviews.co.uk). Thismeanswe can test thousands ofproducts before choosing themostrelevant forComputeractive.

FAIR AND IMPARTIALOurwriters follow strict guidelines toensure the reviews are fair andimpartial. Themanufacturer has noinvolvement in our tests.

OURAWARDS

BUY IT!★★★★★

Weaward every productthat gets five stars ourBuy It! stamp of approval.It meanswewere

extremely impressed by the product,andwe think youwill be too.

Every product that gets afour-star review is giventhe Great Pick award.Wehighly recommend these

products, although they just fail tomeetthe high standard of our Buy It! winners.

PRICESOur reviews contain a link to the bestpricewe foundonlineat the timeofpress.

SPECIFICATIONS1.6GHz Intel Celeron N3050 dual-core processor ••2GBmemory •• 32GB flash storage •• 11.6in 1366x768-pixel screen •• 0.3-megapixel webcam •• 802.11acWi-Fi •• Bluetooth 4.1 •• 1x USB 3.0 port •• 1x USB2.0 port •• 1x USB Type-C port ••Windows 10Home•• 18.5x297x201mm (HxWxD) •• 1.2kg •• One-yearwarrantywww.snipca.com/20524

VERDICT:Windows 10 is toocumbersome tomake really greatlow-cost hybrids possible, but this is asnear as you’ll get at themoment

★★★★☆

ALTERNATIVE:Acer AspireCloudbook 14 £199This also has a Celeronprocessor and gives youa bigger screen, buttheWi-Fi is slower

Which £200 laptop should you buy?Sorry, that isn’t easy to answer. It’s likeasking which sugar-free doughnut tastesbest, or which low-cost airline gives youthe biggest free checked-in luggageallowance. Whatever answer we give isbound to end in disappointment.But manufacturers keep trying to

create laptops that’ll offer greatWindows 10 performance for littlecash. And this is the latest attemptby Asus in its Transformer series. The‘Flip’ part of the name refers to a newhinge – a crucial component in machineslike this with keyboards that fold all theway round to form a tablet, as long asyour idea of a tablet is a plastic sandwichwith a keyboard on the back.

The hinge, one of the TP200SA’s fewmetal parts, works pretty well, althoughthe screen still bounced a bit when wewere typing. Since the whole device cansit within an A4 sheet of paper, there’snot much room for the keys, which arecrammed together and less than full size,but they did at least move noticeablywhen hit. The touchpad worked quitesmoothly, too.

The screen isn’t particularly sharp andits colour reproduction, covering only 64per cent of the sRGB range, is technicallyawful, but thanks to good brightness andcontrast we found it quite acceptable inpractice. It’s a touchscreen that takesadvantage of Windows 10’s Tablet modewhen the keyboard is folded up, and assuch, well… it works adequately.At 1.2kg, the TP200SA is easy to carry,

and with a battery that lasted over ninehours of video playbackin our tests, it’llkeep going all day. If you run out ofstorage on the tiny 32GB of flash storage,you can add a microSD card, which isless cumbersome than the usual full-sizeSD. But don’t plan to do anything moreambitious than keeping a couple of webbrowser windows open while you writean email, because the Intel Celeronprocessor, not very ably assisted by just2GB of memory, won’t keep up. At leastthe built-in 802.11acWi-Fi is fast.If you’re OKwith its limitations, we

have to admit this is a surprisingly goodlittle PC for the money. We’d pick it inthe same way we’d pick a Renault Twizyover a Reliant Robin: it looks nice andwon’t actually fall apart, but – like aTwizy – you’ll still want somethingdifferent if you’re going further thanthe corner shop.

LAPTOP TABLET ❘ £200 from John Lewis www.snipca.com/20522

Asus TransformerBook Flip TP200SAFlexibility on a shoestring

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A surprisingly goodWindows 10 hybrid– if you accept itslimitations

22

Reviews

Whenwe tested Apple’s brandnewMacBook last year, with itssuper-slim case and edge-to-edgekeyboard, we praised its lightweightdesign and high-resolution screen,but we weren’t so sure about itsreliance on a single USB Type-Cport for charging, wired networking,external displays andaccessories. The same laptop nowhas more powerful processors insideand comes in a new colour (rose gold).It can be awkward working with only

one port, but now that USB Type-C isbecoming more common in PCs, at leastits format isn’t such an anomaly. If youlike to use a mouse, though, it’s annoying(for most of us) that the port is on theleft, but the MacBook’s smooth trackpadwill satisfy most users. The only otherquestionable hardware choice is theFaceTime webcam, which is far fromHD resolution, though fine for itsintended purpose.

At £1,049, the MacBook comes with animproved 1.1GHz M3 processor alongside8GB of memory and 256GB of storage. Oryou can have a 1.2GHz M5 processor and512GB for £1,299.The best reason tochoose the higher specification is theextra storage. We found the M3 processor20 per cent faster than last year’sMacBook across a variety of tests, and theM5 12.5 per cent faster again. Either isgood enough for everyday tasks andphoto editing, which benefits from the

SPECIFICATIONS1.1GHz Intel M3 dual-core processor •• 8GBmemory•• 256GB SSD •• Intel Graphics 515 •• 12in 2,304x1,440-pixel screen •• 802.11acWi-Fi •• Bluetooth 4.0 ••FaceTime camera •• USB Type-C port •• OSX 10.11El Capitan •• 13.1x281x197mm (HxWxD) •• One-yearwarrantywww.snipca.com/20510

VERDICT:You don’t have to spend thismuchon a general-purpose laptop, butit’s fast and has a good screen

★★★★☆

ALTERNATIVE:Asus ZenBookUX305CA£550 ItsM3 processor isslower and storage is only128GB, but thismuchcheaper, slim 13.3in laptopalso has a high-resolutionscreen

Portable powerpacksAmazonBasics3,000mAhUltra Slim£9 fromAmazonwww.snipca.com/20576Carrying a battery packmeans notworrying about your phone or tabletrunning out of charge.Thismodelwillchargemost phones from zero to 100per cent. Its 1.0 amp output isn’t enoughformost tablets. AMicroUSB cable isbuilt in to connect tomost phones.

Poweradd Pilot 2GS£10 fromAmazonwww.snipca.com/20582This sleek silver chargerhas standard USB ports tousewith your devices’ cables. Oneis 2.1A, whichwill workwith tablets andmay charge your phone faster, althoughit doesn’t support the Quick Chargestandard used by some devices. A 2Ainputmakes charging the Pilot itselfrelatively quick. It’s great value.

EasyAcc20000mAhRugged PowerBank£34 fromAmazonwww.snipca.com/20581With an IP67waterproof rating andbuilt-in torch, this power pack is idealfor holidays.There’s one 1.0AUSBoutputand one 2.4A, but noQuick Charge.Its 20,000mAh batterywill charge aniPhone 6s about eight times over.

RAVPower 20100mAh(Quick Charge 3.0)£37 fromAmazonwww.snipca.com/20584This power pack supports the latesttechnologies, with Quick Charge 3.0 forfast charging and USB Type-C toworkwith low-power laptops such as Apple’sMacBook 12in aswell asmobile devices.All outputs are at least 2.4A, and youcan charge oneQuick Charge and oneregular device at the same time.

The best…Apple MacBook 12in (2016)

LAPTOP ❘ £1,049 from Apple Store www.snipca.com/20515

Could you be converted to Apple’s laptop?

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solution

25May – 7 June 2016

Expensive for alaptop, but it’s quick,good for photo editingand looks the part

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ook 12in (2016)ed to Apple’s laptop?

colour-accurate 2304x1440-pixel screen.Should you consider a MacBook,

despite the price? Apple aficionadoswould argue that the software is simplerto use thanWindows, and hassles youmuch less with security issues andupdates. It comes with a very good set ofoffice and creative apps free of charge.Macs are favoured by creative professionalsand programmers, and the MacBook isundoubtedly the current laptop of choicefor sitting in coffee shops doing excitingwork for companies with silly names.HP’s new Spectre 13Windows 10

laptop is even thinner, but starts at£1,149, and that’s with an ordinary FullHD (1920x1080-pixel) screen. It has amore powerful Intel Core i5 processor,but its claimed 10-hour battery life can’tmatch the MacBook, which lasted usmore than that playing videos – an hourlonger than the 2015 version, which wentas long as 14 hours in lighter use.Then again, you could buy a very nice

Asus ZenBook UX305CA for half themoney, with a slower M3 processor andonly 128GB of storage, but a similarlysharp screen. It remains our favouriteWindows 10 laptop.

05760576

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00mAh0)

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Call 0808 1686 777or visit fasthosts.co.uk/cloud-serversSERVERS • WEB HOSTING • DOMAIN NAMES • EXCHANGE EMAIL

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24

Reviews

SPECIFICATIONS5.3in 2560x1440-pixel screen •• 16-megapixelrear camera •• 8-megapixel wide-angle camera ••8-megapixel front camera •• 32GB flash storage ••microSD card slot •• 802.11acWi-Fi •• Bluetooth 4.2 ••3G/4G •• 149x74x7.7mm (HxWxD) •• 159g •• One-yearwarrantywww.snipca.com/20350

VERDICT:TheG5 is an excellent phonewith plenty of advanced features, butthemodular gimmick doesn’t make itbetter than Samsung’s S7

★★★★☆

ALTERNATIVE:Huawei P9£450TheG5 has no directrival, but this is a similarlysized, high-performancealuminium phonewith afancy twin camera

SMARTPHONE ❘ £500 from John Lewis www.snipca.com/20349

LG G5The first upgradablesmartphone

25May – 7 June 2016

In the old days, computers were madeup of a bunch of widgets slotted together.When a component failed or a betterone came along, you could undo a screwor pop open a flap and do a quickswap. Desktop PCs are still like that,which is why they’re not extinct,despite being unattractively bulky.But nowadays we carry more processingpower in our pockets than we used tohave on our desks, and one wayengineers have achieved thatminiaturisation is by abandoning‘modularity’: the principle that partsshould be independent of the whole.

This latest phone from LG unexpectedlyreverses that trend. Instead of aseamlessly sealed case that can only beopened with special tools and a degree ofbravery, it has a bottom cap that slides offat the squeeze of a button.This revealsthe yellow battery (see photo below),which you can replace easily enough tomake it practical to carry a spare whenyou’re out for the day, rather than acharging case or battery pack. Moreinterestingly, the cap can be replacedwith modules that add features tothe phone.Two of these are available from LG.

The CAM Plus increases battery life(although, at over 11 hours of videoplayback in our tests, it’s decentalready) and adds physical controlsfor shutter speed, zoom and takingphotos.The Hi-Fi Plus module,developed with the hi-ficompany Bang & Olufsen,improves the quality ofaudio playback, for sharp-eared people who can hearthe difference between

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An innovation thatdid impress us wasthe inclusion of twoseparate cameras

regular MP3s and high-quality sound filesand are fed up with their phone makingthe latter sound like the former.It’s a lovely idea, but neither of these

options feels like a must-have, and LG’stwo external accessories, a 360-degreecamera and VR goggles, even less so.Considering that these are madespecifically for this phone, we weresurprised by how clunkily they fit on.Themodules clip into place well enough,but it’s obvious that your G5 has an extrablob stuck on the bottom. Along withthe fussy protrusions at the top for thecamera, flash and fingerprint sensor, thisgives the whole thing the air of a HeathRobinson prototype rather than apolished product.That’s unfortunate, because LG so

nearly got it right. Modular designs tendto be boxy and cluttered, but the G5 is asslim, sleek and light as this year’s other

top-end phones, with a neataluminium body and abeautiful, bright, sharp displaythat covers 97 per cent of thesRGB colour range and shows thetime and notifications even whenswitched off. Slightly smaller thanan iPhone 6s Plus, it’s definitely alarge phone but not unwieldy, andits Snapdragon 820 processor runsapps and games as smoothly as rivals

like the Samsung S7. LG’s version ofGoogle’s Android 6 Marshmallowoperating system has someannoyances, but no major problems.

An innovation that did impress uswas the inclusion of two separatecameras on the back.Themain16-megapixel unit uses a fast f/1.8 lensand optical stabilisation to get greatpictures even in tricky situations, andworked very well in our tests, althoughthe Samsung Galaxy S7 was even better.The G5’s secondary 8-megapixel camerahas a 135-degree field of view, almost a‘fisheye’ lens, which lets you capturewider landscapes or fit anything from aplate of food to a building into a shotwhen you can’t stand far back from it.It’s amazingly useful andmakes evenmundane subjects look dramatic.

This tough wireless travel speaker(available in several colours) would begreat on holiday. Knock it into aswimming pool and the IPX7 waterproofrating means it should survive up to ametre deep for half an hour, although youwon’t be able to hear it so well.On dry land, the Boom 2 sounds loud

and clear. You wouldn’t choose it forclassical music, but there’s plenty of bassand presence. It works with anyBluetooth A2DP device, including mostphones, tablets and laptops, at a range ofup to 33 metres. There’s also a 3.5mminput jack. If you have an Apple orAndroid phone or tablet, you get extrafeatures, like using two Boom 2s as astereo pair and cueing upmusic frommore than one device. You can alsoanswer phone calls through the speaker.

Ultimate Ears Boom 2A Bluetooth speaker for your summer holiday

Slightly smaller than a Pringles can, theBoom 2will fit intomost holders designedfor bottles of water, which is handy whencycling or backpacking.There’s also aloop you can use to dangle from acarabiner, which also conceals a tripodstand. A flat side panel provides giantplus andminus buttons to control thevolume. You can also tap the top to pauseor skip, but we found it easier to controlthe music from our phone.Ultimate Ears reckons the rechargeable

battery will last up to 15 hours. We gotabout 12, enough for most days out.

SPECIFICATIONS2x 45mmdrivers •• Bluetooth (requires computer,phone or tablet supporting Bluetooth A2DP) ••3.5mmanalogue stereo input •• 180x67x67mm(HxWxD) •• 0.55kg •• Two-yearwarrantywww.snipca.com/20532

VERDICT: Long battery life, decentsound, highmaximumvolume andproperwaterproofingmake this a goodholiday choice

★★★★★

ALTERNATIVE:Braven BRV-1 £60Thissmaller IPX7 Bluetooth speaker is nowless than half its originalprice and sounds great

Considering that its audio quality isn’texceptional, you could get an indoorwireless speaker for less money, but ifyou want something flexible and readyfor the outdoors, rain or shine, the Boom2 offers the best combination of design,features and value in waterproofBluetooth speakers.

peaker is now

nsidering that its audio quality isn’tceptional, you could get an indoorreless speaker for less money, but ifwant something flexible and ready

SPEAKER ❘ £130 from Amazonwww.snipca.com/20534 BUY IT!★★★★★

26

Reviews

WHAT SHOULD I BUY?

Do you need advice onwhat you should buy?Email us at letters@computeractive.co.uk

We solve your buying dilemmas

What’s the best laptop for my retirement?

Q I’ve used various computers inmywork. Now retired, I wanta laptop that’s not too heavy or

large, that I can use for email, Skype,online research, banking and so on. I’mmost comfortable with Microsoft WordandWindows 8.1. My budget would be£200 to £250.

Josephine Stiernborg

ATheAcer Chromebook R11(£200 from Currys www.snipca.com/20551) would suit

your needs if you have a reliable internetconnection, but you’d be limited to theOffice Online version of Word, whichlacks some advanced features.The similarly sized Asus EeeBook

X205TA (£180 from Amazon www.snipca.com/20552, pictured) runsWindows 8.1 and comes with a year’s freeMicrosoft Office 365 subscription.Themore flexible £200 Asus Transformer FlipBook TP200SA (see our review, page 21)hasWindows 10, which feels similar to8.1 and ensures continued security updates.

Youmight prefer to put up with alittle more weight for the larger screenof the Acer Cloudbook 14 (£199 fromTesco www.snipca.com/20553), whichalso includes Office 365, or Toshiba’sSatellite C40-C-10Q (£180 from JohnLewis www.snipca.com/20554), whichdoesn’t. All have a scant 32GB ofstorage, but SD cards can be added,from around £10 for 32GB.

SYSTEMREQUIREMENTSWindows 7, 8 or 10 •• Intel i5-4590 or higherprocessor •• Nvidia GeForce GTX970 or AMDRadeonR9 390 or better graphics card •• One-yearwarrantywww.snipca.com/20496

VERDICT: It’s still early days for virtualreality, but this headset definitely bringsalternativeworlds a step closer

★★★★☆

ALTERNATIVE:Oculus Rift£500After a number ofdelays it’s finally here,but the Rift’s controllersdon’t rival the Vive

VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET ❘ £690 from Currys www.snipca.com/20494

A headset that takes you out of this world

HTC Vive

2016 is the year of virtual reality (VR).That’s been said before. In fact every yearfor the last few decades. But here’s one ofseveral new VR headsets you can actuallybuy, bringing an imaginary worldconvincingly to life around you.

First, though, you have to set it up.And this is when we began to wonderif it might be 2017 by the time we gotfinished. You need to install the Vivesomewhere big and empty, with enoughroom to safely stumble about with aplastic clamp over your head. Its twomotion sensors need to screw into yourwalls above head height. Ridiculously,

everything needs mains powercables, including the helmet, so itlooks like a scene from a sci-fi filmfrom the 1950s before you’ve evenstarted.Having said all that, it requires no

specialist tech skills and the resultsreally are quite impressive. Inside thebulky helmet are two 1200x1080-pixelOLED displays (one for each eye) withlarge Fresnel lenses to make the pictureclearer than the Rift’s (see Alternativebelow).There’s enough room for glassesif you wear them. Bearing in mind that ithas to fill your whole field of vision, thepicture still isn’t detailed enough to readsmall text easily, but it’s enough to makewhat’s around you feel real.And that’s the point. Thanks to a

number of clever sensors, the Vive tracksyour headmovements precisely, so as youmove, the ‘world’ stays still. It feels verydifferent from anything else. Using thehandheld controllers, we had great funwith the included apps, including theenoyably silly Job Simulator, gameslike Selfie Tennis and the physicallydemanding Space Pirate Trainer.

We were surprised to find howmany games and ‘experiences’are already available for the Vive(see www.snipca.com/20497).

Fromwhat we’ve seen so far, it could bethe best of this year’s VR systems – butthat’s no guarantee of long-term success.So it would be a gamble to spend around£700 now, on top of the high-end PCyou’ll need to plug it into.

25May – 7 June 2016

Costly, but greatfun if you have theright space to use it

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25May – 7 June 2016 27

SPECIFICATIONS5.2in 1920x1080-pixel screen •• 2x 12-megapixelrear cameras •• 5-megapixel front camera •• 32GBflash storage •• MicroSD card slot •• 802.11acWi-Fi ••Bluetooth 4.2 •• 3G/4G •• 145x70x6.95mm (HxWxD) ••144g •• One-yearwarrantywww.snipca.com/20537

VERDICT:With two excellent camerasand a great screen, the P9 adds up to agood phone at a fair price

★★★★☆

ALTERNATIVE: SamsungGalaxy S7 £549With afaster processor andexcellent single camera, thiswaterproof phone is betteroverall but pricier

Huawei P9PHONE ❘ £450 from Huawei www.snipca.com/20537

Are two cameras betterthan one? Yes

Remember when we all thought it wassilly to put a camera in a phone? Now ourphones all have two cameras, andapparently that’s still not enough: thisyear’s trend is three.The LG G5 (see ourreview, page 24) includes a separatewide-angle lens to give you a choice offraming, which is useful. Huawei hasdone something different: the P9’stwo cameras work together to takepictures with more dynamic range.

