BEST EVER

TV STICK?
SHOW PHOTOS S
ON YOUR TV p400 PLAY YOUR
Reviewed on page 29
This device makes it easier than ever

ISSUE 596 ❘ 1 – 12 JANUA

0211
RY 202
PC MUSIC IN
YOUR CAR
4 ways to do
it – which is
Learn something new in
everyy issue
best for you?
– p49
Better latte than never p35

SOFTWARE
YOU SHOULD
NEVER
INSTALLReplace these rip-off tools and pointless
programs with superior software p50

PLUS
01

UPGRADE YOUR PC’s

5 771461 621035

GRAPHICS CARD p60

PMake software faster PChoose the right specs PInstall without problems
£2.40
WELCOME
EDITORIAL
Group Editor Daniel Booth
Deputy Editor Will Stapley
Production Editor Graham Brown
From the Editor
Art Editor Katie Peat
Contributors Dinah Greek, Robert Irvine, Jonathan Were he alive today, William Avery ‘Devil Bill’ with a hefty fee. We also expose software that
Parkyn, Nick Peers, Nik Rawlinson, Andy Shaw Rockefeller Sr would be flogging software that spies on you, smuggles junk on to your system,
ADVERTISING promised to fix problems your computer doesn’t and offers expensive tools that are actually a
Group Advertising Director Andrea Mason
Deputy Ad Manager Rebecca New have. This notorious 19th-century conman free part of Windows.
MARKETING AND CIRCULATION
peddled ‘Rock Oil’ across the US as a cancer Someone whose word you can always trust is
Subscriptions Rachel Hare cure. In reality, it was a mix of laxative and Robert Irvine, formerly editor of our sister title
For subscription enquiries ring 0330 333 9493
petroleum. Web User, which sadly closed at the end of
PRODUCTION None of the programs in our Cover Feature 2020. He replaces me as the voice of our Easy
Head of Production
Stephen Catherall leave such a bad taste in the mouth When You Know How column on page 74. I
Senior Production Manager
Lawrence Brookes (metaphorically and literally), but plenty make hope you enjoy his grapples with technology.
MANAGEMENT
claims they can’t back up, such as promising to Daniel Booth
Managing Director Dharmesh Mistry perform tasks for free before clobbering you [email protected]
MD of Advertising Julian Lloyd-Evans
Commercial and Retail Director David Barker
Chief Executive James Tye
Company Founder Felix Dennis p40
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While every care was taken preparing this
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responsible for the accuracy of the information
or any consequence arising from it. All
judgments are based on equipment available
to Computeractive at the time of review.
Computeractive takes no responsibility for the
content of external websites whose addresses
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DENNIS PUBLICATION
Computeractive is published fortnightly
by Dennis Publishing, 31-32 Alfred
Place, London, WC1E 7DP.
Company registered in England. ISSN 1461-6211

Average sales, Jan-Dec 2019, 67,672

THIS ISSUE IN NUMBERS HOW TO USE
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© Copyright Dennis Publishing Limited 2020.

All rights reserved
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Size of the new five-star We use snipcas to turn long URLs that
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Neither the whole of this publication nor any
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Distributed by Marketforce
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three days - p14 the correct website.

1 – 12 January 2021 3
 Contents
1 – 12 January 2021 • Issue 596

6 News Windows 10X ‘coming to computers

by June’

10 Question of the Fortnight Should Netflix

and Amazon broadcast news in the UK?

11 Protect Your Tech

Fake VPN extensions for Edge

12 Letters I’m PC-savvy, but I still fell for

scammer’s trap

14 Consumeractive
Who’s responsible for a missold USB stick?
p10
16 Grow Your Family Tree
Discover crimes your ancestors committed Have we got news for you?

18 Best Free Software

WizFile 3 Microsoft Surface Laptop Go
21 Named & Shamed p22
pxx
Junk Offender: MyCleanPC

Reviews
22 Microsoft Surface Laptop Go
Portable computing for the undemanding

23 Apple MacBook Pro 13 (2020)

Apple’s latest laptop is no slouch

24 Raspberry Pi 400
Micro PC undergoes key changes

25 OnePlus Nord N10 5G

Price of Nord phone goes south Raspberry Pi 400

26 Iiyama ProLite XUB2493HSU-B1 p24

pxx
Full HD monitor is pixel perfect

28 Creative Outlier Air V2

Earbuds make for a sound choice
AfterShokz OpenMove
Headphones go cheek to cheek

29 Roku Streambar
TV streamer and speaker in one

30 Buy It/Competition
Win a Toshiba P300 6TB hard drive

4 1 – 12 January 2021
 Subscribe now!
See page 58 for our special subs offer

Workshops & Tips Take your music on the road

p35
35 How to… Play music from your PC
in your car

38 Annotate screenshots using Edge’s 1

new Web Capture tool

40 Use Google Chromecast to control

photos on your TV

42 Readers’ Tips 2
Create hyperlinks in Word documents

44 Phone and Tablet Tips

Save Google Maps for offline use

46 Make Windows Better

SOFTWARE
Stop Windows switching networks

47 Make Office Better

YOU SHOULD
Sync changes between documents

48 In the Club
Stream a presentation using Chromecast

49 What’s All the Fuss About? NEVER CO

FEATVER

INSTALL
UR
Project Latte P50 E
50 COVER FEATURE
Software you must never install
Avoid installing programs that rip you off Replace rip-off tools and pointless
and clutter your PC with unwanted junk
programs with superior software
60 Upgrade your PC’s graphics card
We explain everything you need to know
about this vital component, which type
Play your cards right
you’ll need and how to install a new one

63 Your most popular programs of 2020 p60

The top 10 software links clicked by readers
in the past 12 months

64 Problems Solved
Can I clean up my right-click menus?

71 Reader Support
Should I ditch my old hard drive?

72 Jargon Buster

74 Easy When You Know How

Robert Irvine sets up a free WordPress blog

1 – 12 January 2021 5
 News The top stories in the world of technology

Windows 10X ‘coming to

computers by June’
M
icrosoft looks set to computer manufacturers so a stripped-back
release Windows 10X, they could install it on their operating system that
a new lightweight devices. It’s thought these doesn’t contain
version of the current could go on sale as early as Windows-style settings
operating system (OS), in the June. and features on a
first half of 2021, according to The idea behind Windows desktop. Instead, it’s
reports circulating online. 10X is to produce a intended to be used as a
Sources in the company said streamlined version of the gateway to online tools
it had finished building the main OS, with fewer tools, like Google Drive,
first version of Windows 10X a simpler design and a which you can access
and was ready to release it to new-look Start menu (see through the Chrome
screenshot) without the browser.
WHAT WE THINK ‘Live’ tiles that show updated One of the advantages
information in real time. It of Chromebooks is that
Microsoft has been promising also has a redesigned Action they boot faster than
a slimmer, faster-booting Centre with new volume, Windows laptops
version of Windows 10 power and battery controls. because Chrome OS
for years, so pardon us for The company announced takes less time to load.
raising a sceptical eyebrow the system in October 2019, Windows 10X contains
at these latest reports. initially saying it would be more tools than
Even if it does arrive by the built for foldable devices with Chrome OS, so devices
summer, we think Microsoft two screens, such as its own running it will probably
has a tough sell on its hands. Surface Neo, which is believed boot more slowly than
Chromebook fans love online to be going on sale this year. lockdown, making Microsoft Chromebooks.
tools, so won’t want a half- However, in May 2020 realise how much people But Microsoft will be keen
baked version of Windows, Microsoft said Windows 10X value their traditional devices. to market Windows 10X
while the millions of people will arrive first on single- computers as fast-booting
who use Windows do so screen devices, such as A rival to Chromebooks machines. It said last year that
because of its wide range of conventional laptops and PCs. Long term, Microsoft hopes the system would be separated
settings and features. We’re This decision was prompted that devices running Windows from drivers and desktop
not sure why either group by people using their 10X will entice people away apps, meaning you’d be able
would want to compromise. Windows computers more from Google’s Chromebooks, to install updates much more
during the coronavirus which run Chrome OS. This is quickly – potentially in under
90 seconds.
You can try an early version
UNINSTALL SNIPPING TOOL AS ‘SNIP & SKETCH’ TAKES OVER
of Windows 10X by installing
You’ll soon be able to uninstall will eventually replace the tool 21277), available to Windows the Microsoft Emulator app
Windows 10’s Snipping Tool, as with ‘Snip & Sketch’, which has Insiders, meaning it can be from the Microsoft Store
Microsoft encourages people more advanced options. uninstalled. (www.snipca.com/35469).
to use ‘Snip & Sketch’ instead. It’s been reminding users It signals that Microsoft However, you’ll need to be
Introduced in Windows with messages that pop up might be preparing users for running Windows 10 Pro with
Vista, the Snipping Tool when you launch Snipping Tool, the removal of Snipping Tool. an Intel processor and have
offers a fast and simple way and has now made the tool To try ‘Snip & Sketch’ press 15GB of spare storage space.
to take screenshots, though
Microsoft said in 2018 that it
optional in the latest preview
version of Windows 10 (Build
PrtScr on your keyboard, or
press Windows key+Shift+S.
• For more instructions, read
‘Easy When You Know How’
in Issue 585, page 74.

You’ll like this… but not this…

Currys PC World is honouring cancelled Hackers targeted information relating to the
Black Friday purchases (www.snipca.com/36975) coronavirus vaccine (www.snipca.com/36955)

6 1 – 12 January 2021
Coronavirus dominated Google IN BRIEF

searches throughout 2020

T he coronavirus pandemic
dominated Google
searches during 2020,
according to its annual ‘Year
in Search’ report, which RENT PHONES ON
measures search terms that MUSICMAGPIE
had the biggest spike compared MusicMagpie has launched
with the previous 12 months. a phone-rental service,
Globally, ‘coronavirus’ was letting you upgrade to a
the most searched term, as it new device every 12 months
was in the UK. Indeed, the rather than the standard 24.
spread of the disease Priced at £9.99 a month,
prompted such a worldwide desire for information that and two. Questions on making it currently includes more
Google’s report contains a top bread and cutting your own than 10 unlocked Apple and
10 just for related searches. hair were also in the top 10, as Android (mostly Samsung)
UK’S TOP 10 In the UK, these included people sought advice on phones. The site said it will
SEARCHES IN 2020 ‘coronavirus symptoms’, surviving lockdown. add more devices soon.
1 Coronavirus ‘coronavirus update’ and ‘Eat TV presenter Phillip For more details visit www.
2 US election Out to Help Out’. All three Schofield was the most musicmagpie.co.uk/store/
3 Caroline Flack terms also made the UK’s searched-for celebrity, with rental (pictured above).
4 Coronavirus symptoms overall search top 10 (see interest peaking in February
5 Coronavirus update table), alongside the US when he announced he was ADOBE TO BLOCK ALL
6 Premier League election, world leaders and gay. Love Island topped the TV FLASH CONTENT
7 Boris Johnson famous people who died. list, while the Oscar-winning Adobe released the final
8 Eat Out to The pandemic also featured World War 1 film 1917 was the update for its Flash plug-in
Help Out prominently in the top ‘How most searched-for film. on 8 December, and has
9 Kobe Bryant to’ searches of 2020, with Visit www.snipca. announced it will block
10 Kim Jong-un ‘How to wear a face mask?’ com/36953 for the full UK all Flash content from 12
(pictured) and ‘How to make hand results, and www.snipca. January. Writing online
sanitizer?’ at numbers one com/36952 for the global list. (www.snipca.com/36951), it
said it was proud of the role
Flash played in “evolving web
BT to keep landline-only prices cheap content” across the web.
Read Issue 594 (page 62) for
for five more years instructions on avoiding Flash
online and uninstalling it from

B T has proposed a further

five years of cheaper
broadband and/or
pay-TV services”.
your computer.

prices for customers who pay BT’s monopoly in the TOMORROW’S

for a landline only, without landline-only market WORLD
also receiving broadband or a allowed it to raise
TV service. prices, even though it Zoom is
In April 2018, it cut its had become cheaper to working
monthly line rental for provide the service. on ways to
landline-only customers by £7 The company has landline-only customers. make video
– from £18.99 a month to now offered to keep the price There are 1.2 million meetings
£11.99. It also capped any of £11.99 for five years after landline-only customers in feel more realistic. The
subsequent increases to line the original commitment ends the UK, making up around company’s boss, Eric Yuan,
rental and call charges to the in March 2021. This proposal five per cent of residents. said it’s experimenting with
CPI rate of inflation, which will need to be approved by Around three quarters of AI to replicate ‘physical’
was 0.9 per cent in October. regulator Ofcom, which will these are signed up to BT. experiences such as virtual
These measures followed run a consultation until 21 Ofcom says that these handshakes and the smell
Ofcom’s claim that January. “voice-only” customers “tend of coffee. May we also
landline-only customers had It seems highly likely Ofcom to be older, from lower suggest audible groans when
been “getting poor value for will accept BT’s proposal, socio-economic grades, not a PowerPoint presentation
money compared to those having said that it offers working, and more financially begins.
who buy bundles of landline, “sufficient protections” for vulnerable”.

1 – 12 January 2021 7
 News
IN BRIEF Use your eyes to ‘speak’
VIRGIN MEDIA TV 360
NOW AVAILABLE
phrases with new Google app
Virgin Media has started
providing its new TV 360 set-
top box to new customers
G oogle has launched
a phone app that
helps people with
movements of a user’s
eye, and that all data is
private and never leaves
and anyone already speech and movement the phone.
subscribing to the company’s impairment use their However, he also said
£89-a-month Ultimate eyes to communicate. that ‘Look to Speak’ isn’t
Oomph package, which Called ‘Look to a replacement for more
combines TV, broadband and Speak’, it tracks the advanced “heavy duty”
mobile. It lets you search and user’s eye movements to eye-tracking equipment.
play programmes with your let them select words Instead, it’s intended for
voice, while the Startover and phrases, which the “important short
feature lets you rewind live app then speaks aloud. messages”, and because
shows to the beginning. It The user is shown in it’s designed for phones
also has a Mini box that which direction to move it can go where bigger
streams video around your their eyes – so it’s left to equipment can’t, such as
home. Read more on Virgin’s say ‘hello’ and ‘thank “outdoors, in transit, in
site: www.snipca.com/36937. you’, and right to say the shower and in
‘yes’ and ‘no’ (see urgent situations”.
LISTEN TO BBC SOUNDS screenshot). Looking up In the blog you can
ON AMAZON FIRE ‘snoozes’ the app. Writing in Google’s blog watch a video of how artist
You can now listen to the Richard Cave, a leading (www.snipca.com/36939), he Sarah Ezekiel, who was
BBC Sounds app on Amazon speech and language therapist said his favourite feature in diagnosed with motor
Fire TV devices, including who worked on the app with the app is the ability for users neurone disease in 2000, uses
sticks and smart TVs. The Google, said eye-gaze software to personalise the words the app to communicate.
app, which provides access can “open up new possibilities spoken aloud, so they can You can download the app
to podcasts, music and – especially for people around ‘talk’ in the kind of phrases from the Google Play Store at
radio shows, was already the world who might now that feel familiar to them. www.snipca.com/36942. It’s
available on Now TV, Roku, have access to this technology He added that the settings available for phones running
Freesat, LG, Freeview Play for the very first time”. can be adjusted to match the Android 9.0 and later.
and Google TV. To find the
app, search for it through
the menu. Right-click for search results in Edge’s
THE WORLD’S
GONE MAD!
sidebar
2
Facebook disabled the
accounts of some members of
Y ou can now search for
more information about
words when browsing the
the Wimborne Militia (pictured) web in Edge by right-clicking
presumably because its and looking in the sidebar
3
1
name sounds like the kind of that appears. It means you
far-right militias on the rise don’t have to leave the web
in the US. But it’s actually a page you’re on to find
Dorset historical reenactment information.
group that attends events like The tool, which has been in
the Christmas lights being preview versions of Edge for with the search term at the On the next page, scroll down
switched on. Facebook has several months, is now top and a definition below 3 . the menu on the left and click
apologised and reinstated available for everyone to use. There are also links to videos About Microsoft Edge to
the accounts. To use it, highlight a word and images. automatically check for updates.
while browsing in Edge (we If you can’t see the feature Edge will update you to a
chose ‘odometry’ – 1 in our when you right-click, check new version if there’s one
screenshot, then right-click it your version of Edge is up to available. To use the sidebar
and select ‘Search Bing in date. Click the three horizontal search you need to be running
sidebar for…’ 2 ). You’ll see a dots at the top right of Edge, Edge 87.0.664.55, or a later
sidebar appear on the right, then Settings at the bottom. version.

8 1 – 12 January 2021
Windows updates to come IN BRIEF
earlier in ‘Experience Packs’ AVERAGE BROADBAND
SPEED RISES TO 72MBPS

M icrosoft is testing a new

system for adding tools
to Windows 10 outside
The UK’s average broadband
speed has risen from
64Mbps to 71.8Mbps, Ofcom
of its usual twice-yearly has said. It published the
Feature updates. result in the second of its
It has introduced Windows twice-yearly broadband
Feature Experience Packs, updates for 2020, calculating
which can be built into the the speeds by testing the
monthly updates for the routers in a few thousand
operating system. This means homes that represent the
you could get new tools every whole nation. The tests
month, rather than having to Experience Packs: Start menu, The other new tool is a took place in May 2020,
wait for the spring or autumn Snipping Tool (soon to be split-keyboard mode when but weren’t published until
Feature updates. replaced by ‘Snip & Sketch’), using a touchscreen keyboard December.
In a blog post (www.snipca. Windows Subsystem for Linux in portrait orientation.
com/36929), Microsoft’s (see page 49), Notepad and For now, Experience Packs CHROME SAFE ON
Brandon LeBlanc said the Paint. are available only to Windows WINDOWS 7 UNTIL 2022
packs will include updates LeBlanc announced the first Insiders, though if successful Google will keep Chrome
for features that are “now two tools to come as part of a they’ll probably be released to working on Windows 7
developed independently” Windows Feature Experience everyone later in 2021. Insiders computers until 2022 – more
of Windows 10. This means Pack. Using ‘Snip & Sketch’, can check which Experience than six months later than
they can be updated quicker you can now take a screenshot Pack they have installed by planned. In January 2020,
because the rest of the of your screen and paste it opening Settings (press Google said it would continue
operating system doesn’t need into a folder of your choice in Windows key+I), clicking supporting Windows 7 until
to be updated at the same time. File Explorer. You can open System, then scrolling to the at least July 2021, but has
The following features are the ‘Snip & Sketch’ pressing bottom and clicking About. extended that to 15 January
all updated separately from PrtScr on your keyboard, or The pack will be listed under 2022 to help companies,
Windows, and so could using the shortcut Windows ‘Windows specifications’ (see organisations and individuals
receive new tools as part of key+Shift+S. screenshot). cope with the disruption
caused by the coronavirus
pandemic.
Stream less TV to save WATCH NATIONAL
the Earth, scientists say THEATRE PLAYS ONLINE
The National Theatre has

S cientists have urged

viewers to stop streaming
TV in high definition (HD)
several changes users can
make to reduce emissions,
such as switching from ultra
launched a subscription
service broadcasting plays
online. Called ‘National
because it’s bad for the high-definition (UHD) to Theatre at Home’ (www.
environment. HD on a smartphone. You’ll snipca.com/36911, pictured),
In a report on tackling barely notice the difference in driving 200 metres in a car. it costs £9.98 a month or
climate change, the Royal quality, they claim. However, other experts £99.98 a year. You can also
Society estimated that The Royal Society also called for some perspective. pay between £5.99 and
streaming in HD generates suggests switching off the Corinne Le Quérré, professor £7.99 to watch single plays.
eight times more carbon video on sites like YouTube if of climate change science at It follows the success of
emissions than standard you’re only listening to the University of East Anglia, streaming 16 plays during
definition (SD). content in the background, told the BBC: “To be honest, the first lockdown, which
It claimed that globally rather than watching. digital tech is a small fraction attracted 15 million views.
digital technology contributes Not all scientists agree on of your emissions compared
around 1.4 to 5.9 per cent to how bad streaming is for the with, say, flying even once a
global emissions. planet, but earlier this year year – but every bit of CO2
The report’s authors want analysts at the International saving is significant”.
tech companies to set the Energy Agency estimated that Will you stream less to help the
default video to standard. watching a 30-minute Netflix environment? Let us know:
They also recommended show was equivalent to [email protected]

1 – 12 January 2021 9
 Questionof
Question ofthe Fortnight
theFortnight
Should Netflix and Amazon
broadcast news in the UK?
Streaming services might
g jjoin the BBC as public-service broadcasters

H
ow we watch TV has
changed emphatically THE FACTS
in the past 18 years.
Back in 2003, Netflix still • Regulator Ofcom has
posted DVDs to you in suggested that streaming
returnable envelopes, services such as Netflix
Amazon’s plans for world could become public-
domination had yet to include service broadcasters
making programmes, and alongside the BBC
YouTube was two years away • Only 67 per cent of
from being born. It was also all viewing is done on
the last time the broadcasting traditional channels, like
laws in the UK were updated. BBC and ITV
We now live in a different • The law governing
world. TV streaming, already broadcasting hasn’t been
hugely popular before the updated since 2003
pandemic, became a lifeline
for many people during
lockdown. Ofcom’s research report, which looked at how traditional channels (this rules, and build a stronger
shows that during April last public-service broadcasting number falls to 38 per cent of system of public-service
year the average time spent (PSB) could be strengthened people aged 16 to 34). One in media that can flourish in the
streaming TV doubled to and maintained “for the next four viewers of streaming digital age”.
71 minutes a day. It estimates decade and beyond”. Its most services say they can imagine Ofcom says that tax relief
that during the first lockdown controversial suggestion is to watching no broadcast TV at and access to public funds
12 million people signed up to invite other services such as all by 2025. This puts public- could be used to encourage
a new streaming service. Netflix and Amazon to service broadcasting at a streaming services to make
“critical juncture”. the switch. But some say the
However, viewers still value amounts are too small to
TV has witnessed a blizzard of PSB content because it provides attract Netflix and co. The
content “that they are unlikely financial chasm between the
change, with audiences turning to to find elsewhere”, such streaming services and their
online services with bigger budgets “original UK children’s,
education and religious
traditional cousins is vast. In
2020 Netflix’s programme
programming, made budget was £15 billion.
Ofcom has been grappling become public broadcasters, specifically for the UK”. Its Combined, the UK’s PSBs
with what all this means for which would mean they’d research found that in spent just around £3 billion.
the future of UK public-service have to follow the same rules particular viewers want to Netflix has 13 million
broadcasters BBC, ITV, Channel as the BBC, ITV and others on protect regional news. subscribers in the UK, but 200
4, STV, S4C and Channel 5. Its subjects such as providing But the regulator warned million worldwide.
conclusion is that they’re daily news (regional and that such content is at risk The regulator will now
unlikely to have a long-term national) and adhering to the unless a new funding model consult on its findings before
future unless broadcasting watershed. can be established. Dame reporting to the Government,
laws and regulations are Ofcom thinks such significant Melanie Dawes, head of which plans its own review of
“overhauled”. They also need changes are needed because Ofcom, said that “television public-service broadcasting
to introduce more digital “audiences are increasingly has witnessed a blizzard of later in the year. If it agrees
services to compete with the turning away from the change and innovation, with with Ofcom, it may not be
streaming giants of Netflix and traditional PSB channels”. It audiences turning to online long until Huw Edwards,
Amazon Prime Video. points out that in 2019 only 67 services with bigger budgets”. Cathy Newman or Tom
Ofcom’s findings come in its per cent of viewing among all She added: “So there’s an Bradby pop up on your
‘Small Screen: Big Debate’ adults was on one of the urgent need to reform the favourite streaming service.