In our tests, this gave us vibrant coloursand good detail outdoors, showing lots ofcontrast without highlights getting blownout or shadows disappearing into noise.There’s actually one colour camera andone monochrome.The latter focuses oncapturing light, but you can also use thisseparately to take black-and-whitephotos. We got excellent results with that,too, as you’d expect from a componentbearing the classic Leica camera brand– although we can’t imagine Leica hadmuch do with the miniatiurisedelectronic gubbins that makes all thispossible.The P9’s software can also process the

dual images to vary depth of field, so youcan have objects at a certain distance infocus, while the rest of the scene isartfully blurred.That’s normally onlyachieveable using a full-size camera witha large-aperture lens. It’s fairly obviousthat the effect relies on some fakery, and

High-qualitycameras and screen setthis phone apart

the software’s ‘Pro’ mode tactfully omitsthis feature, instead giving you a fullrange of manual controls and the optionto save Raw images rather than lower-quality JPEGs.None of this makes the P9 a DSLR, or

even the best phone camera. Samsung’sGalaxy S7, for example, has a largeraperture and bigger pixels in its sensor,meaning it can capture more light moreaccurately, especially in dim conditions,where the P9 struggled a bit. The P9also lacks optical stabilisation, whicheliminates camera shake in phones thathave it, such as the iPhone 6s Plus.Before we forget: this is still a phone,

not just a camera. And the P9 is a verynice phone indeed. Available in the UK ingrey or silver, its aluminium case isundeniably iPhone-like but has a squared-off style of its own and feels beautifullymade.The fingerprint sensor on the backunlocks the device quickly and can alsoanswer calls, turn off alarms and bringup notifications.This makes the fairlylarge P9 easy to use one-handed.The 5.2in screen has 1920x1080 pixels

(Full HD), which isn’t quite as sharp assome rivals but looked great to us,covering 99.2 per cent of the sRGB colourrange with high brightness and goodcontrast. The battery lasted us a veryrespectable 11 hours 24 minutes of videoplayback in our tests, a hugeimprovement over Huawei’s P8.TheUSB Type-C charging port is less fiddlythan the old MicroUSB, and Type-Ccables are more common now if you

happen to forget yours.The P9 is also a computer, but in this

role its results were more mixed.Huawei’s eight-core Kirin processor keptup with Samsung’s and Apple’s topmodels in our multi-core processingtests, which reflect what’s possible underideal conditions. In reality, though, itdidn’t do so well in everyday tasks thatcouldn’t make use of all the cores at once,and web pages didn’t load especiallyquickly. Huawei’s version of Android 6.0(Marshmallow) is still odd, too. Graphicsperformance was way behind, althoughcasual games shouldn’t be a problem.The P9, then, is not an unqualified

success, but you wouldn’t guess it costless than other leading phones, and noneof its flaws are fatal.

www.snipca.com/20537

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28

Reviews

Gold Phoenix? Even if you’re tempted,we’d hold off, because other similarmonitors are appearing, including AOC’sU2879VF, which we haven’t yet tested butis selling for as little as £275.What’s clear is that the high

resolutions we’ve been seeing in smallermobile screens are going to becomemorecommon on PCs. Now that Windows 10is pretty good at making sensible useof the extra pixels, it’s a welcomedevelopment – and not just for gamers.

This is a monitor aimed at gamers.Computeractive is not aimed at gamers.But don’t tear up your magazine andstamp on it in a huff: there’s a good reasonwhy we decided to test the Gold Phoenix.For just over £300, it gives you a big 28inscreen with a huge 3840x2160 pixels. ‘4K’panels don’t get much cheaper, even atsmaller sizes – and smaller sizes do lessjustice to all those dots.

So what’s the catch?With the firstaffordable 4K screens, it was slowrefresh rates: the picture would updateonly 30 times a second (30Hz), givingslightly jittery motion that was uselessfor games and subtly annoying foreverything else. When we first turnedon the Gold Phoenix, we had thesame problem, but that wasbecause it arrived set toDisplayPort 1.1 mode, which iscompatible with older PCs. Weused the menus to selectDisplayPort 1.2 instead, enablingthis monitor’s maximum refreshrate of 60Hz.Before splashing out on a 4K

monitor, check that your PC haseither DisplayPort 1.2, or HDMI2.0, or two dual-link DVIoutputs, otherwise you’llbe limited to 30Hz. It’s alsoworth noting that Windows 7doesn’t work properly withhigh-resolution displays; thenecessary scaling optionswere only added inWindows 8.1andWindows 10.The Gold Phoenix works

best of all with a PC that hasone of the latest AMDgraphics cards.Thesesupport a feature called

FreeSync thatmatches the monitor’srefresh rate to whateverthe graphics card canoutput at a givenmoment, eliminatingthe stutter that canresult from the PCfailing to keep up. It’sparticularly usefulwhen trying torun games at the full 3840x2160pixels, which asks a lot of yourgraphics card: our high-end system couldonly manage 45-50 frames per secondin some games, but it looked verysmooth. When we turned up thegraphics quality settings, though,reducing the frame rate to 35-40fps,FreeSync couldn’t quite fix the visiblejudder. Nvidia’s equivalent system,G-Sync, works better, but G-Syncscreens cost more. Anyway, you don’treally care about that because you’reprobably not a gamer.ForWindows, we found the screen was

very sharp, but only covered 87 per centof the sRGB colour range – acceptable,but not great – and looked too blue. Wefixed this by setting Green and Blue to 92per cent in the menus and leaving Red at

100 per cent. You could dothe same, but screens canvary, and without expensivetesting equipment youwouldn’t be able to checkthat those settings wereright for yours.Because the LCD panel is

of the TN variety rather thanthe currently more popularIPS, you need to look at itstraight on to avoid colours

shifting. Fortunately, Iiyama’schunky plastic stand offersplenty of tilt and heightadjustment, but it’s not thebest screen to double up as a

TV for several people towatch at once.So, should you buy the

VERDICT: It’s a shame the coloursettings aren’t better out of the box, butthismonitor is good value for an extra-sharp screen

★★★☆☆

ALTERNATIVE:Asus PB279Q£575This 27in 4Kmonitorhit 100 per cent of sRGBwithout calibration, butnote that 60Hz is onlyavailable overDisplayPort,not HDMI

rtrt,

SPECIFICATIONS28in TN LCD •• 3840x2160-pixel resolution •• 1xDisplayPort •• 3x HDMI ports •• 1x VGA port •• 2x USB3 ports •• 3W stereo speakers •• 414x663x230mm(HxWxD) •• Two-yearwarrantywww.snipca.com/20547

The screen is verysharp, but looked tooblue in our tests

40x2160your

end system couldes per secondoked veryup thethough,

Iiyama G-Master GB2888UHSUGold Phoenix

PCMONITOR ❘ £320 from Amazonwww.snipca.com/20546

4K you can actually afford

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very sharp, butof the sRGB cobut not great –fixed this by seper cent in the

10thvatewothri

ofthIPst

shifchunplenadjubest

TV

25May – 7 June 2016

2925May – 7 June 2016

A couple of years ago, the prevailingWi-Fistandard moved on from 802.11n to802.11ac. It’s theoretically faster, uses theless crowded 5GHz band, and has betterrange, so you should get decent receptionover a wider area. Meanwhile, the ADSLbroadband connections available over thephone lines to our homes moved up toVDSL, allowing internet service providers(ISPs) to run fast fibre-optic cables to thecabinet in the street and just use thecopper wires for the last few yards.The Archer VR900 is a wireless router

that connects to any ADSL, ADSL2,ADSL2+, VDSL or VDSL2 internet socketand provides an 802.11ac network foryourWi-Fi computers, phones andtablets. You could use it to replace an oldrouter or in preference to one supplied byan ISP such as BT, Sky or TalkTalk. Unlikethe similar-looking Archer C9, it includesa modem that transmits and receives dataover the phone line as well as the routeritself, so you don’t need another box. Ifyou have a cable or fibre connection, theVR900 can connect to it, but the C9would be a better choice.The white case has LED lights to tell

you what’s happening, but they can bedisabled if you find them distracting. Aswith other routers, you set up the VR900using a web browser, and the settingsscreens are presented with a basic modeto avoid wading through details you don’tneed to tweak.The options aren’t as

SPECIFICATIONSDual-band 802.11ac/a/b/g/n •• 4x Gigabit Ethernetports (one convertible for cablemodem) •• 1x USB 3.0port •• 1x USB 2.0 port •• 181x245x90mm (HxWxD) ••Three-yearwarrantywww.snipca.com/20557

VERDICT:A compact and simple optionif youwant an all-in-onemodem routerandmainly use 802.11ac devices

★★★★☆

ALTERNATIVE: TP-LinkArcher C9 £110 Choosethis if you already have acable or fibremodem

ROUTER ❘ £125 from PCWorld www.snipca.com/20555 COMING SOONSUMMER 2016Aswe predicted last issue, Nvidia hasunveiled its next-generation graphicscards, the GeForce GTX 1070 and 1080.At around £300 and £450, they’remorepowerful than components currentlyselling for twice the price.Expect discounts on othercards after these go on sale.

SUMMER 2016Google’s Nexus 9 tablet offered a lotfor themoney butwas clunkilymade. Now that it has beendiscontinued, a new tabletseems likely. Rumourssuggest a it may be a revampedNexus 7 (pictured).

ia h

NEXT ISSUE

LG Stylus 2The return of

phoneswith pens

ON SALE8 June

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Subscribe toComputeractive atwww.getcomputeractive.co.uk

Theseandmuchmore…

A fast Wi-Fi router for ADSL lines

TP-Link Archer VR900

extensive or user-friendly as on somerouters, but you can set up guestnetworks with bandwidth limits andapply parental controls to specificdevices. You can also connect USB storageand a printer to share over the network.Like other 802.11ac routers, the VR900 is

designed to work with older 802.11ndevices, but in our tests it communicatedwith them quite slowly, especially on theold 2.4GHz band, a problem the C9 didn’tsuffer. On 802.11ac it was very fast,especially via TP-Link’s own T4UHadapter (£25 fromwww.snipca.com/20556), which you could use toupgrade any USB 3.0 PC to 802.11acWi-Fi.Its performance with older devices is

unsatisfactory, but as an affordable802.11ac ADSL/VDSLmodem router theVR900 is a good choice.

SUMMER 2016Sony is freshening up its Xperia phonerange this yearwith a new ‘X’ brand.Possibly themost excitingmodelwill be the Xperia XA, a lower-cost devicewith a striking edge-to-edge screen. SuppliedwithAndroid 6.0, it has amicroSD slotto expand its 16GB of storage.

2017It’s still littlemore than a rumour, butindustry analysts are pretty sureMicrosoft isworking on a SurfacePhone, likely tomaterialise nextyear. As the first completely newrange ofWindows phones, thiswould replace the Lumia brand(pictured), bought fromNokia.

UE

tsure

on a Surfacetomaterialise nextfirst completely newdows phones, thisthe Lumia brandht fromNokia.

currently

le.

rently

LG Stylus 2

HuaweiMediaPadM2 10Brand new iPadrival from£250

30

Asus UX305£550 fromwww.snipca.com/19439Tested: Issue 447

Samsung Galaxy S2 9.7£350 fromwww.snipca.com/20438Tested: Issue 462

Apple iPhone SE£359 fromwww.snipca.com/20175Tested: Issue 474

Samsung Galaxy S7£570 fromwww.snipca.com/20086Tested: Issue 473

Apple iPad Air 2£349 fromwww.snipca.com/20435Tested: Issue 437

13.3in is a practical size for a laptop, andthis light but sturdy ‘ultrabook’ has asmart and slim design that does justiceto its capable performance. UpgradeabletoWindows 10, it’s limitedmainly by its128GB SSD,whichmakes it work fast, butmight leave you needingmore space.

ALTERNATIVE Toshiba Satellite C40-CThis 14inWindows 10 laptop looks likeit costs a lotmore. It’s not themostamazing PC, but it’s fantastic for the price.£180 fromwww.snipca.com/20245

LAPTOP

ANDROID TABLET APPLE IPHONE ANDROID PHONE

APPLE IPAD

Tested: Issue 447Tested: Issue 447

Buy ItBuy It £15 from www.snipca.com/19124

Find out what other products we liked.Buy our new 2015 Back Issue CD:

Our pick of products that havewon theBuy It award

Mesh Elite EssentialSkylake CA£499 fromwww.snipca.com/19822Tested: Issue 471

This compact tower system spendsyourmoneywisely on an excellentIntel i5 Skylake processor for all-roundperformance.The 2TB hard drive givesyou plenty of space for all your files, andfast 802.11acWi-Fi is built in.

ALTERNATIVE: Dell Inspiron 24 5000If you prefer your desktop PC in oneneat box, this Intel i5 system has allthe essentials at a reasonable price.£650 fromwww.snipca.com/20205

DESKTOP PC

25May – 7 June 2016

ed: Issue 471

It may be Apple’s ‘budget’ phone, butthe smaller SE beatsmost others in themarketwith top-end processing power,a great screen and camera, fingerprintrecognition and Apple Pay. You shouldconsider paying £439 for the 64GBmodel, though.

ALTERNATIVE: iPhone6sA biggerscreen, better camera and 3D Touchjustify the price, but aswith the SE the64GBmodel (£619) is the best choice.£539 fromwww.snipca.com/20441

Tested: Issue 474

may be Apple’e’s ‘bududget’ phone bubut Restoring themicroSD slot to allowextra storage (something all Appledevices still lack)makes this an evenmore practical top-end phone than theS6,with a fantastic screen and cameraand incredible 18-hour battery life.

ALTERNATIVE:MotorolaMotoG(3rd gen)Samsung’s J5 is a strongcontender, but thewaterproofMotoG, nowdiscounted, is our all-roundfavourite budget phone £130 fromwww.snipca.com/20434

Getting old, but still wonderfully slimand powerful. Buywith 64GB (£429)and you’ll never run out of space.ThePromodels are greatwith Apple’skeyboard and Pencil, butwork outmuchmore expensive.

ALTERNATIVE: iPadMini 2 Slowerthan the iPadMini 4,with no fingerprintrecognition and a less vivid screen, butan iPad at this price is great value. £219fromwww.snipca.com/20436

TheSonyXperia Z4 is too expensiveand Google’s cheaper Nexus 9 hasbeen discontinued, leaving the 32GB S29.7 as the bestmid-sized choice. It’s aserious rival to the iPadAir 2, albeit slower.

ALTERNATIVE: SamsungGalaxyS28.0Samsung also has the best iPadMinirival. It’s not as fast as the iPadMini 4,but has 32GB and a great screen. £280fromwww.snipca.com/20437

9.7om/20438

PRICEDROP

32

Buy ItBUY IT!★★★★★

Kaspersky InternetSecurity 2016£16.95 fromwww.snipca.com/17874Tested: Issue 437

Adobe PhotoshopLightroom 6£104 fromwww.snipca.com/16952Tested: Issue 453

AOC Q2778VQE£214 fromwww.snipca.com/19416Tested: Issue 468

Trendnet TEW-812DRU£96 fromwww.snipca.com/20594Tested: Issue 427

Synology DiskStationDS215j£328 fromwww.snipca.com/20460Tested: Issue 449

Kaspersky Internet Security 2016haswonour past sevenantivirus tests. CompatiblewithWindows 10, the2016edition isavailable at anexclusive reader discountonourSoftwareStore.Go to the linkabove for aone-device licence, or buya three-device licence for just £19.95atwww.snipca.com/20247.

ALTERNATIVE: Avast Free AntivirusAlmost as good asKaspersky, butsometimes blocked legitimate software.Free fromwww.snipca.com/16493

Lightroom is the professional’s choiceformanaging and tweaking photos,including raw files fromDSLR cameras.If you need Photoshop formoreadvanced editing, get both on the AdobeCCPhotography Plan for £8.57 amonth(www.snipca.com/19283).

ALTERNATIVE: Xara Photo&GraphicDesigner 11 For all-round designand drawing plus photo filters, thisaffordable app has a lot to offer. £50fromwww.snipca.com/19280

It comeswith no extras, such asbuilt-in speakers or a USB hub, butthis 2560x1440 panel gives you a full27in screenwith excellent contrast andcolour accuracy at a very reasonableprice. It’s a little laggy for gamers, butthere’s no ghosting onmotion.

ALTERNATIVE: Dell UltraSharp U2414HThis 1920x1080, 24in screen has astand that can switch to portrait mode.Colour accuracy is excellent. £188 fromwww.snipca.com/18207

An incredibly fast 802.11ac routerthat’s also one of the cheapestwe’veseen. It’s superb and it’s the router tobuy if you’re ready tomake the jumpto 802.11ac.

ALTERNATIVE: LinksysWRT1900ACMore expensive, but even faster andwith loads of features too. £180 fromwww.snipca.com/14950

This two-drive NAS enclosure has it all– fast performance, easy configurationand plenty of extra features. Its onlyflaw is that installation is a little fiddly –but if youwant quality network storage,then this is the obvious choice.

ALTERNATIVE: Synology DS414jA four-drive NAS that’s generally fastand easy to set up and use. £245 fromwww.snipca.com/16707

SECURITY SOFTWARE PHOTO EDITING

PCMONITOR ROUTER NAS

25May – 7 June 2016

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite£110 fromwww.snipca.com/17776Tested: Issue 458

With a newhigh-resolution screen, theaffordable Kindle lacks only automaticbrightness adjustment and page-turnbuttons (you have to swipe the screen).It’s great value as long as you’re happyto buy your books fromAmazon.

ALTERNATIVE: Kobo Glo HDAs goodas the Paperwhite, butwithmorestorage and slightlymore compact,this is the independent e-reader to pick.£110 fromwww.snipca.com/19158

E READER

DRUom/20594

PRICEDROP

33

Devolo dLAN 1200 Triple+Starter Kit£119 fromwww.snipca.com/15369Tested: Issue 444

Xara Web DesignerPremium 11£70 fromwww.snipca.com/16955Tested: Issue 453

Canon Pixma MG5750£58 fromwww.snipca.com/20021Tested: Issue 470

Crucial BX100 1TB£290 fromwww.snipca.com/20459Tested: Issue 445

Y-cam HomeMonitor HD£128 fromwww.snipca.com/11646Tested: Issue 420

Devolo’s latest HomePlug adapters arethe fastestwe’ve ever seen.They’rewell designed too, with a passthroughsocket so you can still power anotherdevice and the design should avoidskirting boards and other obstacles.

ALTERNATIVE: D-Link PowerLine AV21000HDGigabit Starter Kit Fast (speedsof up to 1000Mbps), much cheaper andvery easy to set up, but the lack of apassthrough socket is frustrating.£43 fromwww.snipca.com/17836

This visual web-design programmakescreating sitesmore like laying out adocument thanwriting HTML code, andsites can be responsive,meaning theylook right on both big and small screenswithout extrawork. A basic version isalso available for half the price.

ALTERNATIVE: IncomediaWebSite X5v12 Evolution It may feel a little basic,but this straightforward programoutputsefficient HTML code and responsivepages.£38 fromwww.snipca.com/19440

You don’t getmany frills, but thiscompact all-in-one printer/scannerincludes all the essentials, likeWi-Fiand printing both sides of the paper(duplex), at a reasonable price. It’sfairly quick, running costs are betterthan average, and the five-ink systemensures photos and black text bothcome out looking great.

ALTERNATIVE: BrotherMFC-J5320DWFormore business-type tasks, thisall-in-one has automatic paper feedfor the scanner and the ability to printoccasional A3 pages. £80 fromwww.snipca.com/19674

A blindingly fast, high-capacity SSDat a lower price than ever before. Ifyou’ve been put off buying an SSDbecause of the cost, then now isfinally the time to take the plunge.

ALTERNATIVE: Samsung 850Pro256GBAn even faster SSD, but it’smuchmore expensive per gigabyte.£99 fromwww.snipca.com/20246

A home-security camera that’swellpriced and easy to set up. Plus, it hasgreat picture quality, useful apps andthere’s no need to subscribe to anyextra services. It’s aworthy successorto the original HomeMonitor, ourprevious favourite security camera.

ALTERNATIVE: D-LinkWireless NDay&Night CameraA good-value securitycamerawith excellent night vision.£76 fromwww.snipca.com/15275

HOMEPLUGS WEB DESIGN

MULTIFUNCTION PRINTER SOLID STATE DRIVE SECURITY CAMERA

25May – 7 June 2016

A blindingly fast, high-capacity SSDat a lowowerer pprice than ever before. Ifyou’ve been put off buying an SSDbecause of the cost, then now is

Win 1 of 3 Devolo dLAN 550Wi-Fi Powerlinestarter kitsDevolo’s newdLAN550Wi-Fi Powerlinestarter kit extends therange of your internetthroughout your home.It uses your electricalwiring as extended cable, bringingthe internet to any room at speedsof up to 500Mbps.The clever ‘WiFiMove Technology’means that devicesautomatically switch to the dLANadapter if it’s providing a strongersignal than the router. To enter, emailyour address to cacomp@dennis.co.ukwith ‘devolo’ in the subject linebymidnight 7 June.

Devolo’s dLAN 550WiFi powerlineadapter is available to buy nowpriced £99.99 fromAmazon andBroadbandbuyer.co.uk. Formoreinformation on Devolo products visitwww.devolo.co.uk and follow@devoloUK on Twitter.