10 1 – 12 January 2021
Protect your tech
Scams and threats to avoid, plus new security tools
WATCH OUT FOR...

Fake VPN extensions for Edge

What’s the threat?
Hackers are creating fake Edge
extensions for several of the world’s
most popular VPNs. In the past month 1
Microsoft has removed extensions that
claimed to be VPNs from NordVPN,
Windscribe, AdGuard and TunnelBear.
Once installed, these VPNs were 2
showing users suspicious adverts, and
redirecting their Google searches to a
dubious site called OKSearch.

How can you stay safe? Scammers chose VPNs for two reasons: bar. You’ll see this message in the blue
Fake extensions are nothing new, but one, because they’re some of the most banner at the top: “You can now add
until now they’ve been a bigger problem popular extensions, and two, because extensions from the Chrome Web Store to
on Google’s Chrome Web Store, which many of the leading VPN developers have Microsoft Edge – Click on ‘Add to
has been the world’s most popular yet to release official Edge extensions. Chrome’” ( 1 in our screenshot).
browser for over a decade. But where This created a gap for them to exploit. Now, in the top-left search bar, type the
users go, scammers always follow. So as However, because both browsers run name of the extension you’re looking for
Edge continues to gain ground on on the same source code, you can often (we chose NordVPN) and select one of the
Chrome after its relaunch last January, install the Chrome version of an results that appear. Next, click that
expect more malicious extensions to extension to run on Edge. To do this, extension in the centre of the page, then
appear on its store (https:// open Edge, then type https://chrome. ‘Add to Chrome’ 2 . Finally, click ‘Add
microsoftedge.microsoft.com). google.com/webstore into the browser extension’ in the box that appears.

New tools Gmail’s smart features

settings
ScamWatch
Readers warn readers

In the past few years Gmail has got Two Lloyds scams
‘smarter’ by guessing what you’re in 24 hours
about to type into an email (this is I’m a Lloyds customer and received
called ‘Smart Compose’), and two scam texts within 24 hours. One
suggesting a short response at the message said: “Lloyds Alert: A new
bottom that you can click to reply recipient has been made on your
(‘Smart Reply’). These tools can save account”. That didn’t make sense to
you time, but to work they need to me – how could a new recipient be
know what you’re typing, and what’s made on my account? It said I should
in the email you’ve been sent. “review your recent payees at
Nobody at Google actually reads your review-mytransaction.com”. I ignored
emails, so the privacy risk is slight. But and deleted the message, only to
you don’t have to be paranoid to worry disable the smart features (see receive another one a day later saying
about how much data you share with screenshot). You’ll also see another box I had “scheduled a payment of
Google every day. asking whether you want Gmail to £53.00” for a particular time and
The company now makes it easier to connect with Google Maps and Google date. It said if I didn’t recognise it I
turn off these ‘smart’ tools, as Assistant. Again, to disable this select should visit a site called http://
explained on its blog (www.snipca. the bottom option. lloydsreviewuk.com. I deleted that also.
com/36839). You’ll see a message Google says these messages will start Ian Morecambe
appear within Gmail, giving you two to appear soon, so keep an eye out for Warn your fellow readers about scams
options – choose the bottom one to them if they’ve not popped up already. at [email protected]

1 – 12 January 2021 11
 Letters
Tell us what’s on your mind

Why young folk watch less Apart from iPlayer and a News site, I Royal Mail should keep
BBC, but like it more can’t think of anything the BBC should Saturday post
As one of the “young” people be doing online, so how on earth does it You made all the right points in
mentioned in your article about get through so much money? Issue 595’s ‘Question of the
the BBC losing the youth audience (News, David Julian Fortnight’ (‘Will online shopping kill the
Issue 595, page 9), I’d like to explain why Saturday post?’), particularly when you
my generation watches fewer BBC shows, No regrets after giving up ask how people who never shop online
but maybe like the BBC more than the Google will feel.
older generation. I’d like to second the views of I fall into that category. Unlike many of
I’ve just turned 20, so I’ve never Chris O’Connor and Barry Grigg my neighbours, I like to support my local
known a time without the internet, nor in Issue 595 when they call for more high street. I don’t expect any medals for
without a seemingly endless supply of alternatives to Google’s services. I fully doing that, and I realise online shopping
content. The idea of turning on the BBC to realise that it may be impossible to will only ever get more popular, but I do
see what it may be showing at that abandon Google entirely, because its resent losing a service like the Saturday
specific time is alien to me. Instead, I find tentacles have squirmed so deeply into post that I’ve known for all my 78 years.
out about shows that I’m likely to enjoy our daily lives. But the only Google- I appreciate that the Royal Mail now
(through word of mouth mostly), and owned service I use now is YouTube. makes more money through parcels than
then watch those shows on demand on In the past few years I’ve switched from letters, but it shouldn’t be all about profit.
the iPlayer. Gmail, Google Maps and its search It should go back to being a community-
engine to more private alternatives. driven service with posties who look out
I’ve not regretted it once. for their neighbourhood. The prospect of
So Computeractive, find me a decent Royal Mail just become another courier
replacement for YouTube and my life service with vans whizzing everywhere is
will be free completely of Google. very disheartening.
Tony Warner Judith Cairns

CA SAYS Tony was just one of many Ditch PCs? No! We need to
readers who emailed to support Chris re-use them
and Barry’s call for more advice on I enjoy reading Computeractive,
avoiding Google, so we’re happy to but you are mainly concerned with
I read recently that the iPlayer had its oblige. We’ll reveal the best alternatives promoting the latest technology and not
most popular year ever in 2020. Its in our next issue – out Wednesday 13 at all with what happens to it when we
most-watched show was Normal People January – including a YouTube throw it away. Your illustration on the
(pictured above). Also in the top 10 were substitute. cover of Issue 594 (‘Ditch Your PC in
Killing Eve, The Nest, Life, I May Destroy
You and This Country. I’ve watched all
those on the iPlayer, but I can’t recall any
other programmes I saw on the BBC this
2020 was a year of ‘update
year. This is probably why I love the BBC’s meltdowns’ and ‘chatastrophes’
content more than, say, my Dad does,
even though he watches more of it After reading ‘chatastrophes’ when

‘Can you
because he has it on in the background that ‘mute’ and countless Zoom and
all the time. ‘unmute’ are among Skype calls have cut out

hear me?ʻ
Incidentally, the only programmes the words of the year just in the middle of a
in the top 10 he had heard of were (News, Issue 595, page crucial sentence. I
Masterchef and Silent Witness. That 8), can I suggest some probably said ‘Can you
explains the generational split: I watch of my own, based on hear me?’ more times
less, enjoy more; he watches more, the kind of year I’ve had? during April and May
enjoys less. First, there’s ‘update than in the whole of my 69 years up to
Josh Stapleton meltdown’, which I suffer that point.
every time Microsoft tries to install a Finally, at the height of lockdown, I
Forget about young people new version of Windows on my invented the game of ‘courier spotting’
abandoning the BBC. The most machine. This leads to ‘mouse rage’, as with my wife, as we counted how
important part of your article was the I furiously click the same download many vans dropped off items to people
bit about the corporation spending links over and over, despite knowing it in our street. The record was 13 on one
£238m in the past year providing online makes no difference. April day. Yes, we were that bored!
content, a rise in two years of £48m – I’ve also endured plenty of Neil Roebuck
or 25 per cent. I find that staggering.

12 1 – 12 January 2021
 Email: [email protected]
Facebook: www.facebook.com/computeractive
Twitter: @ComputerActive
www.twitter.com/computeractive

2021’) of a wheelie bin bulging with

electronic items suggests you haven’t STAR LETTER
thought about this.

I’m PC-savvy, but I still fell for

Thanks to years of planned
obsolescence, we are globally drowning
in mountains of electronic waste, some
25 million tonnes of it being TVs, scammer’s trap
computers and phones. Surely we have a Scammers seem to be getting
duty to try and stop contributing to this clever. Or am I falling further
shocking problem? Wasting the Earth’s behind? Having warned others, I fell
resources contributes to the huge into a scammer’s trap. My experience
problems relating to climate change, so may help others.
we must think more responsibly about I was concentrating on a new task
when to replace computers and how. when I received a phone call from
Christine Wilson someone who insisted that a fault in
my Windows software was allowing everything right by supplying a new
CA SAYS Christine’s illegal activity by others. At first I “registration key” for a £9 “service
right that Britain thought that it was like all the other charge”.
throws away too much scams, but a very persuasive argument The interruptions to the phone call
electronic waste every led me to follow a few instructions to became ever more frequent as he tried
year, and some see a Notepad entry that suggested he to keep my attention while I sought
scientists now think was Mr Peter Robertson of Microsoft guarantees that he would return
that streaming in HD and a further screen showed me a control of my PC to me. He promised
is a serious problem schedule of 6,632 ‘events’ when my that it would be done if I did nothing
also (see page 9). But Windows registration had been used. for 30 minutes, but instead I switched
we’d like to think The next shocking screen came after he everything off.
Computeractive does told me to right-double-click any line The outcome is a PC that I can’t
its bit to encourage people to reuse their on the schedule which led into a rather access, though I’ve not lost any money.
unwanted kit. Issue 576’s Cover Feature vulgar porn site. I thought I was computer-savvy after
(pictured), published in March last year, My common sense should have told using them for 45 years, but I realise
explained how you could turn your old me that none of this was logical, but that the scammer was feeding me
computer into a range of devices, my attention was diverted by his screens from his own PC to shock
including a NAS drive, a home security instructions. He then held my me and hold my attention
camera and a TV-streaming server. If you concentration by breaking the phone until he had complete
missed that issue, you’ll be able to read it connection and messaging to ask if my control of my computer.
on our 2020 Back Issue CD, which will be phone was OK. He promised to put Robert Vickery
on sale soon.
Likewise, in 2019 we had features on
re-using old USB sticks (Issue 550);
The Star Letter writer wins a Computeractive mug
g!
routers, printers and laptops (Issue 554);
and phones and tablets (Issue 560). You take the 4G option, but through Three, take a SIM card). 4G for the right price
can read all three features on our 2019 not BT. The benefit was cost and speed. could be the solution for many of us
Back Issue CD (available to buy on Three were doing an unlimited package living in rural areas (and poorly
Amazon at www.snipca.com/33711). of broadband, voice and text calls. At this connected towns).
We’ll continue to offer advice on finding point my only interest was broadband Bob Abercrombie
new uses for old tech. Please let us know and Three were doing a two-year deal for
which devices you’d like us to cover. £20 per month with the first six months Never buy mains-powered
half price. Previously I’d been paying £27 goods on the web
Use Three’s 4G, not BT, for per month for landline and broadband. The article about laptop batteries
faster speeds I have since got rid of our landline and exploding (News, Issue 594, page
I read with interest the Star Letter taken the same SIM-only contract for 8) should be a warning never to buy
from Graham Dodd in Issue 594 both my phone and my wife’s. This now mains-powered items on the web. I buy
(‘BT should provide 4G for the same price gives me broadband almost anywhere only from high-street stores because it
as fibre’). Having been in a similar (or and is working out slightly cheaper than gives me an immediate legal comeback.
even worse) situation to Graham a year what I was paying for landline, It’s better than buying online from a firm
ago, I feel compelled to write to offer an broadband and two mobile SIM contracts. that may well be outside the UK. The item
alternative solution to Graham. The only additional cost I’ve incurred may cost more, but at least I have peace of
I live in a rural area of Fife and was getting was the purchase of a more powerful mind. As a retired electronics engineer
around 1.5Mbps download through a router for the home that had sufficient working on aircraft, my motto is safety
copper wire with our house being at the capacity to accommodate additional tech first, last and always.
very end of the line. My solution was to found in homes today (and the ability to John C Kent

Views expressed don’t necessarily reflect those of Computeractive 1 – 12 January 2021 13

 Consumeractive
We stand up for your legal rights

Who’s responsible for LEAD Is this Facebook

CASE ad a scam?
a missold USB stick? I placed an order for an electric

In July I bought a GoGroopie

Q cleaning brush from Ultradil, a
company advertising on
Q (www.gogroopie.com) voucher
for a 1TB USB drive from
Facebook. I paid £29 for it by credit card
on 5 October, but despite contacting the
Impress Gadgets (www.impressgadgets. company it appears to have vanished
co.uk, based in Dewsbury). The voucher from Facebook. Can you confirm if this is
cost £14.99 and postage from Impress a scam?
Gadgets was £3.99. When the drive Bill Martin
arrived the actual capacity was only
32GB. I’ve contacted both GoGroopie and We’re not sure. The Facebook
Impress Gadgets, but am being ignored.
Can you help?
A pages displaying the advert are
no longer active, so we can’t see
Arthur Gray allowed under the Consumer Contract it. However, when Bill contacted us,
Regulations (CCR). Ultradil still had a further 16 days in
We’ve also contacted both Once you’ve redeemed the voucher, the which to make delivery. As we mention in
A companies to find out what’s
happened. It may be that Arthur
contract and legal responsibility shifts to
the seller of the goods or services you’re
the PhotoBox case opposite, delivery isn’t
considered late until 30 days have passed.
was simply sent the wrong stick, in buying from (Impress Gadgets in Arthur’s Bill isn’t covered by Section 75 of the
which case it should be easy to resolve. case). After you’ve received the goods, Consumer Credit Act because the
However, it would become more another 14-day cooling-off period purchase was under £100, but he should
complicated if the stick was faulty, or has applies, during which you can reject still contact his bank because it can check
been wrongly described. Whatever the the purchase and ask for a refund. whether the company is genuine.
truth, he’s entitled to a swift refund. Now that Arthur has received the If you suspect a Facebook advert is a
Initially, Arthur’s contract was with USB stick, he should deal with Impress scam, click the three dots in the top-right
GoGroopie because he paid it directly for Gadgets. However, he shouldn’t reject it corner of the ad and select ‘Report ad’,
a voucher to redeem goods or services. If under the CCR. Instead, he should cite followed by ‘Misleading or scam ad’, then
a voucher is refused or can’t be used for the Consumer Rights Act, which covers ‘Send a detailed scam report’.
some reason, then the company selling it goods that are “not as described”. You can also report dodgy adverts to
must give you a full refund. Hopefully, Impress Gadgets will realise its Action Fraud (www.actionfraud.police.
As with other goods bought online, you mistake and send Arthur a 1TB stick or uk) and Citizens Advice (www.snipca.
have 14 days to reject a voucher, as refund him in full. com/36688).
CASE ONGOING CASE CLOSED

CASE UPDATE

Microsoft refunds reader after three months of misery

When will companies realise to do this. Starting 30 days after purchase, to demand proof of purchase. Mike supplied
that after a failed repair or companies can offer one repair or one this, but Microsoft still wasn’t satisfied, and
replacement they must offer replacement only, though not one of each. refused to refund him.
a full refund? This has been But when Michael found that the We were astounded that Microsoft’s
law since October 2015, but five years later replacement was also faulty, Microsoft customer service team was putting Mike
firms are still putting customers through should’ve refund dedd him.
hi Instead
him I d through this, so we rang them and
unnecessary despair. it fobbed him offff with another pointed out how badly they were
Microsoft is the latest guilty company. As replacement, whwhich had a ttreating him. They agreed and finally
we reported in Issue 594, it replaced reader German keyboa ard (not what he re
efunded him, putting an end to three
Michael O’Donnell’s £1,500 Surface Pro wanted). He ask k for
ked months of misery. A company with
m
laptop after the screen cracked within three a refund, only Microsoft’s vast resources should’ve
days of purchase. Microsoft was allowed for Microsoft known better.

14 1 – 12 January 2021
 Contact us so we can investigate your case
Email: [email protected]
Please include your name, phone number and address.

My golden wedding photobook

was late – what are my rights?
I used PhotoBox (www. Sellers normally have 30 days to
Q photobox.co.uk) to create for my
parents a photobook to celebrate
A deliver goods, but if you’ve paid
for faster delivery then they must
their golden wedding anniversary. I paid honour this. When the book didn’t arrive
an extra £5.99 for one-day express in time, Darren could’ve cancelled the
delivery, on top of £4.99 for the normal order and demanded a full refund. postage. While Darren was upset the book
postage cost, totalling £11.98. However, he knew his parents would didn’t arrive in time, he was impressed
However, the book actually took six treasure the photobook, and so wanted to by PhotoBox’s customer service. It replied
days to arrive, missing my parents’ party, keep it. This meant he was only entitled to to his email within 20 minutes and agreed
much to my annoyance. a refund of the £5.99 express-delivery to a refund. He could’ve also claimed for
What rights do I have? cost, but PhotoBox actually refunded him loss of enjoyment of the goods, though
Darren Braithwaite this amount plus the £4.99 for standard this is hard to prove.
CASE CLOSED

Is Kaspersky to his previous security

software hadn’t been fully y
blame for dongle uninstalled, and that it
was nothing to do with lo
ong you’ve owned the content
not working? Kaspersky. But we’re
including his case
and d what the actual problem is.
David apologised for wasting our
Ever since I downloaded because it allows us to t e, but he
time, h needn’t have worried. We
Q Kaspersky’s security software,
I’ve been unable to get online
remind readers that you do have
rights if software you buy doesn’t work.
want to reassure him and other readers
that we’re happy to investigate any case,
using my Three Wi-Fi dongle. It seems Under the Consumer Rights Act any even if it turns out that you made a
this software is incompatible with my software you download must be of mistake or the law isn’t on your side.
dongle. Can I get a refund? “satisfactory quality”, “fit for purpose” You’ll only find this out by asking, after
David Sherwood and “as described”. This third stipulation all. There’s no such thing as a stupid
means you can get a refund if the question when the law is concerned. Big
Since first emailing us, David got software was wrongly described as being business and expensive lawyers bank on
A back in touch to say that he
discovered the problem was that
compatible with a device. How much
money you can get back depends on how
your ignorance, so we’re here to stand up
for your rights.
CASE CLOSED

CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE

Stone me – revamped laptops are great

In response to your feature They have webcams, fingerprint readers
on refurbished laptops (Issue and all the bells and whistles of new laptops
589, page 62), I’d like to at a cost of under £300 for both.
Has a company impressed you with its
recommend Stone Refurb They were delivered by courier within 48 customer service? Please let us know:
(www.stonerefurb.co.uk), which is based hours and were in protective boxes with a [email protected]
in Stafford. Soon after the start of the first quick set-up leaflet.
lockdown I was in need of some cheap I can understand that some people want Contact
laptops for myself and my son, who’s to place their trust in brand-new tech, but
studying at sixth-form college. Stone Refurb for some that’s not an option due to cost.
Stone Refurb
came up trumps with two reconditioned Companies like Stone Refurb fill the void and • Email [email protected]
laptops, both with Windows 10 Home and give a very good service. • Phone 01785 786 783
six-month warranties. Dion Singleton

1 – 12 January 2021 15
 Grow Your
FamilyTree
Want to know why your relatives were sent to prison?
Nick Peers explains how to…
Discover crimes your ancestors committed
R
eader Justin Eastham asked if we to 1935, and can be accessed through
could help track down information Find My Past (www.snipca.com/36732).
about his great-great-grandfather More recent records are locked away.
Hansell Pilcher, who he discovered was Unfortunately, when we searched this
serving time at Pentonville Prison during record set, we drew a complete blank
the 1911 census. Justin wanted to know – not just for Hansell but for many of his
how he could find out what crime fellow inmates too.
Hansell committed. We examined the CRIM9 record sets
more closely and discovered that two We found Hansell Pilcher in the 1911 census, but
it doesn’t record the crimes of prison inmates
Search criminal records years – 1908 and 1910 – haven’t been
between 1791 and 1935 digitised. This suggests Hansell was at the London Metropolitan Archives
There are two main online resources for convicted in one of those two years, but (https://search.lma.gov.uk).
finding criminal ancestors. The earliest, to confirm Justin will need to visit the
covering 1791 to 1892, is the Criminal National Archives’ reading rooms in Kew Check censuses and
Registers for England and Wales, when coronavirus restrictions have been electoral registers
comprising record sets HO26 and HO27 lifted. Justin should request access to the In the absence of any further avenues to
from The National Archives. You can CRIM 9/54 (1908) and CRIM 9/56 (1910) explore, we decided to fill in some of the
access it through Ancestry (www.snipca. record sets. other gaps in Hansell’s life. Justin had
com/36731). We also tried several other online already found out that he was born on
The other set – CRIM9, or the Home resources offering free access to criminal the Isle of Wight in 1843 and married in
Office Calendar of Prisoners – covers 1892 records for London-based ancestors, 1867, then shortly after moved to London
starting with Digital Panopticon (www. to work as a Customs House Officer. He
digitalpanopticon.org/Records). We tried still held this post in the 1901 Census, by
searching via its Search Builder (www. which time his wife had died.
digitalpanopticon.org/search, see In the 1902 electoral register his rented
screenshot left) but while many Pilchers dwelling is described as “three rooms, top
appeared in the results, there was again floor, unfurnished”. One year on, however,
no sign of Hansell. and he’d vanished from the electoral roll.
We were also unable to find a trace of He doesn’t appear again until the 1911
him among the Old Bailey’s records census (see screenshot above) after which
There were several Pilchers in the Digital (www.oldbaileyonline.org), in local we tracked down his death in 1915 in
Panopticon, but none named Hansell newspapers (see Issue 594 for a guide), or West Ham. Had he finished his sentence,
or did he die in hospital? Ordering his

YourGenealogy ProblemsSolved
death certificate from the GRO (https://
gro.gov.uk) should help.
Justin could also use Hansell’s career as
Can you tell me if it’s possible to view then use the Chart Options panel on the a starting point: we discovered the
more than six generations when viewing right to tweak its look and feel. From here Society of Genealogist’s online database
my tree in Family Tree Maker (FTM) 2019? you can double-click a person on the promising detailed employment histories
John Skippings chart to view and edit their information. for customs and excise staff from 1833 to
For more help and advice, visit www. 1911 (www.snipca.com/36733). We found
Unfortunately, no – you’re limited to six snipca.com/36734 to download the free ‘Pilcher’ twice in the results, but to access
generations when using the top-down FTM 4019 Companion Guide as a PDF. them you need to pay £56 a year. Similar
Family View option, but there is a records may be available at The National
Have a genealogy question for Nick?
workaround: generate an Extended Email [email protected] with Archives (www.snipca.com/36735), in
Family Chart from the Publish section, ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line. which case Justin could kill two birds
with one stone when he visits.