COMPETITION

me.

Buy it now from Amazon atwww.snipca.com/19124

or search for ‘computeractive cd’ on AmazonYou can still buy our 2014 CD at www.snipca.com/14981

Q: How do I upgrade toWindows 10 for free?

A: Page 56, Issue 456

It’s just one click away on our 2015 Back Issue CD –containing all 26 issues from last year

35

Workshops & Tips14 pages of easy-to-followworkshops andexpert tips

PLUS

s andexpert tips

Edited by Sherwin Coelho

43 Readers’ Tips44 Phone & Tablet Tips46 Make Windows Better

47 Make Office Better48 Secret Tips For...

Recycle Bin

40 Make your CommandPrompt easier to use42 Reopen programs witha keyboard shortcut

35 Use the best freealternative to Office 36538 Explain PC problemsas annotated videos

PULL OUT

&KEEP

Issue 476

25May – 7 June 2016

STEP

1As with Office 365, Open365 is available as a program and a web-based service.The service is currently in beta, so you need tocreate an account to use it. To do that, go to www.open365.io,

scroll to the bottom, enter your email address in the field provided, thenclick ‘Sign up’. Type the username and password you want for your freeOpen365 account 1 . Next, enter your personal details 2 , select ‘At home’from the dropdownmenu 3 , tick the T&C box 4 , then click Register.

STEP

2Click I’m Ready on the following screen.This directs you to the Open365 web loginpage (which we’ll return to in Step 5). You’ll

notice the Open365 program downloading to yourPC. Run the downloaded setup file and respond toany prompts.The programwon’t add a desktopicon, but it will appear in your Start menu, so dragthe icon to your desktop to create a shortcut 1 , thenopen it. In the window that opens, click Next. Nowtype your Open365 login details (created in Step 1) 2 ,then click Login 3 .

Microsoft Office 365 lets you usethe latest versions of Word,

Excel and PowerPoint via any webbrowser, as PC software or as mobileapps. Any changes youmake aresynced across all your devices andyou get 1TB of OneDrive storagespace thrown in. But these featureswill cost you £7.99 per month.

Open365 is a new, freeOffice365 alternative that offers thesame features as Microsoft’ssoftware. It’s based onLibreOffice’s suite of freeequivalents to Officeprograms, and it evencomes with a generous20GB of storage space.

Use the best alternativeto Office 365

eeOfficeeeers thesoft’s

e

What you need:Open365; AnyWindows PC; Android deviceTime required: 45minutes

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STEP

4OpenMy Computer on your PC and you’ll see the MyLibrary location 1 . You’ll also notice an Open365cloud-storage icon in your PC’s notification area 2 . As

with other cloud-storage services, a tick indicates that all yourfiles are already synced. Open365 lets you chat with other userswhile using its programs (similar to using Skype within Office365). Open My Library, then open the document named StartWithThis Document and read the ‘Other functionalities’section for information on how to use this chat feature.

STEP

5Return to your Open365 weblogin page (see Step 2) and loginto your account to open the

home page. Open the My Library folderto see the three introductory files 1 .These are inWriter, Calc and Impressformat, which are Open365’s onlineversions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.Move your cursor over any file for optionsto download, share or delete 2 . Clickthe dropdownmenu beside a file to seemore options 3 .

STEP

6By default, your Open365 accountcomes with 20GB of free storagespace, where you can upload and

sync files from your PC. To do that, clickUpload 1 , navigate to the file(s) you want,then click Upload. You’ll see a notificationwhen that’s done 2 . You’ll get similarnotifications when you delete a file or makechanges to it.

STEP

3You’ll see a panel on the right 1 and a DownloadDefault Library window 2 . Click Yes in the latter tostart creating a virtual drive, then click Open 3 . This

launches the Open365 My Library folder on your PC, which isthe default location for all your Open365 files. You’ll see threeWord, Excel and PowerPoint files, which contain instructionson how to use the program. Download the free LibreOfficeprogram fromwww.snipca.com/20543 to access the files ifyou don’t have Microsoft Office.

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Use the best alternative to Office 365

STEP

8Unlike Office 365, Open365 doesn’tautomatically save files you create to youraccount, but this is easy to do. Click the

floppy-disc icon 1 . In the window that opens, clickthe ‘files’ folder, then click ‘My Library’ 2 . Nowrename the document 3 . To password-protect it(optional), select ‘Save with password’ 4 , then clickSave 5 . If you choose to password-protect, you’ll beprompted to type and confirm your password.Click OKwhen you’ve finished.

STEP

9Open365 doesn’thave an iOS appyet, but we’ll

show you how to use itsfree Android app (www.snipca.com/20545). Openit, click ‘Add account’,select ‘cloud.open365.io’,enter your Open365 logindetails, tap Login, thenAllow. You’ll now see twotabs. Tap Libraries 1 , thenopen My Library to see allyour synced files 2 . Tapany file to open it usingyour default Google officeapps (Docs, Sheets andSlides). Click thedropdownmenu besideany file 3 to see options torename, delete, copy, moveor mark it with a star.

STEP

10A great way to make use ofOpen365’s 20GB free space is byturning on its Camera Upload

feature.This will automatically save anyphotos you take on your device toOpen365.To do that, tap the three dots at the topright of the app, then Settings. Next, tapthe ‘Turn on Camera Upload’ slider. Next,swipe across a number of screens, selectingyour preferences. So (in order) select ‘Wi-Fi only’, ‘Photos only’ 1 , ‘Automaticallyguess camera albums’, and My Library,then tap Confirm. Any photos you take onyour device will now appear in a newMyPhotos folder within My Library.●

STEP

7We’ll now show you how to createa newWriter document. Click theCloud button in your browser 1 ,

then clickWriter (you create a spreadsheet orpresentation by clicking Calc or Impress). Thisopens a new browser tab with a documenteditor that has similar features toWord’s. You’llsee various options at the top 2 that each havetheir ownmenus 3 . Writer also offers a rangeof text-formatting options 4 .

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Workshops

STEP

3The program creates a folder calledRecorded Videos 1 within your PC’s Videosfolder, where it saves all your videos. You

can change this destination if you want by navigatingto a different location via the Browse button 2 , butmake sure any new destination you choose hasenough storage space 3 . The program has defaulthotkeys to pause/resume and end your recording 4 .To change these, click inside the relevant field, thenpress the key (or key combinations) you want to useinstead.

STEP

2Click ‘New project’ 1 , then ‘Screen capture’ 2 . Leavethe default name for now (we’ll show you how torename your video later). The default video settings are

usually adequate, but you can change them using the dropdownmenus 3 if you feel confident. Recorded videos are saved in the.AVI format, which can be played by any video player -includingWindows Media Player, VLC, and Films & TV(Windows 10’s default app). Click Finish 4 .

STEP

1To download the program, go to www.snipca.com/20533 and click the Download Video Editorbutton. Click the downloaded setup file, then follow

the setup prompts until you reachThe Desktop Tool page 1 .Untick the terms box 2 , click Next 3 , select ‘I do not accept’,click Next, untick the box on the following page, click Nextagain, then Install to begin the process. The program needs theMicrosoft C++ package to work, so it will install it on your PC ifneeded. When that’s done, click Finish to launch the program.

The best way to illustrate a PCproblem in detail is to record what

you do on screen as a video, then sendthis to someone who can help.Thereare only a handful of screen-recordingprograms, andmost are paid-for orhave limitations (the length of your

recording or prominent watermarks,for example). VSDC Free Video Editoris a free programwith no suchrestrictions. It also lets you narrateyour recording and add usefulannotations to describe the problemin greater detail.

What you need: VSDC Free Video Editor; AnyWindows versionTime required: 25minutes

Explain PC problems asannotated videos

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STEP

4Next, click the ‘Video and audio sources’ tab. Here, youcan choose to hide your cursor from the recording 1 .The programwill select your built-in microphone. If

your PC doesn’t have one, connect an external one, then selectit from the dropdownmenu 2 . Adjust the volume of yournarration 3 . Click ‘Start recording’ 4 when you’re happy withthe settings.

STEP

6Click the ‘Start drawing’ button at the bottom right to activate theannotation tools. Select your annotation colour and pen thicknessusing the dropdownmenus 1 . Clicking Clear at the bottom right

will undo anymistakes.The Pencil tool 2 lets you write/draw on screen.Rectangle and Ellipse 3 lets you click and drag to draw those shapes.TheLine dropdownmenu contains three other pointer options 4 . Click ‘Finishdrawing’ (bottom right) when you’ve finished annotating, then Stop 5

when you want to finish recording.

STEP

7Click OKwhen you see a message saying‘Recording is complete’. Now open theVideos folder on your PC, then the Recorded

Videos folder 1 to access your video recording. Torename the file, right-click it, click Rename 2 , thentype the name you want. To check your file size,right-click the video, then click Properties 3 . The fileshould be smaller than 10MB if you want to email itto someone who’ll help you. If it’s larger than 10MB,use a cloud-storage service (such as OneDrive,Google Drive or Dropbox) instead.●

STEP

5Your recording won’t start immediately. Instead you’llsee a border on your screen, which defines the areayou want to record. Click and drag the middle button 1

to reposition the area. Drag any handles 2 to extend it. Click thefull-screen icon 3 to record the entire screen. Click Settings 4 ifyou want to go back and tweak your recording settings (Steps 3and 4). When you’re ready to start recording, click the Recordbutton 5 . Whatever you do on screen will be recorded andyou’ll see a small panel below your recording area. Use thekeyboard shortcut (F5, or one you created) or the Pause buttonto pause/resume your recording.

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STEP

3InWindows 10, Microsoft added the ability to copy andpaste text from other programs (such asWord) into theCommand Prompt window.This feature isn’t available

in earlier Windows versions, but with ConEmu you can do thison anyWindows version. To try it, type powercfg/lastwake intoWord or Notepad. Now copy this text (Ctrl+C), paste it intoConEmu (Ctrl+V) 1 , then press Enter. This command tells youhowmany times (if at all) your PC has woken from sleep modesince you last switched it on 2 and what was responsible forwaking your PC 3 .

STEP

2On the setup screen, click Yes, Next, tick to accept theterms, click Next (twice), then Install. When that’sfinished, click Finish. Click the desktop shortcut 1 to

open the program. In the ‘fast configuration’ screen, tick ‘Enableautomatic updates’ 2 , select Stable 3 , then click OK 4 to launchConEmu.

Workshops

STEP

1Before downloading ConEmu, you need to check yourPC’s version. Right-click Computer (on your desktop orin your Start menu), then click Properties. Now look

under ‘System type’ in the System section to see whether youhave a 32bit or 64bit system. To download ConEmu, go to www.snipca.com/20490 and click the latest Installer link 1 . Open thedownloaded setup file and click Run. In the window that opens,tick the ‘Run installer as administrator’ box 2 . If you have a64bit operating system (OS), select the first option 3 . If it’s a32bit OSc, select the second 4 .

Microsoft’s Command Prompttool hasn’t changedmuch since

Windows XP and is starting to lookits age. Free program ConEmu (shortfor ‘console emulator’) is a superb,modern alternative with loads ofhandy features. Aside from

text-colour options, Chrome-styletabs and a great search feature, it letsyou copy and paste text both to andfrom the program, making it mucheasier to use thanWindows’ defaulttool. We’ll show you how to useConEmuwith simple PC commands.

What you need: ConEmu;Windows (Any version) Time required: 25minutes

Make your CommandPrompt easier to use

25May – 7 June 2016

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STEP

4You can also copy text from ConEmu’s window to yourPC.This is especially useful if you want to find out yourPC’s IP address. Type ipconfig into ConEmu 1 , then

press Enter to run the command. Now copy your PC’s IPAddress field 2 , then simply paste it into another program(such asWord or email).

STEP

5ConEmu also lets you run different commands indifferent tabs.This feature comes in very useful witha command called driverquery, which lists all the

drivers on your PC, so you can easily compare them beforeand after updating. Type driverquery into ConEmu, then pressEnter to see the list, arranged by date. Now update your driversusing a third-party program (such as Snail Driver). Return toConEmu, click the ‘+’ icon 1 to open a new tab, then typedriverquery again 2 to see any new and updated drivers. Right-click any tab 3 to see options to close, rename or duplicate it.

STEP

6Using ConEmu’s search bar, you cansearch for items in your Command Promptresults. For example, type tasklist into

ConEmu, then press Enter to display all theprograms and services (including background ones)running on your PC 1 . Now type the name of aprogram you suspect is running in the backgroundinto the search bar 2 , then press Enter to locate itwithin the list 3 . Keep pressing Enter to see otherinstances of that program.

STEP

7There are many ways you can customise ConEmu’sdefault settings. Click the settings menu (three lines) 1 ,then click Settings. Use the dropdownmenus to

change the default font type and size 2 . You’ll see any changesyoumake immediately in ConEmu’s main window 3 , but theywon’t be saved until you click ‘Save settings’ 4 . To changeConEmu’s text colour scheme, click Colors 5 , click the Schemedropdownmenu at the top and choose from one of the 20-plusoptions. To revert to ConEmu’s default settings, click Reset atthe bottom, then click Yes.●

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STEP

1To download the program, go to www.snipca.com/20477, scroll to the bottom of the page and click theDownload UndoClose link. Open the downloaded

zipped file, then click the UndoClose setup file. Some antivirusprogramsmay warn you about it, but this is a false positive –the program is perfectly safe to install. Once that’s done, you’llsee the small UndoClose icon in your PC’s notification area 1 .Click it to open the program – you’ll see a window showing twodefault keyboard shortcuts 2 and two empty sections 3 .

STEP

2As you use your PC, any folders you close will appearin the Recently Closed Folders section 1 and anyprograms you close will show up in the Recently

Closed Apps section 2 . Click any of the items in these sectionsto reopen them. Bear in mind, Recently Closed Apps issomething of a misnomer because UndoClose only registersprograms that you close – not desktop apps (either built-in orfrom the Microsoft Store). Right-click any item in the list to seeoptions to remove it or clear the whole list 3 .

We’ve all done it –prematurely closed a

particular folder or program onour PC only to realise that wehadn’t quite finished with it.UndoClose is a free portableprogram that lets you reopen the

folder or program that you lastclosed using a keyboard shortcut.What’s more, you can customiseUndoClose’s default shortcutswith your own. It also saves all thefolders and programs that you’veclosed to a list for easy access.

Use a keyboard shortcutto reopen programs

STEP

3To reopen the folder you last closed, press Ctrl+Shift+F.To reopen the last program you closed, pressCtrl+Shift+A. Pressing the same shortcut again re-

opens items (folders or programs) you closed earlier. To changethe default keyboard shortcut, click the relevant field and typeyour new shortcut 1 – avoidingWindows’ default keyboardshortcuts (such as Ctrl+A or Ctrl+C), which won’t work. Next,click Change 2 to confirm your choice, then tick ‘Run onsystem startup’ 3 (optional).

Workshops

What you need:Windows 7, 8 or 10 Time required: 10minutes

NEXT ISSUE•• Clean your PCdeeper than ever•• Recover storageon your tablet•• Add new tools to yourmouse•• Un-sendemails to avoid disaster

ON SALE8 June

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Readers’ Tips Handy hints and tips fromyour fellow readersEmail us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk

25May – 7 June 2016

Recently Computeractive featuredtwoWorkshops about blocking adswhile browsing the web on youriPad or iPhone.The first Workshopinvolved a third-party browser appcalled Adblock Browser (Issue 472,page 42); while the second featuredKaspersky AdCleaner – an app thatadds ad-blocking features to Safari(Issue 474, page 42).I was particularly interested in

the latter, but I couldn’t install theKaspersky app because I have a veryold iPad. After some research, I figuredout why. I also found out the bestway to bypass Safari and block adsonmy old device.Basically, Safari is the default

browser in iOS and (unlike Google on

Android) Apple doesn’t let you changeyour defaults. I read that ad-blockingis new to Safari (introduced in iOS 9),so all the third-party apps thatprovide ad-blocking capabilities onlywork on the latest iPhones and iPads.

Even though I always use AdblockBrowser (www.snipca.com/20047)when surfing the net, any links I tapin other apps (such as text-messagingor email) open in Safari by default -and therefore contain adverts.However, I’ve now figured out a wayto open these links in Adblock instead.Instead of tapping a link, long-press

it until you see the menu of options.Next, tap Copy (see screenshot), openAdblock Browser, tap and hold theURL bar, tap Paste, then tap Go toopen that link in Adblock Browser,where it will load without adverts.This seems to be the only way to avoidadverts – at least until Applelets us set our own defaults.

Charles Bell

Block adverts on an older iPad

TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT

specific words. You can even sort emailsreceived by date, or with attachments.This useful link (www.snipca.com/20600) has more Gmail search tricks.

MargaretThorne

INSTANTMESSAGINGUse a better alternative toWhatsApp’s new program

I useWhatsApp a lot, but findmyphone’s keyboard fiddly to type

on, so I’ve been using a free programcalledWhatsie onmy PC instead. I waseager to try the newWhatsApp Desktopprogram (www.snipca.com/20601), buthaving used it, I still feel Whatsie isbetter. To download it, go to www.snipca.com/ 20602, click the ‘win32-setup.exe’link toward the bottom, then run thesetup file.When you launch the program, you’ll

see a QR code on your screen. OpenWhatsApp on your mobile, tap the threedots at the top right, thenWhatsAppWeb.This launches your phone’s camera.Point it at the QR code on your PC.From now on, yourWhatsApp phoneconversations will also appear inWhatsieon your PC. Unlike the newWhatsAppprogram, there’s aThememenu and anAppmenu that lets you choose to launchthe program at startup.

Ted Chambers

FILE RENAMINGRenamemultiple files easily

You recently included aWorkshopon Bulk Rename Utility (Issue 473,

Page 38). While trying to find out moreabout it online, I stumbled upon anotherfree batch-renaming program called Ron’sRenamer, which is a great alternative. Todownload it, go to www.snipca.com/20599, click the Download Now button atthe top and run the setup file.When the program launches, click

Open Location at the top left and point itto the folder containing the files you wantto rename. You’ll see two columns headedCurrent Name and New Name (these areidentical until you change them). Clickthe Mark Mode dropdownmenu at thetop, select Manual, then tick the files youwant to rename.The program has 17 useful renaming

options at the bottom left (see screenshot

below left). These let you add or removespaces, text, numbers, dates and times,and so on. Within each option there arefurther customisations in the menu at thebottom right. When you’re happy withyour files’ new names (in the New Namecolumn), click Rename at the top right,then Proceed.The free version restrictsyou to 75 files at one go.

Colin Humphreys

EMAILFind any Gmail messagein seconds

I use Gmail and often struggled tofind specific emails I was looking

for, until I learned a few, invaluablesearch tricks. I realised that typing asearch term (such as ‘bills’, for example)into the search bar is pointless because itsearches for that term in all your emailsand can inundate you with results.

Instead, to search for aterm from a specificindividual, type billsfrom:edf, for example, tosee emails containing theword ‘bills’ from ‘EDF’.There’s also a small

dropdownmenu in thesearch bar that lets youfind emails from specificpeople or containing

Thewinner of every Tip of the Fortnightwins this exclusive Computeractivemug!

Block adverts on an older iPadBlock adverts on an older iPad

T

44

Phone and Tablet Tips Brilliant things to doon your device

ANDROID & iOSChange folder colours in GoogleDrive and edit files offline

Google Drive now lets youadd colours to your foldersto help you distinguish

them better. Open the app (default onAndroid; iOS www.snipca.com/20563) tosee all your folders. Tap the three dotsbeside the folder you want to add a colourto (see right of screenshot below), tap the‘Change colour’ option at the bottom andchoose from one of 20 colours.A little-known feature of Google Drive

is that it lets youmake specific files(such as documents or presentations)available for ‘offline use’. You can thenaccess and edit these files even if youdon’t have a signal – for example, whenyou’re on a flight. Any edits youmakewill sync with the original files in GoogleDrive as soon as you regain a networkconnection.

To make a fileavailable for offline use,navigate to its locationwithin Google Drive.Next, tap the three dotsbeside the file, then tapthe ‘Available offline’slider to turn it on. Toaccess the file whenyou’re offline, simplytap the three lines (seetop left of screenshot),then tap Offline. Makeyour changes to thedfile, and when you’reback online, you’ll seethese changes in youroriginal file.