16 1 – 14 January 4041 Next issue: Download regiments’ unit diaries

Q34E2A

High resolution
Available at

and bold colours

with a wider view
& greater productivity

21: 9
IPS WIDE VIEW ULTRAWIDE

eu.aoc.com
 Best Free Software
Will Stapley recommends new programs that won’t cost you anything

SYSTEM TOOL

WizFile 3
www.snipca.com/36847
What you need: Windows 7, 8.1 or 10

If you want something faster and more accurate than now support text-based filters. Search
Windows’ search tool, try WizFile (from the developers of the for *.jpg >1m <5m, for example, and
excellent WizTree tool, www.snipca.com/36848). Instead of WizFile will find all JPEG images between
indexing files, as Windows’ tool does, it uses what’s called 1MB and 5MB. You can also now use an exclamation
the Master File Table (MFT) - a hidden database on your hard mark to indicate files you’re not interested in, so
drive that contains details of all files, including their names, computer !*.pdf would find all files containing the word
sizes and more. While this means it can’t search inside files computer, but omit PDFs.
(such as for specific words in a document), it does mean Other new features include integration with File Explorer
searches are near instantaneous, with WizFile updating the (right-click a file or folder, select WizFile and the tool will
results as you type. open at that location) and a new dark mode. The latter
If you’ve used Everything (www.snipca.com/36845), you’ll is activated when you set Windows to dark mode (press
instantly see the similarities. However, while Everything Windows key+I, then go to Settings, Personalisation,
keeps things fairly basic, WizFile offers a few more options. followed by Colours to turn this on).
Using the buttons just above the search box, you can choose Additionally, when you minimise WizFile, it now moves to
to search only file names or folder names, and this version your system tray by default. You can re-open it by double-
adds two new filters, letting you sort the results by size and clicking the system-tray icon or pressing Ctrl+Windows
date. It’s frustrating that WizFile doesn’t let you add your key+W (sadly there’s no way to customise this slightly
own criteria to these dropdown menus, but it does at least awkward shortcut).

4 1

1 If you only want to search 2 Use these dropdown menus 3 Your search results appear 4 Open the Options menu
file names, select ‘Match to filter your searches by file here as you type. You can to change settings such
filename only’. To also type (audio, video, image and open or run a file by double- as the type of information
search folder names, select so on), file size and when they clicking it. To open the file’s displayed in your results
‘Match entire path’. were created. folder in File Explorer, right- pane and whether WizFile
click it and select Explore should minimise to the
Folder. system tray.

18 1 – 12 January 2021
SYSTEM TOOL
WHAT SHOULD
PowerToys 0.27 I DOWNLOAD?
www.snipca.com/36870
We tell you what software & apps to use
What you need: Windows 10 (64bit)

Microsoft’s What can I use to disable

open-source
PowerToys suite of
my scroll-wheel button?
tools continues to I frequently press the scroll wheel by accident
improve – to
download the latest
Q when using my Logitech mouse, activating the
automatic scroll feature and shooting me from one
version, go to the end of the document to the other. Is there a tool that can
link above, scroll disable this button?
down and click Jack Lawes
‘PowerToysSetup-
0.27.0-x64.exe’. This latest release enhances the FancyZones You don’t say which Logitech mouse you have, but
tool, which lets you organise your desktop by dragging
windows into preset zones. FancyZones now supports
A if it’s relatively recent (bought within the last
couple of years) it should be compatible with
multiple monitors, letting you create different zones on each. Logitech’s Options tool, which lets you adjust how the
To use it, open PowerToys, select FancyZones, then ‘Launch buttons work. To download it, go to www.snipca.
layout editor’. You’ll then see all your monitors at the top of com/36890 (you’ll find the full compatibility list at the
the layout screen (see screenshot). Select the one you want, bottom of the web page). Once installed, run the program
then create your zones as normal. For more on how to use and select your mouse
FancyZones and all other PowerToys tools, see our Cover from the main menu. You’ll
Feature in Issue 591 (p50). now see a picture of your
mouse. Click the circle on
AUDIO TOOL the scroll wheel, then scroll
down the list of options
and select None (see
Mp3tag 3.04 screenshot right). Your
www.snipca.com/36877 middle mouse button will
What you need: Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 now be disabled. If ever you
want to restore the button to its original function, click the
Like photos, MP3 files Restore Defaults button.
include lots of If your mouse isn’t supported by Logitech Options (and
metadata – album and for anyone who has a mouse from a different manufacturer),
artist name, genre, there is another option: X-Mouse Button Control (www.
cover art and so on. snipca.com/36886 – click the ‘Latest version’ link). Although
Mp3tag (click the not as well designed as the Logitech tool, X-Mouse Button
‘Mp3tagv304asetup. Control works with all mice. Run the program, then
exe’ link to download right-click its icon (a white mouse) in the system tray and
it) lets you view and select Setup. Locate the Middle Button option (this will
change this metadata flash if you press your mouse’s scroll button), click the
in bulk, allowing you to better organise your collection. dropdown box and select Disable. Alternatively, you may
Version 3.04 adds support for MusicBrainz, a huge library of prefer to simply put a delay on this button, meaning it will
free metadata. To use it, select the MP3s you want to find work only if you hold it down for a set amount of time. To
metadata for, open the Tag Sources menu, then select do this, select Button Held from the dropdown box, then
MusicBrainz (see screenshot above). The metadata on the choose how long the button should be held for and what
selected tracks will now update accordingly. action it will result in (you can set up to three actions to run
This version also improves performance. When we tested it depending on how long you hold the button down for). To
by changing the date tag on a folder of just over 1,000 MP3s, save your changes, click Apply, then Close.
it took 42 seconds, 14 seconds faster than in the previous
Do you need our advice on what software to use? Just email us at
version. If you’ve got a large library containing many [email protected]
thousands of MP3s, this could make a big difference.

1 – 12 January 2021 19
 Best Free Software
YWZZQQSF

HOW I USE...

Shotcut and Audacity

Will Stapley reveals why sometimes two tools are better than one
when he’s editing videos
All-in-one home appliances are When exporting
enticing, but they rarely work as well audio from
Shotcut, use a
as a dedicated device. Take my washer/ lossless format
dryer. It does a great job of cleaning such as WAV
clothes, but it’s absolutely hopeless at
drying them (and when it broke down
earlier this year, the engineer pointed
his finger squarely at the drying
element).
It’s often the same with software.
I love using Shotcut (www.snipca.
com/36840) for quick video-editing
tasks, but its audio-tweaking
capabilities pale in comparison with
those of specialised tools such as
Audacity (www.snipca.com/36841).
So after discovering my recording
of one of my kid’s old school Nativity
plays was blighted by the noise of a
nearby air-conditioning unit trying to screenshot above). The WAV format selected a small section of the audio
take centre stage, I used Shotcut and produces files far larger than the more where only the fan was audible. I then
Audacity to fix it. popular MP3, but it’s also lossless, opened the Effects menu, selected
First, I imported the video into Shotcut meaning my audio won’t lose quality ‘Noise Reduction…’ and clicked Get
by dragging it from File Explorer on to during the editing process. Noise Profile - this lets Audacity work
the Shotcut timeline. I then right-clicked Now it was time to use Audacity. I out what noise needs removing.
the video on the timeline and selected dragged my exported audio file into Next, I selected the entire track (by
Detach Audio – this separates the Audacity and – using my mouse – pressing Ctrl+A), then ran the Noise
audio from the video and places it in a Reduction effect again, this time
new audio track. Because that pesky air adjusting the three sliders and clicking
conditioner had run through the entire Preview (see screenshot left) until I got
performance, I needed to edit the the best result. Removing background
whole audio track. If I only need to edit noise always adversely affects the rest
a specific section I navigate to that of the audio to some extent, so it’s a
section on the timeline, right-click and case of achieving the right balance.
select Split At Playhead. Once I was happy with the result, I
To save the audio as a separate saved the file in Audacity by clicking
file, I pressed Ctrl+E to open the File, Export, then ‘Export as WAV’. I
Export pane, scrolled down to the Audacity lets you try different noise-reduction then returned to Shotcut and deleted
Audio section and selected WAV (see settings, then quickly preview their effect the original audio track by right-
clicking it then selecting Remove.
WHAT I’D LIKE TO SEE IN SHOTCUT All that remained was to insert my
new and improved audio by dragging
Separating audio tracks in Shotcut and handles the export process for me. Both it from File Explorer into the (now
exporting them to Audacity isn’t difficult, Shotcut and Audacity are open source, so empty) audio track.
but it would still be useful if Shotcut had a feature that links the two isn’t beyond the So while the pandemic might have
a simple ‘Edit audio in Audacity’ tool that realms of possibility. put this year’s Nativity plays on hold, I
can now enjoy one from years gone by.

20 1 – 12 January 2021 Next issue: How I use... Bitwarden

Named & Shamed
Jonathan Parkyn puts the boot into tech villains, jargon-
spouting companies and software stuffed with junk

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD

Junk offender: 1 2
MyCleanPC

N
ew Year is often the
time for a fresh start. But if you’re
thinking of treating your PC to a
tidy-up in 2021, then let me give you
a word of warning – don’t let MyCleanPC
(www.mycleanpc.com) anywhere near it.
It’s easy enough to stumble upon.
It appears on the first page of Google’s
results when you search for ‘clean
my pc’. The entry is not a ‘sponsored’
link or an advert, which could give you You’ll have to pay to see the results of these …though you shouldn’t bother unless you also
the impression that it’s more genuine scans… want to remove these four PUPs from your PC
than others.
Click through to the site and you’ll its Quick Clean scans unless you pay pop-up offers and alerts. Running
be offered a free tool to “diagnose and $20 (£15) – see screenshot 1 . Even the Malwarebytes AdwCleaner reveals that
clean up” your computer “in minutes”. single scan you’re allowed to carry out MyCleanPC placed four PUPs on my
The tool’s homepage is plastered with demands payment in order to clean the system. Looking more closely, all four
reassuring customer ratings, along with “issues” it finds. PUPs relate to components of MyCleanPC
a stream of unerringly positive user MyCleanPC also sets itself to launch at itself (see screenshot 2 ).
testimonials. startup without your consent and runs Many of the programs I name and
However, when you install permanently in the background – shame try to install junk on your
MyCleanPC’s ‘free’ tool, you’ll quickly basically dragging your PC’s performance computer. But in the case of MyCleanPC,
find yourself locked out of all but one of down further and spamming you with the program is the junk.

WHATARE THEY JONATHAN’S VILLAIN OF THE FORTNIGHT

TALKING ABOUT?
Ashley Crispin
In the wake of the pandemic, changing
many companies are passwords and generally
WHAT THEY SAY struggling to keep their staff, causing chaos for the
Dave Morris & Josh Tumath, BBC Online let alone increase their firm’s 60 staff.
www.snipca.com/36756 employees’ pay. But try At one point, he
“We’ve been building things in isolation telling that to IT worker even hacked into his
for years at the BBC, it’s sometimes hard Ashley Crispin. The ex-manager’s webcam.
for teams to think outside of their silo 23-year-old from Basildon in Essex The disgruntled Crispin then deleted
and horizontally about what the business was so convinced he deserved a raise network logs to try to cover his
needs in a component library. The that he quit his job at a high-profile traces, but it seems he may have
design system, and the Presentation banking firm when his boss refused overvalued his IT skills after all
Layer Team are now influencing teams his request for more money. because the police were able to track
to think more horizontal.” He then took further revenge on his him down and arrest him. His
ex-employer by carrying out a performance has since been
WHAT THEY MEAN campaign of disruption – hacking rewarded with a suspended eight-
BBC staff should be lying down on into the company’s computer month prison sentence, a three-
the job. network, nobbling vital systems, month curfew and an £800 fine.

1 – 12 January 2021 21
 Reviews New products tested by our experts

LAPTOP ❘ From £549 from Microsoft www.snipca.com/36834

MicrosoftSurface Laptop Go
Surface tension

We’re used to the sleekest, slimmest

laptops costing more money than less
showy models, but Microsoft has pulled
off a clever trick with the Surface Laptop
Go. It’s taken the smart, wedge-shaped
design of the Surface Laptop 3 (see our
review, Issue 570), which starts at around
£999, and replaced the aluminium case
with a tough plastic alternative. There are
three configurations of this Surface Laptop
Go to choose from, starting at £549.