ANDROID & iOSLimit howmuchmobile dataNetflix uses

We’d never recommendwatching Netflixon your phone or tablet

while you’re out and about becausevideo-streaming devours a lot of mobiledata. But if you are tempted, Netflix hasintroduced a newMobile Data Usagefeature to help you out.This gives youvarious video-quality options alongwith an estimation of howmuchmobile data each option will use (seescreenshot above right). You can thenselect the option that’s best for you basedon your monthly data limit. To chooseone of these options, open Netflix, tap the

three dots at the top left, scrollto the bottom, tap App Settings,then Mobile Data Usage. Selectthe option you want, then tapOK at the bottom.

ANDROID & IOSTranslate text on the go

Google hasintroduced twonew features to

its Translate app.The Androidapp (www.snipca.com/20583)lets you instantly translatetext you copy from any app.Previously, if you’d received atext message or a phrase in aforeign language inWhatsAppor Skype, for example, you

had to copy the text, then paste it intothe Google Translate app for an English-language translation.With the latest app update, you simply

copy any foreign-language text on yourdevice and a Google Translate icon willpop up on your screen (see screenshotabove right). Tap this for an instantEnglish translation. Watch Google’svideo at www.snipca.com/20567 tosee how the feature works.The Google Translate iOS app

(www.snipca.com/20564) now letsyou download language packs to useoffline, which is great when you’re onholiday in more remote areas withoutWi-Fi or a phone signal (Android alreadyhas this feature). Previously, these

Best New Apps Whatyoushould install this fortnight

25May – 7 June 2016

Arts & CultureFreeAndroid: www.snipca.com/20568iOS:www.snipca.com/20569Google’s app is a font of knowledgedivided into three categories – Art, History

andWonders.Thefirst covers famousartists and theirtrademark styles.History revealsevents that tookplace on today’sdate in the past.Wonders takesyou on virtual toursof variousworldheritage sites.

Email – EasyDoMailFreeiPhone only: www.snipca.com/20570Despite competing in a crowdedmarket, thisemail app –which can be usedwith Gmail,Outlook and Yahoo – has some unique

features. It letsyou unsubscribefrom emailswith one tapand postponesemail notificationsto a time thatsuits you.Theapp also notifiesyou of flightdelays and gatechanges.

Awesome TubeFreeWindows Phone:www.snipca.com/20571YouTube doesn’t have an official app forWindows Phone, so use this instead. It lets

youwatch videos,subscribe to yourfavourite channelsand save clips towatch later. Youcan also listentomusic videoswhen your screenis locked – afeature even theofficial Androidand iOS app lacks.

45

Games With KidsWhat toplay togetheronyourphoneand tablet

language packs were over 100MB insize and therefore took up valuablestorage space; Google has now shrunkthese to around 25MB. To downloadthem, open the Translate app, tap thelanguage dropdownmenu at the top,go to the language pack you want todownload, then tap the small downloadicon beside it.

ANDROID & iOSImport your Facebookcalendar to Outlook

The latest version ofOutlook (Android www.snipca.com/20565; iOS

www.snipca.com/20566) lets you importyour calendar events from Facebook,Wunderlist and Evernote. We’ll showyou how to import your Facebook eventson an iOS device, but the process forimporting other calendars is the same,even if you use an Android device.Open Outlook, tap Calendar at the

bottom, tap the three lines at the top left,then the ‘Connect your favourite apps’option at the bottom. Now tap the ‘+’icon beside Facebook. Your default web

browser will open and you’ll need to loginto your Facebook account. After doingthat, tap ‘Continue as [your name]’ at thebottom to grant Outlook access to yourFacebook calendar details. When youreturn to the Outlook app, you’ll nowsee a tick beside Facebook.All your Facebook calendar categories

(Events, Birthdays and so on) will belisted on the left. Tap the tick beside anevent category to switch it on or off(see screenshot below left) and therebyremove the events in that categoryfrom your calendar.To change the colour representing a

particular event category in Outlook, tapthe slider icon beside it, then choose thecolour youwant.

WINDOWS PHONESUse a PIN code to unlockyour device

Windows Phones use yourMicrosoft account password bydefault, but you can change this

to a PIN code if you prefer. First, ensureyour phone is updated to the latestversion (Windows 10). See ‘Phone andTablet Tips’ in Issue 473 for instructionson how to do this. After updating, scrolldown from the top of your screen, tap AllSettings, Personalisation, ‘Lock screen’,then scroll to the bottom and tap ‘Sign-inoptions’. Now tap the Add button belowPIN. You now need to enter yourMicrosoft password before typing andconfirming your PIN code.

25May – 7 June 2016

*Contains in-app purchases

AGES 0 5Ocean II – Stickers and Colors*Freewww.snipca.com/20572 (Android)Freewww.snipca.com/20573 (iOS)The four activities in Ocean II will keep yourtoddler busy for hours.There’s a simplematching game, and 15 albumswherethey need tomatch stickers to the correctoutline.There are also games involvingcolouring and playing tunes on a virtualkeyboard.

AGES 6 10Stack*Freewww.snipca.com/20574 (Android)Freewww.snipca.com/20575 (iOS)There are several ‘stacking’ games butnone are as addictive (or as challenging)as Stack.The aim is simple: arrange blocksone on top of the other until you’ve built amini-skyscraper.Whenever you fail to aligna block precisely, part of it will be chippedoff – thereby increasing the risk of collapse.

AGES 11 1680 Days£3www.snipca.com/20577 (Android)£3.99www.snipca.com/20578 (iOS)In this game (based on Jules Verne’s classicnovelAround theWorld in 80Days), youplay as Jean Passepartout, Phileas Fogg’sloyal valet. Chart your route across a 3Dglobe and in each city, perform tasks towinmoney and progress along your journeyback to London.

left corner) to see a list of searchresults. The icons at the top letyou sort your results by sevencategories – apps, settings,documents, folders, photos, videosandmusic (see screenshot below).For more nuanced search

results, click the ‘My stuff’ buttonat the bottom. Cortana willexpand to give you a largerpreview of your search results.Use the Sort dropdownmenu tosee the most recent or mostrelevant results. The Showdropdownmenu lets you sort

your search results into the sevencategories mentioned above. Read ourCover Feature for more ways to useWindows 10 faster (page 50).

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Make Windows Better

If you find thatyour mouse istoo sensitive or

that you often lose track of yourcursor on screen, you shouldchange its default settings tomake it more suitable for yourneeds. To do that, open ControlPanel, click the ‘View by’dropdownmenu at the topright, select ‘Large icons’, thenclick the Mouse option.In the Mouse Properties

window that opens, click thePointer Options tab. If you findyour mouse is too sensitive,thenmove the ‘Select a pointerspeed’ slider at the top towardsthe Slow end (see screenshot).Now try using your mouse and adjustits sensitivity using the slider.If your cursor zips about very quickly

and you tend to lose track of it onscreen, tick ‘Display pointer trails’.Now, whenever youmove it, you’ll seethe path of your cursor displayed. You

WINDOWS 7, 8, 10

Make your mouse easier to use

WINDOWS 7, 8, 10Print more than one page on asingle sheet of paper

By default, your printerreproduces a single pageon a separate sheet of

paper. However, there’s an easy way toprint two or more pages on a singlesheet. This can be quite handy if you’rerunning low on paper and you want toprint something that doesn’t need to lookgreat – say a copy of your bills or notesfor a presentation.

screenshot above). This prevents theannoying pop-up that prompts you toconfirm you want to switch from PCto tablet mode.

WINDOWS 10Find items on your PCfaster

There are many ways tospeed up the process offinding items on your PC.

Type your search term in theWindows 10 search field (bottom-

Clever tips for every version

25May – 7 June 2016

can change how big or small this isusing the slider below. Tick the last boxif you want to locate your cursor bypressing the Ctrl key (you’ll see azoomed-in effect on your cursor).Click Apply, then OK to confirm yourchanges.

To do this, open the document youwant to print, then press Ctrl+P. Nowclick the Printer Properties link belowthe Printer dropdownmenu at the topleft. In the Properties window, the PageLayout dropdownmenu will be set to‘1 on 1’ (meaning one page per sheet).To change this to, say, two pages persheet, click the dropdownmenu and setit to ‘2 on 1’. By default, the two pages areprinted in portrait mode in two sectionson the left and right respectively (textmay be reformatted to fit). If you wantless reformatting, it’s probably better toprint the pages in landscape mode. To dothis, select the Landscape option at thetop (see screenshot above). Finally, clickOK, then Print.

WINDOWS 10MakeWindows 10 easier to useon a laptop-tablet hybrid

If you have a laptop-tablet hybrid,then there are two settings youshould switch on to make your

device easier to use in tablet mode. OpenSettings, click System, then click ‘Tabletmode’. Now click the slider at the top toturn it on.This makes your screenmoreresponsive to touchscreen gestures.Next, click the ‘When this device

automatically switches tablet mode on oroff’ dropdownmenu and select ‘Don’task me and always switch’ (see

47

Make Office Better Expert tips for every program

WORD

Move multiple sections of text in one go

POWERPOINTPrint your notes beforepresenting

If you have a presentation todeliver, it’s a good idea toprepare notes for each slide

to help you out. At the bottom of eachslide, you’ll see a ‘Click to add notes’field. Type any prompts or remindersthat might help you here. To print thesenotes to use during your presentation,click the View tab in your presentation,then click Notes Page at the top left (seescreenshot below). Your presentation willnow appear as a document displayingeach slide as small tiles on a separatepage, with notes beneath each. If youneed to make changes to your notes, youcan do so at this stage. When you’vefinished with the edits, press Ctrl+P,then Print.

OUTLOOKChange Outlook’sdefault weathersettings

Besides logging yourupcoming events,the Calendar in

Outlook (versions 2010, 2013and 2016) also displays ahandy weather forecast for the currentand following days. Click Calendar at thebottom left of Outlook to see the forecastat the top right (see screenshot). By default,the temperatures are shown in Fahrenheitand the location is set to a city in the US,but it’s easy to change this to Celsius andset your own location for the forecast.Click File at the top left, Options at

the bottom, then Calendar on the left.Now scroll to the bottom, select Celsius,then click OK. Return to the Calendar

and you should now see thetemperatures displayed inCelsius. To add your location,click the default location, then‘Add location’. Next, type thename of your city or town inthe field that appears, pressEnter and select the correctautosuggest option.

SWAYCreate a presentation thatothers can edit

Microsoft’s online presentationtool, Sway, lets you send a link toyour presentation so that others

can edit it. Go to www.sway.com, click‘Sign in’ (top right), then log in with yourMicrosoft account. Click the presentationyou want to share, then the Authorsbutton at the top right. If you don’t seethis option, your presentation is probablyset to Private mode. If so, click the Sharebutton, click the slider to enable sharing,then the Authors button. Now copy thelink and send it (see screenshot below).

25May – 7 June 2016

Word has a little-knownfeature called ‘Spike’ (namedafter the old-style paper spike

– used by people to skewer documentsor forms they had finished workingon). InWord, Spike lets you cutmultiple sections of text, then pastethem all at once in the order you cutthem.To use this feature, select the first

section of text you want to cut, thenpress Ctrl+F3. Repeat to cut furthersections of text in the order that youwant them to appear whenmoved. Youcan then preview the text you’ve cut tocheck that you have everything in thecorrect order before you paste it. To dothat, click the Insert tab, the QuickParts dropdownmenu (see screenshot),then click Building Blocks Organizer.In the window that appears, selectSpike on the left to see a preview ofyour ‘spiked’ items.There are two ways to paste this text.

If you only need to paste it once, placeyour cursor where you want to paste itand press Ctrl+Shift+F3. If you wantto paste it multiple times, type spike

where you want to paste your copiedtext, then press F3. Repeat thesecondmethod to paste your copiedtext again.

48

Type this to create a Quick Launch toolbar to add theRecycle Bin to your taskbarTy thi to at Quick La ch t lb t add th

Secret Tips For…

Next issue Secret Tips For…Windows fonts

Recover files emptied from Recycle BinIt’s possible to salvage files emptiedfrom Recycle Bin using the freerecovery tool Recuva (www.snipca.com/20430).Download, install and open it and

you should see the RecuvaWizard.Click Next, and choose the type of fileyou want to recover (select All Files if

Restore deleted files,change theRecycleBin sizelimit and pin it to the taskbarRecycle Bin

Pin the Recycle Binto the taskbarPutting a shortcut for the Recycle Bin onthe taskbar makes a lot of sense, as itenables you to restore files, or empty theRecycle Bin without minimising openwindows or returning to the desktop.Rather unhelpfully the Recycle Bindoesn’t have the handy ‘Pin to taskbar’feature that other tools enjoy, but there isa way to do this nonetheless.Right-click the taskbar and untick

‘Lock the taskbar’ to unlock it, then right-click it again and choose Toolbars then‘New toolbar’. When the ‘Choose a folder’window opens, type %appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\QuickLaunch into the address bar, then clickSelect Folder (see screenshot top right).You will see that the Quick Launch

menu has been added to your taskbar.Right-click it, then untick Show Text and‘Show title’ in the menu. Right-click itagain, then click View and choose ‘Largeicons’. Now drag the Recycle Bin shortcutfrom your desktop to the Quick Launchmenu you’ve created. Remove any othericons the Quick Launchmenu containsby right-clicking on them and choosing

‘Delete’. Once done you’ll be leftwith just the Recycle Bin icon inyour new Quick Launchmenu(see bottom of screenshot right),which you can drag left or right toreposition. Once you’re happywith its position, lock the taskbaragain (right-click it and tick ‘Lockthe taskbar’).

Bypass the Recycle BinYoumight prefer that some files,such as extremely large videos,don’t linger in your Recycle Bin –especially if space is at a premium onyour hard drive. If this is the case you canmake deleted items bypass the RecycleBin altogether by selecting the file orfolder you want to remove and pressingShift+Delete on your keyboard.

ChangemaximumRecycle Bin sizeTo prevent your Recycle Bin taking uptoo much hard-drive space as it fills up,you can reduce the amount it can use.Although you can see only one RecycleBin icon on your desktop, there areactually a number of them on your PC –

one deals with files you delete from theMy Documents folder, for example, whileanother covers your C: drive in general.Right-click the Recycle Bin icon on

your desktop, then select Properties. Youwill see each Recycle Bin’s location (seescreenshot below). Select the Recycle Binslisted in turn and set a new ‘Maximumsize’ in the ‘Settings for selected location’section – try halving the size in the firstinstance. Once the Recycle Bin hits thenew limit the files it has held for thelongest will be deleted.

25May – 7 June 2016

you’re unsure). On the next screenselect the location of the file when itwas deleted (usually the Recycle Bin),click Next, tick the Enable Deep Scanbox and click Start.Recuva will scan your hard drive,

which can take 2-3 hours. If the scan issuccessful you’ll see a list of recoverable

files (see screenshot left). Torestore a file, tick the box next to itthen click the Recover button.Select a folder to save the file to(ideally on a hard drive other thanthe one that contained therecovered file), then click OK. Justbe aware that factors such as afile’s type and how long ago it wasdeleted can render it irretrievable.

Shred files instead of justdeleting themYou can shred PC files so that evenRecuva (see box left) won’t be able toreassemble them, but you’ll have to giveyour Recycle Bin a hand. Download andinstall Eraser (free fromwww.snipca.com/20429 – download beginsautomatically). Right-click the RecycleBin, click Eraser, then Erase to shredeverything in it. You can also right- clickfiles to access the same Eraser option.

Set a storage limit to stop your Recycle Binhogging hard-drive space

What is it?A groundbreaking method of storingcomputing data on synthetic strands ofDNA. Data that is normally stored aszeroes and ones on a hard drive isconverted into genetic material –the G, A, T and C of DNA. It could solveone of the biggest problems facing usin the computing age.

Which is?How to store the vast amounts of datathat we produce. We are rapidly runningout of space. By 2020 the ‘digitaluniverse’ is expected to hit 44 trilliongigabytes, which far exceeds howmuch we can store on hard drives andservers. Many technology experts havecommented on the paradox that althoughwe now record more information than atany time in history, only a fraction of itwill survive to be recovered by futuregenerations.

And DNA storage is the answer?It could be, yes. It would certainly bemore efficient than buildingmega-servers the size of an aircrafthangar. What’s crucial is that the ‘datadensity’ of DNA storage is far greater thanany conventional system, which meansthat more can be stored on any givenamount of space. For example, 1 billionterabytes of data can be stored on just onegram of DNA.This amount is called azettabyte, which is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes (that’s 21 zeroes, tosave you counting).

Howmuch is that?An awful lot. To put it into perspective,in 2009 it was estimated that the entirecontents of the world wide webcomprised half a zettabyte. It’s the secondlargest single measurement of data – onlya yottabyte is bigger (24 zeroes, and equalto 1,000 zettabytes).And besides providing the necessary

capacity, DNAmay also solve anotherproblemwith saving data: it can lastfor much longer than servers, discs andhard drives.

DNA storageMicrosoft’s ambitious plan to save data for thousands of years

How long?Thousands of years, under the rightconditions (cold, dry and dark). DNAcan’t be scratched, nor damaged throughwear and tear. What’s more, once thedata is on the DNA, it doesn’t need to betransferred to another storage device,thereby avoiding any corruption of files.

How is Microsoft involved?In April, it announced that it will team upwith the University of Washington andCalifornia biosciences company TwistBioscience to produce 10 million strandsof synthetic DNA. Doug Carmean ofMicrosoft Research said that the companywas “still years away from a commerciallyviable product”. But early tests haveproved successful, with researchersrecovering data from photos and videoswithout error. Microsoft says thattechniques are “improving quite rapidly”.

How does it actually work?The key is to encode into the DNA datathat’s easy to find. In its tests Microsoftplaced US postcodes (or ZIP codes as theyare known) and street addresses into

DNA sequences. By ‘reading’ these,researchers can convert data back into itsoriginal form.

What will Microsoft storeon the DNA?There are no specific plans, but it’s likelyto be used to store information that doesn’trequire instant access. This is becauseretrieving the data means sequencing theDNA, which takes a long time. It won’t belike opening a folder on your desktop.

So I won’t use it savemy holiday videos?No. It’ll probably be used by organisationsas a digital library or museum, savingculturally important data for futuregenerations. Announcing its work withMicrosoft, Twist Bioscience said: “Oneday eons in the future, our legacy couldbe recovered and pored over like a woollymammoth preserved in permafrost”.That potential was demonstrated in 2013

when British scientists saved all 154 ofShakespeare’s sonnets on to DNA. Itmeansthat comparing loved ones to a summer’sday will still be possible in the year 3016.

25May – 7 June 2016 49

What’s All the Fuss About...

5050

Well that’s the theory. In practice,chances are you’ve upgraded an older,slower PC, or you haven’t got round todiscoveringWindows 10’s brand newnavigational shortcuts.As in any version of Windows, you can

improve its speed by uninstallingprograms you don’t use, disabling startupitems you don’t need and clearing outjunk you never wanted in the first place.But Windows 10 also offers new settingsand approaches to speed up familiartasks.These will give you quicker accessto your favourite files and programs,while drastically improving startup times,system performance andmore besides.

Windows 10 doesn’t always make thesesettings easy to find, meaning someserious digging is required to unlock thefull potential of the operating system(OS). But don’t worry – we’ve done thespadework for you.So, whether you want to print photos

quickly, access the most importantsettings in a flash, open programs faster,or speed upWindows 10 on an older PC,it’s all explained here. Read on as wereveal 15 brilliant ways to speed upMicrosoft’s operating system, and giveyou before-and-after examples to showyou what a difference each tip canmaketoWindows 10.

25May – 7 June 2016

Windows 10 is built for speed. It’sa lean, streamlined operatingsystem that starts up quicklyand runs at a jaunty pace.

WHAT YOU CAN DO•• Uncover hiddenways to performeveryday tasks at lightning speed

•• OptimiseWindows 10’s startup andoverall performance

•• Add shortcuts to the Startmenu,taskbar and File Explorer

•• Enable GodMode to access all yourPC’s settings in one place

One of theways you can become aWindows 10 expert is to learnspeedy shortcuts thatmake it easier to use the operating system.

Jonathan Parkyn explains the 15 best tweaks to getMicrosoft’s operating systemworking faster

SpeedUpWindows 10TODAY!