A decent laptop, but

everything online, but it’s not ideal as an The battery life is decent, lasting
the cheapest model everyday laptop. The 8GB versions, almost 7 hours 30 minutes in our
however, perform far better and we tested video-playback test. Larger laptops with
will struggle with more the 256GB version for this review. bigger batteries will inevitably last longer,
In our tests it performed better than and both the Surface Laptop 3 and
demanding tasks similarly slim laptops. It was faster than MacBook Air can squeeze out another
Microsoft’s Surface Go 2 tablet and the hour of charge. However, there should be
All three models use the same Surface Laptop 3, even out-pacing the enough power in here to keep you going
quad-core Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor. Apple MacBook Air (see Issue 587). between charges.
The £549 model backs it up with 4GB of However, if you don’t mind switching The keyboards and trackpads of smaller
RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage. Opt for brands for a chunkier model, the Honor laptops can sometimes feel cramped but
the more expensive options and the MagicBook 14 (see Issue 580) is much this model is fine in this area, with the
memory is increased to a more usable better at running Windows and only screen’s added height leaving room for a
8GB. The £699 model comes with a faster costs £549. larger trackpad and decent-sized keys.
128GB SSD, while the £899 version The 12.4in screen is bigger than it It also has a sensible selection of
bumps that up to a 256GB SSD. sounds thanks to its aspect ratio. It has a ports, with standard USB, USB-C and a
Unfortunately, this configuration pares squarer 3:2 shape, instead of the more 3.5mm headphone jack on the left.
the cheapest model back a bit too far, common widescreen ratio of 16:9. If A separate charging port with an
with the bare minimum of memory you you’re going to watch films on it, you’ll be easy-to-use magnetic connection is
need to run Windows 10 and hardly left with black letterboxing at the top and located on the right.
enough room left on the drive to install bottom of the screen but the added
anything other than Windows. It could height is great for vertically oriented
still work as a Windows version of a programs, such as browsing web pages or VERDICT A compact laptop with a
Chromebook, if you were planning to run writing documents. It’s a decent quality decent screen, but the £549 model
mostly web-based apps and save screen, too, with our tests measuring its is crying out for more memory and
coverage of sRGB at 91.6 per cent. Its storage
speakers are a touch on the tinny side but
it can produce a surprisingly meaty
★★★★★
volume. ALTERNATIVE Honor MagicBook 14
£549 Better
SPECIFICATIONS at running
Quad-core Intel Core i5 1035G1 processor • 4GB Windows
or 8GB memory • 64GB eMMC, 128GB SSD or but the
256GB SSD • USB-C port • USB-A port • 3.5mm
headphone jack • 802.11ax Wi-Fi • Windows 10 S •
screen isn’t
15.7x278x206mm (HxWxD) • One-year warranty as good
www.snipca.com/36834

22 1 – 12 January 2021
 HOW WE TEST
Computeractive is owned by Dennis
LAPTOP ❘ £1,299 from Apple www.snipca.com/36844 Publishing, which employs a team of
specialist technical reviewers. You’ll

Apple MacBook Pro 13 (2020) often read references to our benchmark

testing, which is a method of assessing
products using the same criteria. For
Taking the M1 fast lane example, we test the speed of every
PC and the battery life of every phone
and tablet in exactly the same way. This
makes our reviews authoritative,
Apple stopped building its own rigorous and accurate.
processors into its computers back Dennis Publishing also owns
in 2006, with that year’s MacBook the magazines PC Pro and the websites
Pro 15 being the first Apple Expert Reviews (www. expertreviews.
machine to be powered by an Intel co.uk) and IT Pro (www.itpro.com). This
processor. Since then it’s been Intel all means we can test thousands of
the way, with Apple developing chips products before choosing the most
only for its iPhone and iPad ranges. relevant for Computeractive.
However, this is all changing and the
final Intel-powered laptop is the MacBook as a virtual machine. You can’t do that FAIR AND IMPARTIAL
Air (2020) (see our review, Issue 587, anymore. Apple has rewritten its macOS Our writers follow strict guidelines to
www.snipca.com/35660). Starting with operating system to make the most of its ensure the reviews are fair and impartial.
this new 13in MacBook Pro and – rather new processor, as well its own apps, such The manufacturer has no involvement in
confusingly – yet another new MacBook as its free office suite, music software our tests.
Air, Apple’s computers will come with GarageBand and video editor iMovie,
the company’s new processor, the M1. which all work incredibly well. OUR AWARDS
It sounds like a small detail but, as you We found it compatible with most We award every product
find out when you start using this other macOS software we tested but that gets five stars our
stunning new laptop, it’s a giant leap there are no guarantees that your Buy It! stamp of approval.
forward in capability. favourite programs will work, so it’s best It means we were
to check before you take the plunge. On a extremely impressed by the product, and
happier note, however, it works with iPad we think you will be too.
Good looks, an apps, so you can now run those directly
Every product that gets a
from your laptop.
outstanding screen and In terms of looks, you’ll struggle to
four-starreviewisgiven the
Recommendedaward. We
spot a difference between this and other
quicker than ever recent MacBook Pros – and that’s no bad
highly recommend these
products, although they just fail to meet the
thing. The case is a fabulous, solid chunk
high standard of our Buy It! winners.
So how fast is it? We tested a model of aluminium, housing Apple’s recently
with 8GB of memory and a 256GB SSD, improved Magic Keyboard – complete PRICES
which at £1,299 is the most affordable with the dynamic Touch Bar (pictured Our reviews contain a link to the best price
laptop in the new MacBook Pro range. We below left) – and the brilliant touchpad we found online at the time of press.
ran our usual suite of benchmark tests that has been a MacBook stalwart for
and the only laptop we’ve ever tested that some time now. Even the ports and
came close to this level of speed was sockets are in the same places, with a pair
another MacBook – the 2019 MacBook of USB-C ports on the left and a 3.5mm VERDICT Apple’s new M1 processor
Pro 16, which costs an eye-watering headphone jack on the right. provides this silver machine with a
£3,899. Compared with Windows laptops The screen is also as brilliant as ever. huge power boost, leaving rivals in
we’ve tested, the new MacBook Pro 13’s This IPS panel has a resolution of the dust
results are around twice as good, in terms 2560x1600 pixels and its colour
of its processor and graphics capability. representation is outstanding, producing
★★★★★
But there’s a huge downside to the M1 97.9 per cent of the sRGB colour palette ALTERNATIVE Apple MacBook
– a loss of compatibility. By using Intel with an impressive Delta E rating of 0.93. Air £999
processors, the old Launched
Macs were able to SPECIFICATIONS at the same
run Windows 10, Eight-core Apple M1 processor • 8GB memory • time, also
either installed or 256GB SSD • 13.3in 2,560x1,600 pixels screen uses the M1
• 720p webcam • 802.ax Wi-Fi • Bluetooth 5 • 2
x USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports • macOS Big Sur •
chip and zips
15.6x304x212mm (HxWxD) • 1.4kg • One-year along nicely
warranty www.snipca.com/36837

1 – 12 January 2021 23
 Reviews
MINI PC ❘ £67 from The Pi Hut www.snipca.com/36859

Raspberry Pi 400
Pi and microchips

For many of us, home computing started

with devices that had a computer built
into a keyboard, which you plugged into a
TV. We have fond memories of the ZX
Spectrum, the Commodore 64 and the
BBC Model B, to name but a few, so
there’s something deeply nostalgic about
the new Raspberry Pi 400. It takes the
famous, diminutive bare-bones PC and It hasn’t lost any of its portability. Yes, two points higher than Microsoft’s
surrounds it in a retro keyboard case, it’s a larger package than a basic Pi, at Surface Go 2 could manage.
like a modern-day version of the Acorn 23x286x122mm and 384g, but having a The Pi 400 runs the company’s own
Electron (see www.snipca.com/36849). keyboard and computer in one is a real Raspberry Pi OS (pre-installed on the
boon. Add a mouse and power supply, microSD card if you buy the complete
plug it into a monitor or TV with an kit), and while it’s capable and reasonably
Not as easy to carry HDMI cable, and you’re away. It’s not as well-rounded, it still runs into the kind of
easy to carry as a laptop but it’s the most compatibility problems with peripherals
as a laptop but it’s the portable desktop PC we’ve ever seen. that you won’t suffer in Windows. It
Sadly, the keyboard is underwhelming. remains an operating system for computer
most portable desktop Its small size leaves it feeling more cramped enthusiasts, not everyday users.
PC we’ve ever seen than a full-sized laptop keyboard, so it’s
more reminiscent of a ZX Spectrum than
The Raspberry Pi has come a long way
since it was launched in 2012 and this
a Commodore 64 or BBC Micro. latest version is the closest it’s come to
There are two options available: the The heart of this device is a top-end offering an experience that’s akin to
unit alone, which sells for £67; or a kit Raspberry Pi 4 (see our review, Issue 559), unwrapping a Commodore 64 on your
that also comes with mouse, pre-installed with a quad-core Arm processor and 4GB birthday and spending the rest of the day
memory card, cables and the updated of memory. You can’t just take this out of hogging the family TV. It’s still not quite
Beginner’s Guide manual for £94. Clad in the keyboard case, though. It comes as a powerful enough to run Windows 10 and
cheap and cheerful red and white plastic, sealed unit, the ports are separate and replace a basic PC, but it’s surely only a
the keyboard (pictured above) looks just there are vents, heatsinks and other heat- matter of time.
like the official keyboard that Raspberry management components built in. This
launched last year. While that model had has let the Raspberry Pi engineers overclock SPECIFICATIONS
a few USB ports on the back, so you could the Pi 4 to 1.8GHz, higher than the Quad-core 1.8GHz Broadcom BCM2711 processor
hook it up to a Pi, this latest version has 1.5GHz clock speed of the basic model. • 4GB memory • 2x micro HDMI ports • 1 x USB
2.0 port • 2x USB 3.0 ports • Gigabit Ethernet port
the Pi built-in. The ports you’d normally they claim this allows it to perform 20 • 40-pin GPIO port • MicroSD slot • Raspberry Pi
find have been transported to the back of per cent better than a standard Pi 4. OS • 23x286x122mm (HxWxD) • 384g • One-year
the keyboard, including twin microHDMI Running our benchmark tests on it warranty www.snipca.com/36842
ports (supporting 4K resolution at 60fps), produced a rather staggering score of 27
two USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port points. The same test on the original Pi 4
(pictured below) and the 40-pin GPIO produced a result of 13.9 and a very hot VERDICT The most accessible
port (below right), which lets you use Pi, whereas the heat management of the Raspberry Pi to date is also the most
your Pi to control all kinds of affordable Pi 400 lets it run at a more stable powerful, and it remains the absolute
add-ons , including this robotic arm temperature, even with the overclock. For bargain it’s always been
(www.snipca.com/36862). reference, that benchmark score of 27 is
★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE Raspberry Pi 4 Model
B (4GB) £54 Shave a few pounds
off the price by
getting a 4GB
Pi 4 Model B
without the
keyboard case