Aswith every setting, the Magnifier can be pinned to the Start menuwith a right-click

Right-click the File Explorer icon to access anyfolder you have pinned to ‘Quick access’

Click the taskbar’s speech-bubble icon toaccess ‘Quiet hours’, which silencesmessagenotifications while you sleep

51

Speed up Windows 10 today!

1Access your favouritefiles and folders

The slowwayMost of us have specific folders on ourcomputers that we return to time aftertime. Maybe it’s a specific folder ofcherished photos, or a sub-folder withinyour Documents folder where you storeimportant letters. Either way, if youlaboriously click Start, File Explorer,and then navigate to the relevant folderevery time you want to access the files itcontains, you’re wasting valuable time.

The fast wayIn previous versions of Windows, you hadthe option of creating shortcuts for yourfrequently used folders by dragging themto your desktop. You can do this inWindows 10, but doing so for multipleitems will soon clutter up your desktop.Windows 10 offers a much neater systemcalled ‘Quick access’, which is the defaultview in File Explorer.Whenever you open an Explorer

window ‘Quick access’ will automaticallydisplay shortcuts to any folders and filesyou’ve recently used. But you cancustomise it to display any folders youchoose. Simply navigate to the relevantfolder, right-click it and select ‘Pin toQuick access’.Better still, you can now bypass File

Explorer altogether when opening yourfavourite folders. For example, if you’vealready pinned a folder called ‘Letters’ to‘Quick access’, simply right-click theFile Explorer icon on your taskbar andyou’ll see a shortcut to the folder listed inthe Pinned section. Click this and you’llbe taken straight there (see screenshotabove right).

2Disable notification soundswhen you sleep

The slowwayNotifications are useful, but there aretimes – at night, for example – when youmight not want to be disturbed. Youcould click Start, then click Settings,System, ‘Notifications & actions’, thenswitch off each individual option yourequire. Or you could use ‘Quiet hours’.

The fast way‘Quiet hours’ is a setting inWindows 10that instantly silences all notificationsbetweenmidnight and 6am. You canreach it via the ‘Quick actions’ panel atthe bottom of the Action Centre.This is acollection of handy shortcuts that youaccess by clicking the speech-bubble iconto the right of your taskbar (see screenshotabove right). You’ll see only four ‘Quickaction’ icons by default, so click Expand ifyou don’t see the ‘Quiet hours’ icon. Andif that isn’t quick enough for you, simplyright-click the speech-bubble icon andselect ‘Turn on quiet hours’.

You can customise the ‘Quick actions’panel to include other tasks. For example,it might be handy to have two-clickaccess to Tablet mode if you’re using atouchscreen device, or to Flight mode ifyou regularly need to disable or enable allwireless connections. To choose whichfour ‘Quick actions’ you want shownwhen you open the Action Centre, clickStart, Settings, System, ‘Notifications &actions’, then select your preferredoptions.

3Instantly zoom in onhard-to-read text

The slowwayYou’ll need to click your way throughWindows 10’s Settings app to carry outmany everyday tasks. For example, toswitch on the Magnifier so you can zoomin on a piece of text, you’ll need to clickStart, Settings, Ease of Access, Magnifier,then click the switch to enable the tool.TheMagnifier is something you’llprobably only want switched on whenyou want to read small text, so wouldn’tit be good if you could quickly switch iton and off without this rigmarole?

The fast wayWell, as it happens, Windows 10 lets youadd any setting in the Settings app to theStart menu as a tile. To add the Magnifierto the Start menu, navigate to it in theSettings app (as described above), thenright-click Magnifier in the left-handcolumn and select ‘Pin to Start’ (seescreenshot left), then click Yes.The samemethod can be used to pin other settings.

4Open programs fasterevery time

The slowwayLooking for a program that begins with

25May – 7 June 2016

FIVE-MINUTE FIXES

day!

The fast wayayayayayInInInIn pppprevious veveththththe option offfrfreqeqequently usesetotototo yyyyououourrr dededesksksksktotototoWiWiWindows 10,ititememems will sooooWindndndndowowowowssss 10101010 o

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the letter ‘W’? Such asWord 2016,for example?Well, it’ll be lurking atthe bottom of your alphabeticallyarranged Apps list. Unless you’veadded a shortcut tile to your Startmenu (see previous tip), you’ll needto click Start, ‘All apps’, then scrollthrough a lengthy list of all yourinstalled programs to get to the oneyou want.

The fast wayWindows 10’s ‘All apps’ list offers aclever, albeit hidden, way to navigateto a specific program quickly. ClickStart, ‘All apps’, then click the letter‘A’. The list of programs changes to agrid of letters (see screenshot right).Clicking the letter ‘W’, for example,will take you directly to all theprograms whose name begins withthat letter, includingWord 2016.Greyed-out letters in the grid (such as‘B’ in our screenshot right) mean thereare no programs installed beginning withthat letter. Click the clock icon at the topleft to return to the ‘All apps’ list.

5LaunchWindows toolsyou usemost often

The slowwayDevice Manager, System Properties andControl Panel have always been amongthe most used tools inWindows.Theseandmany other core functions andoptions are now accessible via theSettings app inWindows 10, which manypeople find easier to use. However, thereare still crucial tasks that can only be

carried out using these older tools. Forexample, if you need to roll back to anearlier hardware driver or check whethera device is working you’ll still need to relyon Device Manager. But to open it, you’llhave to delve deep into the ‘All apps’ list,find Computer Management (underWindows Administrative Tools), thenselect Device Manager from the left-handpane of the window that opens.

The fast wayThankfully, there’s a much quicker way tolaunch Device Manager andmany of theother useful tools that Windows 10 triesto bury. Right-click the Start button to

reveal a handy hiddenmenu of shortcutsto important management tools,including Device Manager, Control Panel,System, Disk Management and theCommand Prompt (see screenshot above).

6Read important notificationsbefore they disappear

The slowwayWhile most of this feature is concernedwith speeding up tasks inWindows 10,some aspects would be more convenientand save you time if they were sloweddown. Notifications, for example, flashup in the bottom-right of the taskbar,then disappear before you get a chance to

Do you suspect that somethingmight beslowing yourWindows 10 PC down? Ifso, there are tools built into the operatingsystem that let youmonitor and analyse

MONITOR YOUR PC’s PERFORMANCE

25May – 7 June 2016

Find programs quickly by clicking the initial letter of theprogram’s name in this alternative to the ‘All apps’ list

Access this alternative Start menuby right-clicking the Start button andquickly open Device Manager, ControlPanel and other useful features

your PC’s performance and help identifythe causes of its sluggishness.First, right-click the taskbar and select

TaskManager. Click ‘More details’ at thebottomof thewindow that opens,then click the Performancetab. Here you’ll see a real-timegraphical representation ofyour CPU,Memory, Disk (harddrive) andWi-Fi or Ethernet (seescreenshot).Click the thumbnails on the

left to seemore details in themain section on the right. Ifany of these graphs indicateconstant high levels of activityon your hard drive, it couldmeanthat your PC is struggling tocopewith a programor process

that’s running. To find the culprit, clickthe Processes tab, then the columnheading (CPU,Memory, Disk or Network)that corresponds to the graph showingexcessive activity. For example, if theCPU graph on the Performance tab isshowing high usage, click Processes,then click the CPU column until you see asmall down-arrow next to the percentagefigure.Thiswill sort the list of processesso that those using themost processingpowerwill be at the top.Similarly, if TaskManager indicates

that yourmemory is near to its limit, clicktheMemory column to find outwhichprograms or tasks are hogging your RAM.To stop a resource-hungry program fromrunning, right-click it and choose ‘Endtask’.

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read them. Missing a notification canhave serious consequences, particularly ifit is alerting you to security problems oran urgent email. You can always visit theAction Centre to review your recentnotifications after the event. But youwouldn’t have to waste time doing this, ifthe notification stayed on-screen longenough for you to read it in the first place.

The fast wayA quick tweak to yourWindows 10settings will make this happen. ClickStart, Settings, ‘Ease of Access’, then‘Other options’. Under ‘Visual options’on the right, choose a longer period(anything up to a minute) from the‘Show notifications for’ dropdownmenu (see screenshot right).

7Navigate betweenopenwindows

The slowwayIf you tend to work with multipleprograms, browsers and File Explorerwindows all open at the same time, youcan easily get bogged down in an endlessloop of clicking taskbar icons and draggingwindows around the screen to see theone you want.

The fast wayIf you prefer using the Alt+Tabkeyboard shortcut to cycle throughtaskbar thumbnails of all your openwindows, you’ll be pleased to hear youcan still do this inWindows 10. Butthere’s another, potentially quickermethod too. To the left of your taskbaryou’ll see the Task View button (an iconwith two overlapping rectangles). Click

this and your screen will fillup with larger thumbnailsrepresenting all your openprograms (see screenshotright). Simply click the oneyouwant to switch to it.

8Start up your PCfaster

The slowwayWindows 10 already starts upquicker thanmany of itspredecessors, but if you stickwith its default settings, youmay be missing out on evenshorter boot times.

The fast wayTo enable Windows 10’s ‘fast start-up’option, click Start, type power, then click

Power Options. In the window thatopens, click ‘Choose what the powerbuttons do’, then ‘Change settings thatare currently unavailable’. Under‘Shut-down settings’ check whether the‘Turn on fast start-up (recommended)’option is available. If so, make sure it’sticked (see screenshot left) and click‘Save changes’. If ‘Turn on fast start-up(recommended)’ is greyed-out, click‘Change settings that are currentlyunavailable’ so you can access thetickbox.To makeWindows 10 load even faster

you can also use hibernation modein combination with ‘fast start-up’.To put your computer into hibernationmode click Start, then the power buttonand choose Hibernate (rather than‘Shut down’). This will put your PCinto a very low power-usage mode, thebenefit of which is much faster load timesthe next time you switch on yourcomputer.

25May – 7 June 2016

Never miss a notification bymaking sure they remain on screen for a longer period of time usingthe ‘Visual options’ settings menu

Tick the ‘Turn on fast start-up (recommended)’ box in ‘Shut-down settings’ to get your PC upand runningmore quickly

Click Task View to see all your open programs as largethumbnails so you can quickly move between them

Speed up Windows 10 today!

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9Print photos andfiles faster

The slowwayTo print a photo or a document, theconventional method is to navigate tothe file you want, open it in a dedicatedprogram, click File, then Print. It’s thelogical way to do it, but it’s also the mostlong-winded.

The fast wayWindows 10’s File Explorer includes atabbed ribbon toolbar at the top, whichcontains shortcuts for a number of usefultasks – including printing. So rather thanopening the file you want to print, youcould just locate it in File Explorer, thenclick the Share tab, followed by Print.But there is an even faster way.File Explorer has a hidden toolbar

called the Quick Access Toolbar. You’llfind it, by default, just above the ribbonin the top-left corner of the File Explorerwindow.The Quick Access Toolbar onlycontains two shortcuts – Properties and‘New folder’ – but you can add others,including Print. Click the Share tab, thenright-click the Print command and select‘Add to Quick Access Toolbar’ (seescreenshot above right). You’ll now seethe Print icon in the top-left cornerwhenever you open a File Explorerwindow, letting you print a selected fileor photo with a single click.You can customise the Quick Access

Toolbar further, according to your needs.For example, youmay want to add the‘Burn to disc’ or Email shortcuts. In fact,you can add any command in any ribbontab to the Quick Access Toolbar. Click thedown arrow to the right of the toolbar’sicons to add evenmore icons (Undo,Redo, Delete and Rename) or select

‘Show below the Ribbon’ to give thetoolbar more prominence.

10Access all your importantitems from one place

The slowwayYou can waste a lot of time tracking downWindows’ hidden tools, files and settings.Thankfully, Windows 10 makes theprocess faster by letting you search foralmost anything via the taskbar’s searchfield. However, this still requires you totype the name of whatever you’re lookingfor. A better solution would be to have adedicated place for all your mostfrequently used folders, programs andsettings so they are only ever a click away.Windows 10 can provide exactly that.

The fast wayWith a little customising andre-organising, Windows 10’s Start menuwill provide super-fast access to justabout everything you need.

The first thing to do is unpin any tilesyou don’t use from the right-hand sectionof the Start menu. Simply, right-clickeach and select ‘Unpin from Start’. Now,pin all the items you want.These caninclude folders, programs listed in the ‘Allapps’ list, and individual settings fromthe Settings app. To add any of these tothe Start menu, right-click the program,folder or setting and select ‘Pin to Start’.Next, click and drag the tiles to

reposition them. It’s a good idea toarrange tiles into groups. You can create anew group by clicking and dragging a tileto the bottom of the menu until you see asolid coloured strip appear above it.Release the tile and you’ll see it sittingbelow the other groups. Click above thetile and type your chosen name for thisnew group. So, for example, you couldcreate groups for your programs, foldersand settings (see screenshot left) – allavailable simply by clicking Start. You canalso extend the Start menu by clickingand dragging outwards from its top andright-hand edges.

11Access all your photosfrom the taskbarThe slowwayEarlier, we explained how to pinfolders to ‘Quick access’ for… well, quickaccess. And that’s a great way to get to aspecific folder in no time. But what if youwant a fast way to access the files andsub-folders stored within a particularfolder, such as your Pictures folder? Ofcourse, you could open File Explorer andnavigate to the folder you want. Or youcould turn the folder into a toolbar andaccess its files directly from your taskbar.

Add the Print buttonto the Quick AccessToolbar to print anyfile or photo with asingle click

You can organiseyour Start menutiles into handygroups, suchas Programs,Settings andFolders

25May – 7 June 2016

SPEED TWEAKS IN 20 MINUTES

day!

56

The fast wayRight-click a blank spaceon your taskbar and selectToolbars. Here, you’ll see asmall selection of defaulttoolbars that you can addto the right-hand side ofthe taskbar to speed upcertain activities.For example, you can

select Address here to addan address bar to thetaskbar, which lets youaccess any web pagedirectly from your desktopby typing its URL into theaddress bar and pressingreturn; the page will openin your default browser.The Links toolbar lets younavigate directly to a list ofyour bookmarkedwebsites,but this currently only works withMicrosoft’s Edge browser.There will be other toolbars listed here

that you can enable, depending on yourPC and the programs you have installed.Alternatively, click ‘New toolbar’ (seescreenshot above right), then navigateto the folder you want (Pictures, forexample), then highlight it and click‘Select folder’. The name of the folderwill appear on the taskbar. Click the pairof arrows (>>) next to the folder’s namefor immediate access to any files orfolders contained within it.

12Log intoWindowswithout a password

The slowwayBy default, you can’t log intoWindows 10without typing your password first. Inmany situations, this is a security featurethat should be left enabled – if you use alaptop, for example, or share your PCwith others. But if you are the onlyperson who has access to your PC, thenthe login process could be costing youunnecessary time. Still, you should onlycarry out this tweak if you are absolutelycertain no one can take advantage.

25May – 7 June 2016

The fast wayTo skip theWindows login screen andmove straight to the desktop, pressWindows key+R to open the Rundialogue box, then type netplwiz into thebox and press Enter. In the window thatopens, click to highlight your useraccount, then untick the box next to‘Users must enter a user name andpassword to use this computer’ and clickApply. A newwindowwill open, askingyou to confirm this action by typing yourpassword twice (see screenshot above).Once you’ve done this, click OK.

IN-DEPTH HACKS FOR A FASTER PC

Access any folder from the taskbar by creating a new toolbarfor it

Use GodMode to find all kinds of hiddenWindows 10 settings, such as PrivateCharacter Editor

BypassWindows 10’s sign-in screen byunticking ‘Users must enter a usernameand password to use this computer’ thenconfirming your Username and Password

13Find hidden settings byunlocking GodMode

The slowwayWindows 10’s Settings app is much easierto navigate thanWindows 7’s ControlPanel and easier to access thanWindows8’s PC Settings. But if you’re not surewhat you’re looking for or where thesetting you want might be, then it canstill be time-consuming to trawl throughthe various pages of settings to find theone you want.This isn’t helped by thefact that some settings can only be foundin the Control Panel, which can be apalaver to access. Luckily, there’s a way toview all of Windows 10’s configurationoptions in one place.

The fast wayGodMode is a hidden folder that makes awide range of useful PC customisationsavailable in one place. GodMode isn’t newtoWindows 10. In fact, it’s available in

Windows 7 and 8. But it’s particularlyuseful inWindows 10, whose settings arespread across two different environments(Control Panel and the Settings app).Enabling GodMode requires a hack, but

it’s a very simple one. Right-clickanywhere on your desktop and selectNew, then Folder. The folder’s name willbe highlighted – rename it with thefollowing command and press Enter

when you’ve finished typing:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

A GodMode shortcut will appear,displaying a Control Panel-type icon. Youdon’t have to call it GodMode – you cantype whatever you like before the fullstop, and this will become the shortcut’sname.Once you’ve created the shortcut,

double-click it to view its contents. You’llfindmore than 220 settings listed, all ofwhich are grouped by type – Fonts,Troubleshooting, User Accounts and soon – and you can use the top-right searchbox to look for settings by keyword. Now,if you ever find yourself trying to trackdown an obscure setting or tool, such asWindows’ hidden program for creatingcustom characters for your fonts – themysteriously named Private Character

57

Editor (see screenshot below left) – youknowwhere to go.GodMode recently came in for some

bad press, when security firmMcAfeerevealed it had detected a new strainof malware that used GodMode-liketechniques to make it difficult to detector remove. But this doesn’t meanenabling or using GodMode on yourPC is dangerous. See Protect Your Tech onpage 16 for more information.

14 Removepreinstalled junk

The slowwayAlmost all new PCs these days comecrammed with preinstalled junk softwarethat you’ll never use, and that’s especiallytrue for Windows 10 PCs. Not only willyour PC have all those unwantedprograms from your PC’s manufacturer,but you’ll also find a load of Windows 10apps that Microsoft has added. Many ofthese do little more than sit thereconsuming space and system resources.Windows 10’s junk doesn’t just affectnew PCs. Upgrade an older computer tothe new OS and you’ll be importing alarge number of useless tools in theprocess.You can ditch the manufacturer’s junk

fairly quickly using ‘Uninstall a program’in the Control Panel, but removing

Microsoft’s apps is a lengthyprocess that involves scrollingthrough the ‘All apps’ list,right-clicking any apps youdon’t want, then selectingUninstall. Worse still, somewon’t even let you uninstallthem.

The fast wayThere’s a Powershellcommand that lets youuninstall all of Windows 10’sbuilt-in apps in one go. And,while this is certainly fast, wedon’t recommend using itbecause it removes certainapps that are essential forWindows to functioncorrectly, including theWindows Store.The procedure can also make it difficultto reinstall any apps you later realiseyou want back.Instead, we’d recommend using a free

tool called 10AppsManager (www.snipca.com/19259), which can safely removemany of Windows 10’s more pointlessapps (3D Builder, we’re looking at you).Before you start, it’s worth creating asystem restore point so you can rewindyour PC to this point in time in theunlikely event that installing apps causesproblems in the future. Once you’ve done

that, unzip and run the tool,then click a tile to remove itsassociated app (see screenshotleft). You can also click Reinstallto see instructions on how toget back the apps you uninstall(though you can also use thesystem restore point youcreated earlier). For moreadvice about uninstallingWindows 10 apps, refer to ourCover Feature in Issue 468.

15Speed upWindows10 on an older PC

The slowwayWindows 10 should feel snappyand responsive. But, on someolder or lower-powered PCs,

the operating systemmay not run quiteas speedily as you would hope.

The fast wayFortunately, there are several ways youcan put a spring back inWindows 10’sstep. First, try disabling animationsby clicking Start, Settings, ‘Ease ofaccess’, then ‘Other options’ andswitching off the ‘Play animations inWindows’ option. Now click the Backarrow (in the top left of the Settingsapp window), and click Personalisation.Here, click Colours and switch off ‘MakeStart, taskbar and Action Centretransparent’. This will save valuablesystem resources.Finally, there’s a Registry hack that

lets you reduce the time it takes formenus, such as the Start menu, toappear when you click – another way tomake your system feel more responsive.Make sure you set a system restore pointbefore you start, then click Start, typeregedit and press Enter. In the RegistryEditor, navigate toHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. In theright-hand pane, double-clickMenuShowDelay, then change thenumber shown from 400 to somethingsgnificantly lower – 20, for example (seescreenshot above) – then click OK andrestart your PC.

NEXT ISSUE

• Every keyboard shortcutforWindows 10

•Microsoft upgrades youremail:What youmust do

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25May – 7 June 2016

Speed up Windows 10 today!

10AppsManager will removeMicrosoft’s preinstalledappswith just a few clicks

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktopin the Registry and change the MenuShowDelay value from400 to 20 tomakemenus open faster inWindows 10

NEVER DOWNLOADJUNK AGAINEvery box you must untick when installing software

day!

58 25May – 7 June 2016

This is because QuickTime allows videofiles with Apple’s .MOV extension to playonWindows PCs. Removing QuickTimedeletes the codec that lets .MOV videofiles play on your computer.The solution is to download our

favourite video player VLCMedia Player(www.snipca.com/20487). The versatileVLC can handle .MOV files – even afteryou remove QuickTime. To uninstallQuickTime, open Control Panel, clickPrograms, ‘Programs and Features’, thenselect QuickTime and click Uninstall (seescreenshot above).

SilverlightMicrosoft’s browser plug-in lets you playcertain types of multimedia (video, audio,graphics) on websites. It was released in2007 as a rival to Adobe Flash – both havesince fallen on hard times (see Flash

Hidden side effects ofremoving software

Getting rid of unsafe programs from your PC can cause problems. Mike Plant revealsthe pitfalls of removing unwanted software and how to avoid them

Take the US government’s advice and uninstallQuickTime via your Control Panel

Warning: side effects mayinclude headaches,sickness and drowsiness.We’ve all seen this kind

of advice onmedication packaging,yet we take our medicine nonetheless– in the hope that the benefitsoutweigh the risks.It’s a similar story when it comes

to uninstalling certain PC programs.It’s all too tempting to get rid ofunsafe and unwanted softwarewithout a second thought, butthe side effects can includecompatibility problems, files youcan’t open, online videos you can’tplay, and incomprehensible errormessages.Here we explain just some of the

drawbacks of removing potentiallyharmful programs and how to keep yourPC running smoothly without them.

QuickTimeYoumay not have heard, but Apple hasquietly withdrawn support for itsQuickTime video player onWindows PCs(see ‘Question of the Fortnight’, Issue474). This makes it a real security risk –so much so that the US government’sDepartment of Homeland Securityrecently took the rare step of advising thepublic to uninstall it or risk being hacked(see www.snipca.com/20486).That’s sound advice, but the warning

failed to explain that removing it couldprevent your videos from opening thenext time you try to watch one of them.

section, on opposite page). Silverlightis no longer being developed byMicrosoft, who will release only bugfixes and security patches from nowon, and support for it is beingabandoned by Chrome. Having itinstalled on your PC isn’t dangerous– at least not yet – but it’s anincreasingly obsolete piece ofsoftware that’s taking up space. Mostwebsites use HTML5 these days – afact Microsoft acknowledged when itdidn’t include support for Silverlightin Edge, its default browser forWindows 10.The best advice is to uninstall

Silverlight, unless you watch Netflix,Amazon Prime or Sky Go on your PC.These video-streaming services stillrequire Silverlight, although all threehave announced plans to abandon it infavour of HTML5 in the next few years.Netflix subscribers who haveWindows8.1 or 10 PCs can already use the servicewithout Silverlight by downloading theNetflix app from theWindows Store(www.snipca.com/20535).

JavaAs regular Computeractive readers willknow only too well, we really don’t likeJava, and this isn’t the first time we’verecommended you rid your PC of it. Theprogramming language and computerplatformwas first launched in 1995 toimprove the appearance of websites, buthackers quickly realised that Java couldbe exploited to hack into PCs.

25May – 7 June 2016 59

The only people whomight miss Javaare those who have to remotely log intoanother computer – at their workplace,for example. Some setups rely on Java tocreate the connection between home andwork computers. If this applies to you,we recommend you keep it up to date,because hackers are far more likely toexploit older versions of Java. Foreveryone else, we suggest you get shotof it. If you’re not sure you have Javainstalled, you can check using thiswebsite: www.snipca.com/20489.Before you go ahead with a full-on

removal, try disabling it first, to makesure your PC still runs smoothly withoutit. Tap the Start button on your keyboard,type configure Java and press Enter.Then untick the box next to ‘Enable Javacontent in the browser’ in the JavaControl Panel, then click Apply (seescreenshot above).

FlashAnother perennial bugbear of ours. LikeJava, Flash is a programming tool meantto make websites, well… flashier, but ittoo has become amassive target for

hackers keen to exploit its flaws andsmuggle malware on to PCs via theinternet.Removing it will stop Flash-based

websites, videos and gamesworking on your PC (see box abovefor some of the most popular).However, Flash’s damagedreputation for security has meantthat websites are increasingly basedon HTML5, so the impact of losingit is a lot less severe than it wouldhave been a few years back.To ditch Flash you need to

download Adobe’s uninstaller (www.snipca.com/20491, click the blueUninstaller link at the top of the page– see screenshot below left). Once it hasdownloaded, close any open browsersand run the uninstaller. Once that’s done,restart your PC and then use Adobe’sFlash checker (https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player.html). Click the yellowCheck Now button to confirm its removal.

iTunesWith Apple removing support forQuickTime (see page 58) and the Safari

browser for Windows beforethat, it could be time forWindows users to startabandoning other Applesoftware before it abandonsyou. iTunes is the mostpopular Apple program foundonWindows PCs, andremoving it will prevent youriPhone or iPad syncing themusic on your PC. However,there are alternatives to iTunes.MediaMonkey, for example,

is a free program that you canuse to manage, play and syncfiles across your PC, iPhone

and iPad. Download and install it fromwww.mediamonkey.com/trialpay - clickthe black Download Now button, ratherthan the paid-for Get MediaMonkeyGold Free option. Select the folder thatcontains your music when prompted,then connect your iPad or iPhone andenter its passcode to unlock it.MediaMonkey will then detect yourdevice and you’ll be able to sync music inthe same way you could with iTunes.As for removing iTunes, you can

uninstall it as you would anyWindowsprogram (open Control Panel, clickPrograms, ‘Programs and Features’,select iTunes and click Uninstall).But, before you do that, it is worthbacking up your iTunes library. MicrosoftSyncToy (www.snipca.com/20495)comes in handy here. Install SyncToy,click Create New Folder Pair, Browse(under the Left Folder), then selectyour iTunes folder. Now click Browseunder the Right Folder and select thedrive or folder you want to back up to(see screenshot above). Click Next, thenselect Synchronise and click Next again.Name your folder pair and click Finish.Now click Run to begin the backupprocess.

Find out the effects of removing Java fromyour system by disabling it first

Download Adobe’s Flash uninstaller and use it to wipeFlash from your PC

Before you remove iTunes back up its library usingSyncToy

Flash is such bad news thatmanycompanies have ditched it in favourof themore secure HTML5 for theirwebsites. However, this trend is buckedsomewhatwhen it comes to someof themost popularwebsites.Thesebig beasts have been slow tomovewiththe times,meaning that deleting Flashcould affect how some of your favouritesites perform on your PC.

TheBBC, for example, still usesFlash on its iPlayer.Uninstalling Flashwillmean the iPlayerwill

no longerwork on your PC. An HTML5version of iPlayer does exist – you can optin atwww.bbc.co.uk/html5 – although itdoesn’t yet play live TV (unlike its Flash-based counterpart).

Facebook users still require Flash toplay its videos and games, thoughwethink thewhole experience of using thesite is enhanced by their absence anyway.Other sites, such asTheDailyMail, SkyNews andMSN all use Flash to varyingdegrees, but primarily as ameans tobombard youwith adverts – onemorereason to ditch it.

WHICH WEBSITES USE FLASH?

WHAT YOU MUST DO IMMEDIATELY

60 25May – 7 June 2016

Afewweeks ago, someonewalked into my house oneSaturdaymorning while I dozedin bed, then walked out with

myWindows 8.1 laptop andmywallet.I did hear footsteps while half-asleep,

but thought it must be my housemategetting ready for work. “Hey, is that you?”I shouted, peering downstairs. Silence.Nothing. So I resumedmy doze and

Having your laptop stolen is an appallingexperience, especially if you haven’t preparedfor the worst. After finding out the hard way,Jane Hoskyn explains how to limit the damage

assumed I’d been dreaming.It took nearly two days to realise we’d

been burgled. I couldn’t findmywallet,but thought I might have left it in a shopsomewhere. When I checkedmy bankaccount that evening I discovered thatsomeone had tried to use my card for acontactless payment.The next evening, my housemate and I

sat down to watch BBC iPlayer via my

laptop, which I always kept plugged intothe TV. But the laptop wasn’t there. “Haveyou been using it?” asked my housemate.“No, have you?” I asked.That’s when theawful, stomach-churning truth hit me.My wallet, the laptop... I hadn’t dreamtthose footsteps at all. We’d been burgledand I’d done nothing to deny thecriminals access to my bank accounts,my online passwords – my life.

Click ‘Manage passwords’ in Chrome and delete every password you’ve saved

Cancel your bank cardI could tell frommy online bank accountthat my card was in a thief’s hands.Several contactless payments had beenattempted within hours, and I’d neverenabled contactless (thank goodness -and now I never will). I called the bank’shelpline, and its fraud departmentrefunded the transactions. If the samehappens to you, check your bank’swebsite for the best contact number(see screenshot right).Later I realised that the thieves had

continued spending mymoney via‘transfer’ after the card had beencancelled. It’s easy to see how criminals

can do this with just yourlaptop.They go to your accounton any shopping site – Amazonor an online supermarket – andlog in using your laptop’s storedpasswords and click through tofind all your financial details.Small transactions are often notimmediately monitored bybanks, meaning thieves can stilluse a cancelled card – something I’m stilltaking up with my bank.

Delete your passwordsNext, use your desktop PC (or secondlaptop, if you have one) to cancel all your

passwords. Every single one. Go to yourbrowser’s settings and look for thepassword manager. For example, inChrome, click ‘Show advanced settings’in Settings and then click ‘Managepasswords’ (see screenshot below left).Delete each password by clicking the ‘x’to its right. Next, wipe and uninstall anypassword manager (such as LastPass) thatmay be syncing your data with your stolenlaptop. Don’t set any new passwords yet,except a browser password, which you’llneed to disable your browser’s sync tools(see the next tip).Deleting all your login data is an

unpleasant and time-consuming process,but you have to do it. When you lose a

Cancel your bank card immediately - even if you’ve onlylost your laptop and not your card

before mylaptop wasstolen

‘What I wish I’d done’

25May – 7 June 2016 61

laptop, you stand to lose a lot more thanan expensive device.

Disable browser syncServices like Chrome Sync and FirefoxSync are great for keeping yourbookmarks, stored passwords andextensions consistent across your PC andlaptop. But they can be a nightmare if oneof those computers is stolen, because anychanges (such as passwords) youmake toyour remaining PC are instantly synced tothe stolen computer.

After you’ve wiped all your passwords,disable browser syncing in your browsersettings. To do this in Chrome, for example,click Settings, ‘Advanced sync settings’,select ‘Choose what to sync’ in thedropdownmenu and untick everything(see screenshot right). Then select‘Encrypt all synced data with your ownsync passphrase’ and create a passwordOnly at this point should you start

creating new logins and passwords, aswell as changing your paymentinformation on all your accounts.

seewhere that device is andwhat it’s beingused for. Obviously it’s a little late to installone of these programs onmy laptop(we’re firmly in “if only” territory now),but using one or more of these tools couldhelp you to track a stolen laptop and evenphotograph the criminal using it.First, if you have aWindows 10 laptop,

you should enable Find My Device

PREPARE FOR LAPTOP THEFT RIGHT NOW

THE POLICEThepolice non-emergencynumber is 101, thoughit seemed constantlyengagedwhen I triedit. You could persistuntil you get through,or alternatively, reportthe crime online (eachconstabulary has its ownwebsite).The policewillthen give you a crime-report number.

YOUR HOMEINSURANCE COMPANYThecrime-report numberobtained from the policeis vital at this stage. Myinsurance companywas very helpful, butunfortunately I wasn’t abletomake a claim becausemy laptopwas partiallyused forwork purposes.Hopefully, thiswon’t be thecase for you.

LOCAL SECOND HANDSHOPSThese types of shopwork closelywith police,who check the shops’databases everymorningfor serial numbers ofreported stolen goods.It doesn’t hurt to ringyourself, though inmycase staff confirmed theydon’t buy laptopswithoutchargers.

WHO YOU MUST CONTACT

A screenshot of your computer’s system informationmay prove vital if it is lost or stolen

In your browser’s sync settings untick all theboxes, then select ‘Encrypt all synced data...’

Note your serial numbersI would have increased my chances ofgetting my laptop back by knowingits serial number. But I never made anote of it. Because, as the kindwomanat my insurance company said: “Youdon’t expect to be burgled, do you?”Take a photo of the numbers on the

back of your laptop, PC peripheralsand other devices. And don’t stopthere – also get close-ups ofdistinguishing features, such asscratches andmarks.Also take screenshots of your

laptop’s (and any other devices’)identifying information (seescreenshot right). For example, inWindows 10, go to the Control Panel,click ‘System and Security’ and then,under the heading System, click ‘Seethe name of this computer’. Take ascreenshot (click Print Screen andpaste the grab into Paint or anotherdesign program) and email it to yourself,then print and file it.

Install tracking softwareOnce installed on your laptop, tablet orother device, tracking software lets you

(www.snipca.com/20469). Once thisfree built-in service is switched on, youcan use your Microsoft account to findyourWindows 10 device – even if it’sonly slipped down the back of the sofa.Prey (https://preyproject.com) is our

favourite tracking program. It supportsWindows 7 and 8.1 as well as 10, andalso has free apps for Android (www.snipca.com/20470) and iOS (www.snipca.com/20471). It’s free for the firstthree devices you use it on.Once you install Prey, it runs silently

in the background, using as littlebattery life as possible (handy if yourdevice is stolen). By logging in onanother device you can launch Preyremotely on the laptop, tablet or phonethat’s gone missing. Not only will theprogram give details of where the lostdevice is, it’ll even silently and secretly

take a photo of who’s using it. Along withthe device’s serial number, that photo isthe most useful piece of evidence you cangive to the police.

Back up all your dataEven the fanciest tracking software can’tstop a thief fromwiping your stolenlaptop, phone or tablet. What’s more, it’sstandard practice among second-handstores to wipe devices fully before sellingthem – and that’s a good thing, because itprevents data theft. But it does mean youcan lose all your data by the time you findyour stolen laptop.I used my laptop for little more than

watching TV online and testing the oddWindows 8.1 program, but most people’slaptops are full of photos, documents,videos and other data that’s of greatpractical and personal value. So buy anexternal hard drive andmake regular fullbackups, ensuring you hide it away sothat it won’t be stolen at the same time asyour laptop.

64 25May – 7 June 2016

Problems Solved

Q InWindows 7 there’s a menuthat lets you sort files indifferent ways.The options

include List, Details, Tiles, Content and afew others besides. I cannot find theequivalent of this inWindows 10, and inparticular the List item. I really want tomake use of this to remove information Idon’t personally need to see, such as thefile size, type and date. Do you knowwhat I’m talking about? If so, wherewould I find this menu inWindows 10?

MikeWilliams

Click List in the Layout category to change theway that files are displayed inWindows 10

Q I love BBC iPlayer, which Ihave installed onmyWindowslaptop.This has an HDMI

output so that I can hook it up to myHD TV to watch programmes that way.I’m going away over summer forseveral weeks and I’d like to downloada bunch of iPlayer shows to entertainme on the flight and in the evenings.However, as I’m sure you know iPlayerautomatically wipes downloads after30 days, and I’ll be overseas for ratherlonger than that. Is there any way toget an extension of the BBC’s 30-daylimit? Could I do this onmy Androidtablet, too? I need easy instructions.

Gareth Cook

ANo, but it is possible todownload iPlayer showsoutside of iPlayer. Surprisingly,

these video files don’t have digital-rights management (DRM) codeattached to them, as this is appliedby iPlayer itself. That means they’llnever expire.To do this you’ll need to use a

program called Get_iplayer, which is afree download fromwww.snipca.com/20294. During the installationmake a note of the path in theRecording Folder box (or click Browse)to select one of your choosing, as you’llneed to open this folder later to get thefiles on to your Android tablet.

Get_iplayer has an enormousnumber of features, but thefundamentals are pretty simple.Theprogram itself actually runs in aCommand Prompt window but, whilethis is the fastest way to use it, it’s notfor novices. However, a utility calledWeb PVRManager is installed at thesame time as get_iplayer, which you’llfind in your Start menu.This uses yourdefault web browser to display agrid-like interface and search tools thatlook a bit like the real BBC iPlayer.Click in the Search box, type part or

the whole of the programme name andthen press Enter. Next, tick the boxnext to a programme’s listing and thenclick the Record button. A newweb tabwill open where you’ll see get_iplayerexecute the scary-looking textcommands you’d ordinarily have totype in the Command Prompt window.It’s vital to keep this tab open until thedownload has finished, indicated by aprogress bar made up of hash symbols.Next, press Windows key+E to

launch File Explorer (or WindowsExplorer), then navigate to theRecording Folder noted earlier. Therecordings are stored in the popularMPEG4 format and you’ve probablyalready got a video player on yourlaptop that’ll handle these, so justdouble-click to play. If not, get VLC forWindows fromwww.videolan.org.

VLC is also available forAndroid, so will do the samejob on your tablet — get it fromGoogle’s Play Store at www.snipca.com/20298. To getthe videos on to your device,connect it to your PC via aUSB cable and then launchFile Explorer to drag anddrop the required files. Inthe VLC app, tap the menubutton (three horizontallines), then tap Directoriesand tap to navigate to thefolder containing your iPlayershows. Finally, tap to play.

Can I extend iPlayer’s 30-day limit?

Use Get_iplayer to download BBC programmeswithout DRM so shows aren’t wiped after 30 days

PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT Where areWindows 10’sfile-sort options?

AYes, we knowwhat you’retalking about — it’s the ‘Changeyour view’ button-cum-menu in

Windows Explorer. Microsoft gaveWindows Explorer an overhaul inWindows 8, as well as renaming it FileExplorer. You can still launch this tool inthe same way asWindows Explorer,which for many people means using thekeyboard shortcut Windows key+E.While File Explorer looks a bit different

to its predecessor, all that’s really changedis that it now has a Microsoft Office-styleribbon, instead of traditional menus. So,to find your missing options just click toselect the View tab at the top — which youmay not have even noticed, because ofFile Explorer’s pale colour scheme. Nowjust click List in the Layout category. Ifyou don’t see it here, click the up anddown arrows to the right to scrollthrough the options.

25May – 7 June 2016 65

Our experts solve all your tech problems

Email us your problem andwe’ll try to help: noproblem@computeractive.co.uk

Q After seeing a tip in your magazine, I triedWindows Narrator. I didn’t find it all that helpful,but I now don’t know how to stop it launching

every time I switch onmy computer. Can you help?Ernie Sampson

AWe’re not sure which version of Windows youhave, but in 7 click Start, followed by ControlPanel, then ‘Ease of Access’, followed by ‘Ease of

Access Centre’. Now click ‘Use the computer without adisplay’, then click to remove the tick from the ‘Turn onNarrator’ box.InWindows 8/8.1, press Windows key+C, then click

Settings. InWindows 10, click Start, then Settings. Nowclick ‘Ease of Access’, followed by Narrator, then click toslide the ‘Start Narrator automatically’ switch to Off.Finally, a tip: you can enable or disable Narrator at any

time by using the keyboard shortcut Windows key+Enter.

How do I disable Narrator?

Use the image-editingtool Gimp to change theWindows 10wallpaperfrom blue to red

changed, but you’d overwrite the original(blue-shaded) version. To avoid this soyou can later revert to blue, pressShift+Ctrl+E, type a new name for thefile (such as ‘img0-red.jpg’), then saveon your computer.Finally, click Start followed by

Settings, then Personalisation,followed by Background. UnderBackground, choose Picture, thenclick Browse, navigate to img0-red.jpg,then click ‘Choose picture’.

Q I want to change the colour oftheWindows 10 desktop fromblue to red, but retain the four

square windows with light comingthrough. It seems that no one knowshow to do this — not even the supposedlyinfinite wisdom of online forums. I canchange the colour, but then I lose thewindows. It’s driving me nuts. Do youhave any ideas?