24 1 – 12 January 2021
 PHONE ❘ £329 from OnePlus www.snipca.com/36855
CHOOSE THE RIGHT SPECS
OnePlus Nord N10 5G Screen
North star
resolution
What does it do?
A screen’s resolution is the number of
OnePlus started out selling affordable pixels it has. It’s stated as the number
Android smartphones but over time of columns of pixels times the number
drifted to more expensive models to of rows. For example, screens with 4K
compete with the best Samsung and resolution have 3840x2160 pixels.
SE THE Apple devices. Its new Nord range is an
SPECS attempt to return to affordable devices, How does it work?
starting with the £379 Nord (see our Pixels are arranged in a grid on the
review, Issue 587, www.snipca.com/35716) screen. The device you’re using controls
and now continuing with the Nord N10, the colour and brightness of each
which shaves £50 off that model. individual pixel, and does this several
Like its big brother, the N10 is ready for times per second, depending on the
5G mobile networks and has a smooth- screen’s refresh rate. This way you
scrolling 90Hz screen with a resolution of get an image built up on screen and
2400x1080 pixels. The N10 is a little the constant changing provides the
bulkier, with a larger bezel at the bottom a very good IPS screen. impression of animation. This grid of
of the screen (to accommodate the The camera configuration has also pixels is configured and controlled in a
3.5mm headphone socket, which the first changed, with a bit of give and take over standard way, so PCs can be plugged
Nord lacked), but realistically you’d need whether it’s an up or downgrade. The into any monitor (as long as it has the
to get a ruler out to spot the difference. main camera resolution has increased right connections) and can display some
The big changes in this configuration from 48 to 64 megapixels, though kind of image, whatever the resolution.
require a close inspection of its features like HDR are better supported in
specifications. Most significantly, the its default (and usually perfectly What are the specs?
phone’s processor has been downgraded acceptable) 16-megapixel mode. However, The lowest resolution you’re likely to
to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 690, down it’s now unbranded, where the original encounter nowadays is HD (1280x720
from a 765, and the memory has been Nord wore its Sony lens with pride. pixels). This might be used on budget
reduced from 8GB to 6GB. It has the same additional 8-megapixel smartphones and very old TVs and
This inevitably affects performance. In ultra-wide camera and 2-megapixel monitors. A more common standard
our tests there was little difference in the macro camera, but the depth-sensing now is Full HD or at least
general-performance test scores but the lens has dropped from five to two 1920x1080 pixels. This has
N10 dropped right off when we pushed megapixels. For selfie fans, the front proved very popular on TVs
its graphics capability, so you wouldn’t camera has been reduced from 32 to 16 but is being superseded
want to rely on this to run the latest megapixels, again losing the Sony on larger screens by 4K
games. Its battery life also fell a few hours branding. Test shots came out fine – (3840x2160 pixels). Which
shorter in our video-playback test, lasting better on the main camera than the one you should choose
7 hours 35 minutes. peripheral ones – but we wouldn’t buy depends on the size of
OnePlus has also downgraded the this smartphone for its camera alone. your screen. You don’t
original Nord’s AMOLED screen for an need 4K resolution on a smartphone
IPS panel. If you know your screens you’ll because your eyes aren’t good enough
be rolling your eyes at this, because VERDICT The N10 costs less than the to discern the difference when the
AMOLED models offer perfect contrast original Nord and is a decent phone, pixels are that small – the Samsung
and are excellent at reproducing colour. but it has a few too many Galaxy s20 (pictured) comes close
However, we were pleasantly surprised compromises to make it with 3200x1400 pixels. However, 4K
by the IPS screen in the N10, which great is worth exploring if you’re looking for a
reproduced 97.5 per cent of sRGB colours monitor screen that’s 27in or larger.
with a Delta E score of 1.5. In short, this is
★★★★★
ALTERNATIVE Can I change it later?
SPECIFICATIONS OnePlus Nord £379 You can upgrade a PC’s monitor to get
6.49in 2400x1080-pixel screen • 64 and The original Nord is £50 a higher resolution but you can’t do it on
8-megapixel rear cameras • 16-megapixel front more expensive but has a laptop, phone or tablet. Once you’ve
camera • 128GB flash storage • 802.11ac Wi-Fi •
Bluetooth 5.1 • 5G ready • OxygenOS (Android 10) •
a faster processor and chosen your resolution on a device with
163x75x8.95mm • 190g • Two-year warranty better screen a built-in screen, you’re stuck with it.
www.snipca.com/36869

1 – 12 January 2020 25
 Reviews
PC MONITOR ❘ £126 from Amazon www.snipca.com/36858

Iiyama
ProLite XUB4493HSU-B1
Screen star

If you want a new PC monitor but you cent of colours in the sRGB
have less than £150 to spend, you’ll have standard, with an outstanding
to make a compromise. A clear picture Delta E rating of 0.81. We
with decent colour representation are the measured a contrast ratio of 1192:1 and a
key ingredients you’re likely to insist maximum brightness of 278cd/m2,
upon, but what would you be willing to which are both impressive. Even better is
forfeit to get it? that we got these results straight out of
You have to look quite hard to find the the box, using the screen’s own sRGB
corners that have been cut to bring this colour setting. This is ideal for anyone
24in monitor in at £126. It has a good looking for a stress-free setup.
range of inputs, including VGA, This, as it turns out, is a boon because SPECIFICATIONS
23.8in IPS LCD • 1920x1080-pixel resolution • HDMI,
DisplayPort and HDMI, and two the one area where the monitor falls DisplayPort and VGA inputs • 2W stereo speakers • 2x
USB 2.0 ports, mounted on th h side
he down is iitts control panel. Its buttons are USB 2 ports • 441x614x197mm (HxWxD) • 7.2kg
for easy access. The slim bezeel
e inconvenniiently located behind the screen • Three-year warranty www.snipca.com/36858
around the edge of the screen n is and there’s no on-screen
minimal, giving it a sharp anndd guide to explain what each
stylish look. one does. The lowest button of VERDICT A great-value Full HD
We were particularly impreessed
e this group is the off switch, so screen with impressive colours and an
with the stand. The screen ca a be
an it’s far too easy to power adjustable stand, only let down by its
rotated 90 degrees, so you caann work down the screen when you’re fiddly menu
on tall things such as docummeents trying to do something else,
and portrait photos with lesss such as adjust the brightness.
★★★★★
wasted space. Its height can be
b Hopefully, however, with its ALTERNATIVE BenQ GL2780
adjusted by 130mm, which iss brilliant default settings, you’ll £150 A larger, 27in
impressive when you consideer e that barely need to touch those monitor that doesn’t
most monitors of this price have
h buttons. With that in mind, cost much more,
static stands with very limiteed
d the fiddly controls are a more but uses a TN
movement. sensible compromise to make panel with limited
In our tests the IPS than lowering the quality of viewing angles
screen covered 93.6 per the screen or the stand.

WHAT SHOULD I BUY? We solve your buying dilemmas

Which ink should I use for my Xerox printer?

I use a fabulous Xerox 6515 Xerox claims that its own However, compatible
Q laser printer to organise
church events and some
A cartridges maintain the best
print quality, but you can judge
cartridges are even better
value. We’d recommend Stinkyink
cartridges now need replacing. Xerox- that for yourself. Xerox costs are high but (www.snipca.com/36878), which sells
branded cartridges are very expensive come in three capacities: Standard, High a pack of all four colours with a similar
and as treasurer I know money is and Extra High. The standard cyan cartridge, capacity to Xerox’s mid- range high-
short. Should I buy non–Xerox versions for example, costs £71 and prints 1,000 capacity cartridges (pictured) for £150,
and, if so, which ones? Remanufactured pages (7p per page). However, while the whereas Xerox charges £457, saving
or completely new ones? Also, I can’t Extra High capacity option costs £135, it’s you an astonishing £307. Stinkyink
find any comparison reviews to help more cost efficient and prints 4,300 pages guarantees compatibility so you’ve
me buying brand X rather than brand (3p per page). We found these Amazon really got very little to lose.
Z. Any help would be welcome. prices on Xerox’s own price-comparison Do you need advice on what you should buy?
Ray Ekins site (www.snipca.com/36876). Email us at [email protected]

26 1 – 12 January 2021
 Reviews
WIRELESS EARPHONES ❘ £70 from Amazon www.snipca.com/36894

Creative Outlier Air V2

Ear we go again

Apple may have started the trend for buttons. The actions assigned to the
wireless earphones, but there are plenty touch controls depend on which of the SPECIFICATIONS
In-ear headphones • 5.6mm graphene-coated driver
of alternatives around. The Outlier Air V2 three modes you’re using: Playback, • Bluetooth 5 • IPX5 weather-proofing • Microphone •
models from Creative are its second Pause or Call. Charging case with USB-C port • Two-year warranty
generation of earbuds (see our review of The other improvements are to battery www.snipca.com/36894
the first, Issue 553) and they are designed life and microphone quality. The buds
to near perfection. now last up to 12 hours on a single charge
Like Apple’s AirPods, these come in (up from 10). Taking the charging case VERDICT The original Outlier Air
their own charging case, which is good into account, the V2 delivers up to 34 earbuds were already excellent and
for a couple of full charges, and which is hours of audio playback, four hours Creative has improved them while
itself charged from a standard USB-C more than the original Outlier Air. maintaining the exceptional value for
cable. They also come with three sizes of The V2 uses the same 5.6mm graphene money
ear attachment to ensure a snug fit. drivers as the original and it’s hard to
The V2 are very similar in design to the find fault with how they sound given
★★★★★
original Outlier Air. The earbud housings their price tag. They sound energetic ALTERNATIVE Tronsmart rtt
are drum-shaped with the sections that and crisp, and there’s plenty of bass Spunky Beat £30 The
rest against your ear curved to fit the underpinning pleasingly sharp mid- name may have got lost in
contours of your ears. They also weigh a ranges and trebles. No one aspect of the translation, but these are
fair bit less at 6g per bud. audio frequency range dominates, very capable wireless
The biggest change is the addition of resulting in a balance that lends itself earbuds for half the price
touch controls, which replace physical well to pretty much every musical genre.

HEADPHONES ❘ £80 from Amazon www.snipca.com/36897

AfterShokz OpenMove
Close to the bone

Bone-conduction headphones don’t sit in well-known brand in this liine of

your ear but rest in front of it, delivering technology. The headset conn nects
sound to your inner ear by vibrating your with Bluetooth 5.0 and can be useed
cheekbones – in the same way you can to make phone calls as well a as listeen to
hear crunching noises when you eat music. They’re charged via USB-C
U and
biscuits. They’ve become increasingly last for around six hours betwween
popular among fitness enthusiasts because charges. This is more than eno ough for an VERDICT These he headphones
d are the
they leave your ear canals clear, so you’re exercise session but might nott last you a p
perfect introduction to bone-conduction
much more aware of your surroundings whole day away from home. It’s ’ much tech, but they fall short of the quality we
during exercise. This makes them a much shorter than the battery life you get from expect from in-ear models
safer option when jogging, cycling or just some regular in-ear headphones
walking the dog. The trade-off, however, nowadays, including the Creative Outlier
★★★★★
is that noisy environments can drown out Air V2 earbuds reviewed above. ALTERNATIVE AfterShokz
te S o Aeropex
e ope
what you’re trying to listen to. The sound quality is also no match for £120 More expensive
e than the
These OpenMove headphones are the regular in-ear headphones of a similar OpenMove, but
latest basic model from AfterShokz, a price. There’s plenty of detail in the with a betterr
mid-range and treble frequencies, which battery life
SPECIFICATIONS
Bone-conduction headphones • Bluetooth 5 • IP55 makes them very well suited to listening and improve ed
weather-proofing • Microphone • USB-C charging to spoken-word content, but their lack of waterproofin ng
• Two-year warranty www.snipca.com/36897 bass will disappoint music lovers.