Terry Brown

AWe think youmust meanthe default Windows 10wallpaper, which is a blue-

shaded picture of theWindows logo.That’s why no one has been able to giveyou an easy answer: this is literally afixed image, stored in JPEG format. Assuch, there’s no way inWindows tochange the colour.However, most modern image-editing

tools make it pretty easy to mess aroundwith colours — and that includes applyinga colour-wash to a picture to give it anentirely different hue.Themethod issimilar in most programs, but we’llexplain how to do it in the popular Gimptool, which is a free download fromwww.gimp.org.

Launch Gimp, then press Control(Ctrl)+O to summon the Open Imagebox, then use this to navigate to C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper\Windows,which is where you’ll find the defaultWindows 10 wallpaper file. Specifically,you need to open img0.jpg — so click toselect that then click Open.Next, open Gimp’s Color menu and

select Colorify. Red is one of the defaultcolours so you can just click to select it ifit’s the precise shade you want. If youdesire a customised hue, click ‘Customcolor’, then click in the palette pane tomake your selection, then click OK. Makesure Preview is ticked and, if it looksgood, click OK.If you press Ctrl+S now, the image

would be saved and the wallpaper

How do I change the Windows 10wallpaper colour?

Untick the ‘Turn on Narrator’ box to disable theWindows Narrator tool

66 25May – 7 June 2016

Q I tried to follow one of yourtips about keeping my PCprivate, but I can’t find the

recommended Trust Center in myversion of Office 2007 — and no amountof searching onmyWindows 7 computerwill find it. You said to click File, butthere’s no File option in any of my Officeprograms. Perhaps you are referring onlyto the latest Office suite, which I haven’tgot? Perhaps you should point that outin the magazine.

JWoods

AOur instructions aregenerally geared tomore recenteditions of

programs, although we alwaysstrive to point out when we’regiving instructions specifically forolder versions — as we often do forWindows XP, for example.Here the problem is that Office 2007’s

layout andmenu structure is slightlydifferent to later editions.The File menuisn’t actually labelled File, but TrustCenter does exist. To find it, click the

button at the very topleft — the one that’sround and decoratedwith the Office logo.Now click theWordOptions button (orExcel Options and soon) at the bottom ofthis menu. Finally,click Trust Center.

Q I have an external hard drivethat worked well untilrecently. Now, my computer

won’t recognise it. The drive’s redlight flashes. Solutions I’ve seen onthe web seem complicated. Is it worthme trying to get someone to rescuemy files? My PC runsWindows 7.

Joan Andrews

How do I clear the Windows 10 Photostile cache?

C:\Users\[YourUserName]\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.Photos[SomeRandomCharacters]\LocalState.Now select the View tab and select

‘Large icons’ or ‘Extra large icons’ so youcan see what you’re able to delete. You’relooking for files with names like Tile1.jpg,Tile2.jpg and so on, but you should be ableto spot them easily from their thumbnailpreviews. Hold down Control (Ctrl), thenclick to select each of the offendingimages. Now just press Delete (Del).

Q Do you know how to clearphotos from theWindows 10Photos live tile? I don’t mean

simply disable it, but to stop it displayingimages that I’ve already deleted. It mustkeep a store of them somewhere becauseold photos keep appearing.This wasquite easy to do inWindows 8 – I’m surethere was a button or option to click. ButI’m struggling to find it inWindows 10.

Robert Lincoln

AThere is indeed an option inWindows 8/8.1. For the benefitof readers still using that

operating system, right-click the taskbar,choose Properties, select the Start Menutab, then click the Clear button — easy.But while that option still existed in

early versions of Windows 10, it has sincedisappeared. You’d have to ask Microsoftwhy that is, but until the company putsit back or creates a newmethod, you’llhave to clear the Photos tile’s cachemanually. Press Windows key+E tolaunch File Explorer, then navigate to

Where’s my Office Trust Center?

Navigate to theWindows Photos folder anddelete images to clear the Photos tile cache

Problems SolvedIs my hard drivea goner?

Use PassMark DiskCheckup to find outwhat’s wrongwith a faulty hard drive

In Office 2007 click theOffice logo, then theWord Options button toaccess the Trust Center

AIf you want the easy option,then you’re sure to find alocal PC technician with the

skills to take a look, and possiblyrescue your files. But there are a fewsimple things you can try yourself.For starters, connect your drive to

a different USB port, just to check allis well with the usual one. Next, tryattaching it to a different computer.Also, download the free PassMark

DiskCheckup tool fromwww.snipca.com/20336. With your driveattached, launch DiskCheckup. Ifyour external drive appears, click toselect it, choose the Desk Self Testtab, then click Start Test. This won’tfix problems, but it will offer you aninsight into what might be wrong.Finally, the hard drive itself could be

fine, but the enclosure’s circuitry mayhave developed a fault. You should beable to open it up in order to extractthe hard drive. You can then installthis in a new USB housing, or directlyinside your PC. It’s really not as hardas it sounds, but you’ll need to buy acompatible enclosure, so get thetechnical info from the drive’s label,then search on Amazon or somewheresimilar for a suitable model.

6725May – 7 June 2016

Q I’ve ticked ‘Auto-hide thetaskbar’ in the ‘Taskbar andStart Menu Properties’ box. It

worked at first, but then stopped, so mytaskbar is always visible. Microsofthelped me to sort it out, but the nextday it refused to hide again. Do youhave any idea what could be causingthis? If so, how do I fix it?

Brian Seddon

AThis is usually caused by aprogram not playing nicelywith the taskbar’s notification

area. Basically, sloppy software codingmeans that a notification is triggered,but fails to actually display. However,the taskbar still slides into view,because it expects you’ll want to accessthe notification area to deal with thealert. And it’ll stay there until you dealwith the notification – only you can’t,because it’s invisible.To resolve this catch-22 situation

you’ll need to identify the rogueprogram, and then suppress or changeits notifications settings.In the first instance, try right-clicking

each notification area icon in turn. If

some icons are hidden, click thelittle arrow to see more. If orwhen the taskbar auto-hides,note the relevant application.Then, inWindows 7, 8 or 8.1,

launch Control Panel and click‘Appearance and Personalization’,followed by ‘Taskbar and StartMenu’ (Windows 7) or ‘Taskbarand Navigation’ (8/8.1). Nowclick the Customize button underthe ‘Notification area’ heading.Choose ‘Only show notifications’alongside the relevant program,then click OK. InWindows 10click Settings, followed bySystem, ‘Notifications & actions’,then ‘Select which icons appearon the taskbar’. Slide ‘Always

show all icons in the notification area’to Off, then use the individual On/Offswitches to make the necessarychanges. Now repeat for othermisbehaving programs.

Find and switch off misbehaving programs to gettaskbar’s auto-hide to work properly

within the ‘Default 1-click settings andpayment method preferences’ section,click Change. Click the ‘Provide newpayment method information’ button,then update your details.If this doesn’t fix it, it’s actually pretty

simple to get a real Amazon human tocall you – when you know how! Visitwww.snipca.com/20309, fill in the form,select the Phone option, and then expecta call within a fewmoments.

Q My original Kindle no longer letsme download books because itinsists that my credit card

expired in April 2014. It didn’t. TheAmazon website shows the correct expirydate. Indeed, I have bought other goodsthis month. As it seems impossible tocommunicate with a human being atAmazon, can I return the Kindle on thegrounds that they sold me an itemwhichsubsequently they have rendered useless?

Ray Burgess

AThe first-generation Kindle wasreleased in 2007, which meansyour device is now nine years

old. As such, all your consumer rightshave expired. Whatever happens, youwon’t be able to return this device toAmazon – at least not for a refund or areplacement.However, we doubt you’ll want to

return it even as a protest, because wethink your problem relates to Amazon’s

1-Click ordering system. Even if you’vedisabled this on your Amazon account foreverything else, it remains the default forKindle ebooks. As it’s possible to set up adifferent credit card for the 1-Clickfeature, our strong hunch is that you havean old credit card stored against yours.Log in to the Amazon website, click

Your Account at the top and then click‘View or Change Your 1-Click Settings’under Settings. Under ‘Payment method’

Change the credit card you use in the 1-Click option to get Amazon to accept payments

Why does myKindle think mycredit card hasexpired?

Why won’t my taskbar’s auto-hide work?

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6925May – 7 June 2016

of the laptop-upgrade slot was both fasterand available in different sizes and shapes– whereas PC Cards varied only inthickness. However, the PCMCIA’s effortsdidn’t do much good because both the PCCard and ExpressCard format facedseveral fundamental problems.First, the speed and convenience of the

USB 2.0 standard – which had arrived at

the turn of the millennium – provedvery popular with consumers. Aportable USB 2.0 hard drive, forexample, was less elegant than a slot-incard, but could be easily switchedbetween a laptop and a desktop PC.Around the same time laptop

manufacturers began incorporating SDCard slots into their machines, andthese soon became the first choice forusers needing a storage upgrade – notleast because they also worked indigital cameras. We still use these cardstoday, of course, andmany laptops canbe upgraded in this way.Finally, we’d say the relentless

march of technology – where everyyear it becomes cheaper and easierto integrate more into ever-smallerdevices – along with the increasingdisposability of consumer goods madethe idea of (relatively) bulky cardupgrades look anachronistic.

Q Over a decade ago I had aDell laptop that servedme well. One of the

things I liked about it was that ithad a slot into which I could slidevarious accessories, like a dial-upmodem card or a hard-drive card. Ithink there were other upgrades too,including graphics cards. Whathappened to these nifty slots, and whyis there no similar way to upgradelaptops now?

Dennis Horsford

AYou’re talking about PersonalComputer Memory CardInternational Association, or

PCMCIA, slots — also known as PC Cardor CardBus slots. They were invented in1990 by the PCMCIA which, as its fullname hints, was an organisation madeup of well-known tech companies.We say ‘was’ because the PCMCIA

wound itself up in 2009, but not beforeit had attempted to update the PC Cardidea, as ExpressCard.This 2003 revival

o,

why

sford

nal

NEXT ISSUE•• Howdo Imakewebsites printhow they appear on screen?

•• Howdo I switch users inWindows 10?

•• Howdo I removeold devicesfromAmazon?

...Andmanymore

Subscribe toComputeractiveat getcomputeractive.co.uk

ON SALE8 June

Why won’t Windows 10 reboot after updates?

Q Can you tell me whymycomputer doesn’t reboot afterWindows 10 updates? I get a

blue screen that says ‘100% complete’,but also ‘CRITICAL PROCESS DIED’ —and then nothing else happens. I have toswitch off and restart manually.

Chris Bothwick

AIt’s impossible for us to say forcertain what might be causingthis error but, because it

happens every timeWindows 10 tries toupdate itself, we’d guess it’s related toone or more corrupted system files.We’d suggest running the System File

Checker tool, as this scans system files forproblems and then repairs any problemsit finds. Click Start, type cmd thenright-click the cmd or Command Promptentry and choose ‘Run as administrator’.Now type sfc /scannow and press Enter.The process can take a while to complete,and youmight need to restart your PCafterwards.If this doesn’t work, try uninstalling

the most recent Windows updates, as a

corrupted installation file might be theproblem. Click Start, followed by Settings,and then ‘Update & security’, followed byWindows Update. Now click ‘Advancedoptions’, followed by ‘View your updatehistory’ and then ‘Uninstall updates’.Scroll through the list to reach theWindows section, then click to select themost recent. Now click Uninstall andfollow the prompts.Windows 10 will automatically

download and reinstall the update whenyou restart.

PCMCIA cards fell out offavour due to their bulky size andadvances in computer technology

Want to knowwhat happened to yourfavourite program,website or technology?

Email noproblem@computeractive.co.uk

Whatever happened to... laptop expansion cards??Problems Solved

Uninstall yourmost recentWindowsupdates if youare havingproblemsre-booting

input channel and thenrestart your laptop. As itstarts up your laptop shoulddetect your TV and changeits display output to thatautomatically.If this doesn’t work, try

pressing theWindowskey+P while the TV isconnected.This opens theProject menu, where youcan set how the laptophandles multiple displays.Select Duplicate (seescreenshot below) and after a fewseconds the TV should replicate what isdisplayed on your laptop.

HDMI cable won’t fit into laptopIf you can’t find an HDMI socket, thenyou probably have an older laptopthat was made before these socketsbecame standard. Alternatively, youmay have a newer laptop with a microHDMI or mini HDMI socket instead.Irritatingly, micro andmini HDMIconnections require different types ofcable, so it’s worth checking whichsocket your laptop has before youbuy a new cable.To check this, type system information

into the Start search box andmake a noteof the SystemModel (see screenshotabove). Enter the manufacturer’s name,

model and ‘spec’ (forexample, Samsung 905S3Gspec) into an online search.One of the first suggestionsshould be your model’sspecifications page on themanufacturer’s website.Here, look for an entrycalled I/O Ports and checkwhether micro or miniHDMI is listed.HDMI cables are relatively

cheap – you can buy amicroHDMI fromwww.snipca.com/20500 or a miniHDMI fromwww.snipca.com/20498 for about £4from Amazon.

Picture on TV is distortedBecause the resolution of laptop screensvaries from those on high-definition TVs,whenever you connect one to the otherthe resulting picture on your TV can oftenlook stretched or distorted.The edges ofyourWindows desktop may even be cutoff altogether – a problem knownas overscan.To solve this you need to tweak your

TV’s settings, though exactly whichsetting will depend on the make andmodel of your TV. In short, you need tochange your TV’s screen’s aspect ratiofrom 16:9 to Just Scan or Screen Fitmode (the name will vary).To do this on a Samsung TV, for

example, open the TV’s menu using yourremote control and choose Picture,Screen Adjustment, Picture Size thenselect Screen Fit. On an LG TV, open themenu and select Picture Mode, AspectRatio then choose Just Scan.This willenable the image from your laptop to fitproportionately on your TV screen.

No picture on TVIf you’ve connected your laptop to yourTV but can’t see your desktop onyour TV screen, there a few fixes you cantry.The first thing you should do is, usingyour TV’s remote control, cycle throughall the available HDMI input channels(modern TVs can have as many as six).If you still don’t see yourdesktop on any of them,the next step is to makesure your HDMI cableworks. Plug your cableinto another high-definition device, suchas a Blu-ray player orSky HD box and see if youget a picture.If the cable works fine,

the next step is to makethe TV the default outputdisplay for your laptop.The easiest way to do thisis to plug the laptop intothe TV, switch the TV on,select the correct HDMI

Open Project settings and setthe laptop’s output to Duplicateto show your desktop on yourTV screen

Check your laptop’s SystemModel in System Information tocheckwhether your laptop has amicro or mini HDMI port

Right-click the Digital Audio (HDMI) option toset your TV as your laptop’s main speaker

70 25May – 7 June 2016

Connecting laptop to TVForce your laptop to detect your TV,make the image fit and fix audio problems

Fast Fixes

No sound from your TVIf you can see theWindows desktop onyour TV but aren’t getting any sound, it’sprobably because your laptop isn’t usingthe TV as its primary speaker. To fix this,right-click the Start menu, click ControlPanel, ‘Hardware and Sound’ then Sound.You’ll see a list of all available playbackdevices. In the Playback tab you shouldsee an entry for Digital Audio (HDMI) orsimilar - see screenshot below. Right-click this, click Enable and then Applyso that your TV is used to output thelaptop’s audio.

Next issue Fast Fixes for…Homenetworking

(H I)

If you can’t see the Digital Audio(HDMI) option, right-click anywherewithin the Playback tab and tick ShowDisabled Devices and Show DisconnectedDevices. This forces your PC to display alldisabled audio devices. You should nowsee Digital Audio (HDMI) listed.

www.premier-ink.co.uk Telephone: 01926 339977 or 0800 1077 211 Premier Ink & Photographic 12 Longfield Road, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV31 1XBwww.premier-ink.co.uk Telephone: 01926 339977 or 0800 1077 211 Premier Ink & Photographic 12 Longfield Road, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV31 1XB

We are a small, family owned and run company, specialising in photographicconsumables – and proud winners of multiple Good Service Awards.

We are located in Leamington Spa, in the heart of Warwickshire.If you’re passing, please pop into our shop and meet Cooper – our office dog!

Lowering the cost of printing...

01926 339977 www.premier-ink.co.uk

E&EO. Prices may be subject to change, but hopefully not!

We carry one of the largest ranges of printer ink cartridgesin the UK, with cartridges in stock for practically every inkjetprinter. We always stock Original cartridges, which are madeby your printer manufacturer, and in many cases we alsooffer Compatible cartridges, which are usually made by a UKcompany called Jet Tec. Using Jet Tec Compatibles is a wayof saving money, without compromising on the quality ofyour prints.

Here are the resultsfrom two independentink tests that agree...

Ink Cartridges

More Ink Cartridges...

Originals:No.38 Colours 27ml each £26.99No.300 Black 4ml £10.99No.300 Colour 4ml £12.99No.301 Black 3ml £9.99No.301 Colour 3ml £11.99No.350 Black 4.5ml £11.99No.351 Colour 3.5ml £14.99No.363 Black 6ml £13.99No.363 C/M/Y/PC/PM each £9.99No.363 SET OF 6 £39.99No.364 Black 6ml £7.99No.364 PB/C/M/Y 3ml each £6.99No.364 SET OF 4 £21.99No.364XL Black 14ml £13.99No.364XL PB/C/M/Y 6ml each £12.99No.364XL SET OF 4 £49.99No.920XL SET OF 4 £46.99No.932XL SET OF 4 £43.99No.950XL SET OF 4 £69.99Compatibles:No.15 Black 46ml £4.99No.21 Black 10ml £7.99No.22 Colour 21ml £11.99No.45 Black 45ml £4.99No.56 Black 24ml £9.99No.57 Colour 24ml £12.99No.78 Colour 36ml £9.99No.110 Colour 12ml £10.99No.300XL Black 18ml £14.99No.300XL Colour 18ml £16.99No.301XL Black 15ml £14.99No.301XL Colour 18ml £16.99No.337 Black 21ml £10.99No.338 Black 21ml £10.99No.339 Black 34ml £12.99No.343 Colour 21ml £12.99No.344 Colour 21ml £14.99No.348 Photo 21ml £12.99No.350XL Black 30ml £14.99No.351XL Colour 20ml £16.99No.363 Black 20ml £6.99No.363 Colours 6ml each £4.99No.363 SET OF 6 £24.99No.364 Black 10ml £4.99No.364 Colours 5ml each £3.99No.364 SET OF 4 £15.99No.364XL Black 18ml £8.99No.364XL Colours 11ml each £7.99No.364XL SET OF 4 £31.99

“Jet Tec’s colours were superb, withsingle greys and blacks very close to

Epson... so Jet Tec wins!”- Total Digital PhotographyMagazine

“What we’re looking at here is notonly the best choice of ink for the

R300 printer, but also the best choiceof ink in this group test, period.

There’s just no getting away from thesuperb combination of performance

and pricing.”- Computer UpgradeMagazine

Ink TestWinner

Photo Satin 200gsm:6x4 100 sheets +100 FREE £9.99A4 100 sheets +100 FREE £19.99Photo Glossy 200gsm:6x4 100 sheets +100 FREE £9.99A4 20 sheets £6.99Premium Pearl 270gsm:6x4 50 sheets +50 FREE £6.99A4 20 sheets +20 FREE £8.99Premium Gloss 270gsm:A4 25 sheets OFFER £8.99A3 25 sheets OFFER £15.99A3+ 25 sheets OFFER £19.99Smooth Pearl 310gsm:6x4 100 sheets £14.997x5 100 sheets £17.99A4 25 sheets £12.99A4 100 sheets £39.99A4 250 sheets £84.99A3 25 sheets £25.99A3+ 25 sheets £35.99Smooth Gloss 310gsm:6x4 100 sheets £14.997x5 100 sheets £17.99A4 25 sheets £12.99A4 100 sheets £39.99A3 25 sheets £25.99A3+ 25 sheets £35.99Premium Matt Duo 200 gsm:A4 50 sheets £12.99A3+ 50 sheets £34.99Heavy Duo Matt 310gsm:A4 50 sheets £17.99A3+ 50 sheets £44.99

PP-201 Plus Glossy II 275gsm:6x4 50 sheets £9.997x5 20 sheets £11.99A4 20 sheets £11.99A3 20 sheets £27.99A3+ 20 sheets £36.99SG-201 Semi-Gloss 260gsm:6x4 50 sheets £9.99A4 20 sheets £11.99A3 20 sheets £27.99A3+ 20 sheets £42.99

Smooth Pearl 280gsm:6x4 100 sheets £12.997x5 100 sheets £18.99A4 50 sheets £18.99A4 50 sheets £18.99A3 50 sheets £35.99A3+ 25 sheets £28.99Oyster 271gsm:6x4 100 sheets £12.997x5 100 sheets £18.99A4 50 sheets £18.99A3 25 sheets £22.99A3+ 25 sheets £28.99Gloss 271gsm:6x4 100 sheets £12.997x5 100 sheets £18.99A4 50 sheets £18.99A3 25 sheets £22.99A3+ 25 sheets £28.99Double Sided Matt 250gsm:A4 100 sheets £24.99A3 50 sheets £27.99

Premium Gloss 255gsm:6x4 40 sheets +40 FREE £9.997x5 30 sheets £9.99A4 15 sheets +15 FREE £9.99A3 20 sheets £29.99A3+ 20 sheets OFFER £24.99Ultra Gloss 300gsm:6x4 50 sheets £9.997x5 50 sheets £12.99A4 15 sheets £11.99Premium Semi-Gloss 251gsm:6x4 50 sheets £8.99A4 20 sheets £14.99A3 20 sheets £29.99A3+ 20 sheets OFFER £24.99Archival Matte 192gsm:A4 50 sheets £14.99A3 50 sheets £33.99A3+ 50 sheets £44.99Heavyweight Matte 167gsm:A4 50 sheets £11.99A3 50 sheets £34.99A3+ 50 sheets £44.99

Photo PapersWe carry a massive range of papers (sheets & rolls) at competitiveprices. Below are some examples of the selection we stock.

Albums & FramesWe now stock a comprehensive range of frames, mounts, albumsand accessories. The full range can be viewed on our website,with detailed close-up images of each product to help youchoose the perfect way to display your printed photographs.Below is just a tiny sample of what we offer:

Memo Style Albums:Grace 6x4 100 photos £5.99Grace 6x4 200 photos £9.99Grace 6x4 300 photos £14.99Grace 7x5 100 photos £7.99Grace 7x5 200 photos £13.99Grace A4 100 photos £15.99Grafton 6x4 200 photos £9.99Grafton 7x5 200 photos £13.99Baby 6x4 200 photos £9.99Travel 6x4 200 photos £8.99Traditional Style Albums:Grace 29x32cm 100 pages £14.99Grafton 29x32cm 100 pgs£14.99Baby 29x32cm 100 pages £12.99Accessories:Photo Corners Pack of 250 £2.99Photo Stickers Pack of 500 £1.99

Plastic Bevel, Glass Front:Frisco 6x4 seven colours £1.99Frisco 7x5 seven colours £2.29Frisco 8x6 seven colours £2.79Frisco 9x6 seven colours £3.49Frisco 10x8 seven colours £3.79Frisco 12x8 seven colours £4.59Frisco A4 seven colours £3.99Frisco A3 seven colours £8.99Wood Bevel, Glass Front:Emilia 6x4 two colours £4.99Emilia 7x5 two colours £5.99Emilia 8x6 two colours £6.99Emilia 10x8 two colours £7.99Emilia 12x8 two colours £8.99Rio 6x4 four colours £5.99Rio 7x5 four colours £6.99Rio 8x6 four colours £7.99Rio 10x8 four colours £8.99Rio 12x8 four colours £9.99

Grace AlbumsAvailable in

Burgundyor Blue.

TravelAlbumsOver a dozendesigns in stock.

GraftonAlbums

Available inBurgundy

or Blue.

Emilia FramesDistressed woodshabby chiceffect.Blue or White.

Rio FramesHandcrafted solid wood with

30mm wide profile, in four colours.

BabyAlbumsMultipledifferentdesignsavailable.

Frisco FramesSimple, basic designavailablein a hugerange ofsizes &colours.

PGi29Pixma Pro 1Originals:Set of 12 £229.99Colours 36ml each £19.99

PGi72Pixma Pro 10Originals:Set of 10 £94.99Colours 14ml each £9.99

CLi42Pixma Pro 100Originals:Set of 8 £74.99Colours 13ml each £9.99

CLi8Pixma Pro 9000Originals:Set of 8 £74.99Colours 14ml each £9.99Compatibles:Set of 8 £27.99Colours 14ml each £3.99

PGi9Pixma Pro 9500Originals:Set of 10 £84.99Colours 14ml each £8.99Compatibles:Set of 10 £44.99Colours 14ml each £4.99

More Canon Inks...Originals:PGi520/CLi521 Set of 5 £42.99PGi520 Black 19ml £9.99CLi521 Colours 9ml £8.99PGi525/CLi526 Set of 5 £42.99PGi525 Black 19ml £9.99CLi526 Colours 9ml £8.99PGi550/CLi551 Set of 5 £37.99PGi550 Black 15ml £9.99CLi551 Colours 7ml £7.99PGi550/CLi551XL Set of 5 £54.99PGi550XL Black 22ml £11.99CLi551XL Colours 11ml £10.99PG540 Black 8ml £10.99PG540XL Black 21ml £15.99CL541 Colour 8ml £13.99CL541XL Colour 15ml £15.99PG545XL Black 15ml £13.99CL546XL Colour 13ml £15.99Compatibles:PGi5 Black 27ml £4.99CLi8 Colours 13ml £3.99PGi5/CLi8 Set of 5 £19.99PGi520 Black 19ml £4.99CLi521 Colours 9ml £3.99PGi520/CLi521 Set of 5 £19.99PGi525 Black 19ml £4.99CLi526 Colours 9ml £3.99PGi525/CLi526 Set of 5 £19.99PGi550XL Black 25ml £4.99CLi551XL Colours 12ml £3.99PGi550/CLi551XL Set of 5 £19.99BCi6 Colours 15ml £2.99PG40 Black 28ml £12.99CL41 Colour 24ml £16.99PG50 Black 28ml £12.99CL51 Colour 24ml £14.99PG510 Black 11ml £13.99CL511 Colour 11ml £15.99PG512 Black 18ml £13.99CL513 Colour 15ml £15.99PG540XL Black 21ml £13.99CL541XL Colour 15ml £14.99PG545XL Black 15ml £11.99PG546XL Black 21ml £12.99

Many more in stock! More Epson inks >>> Many more in stock!

Memory

Compact FlashSandisk Ultra333X (50MB/s)8GB £11.9916GB £15.9932GB £24.99

Sandisk Extreme800X (120MB/s)16GB £26.9932GB £32.9964GB £47.99128GB £94.99

MicroSDHC & SDXCSandisk Ultra320X (48MB/s)16GB £6.9932GB £12.9964GB £24.99

Readers & CasesDelkin USB2 Card Reader £9.99Delkin USB3 Card Reader £19.99Delkin SD Card (x8) Case £6.99Delkin CF Card (x4) Case £6.99

SDHC & SDXCSandisk Blue33X (5MB/s)4GB £3.498GB £3.9916GB £5.99

Sandisk Ultra266X (40MB/s)8GB £4.9916GB £6.9932GB £12.9964GB £24.99

Sandisk Extreme400X (60MB/s)16GB £10.9932GB £17.9964GB £34.99

BP-511 for Canon £12.99LP-E6 for Canon £16.99LP-E8 for Canon £12.99LP-E12 for Canon £12.99EN-EL3E for Nikon £14.99NB-2L/LH for Canon £9.99NB-6L for Canon £9.99NB-10L for Canon £12.99NP95 for Fuji £9.99NPW126 for Fuji £12.99EN-EL3e for Nikon £14.99EN-EL14 for Nikon £19.99EN-EL15 for Nikon £24.99BLN-1 for Olympus £24.99BLC12 for Panasonic £23.99FW50 for Sony £24.99BX-1 for Sony £14.99AA 1300mAh (4) £3.99AAA 1100mAh (4) £3.99

Batteries

P-Type Square Filters49-82mm Adapter Rings £4.99Filter Holder £5.99ND2 Filter £12.99ND2 Grad Filter £13.99ND4 Filter £12.99ND4 Grad Filter £13.99

Screw-type Filters46mm UV / Haze £4.9949mm UV / Haze £4.9952mm UV / Haze £4.9955mm UV / Haze £5.9958mm UV / Haze £6.9962mm UV / Haze £7.9967mm UV / Haze £8.9972mm UV / Haze £8.9977mm UV / Haze £11.99Skylight Filters from: £6.99Circular Polarising Filters from:£14.99ND4 and ND8 Filters from: £11.99

Filters

No.16FountainPen InksOriginals:No.16 Set of 4 £22.99No.16 Black 5.4ml £7.99No.16 Colours 3.1ml each £5.99No.16XL Set of 4 £42.99No.16XL Black 12.9ml £14.99No.16XLColours 6.5ml each £11.99Compatibles:No.16 Set of 4 £14.99No.16 Black 12ml £4.99No.16 Colours 12ml each £3.99

No.18Daisy InksOriginals:No.18 Set of 4 £22.99No.18 Black 5.2ml £7.99No.18 Colours 3.3ml each £5.99No.18XL Set of 4 £42.99No.18XL Black 11.5ml £14.99No.18XL Colours 6.6ml each £11.99Compatibles:No.18 Set of 4 £14.99No.18 Black 12ml £4.99No.18Colours 6.5ml each £3.99

No.24Elephant InksOriginals:No.24 Set of 6 £41.99No.24 Colours 4.6ml each £7.99No.24XL Set of 6 £64.99No.24XL Colours 8.7ml each £11.99Compatibles:No.24 Set of 6 £22.99No.24 Black 7ml £3.99No.24 Colours 7ml each £3.99

No.26Polar Bear InksOriginals:No.26 Set of 4 £29.99No.26 Black 6.2ml £8.99No.26 Colours 4.5ml each £7.99No.26XL Set of 4 £49.99No.26XL Black 12.1ml £14.99No.26XL Colours 9.7ml each £13.99Compatibles:No.26 Set of 4 £14.99No.26 Black 10ml £3.99No.26 Colours 7ml each £3.99

T0481-T0486Seahorse InksOriginals:Set of 6 £69.99Colours 13ml each £16.99Compatibles:Set of 6 £19.99Colours 13ml each £3.99

T0541-T0549Frog InksOriginals:Set of 8 £105.99Colours 13ml each £14.99Compatibles:Set of 8 £27.99Colours 13ml each £3.99

T0591-T0599Lily InksOriginals:Set of 8 £89.99Colours 13ml each £11.99Compatibles:Set of 8 £27.99Colours 13ml each £3.99

T0711-T0714Cheetah InksOriginals:Set of 4 £32.99Black 7.4ml £8.99Colours 5.5ml each £8.99Compatibles:Set of 4 £14.99Black 7.4ml £4.99Colours 5.5ml each £3.99

T0791-T0796Owl InksOriginals:Set of 6 £72.99Colours 11.1ml each £12.99Compatibles:Set of 6 £19.99Colours 11.1ml each £3.99

T0801-T0806Hummingbird InksOriginals:Set of 6 £49.99Colours 7.4ml each £8.99Compatibles:Set of 6 £19.99Colours 7.4ml each £3.99

T0871-T0879Flamingo InksOriginals:Set of 8 £66.99Colours 11.4ml each £9.99Compatibles:Set of 8 £27.99Colours 11.4ml each £3.99

T0961-T0969Husky InksOriginals:Set of 8 £69.99Colours 11.4ml each £8.99Compatibles:Set of 8 £27.99Colours 11.4ml each £3.99

USBPenDrives8GB: £3.59 16GB: £5.49

32GB: £9.99

Many more in stock!

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25May – 7 June 2016 73

Jargon Buster2.4GHzWireless networksworkingat this frequency have longer range,but aremore prone to interference.

32bit Ameasure of howmuchinformation a computer canprocess at once. Most oldercomputers are 32bit.

4KVideowith a resolution of atleast 3840x2160 pixels.

5GHzWireless networksworkingat 5GHz have shorter range, butare less prone to interference.

64bit A technology that processesinformation in larger chunks. Mostmodern computers are 64bit.

802.11ac A standard forwirelessnetworks that allows for highertransfer speeds than 802.11n.

802.11n A standard forwirelessnetworks that allows for hightransfer speeds.

A2DP Advanced Audio DistributionProfile. A Bluetooth profile thatallows for thewireless transmissionof stereo audio from an A2DPsource (phone or computer) toan A2DP receiver (Bluetoothheadphones or stereo system).

ADSL Asymmetric DigitalSubscriber Line.

ApertureAn opening that controlsthe amount of light entering acamera lens.

Aspect ratioAmeasurement ofthe shape of a display.

Beta A version of software that’sbeing tested.

Cache A temporary space forstoring information.

Codec Short for Compressor/Decompressor. A file that tells a PChow to record or play amedia file.

.csv CommaSeparated Value.

DisplayPort A new socket forconnectingmonitors that’s stillrelatively rare.

DownloadmirrorAwebsite thatcontains the same downloadablesoftware as others, bundled in itsown installer.

dpi Dots per inch.

DRM Digital RightsManagement.

DSLRDigital single-lens reflex.

Dual-band A router that operateson two bands: 2.4 and 5GHz.

DVI Digital Visual Interface.

Eight-core APC that has eightprocessors.

Email client A computer programused to access andmanage auser’s email.

EPUBA file format used bymanypopular ebook readers

EXE A program file designed torun inWindows.

F/18 (F-stop) Ameasure of acamera’s aperture.

False positiveWhen an antivirusprogramwrongly detects amalware infection.

Flash storageA data-storagedevice that includes flashmemorywith an integrated USB interface.

Fresnel lenses A type of compactlens that allows the construction oflenses of large aperture and shortfocal lengthwithout themass andvolume ofmaterial that would berequired by a lens of normal design.

Graphics card A component in acomputer that produces the imageshown on themonitor.

HDMI High-definitionmediainterface.

HDMI 2.0 Amuch faster versionof the current HDMI standardwith a bandwidth of 18Gbps andsupport for 4K (or Ultra HD) videoat 60 frames per second.

HotkeyA keyboard shortcut setup to perform a complex action.

HTML5The latest version of theHypertextMarkup Language usedto createmostweb pages.

IP address Internet ProtocolAddress. A unique set of numbersused to identify PCs andwebsiteson the internet.

IPS In-Plane Switching. A screentechnology for liquid crystaldisplays (LCDs).

IPX7 A device that canwithstandexposure towater of up to onemetre for up to 30minutes.

IP67A rating of IP67means theproduct is both totally protectedagainst dust and the effect ofwaterimmersion between 15cm and 1m.

LCD Liquid-Crystal Display.Thetechnology used to create almostall flat displays.

LED Light-Emitting Diode. Anelectronic device that emits light.

MegapixelAmeasure of theamount of detail that can berecorded by a digital image.

MicroSD A small type ofmemorycard. Can be converted to SD sizeusing an adapter.

Micro USBAminiature version ofUSB, often found on smartphones,tablets and portable hard drives.

ModemA device that lets two PCscommunicate via a phone line.

.MOVA type of video file that canbe played using Apple’s QuickTimesoftware.

MPEG4 A standard forcompressing digital content thatmaintains very high quality.

Noise Visible dust-like specklesthat appear in some camera andTV images.

OLED Organic light-emittingdiode. A thin-film organic light-emitting diode used in computerdisplays and television screens.

Open source Software that canbemodified by anyone, ratherthan just by the employees of thecompany that created it.

Optical stabilisation Amechanism built into digitalcameras that compensates for anyshaking or vibrations that occurduring shooting.

PCI ExpressA faster versionof PCI, used bymoderngraphics cards.

Plug-in A small program thatadds extra features to software orto yourweb browser.

PowershellA programminglanguage used to automate systemprocesses and createmanagementtools onWindows PCs.

QR code Quick Response code. Atwo-dimensional barcode that canbe read using smartphones anddedicated QR-reading devices.

Quad core APC that has fourprocessors on a single chip.

RansomwareMalware run byhackerswho lock files on your PCand demand payment for release.

Raw A format for digital photosthat stores the image exactly asthe camera captured it.

SD card Secure Digital card. Apopular type ofmemory card.

SQL StructuredQuery Language.

sRGB A standard RGB colourspace for use onmonitors,printers and the internet.

System filesThefiles that runwhen the computer starts up.

System restore pointThecollection of system files stored bySystemRestore on a given date.

System Tray Located in thetaskbar of theWindows desktop.Containsminiature icons for easyaccess to functions.

TN Twisted nematic. A common,cheap type of LCD.

USB 3.0 An even faster version ofthe USB standard used to connectdevices to a computer.

USB Type-CA new connectorthat’s reversible, letting you plug itin upside down.

VDSL Very-high-bit-rate digitalsubscriber line. Broadbandtechnology that provides datatransmission faster than ADSL overshort distances on copperwires.

VPN Virtual private network. Atechnology for keeping all internetcommunication safe and private.

AllWindows 10 jargon explained in our Definitive Guide:www.snipca.com/17716

This issueKenRigsbywants everyone to stop. . .

Oversharing

goggles for a dive down to the depthsof the Mariana Trench, where you’llinteract with sea creatures that nohuman has ever seen.So much potential. So many

possibilities. Which is why it’s soperplexing that Facebook boss Mark

Zuckerberg thinks you’ll wantto wear your Rift to save youhaving to visit your friend’shouse for a chinwag.

Because that’sapparently Zuckerberg’svision for Oculus, theexpensive high-tech toythat he bought a couple ofyears ago for a mere $2bn.

He believes that theFacebook generation’s

compulsion to boastabout absolutely

everything that happens intheir daily lives will extend

to virtual reality.Terrifyingly, he thinksthat instead of sharing

experiences withpeople in reallife, we’ll

Hey, listen up! I’m brilliant at myjob. I’m also great at sport — akarate black belt (second dan),

and an accomplished skydiver.There’s more. I’mmarried to that

incredibly clever (and attractive) ladywho adds up the numbers onCountdown, and we’ve enrolled ouryet-to-be-conceived kids for places atOxford and Cambridge (yes, bothuniversities, because our children arebound to be twice as clever as yours). Oh,and I had chips for lunch, thrice-cookedfor me personally by Heston Blumenthal.Frankly, my life is amazing and I damnwell want you to know about it.Okay, some or all of the above is a tad

fanciful. But it brings me neatly on tovirtual-reality headsets, those new-fangled techno-blindfolds like theOculus Rift (www.oculus.com).Theypromise to immerse our senses as neverbefore, transporting us to incredibleworlds and impossible places.Strap on a Rift and youmight be

whisked to some galaxy… far, far away,perhaps to explore new planetsand play Scrabble withaliens. On another day,youmight don your

Do you agreewith Ken?Let us know at letters@computeractive.co.uk

Facebook’s terrifyingvision is that rather

than sharingexperiences with

people in real life, we’llmaterialise in their

homes in virtual reality

KENRIGSBY isComputeractive’sMrAngry

The Final Straw

74 25May – 7 June 2016 Next issueKen refuses to cough up for overpricedApple products

materialise in their living rooms in virtualreality. Not literally, obviously — butvirtually. You’ll sit on your sofa and tunein to watch your friend’s new baby takeits first steps. Or perhaps partake in a bitof virtual swinging at weekends.It sounds ridiculous, but Zuckerberg

didn’t become rich by accident: heearned his fortune by creating a servicethat fed modern humanity’s insatiabledesire to share, well… everything.Just a couple of years ago Chambers

Dictionary chose ‘overshare’ as its wordof the year, and the phenomenon hashardly diminished since then. Having acheese sandwich for lunch? Quick, post adozen photos to Instagram! Goingthrough a messy divorce? Update yourrelationship status on Facebook!Thinksomeone looked at you a bit funny as youpassed them in the street? Share youranger on Twitter and don’t stop rantinguntil the offender has been sentenced tolife without parole, or at least ostracisedfrom society!Sure, you can switch off the social

networks, but that won’t save you fromidiotic oversharing.That’s because 67 percent of newspaper and TV content is nowdrawn directly from stuff that happenedyesterday on Facebook and Twitter(which, coincidentally, is exactly thesame percentage of statistics that aremade up on the spot).So, for all its ridiculousness, I fear Mark

Zuckerberg’s prediction is bang on: theworld’s oversharing cretins are quick toembrace new technology.They crave thevalidation that comes with volunteeringevery last detail of their lives. And for thelikes of Zuckerberg oversharing is anumbers game: the more people sharestuff using his products, the morepersonal information his company knowsabout them, and the more money he canmake from targeted advertising.