28 1 – 12 January 2021
 Reviews
TV-STREAMING DEVICE ❘ £99 from Amazon www.snipca.com/36904
DO I REALLY NEED...
Roku Streambar Modular wireless
We will Roku chargers?
What is it?
These wireless chargers (www
((www.
snipca.com/36887, pictured), made
by Dutch firm Lens, let you build a
customised raft of pads you can simply
drop your gadgets on to when they
need recharging. Its modular approach
means you can choose the exact units
you need for maximum tidiness.
In Issue 593’s Cover Feature we looked at Netflix or Disney+) and a reasonable
several devices you can use to bring Wi-Fi connection. What does it do?
video-streaming services to your TV Streaming from the device is simple Wireless charging lets you reduce the
screen. We touched on the Roku Streambar thanks to Roku’s intuitive, app-based clutter and inconvenience of cables.
but we thought it was worth bringing you operating system. You download an app However, if each gadget needs its own
an extended review of this innovative for each service you require and use wireless charging point, the object
two-in-one device. It combines a Roku Roku’s remote control to choose between is soon defeated. These interlocking
TV-streaming device – so you can access them from the grid on the home screen. modules could be the answer.
Netflix, BBC iPlayer and more – with a Roku has the widest range of British
sound-boosting soundbar designed to catchup services, including iPlayer, All 4, What’s the catch?
enhance your TV’s audio capabilities. Demand 5 and ITV Hub, as well as all the Price. The 65W Dual Wireless Charger
popular subscription services. Main Station costs €99 (around £88)
The soundbar itself sounds great. and is big enough for two phones only.
Aimed at people Although it only has stereo speakers, it
uses four of them to direct sound around
You can add another four modules to it,
including pads and stands for phones.
looking to upgrade the room, and some clever software to These add-ons cost between €40
(£36) and €70 (£62) each.
separate elements like speech from music
both streaming and and background noise. It can produce
plenty of volume if you want to rattle So can I do without it?
sound quality at the the walls, and offers a significant Yes, unless you want to spend almost
improvement in sound quality over the as much on your chargers as you spent
same time speakers built into most TVs. The bass is on your gadgets.
good for the size of the unit but it isn’t as
This is aimed at people looking to powerful as a soundbar that comes with a
upgrade both streaming and sound separate subwoofer. NEXT ISSUE
quality at the same time so, if you already You can also connect to the soundbar
have a decent streaming device or audio using Bluetooth, if you want to use the On Sale Weds 13 Jan
setup attached to your TV then this isn’t speaker to play music from your phone or
for you. If you’re shopping around for tablet without having to switch on the TV.
both, however, it’s an attractive option. HP EliteBook
The streaming element of the device is 845 G7
Find out how fast
top notch, with the same specification as VERDICT An excellent all-in-one
this AMD-powere
Roku’s current top-end streamer, the upgrade for that enhances your TV’s laptop is
Streaming Stick+ (see our review, Issue streaming capability and sound quality
581). It supports 4K resolution at 60fps, D-Link
so to get the most out of it you’ll need a
★★★★★
DIR-X1860
4K TV, subscription to a video service that ALTERNATIVE Anker Nebula Fire Upgrade your
supports it (such as Amazon Prime Video, TV £160 A similar but more expensive wireless network
option if you prefer Amazon’s Fire TV to Wi-Fi 6
SPECIFICATIONS interface
ARC and Dolby Audio sound enhancement • 4K These and much more...
(3840x2160 pixels) resolution at 60fps • HDR10 •
HDMI 2.0a port • Bluetooth 5.0 • Wi-Fi 802.11ac • Subscribe to Computeractive at
356x107x70mm • 1.1kg • Two-year warranty www.getcomputeractive.co.uk
www.snipca.com/36751

1 – 12 January 2021 29
 BuyIt
2019 CD
ON SALE
NOW!

Find out what other products we liked.

Buy our new 2019 Back Issue CD:
£15 from www.snipca.com/33711

Our pick of products that have won the BuyIt award

LAPTOP DESKTOP PC APPLE iPAD

Honor MagicBook 14 Palicomp Apple iPad 10.2in

£550 from www.snipca.com/34688 Intel Mercury £329 from www.snipca.com/36178
Tested Issue 580 £600 from www.snipca.com/34223 Testedd Issue 566
Tested Issue 576

Using an AMD Ryzen 3500U

processor, this lightweight metal laptop If you don’t need advanced gaming, P d is great value,
The basic iPad l especially
beat Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3 with your money’s well spent here on a now it’s been updated with a powerful
Intel’s i7-1065G7 in our tests. The 14in six-core Intel i5-9600K processor A12 processor and iPadOS 14. It includes
Full HD screen lacks colour accuracy overclocked to 5GHz. 16GB of memory Scribble handwriting recognition with
but looks decent. For the money, it’s a and a full terabyte of fast SSD storage the £89 Apple Pencil. Storage isn’t
great buy. round off a powerful PC with good expandable; consider 128GB at £429.
expansion potential.
ALTERNATIVE Dell XPS 13 New Intel ALTERNATIVE iPad Mini With an even
CPUs and a taller screen make this a ALTERNATIVE Chillblast Photo Zen Fast better, but smaller, screen than the
more powerful, all-round slim notebook, Ryzen 7 CPU plus adequate GPU makes 10.2in iPad, the Mini also supports the
although prices now start at a steep a superb work PC. £1,500 from www. Pencil and has 64GB of storage. £399
£1,629 from www.snipca.com/36642 snipca.com/35840 from www.snipca.com/33050

ANDROID TABLET P APPLE iPHONE ANDROID PHONE

DRRIC
OP E
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite Apple iPhone 12 Realme X50 5G
£299 from www.snipca.com/35795
m/35795 £799 from www.snipca.com/36582 £259 from www.snipca.com/36037
Tested Issue 582 Tested Issue 595 Tested issue 590

Competing with Apple’s cheapest The latest iPhone has a modest increase in Amazing value for a big 5G phone
10.2in iPad, this slim aluminium already exceptional processing power with three rear cameras (including
tablet comes with an S Pen stylus plus even better photos and videos from ultra-wide and macro), a pretty quick
and a generous 64GB of storage at a the front and twin rear cameras. It comes Snapdragon 765G processor and a
reasonable price. It’s less powerful, but in a redesigned case with aluminium decent IPS screen. There’s a fingerprint
a great buy if you prefer Android. frame and even tougher glass. Consider reader, but no wireless charging or
paying the £50 extra for 128GB of storage. waterproofing.
ALTERNATIVE Amazon Fire HD 8
Now with USB-C and 32GB of storage, ALTERNATIVE iPhone SE With a single ALTERNATIVE Google Pixel 5 Cheaper
this plastic-cased tablet is more camera and smaller screen but the than previous Pixels, this has great
limited, with no stylus option, but same powerful A13 processor and 64GB cameras, wireless charging and a
good for the money. £90 from storage as the iPhone 11, it’s great value. superb screen. Battery life is 23 hours.
www.snipca.com/35336 £399 from www.snipca.com/34773 £599 from www.snipca.com/36586

30 1 – 12 January 2021
 UNLEASH YOUR FULL GAMING POTENTIAL
WITH THE FAST IPS 70 SERIES RED EAGLES

Get the competitive edge you need to unleash your full gaming potential with the 24’’ and 27‘‘ G-Masters
offering 0.8ms MPRT and 165Hz refresh rate. Armed with FreeSync Premium you can make split second
decisions and forget about ghosting effects or smearing issues. The ability to adjust brightness
and the dark shades with the Black Tuner delivers greater viewing performance in shadowed
areas and the IPS panel technology guarantees superb image quality.

Available with fixed stands: 24‘‘ G2470HSU-B1 & 27‘‘ G2770HSU-B1

and with height adjustment: 24‘‘ GB2470HSU-B1 & 27‘‘ GB2770HSU-B1

Find your match at gmaster.iiyama.com

 BuyIt
Our pick of products that have won the BuyIt award
EBOOK READER SECURITY SOFTWARE PHOTO EDITING

Amazon Kindle (2019) Kaspersky Internet Serif Affinity Photo

£70 from www.snipca.com/31621 Security 2021 £49 from www.snipca.com/23739
Tested Issue 555 £14.99 from www.snipca.com/21532 Tested Issue 498
Tested Issue 564

Kaspersky Internet Security has won Designed for both full-time

Now with built-in light and audiobook our past nine antivirus tests and the professional image retouchers
support, this budget model is fine for 2020 version is now available at and the rest of us keen amateurs,
most users, though limited by its 4GB an exclusive reader discount on our this is a beautifully designed and
of storage. The Paperwhite (£120) is Software Store. Go to the link above comprehensive program for both
even sharper, waterproof, and has for a one-year, one-device licence or Windows and Mac users, although so
bigger storage options as well as a buy a two-year, two-device licence for far it performs better on Macs.
cellular data option (£100 extra). just £26.99.
ALTERNATIVE Xara Photo & Graphic
ALTERNATIVE Kobo Clara HD ALTERNATIVE Norton 360 Deluxe Designer For all-round design and
Not waterproof, but has more lighting Almost as good as Kaspersky, but drawing plus photo filters, this
options to avoid blue light. £110 from blocks more legitimate software. affordable app has a lot to offer.
www.snipca.com/32586 £15 from www.snipca.com/32069 £42 from www.snipca.com/26514

PC MONITOR ROUTER PRINTER

BenQ GL2780 D-Link DIR-1960 Epson Expression Premium

£150 from www.snipca.com/34834 £100 from www.snipca.com/32849 XP-6105
Tested Issue 581 ested Issue 564
Tested £119 from www.snipca.com/36630
Tested Issue 554

Givving
ng us down
nlo
load
a and upload
p speed
p s With many leading all-purpose printers
This budget 27in screen offers accurate of 460Mbps and 375Mbps respectively, having sold out during lockdown, this
sRGB colour with good contrast, plus this is phenomenal value. Even two white version of the XP-6100 wireless
auto brightness and low blue light floors away we got 329Mbps and six-ink printer/scanner/copier is a good
modes. Speakers are built in. Using 284Mbps. It has four Ethernet ports for choice for photos first and text second.
TN LCD rather than IPS, it needs to be wired devices and a USB 3.0 socket to It’s easy to use and speeds aren’t bad,
viewed straight on, but works well for share storage via your network. but ink costs can work out high.
games too.
ALTERNATIVE Synology RT2600ac ALTERNATIVE Epson EcoTank ET-2711
ALTERNATIVE Philips Brilliance Comprehensive sharing features, This inkjet printer/scanner/copier isn’t
241B7QPJEB With a great picture, stylish controls and plenty of add-on apps cheap but will save you a lot on ink
design and speakers, this 24in Full HD IPS complement excellent long-range (1p for two colour pages). Photo quality
is an excellent smaller screen. £180 from performance. £208 from www.snipca. isn’t the best, but scans are good.
www.snipca.com/34869 com/30710 £180 from www.snipca.com/36183

32 1 – 12 January 2021
 BuyIt

COMPETITION

Win 1 of 2
Toshiba P300 6TB
hard drives
Toshiba’s 3.5in P300 is a versatile caused by the head-track being To enter this competition, email
drive ideal for a range of computers – aligned. This design makes for more your address to cacomp@dennis.
all-in-one PCs, desktop PCs, gaming precise and faster read and write co.uk with ‘Toshiba’ in the subject
computers – as well as external speeds, giving you instant access to line by midnight Tuesday 12 January.
enclosures. your data.
The dual-stage actuator in the 2TB It also has an internal shock sensor, You can buy P300 Toshiba hard
to 6TB models improves positional ensuring no data is lost. In addition, drives from Amazon (www.snipca.
accuracy, negating the vibrations ramp-loading technology means that com/35229), with prices ranging
when your hard drive or desktop PC from £34.99 (1TB) to £156 (6TB).
are being transported, the drive slider For more information on Toshiba’s
does not make contact with the disk storage products visit www.
and risk it wearing out or data loss. toshiba-storage.com.

MESH ROUTER SOLID-STATE DRIVE WEB DESIGN

BT Whole Home Wi-Fi Samsung 970 Evo Plus Xara Web Designer
£200 from www.snipca.com/26990 500GB Premium
Tested Issue 496 £93 from www.snipca.com/31265 £56 from www.snipca.com/34150
Tested Issue 552 Tested Issue 453

BT’s set of three discs, managed Although its price has fluctuated since
from an Apple or Android app, we tested it at £99, this is a very This visual program makes creating
connects to your broadband and fast (over 3GB per second) M.2 SSD sites more like laying out a document
spreads high-speed Wi-Fi all around unfazed by tests that make others than writing HTML code, and sites can
the house. Reception is far better slow to a crawl. Also consider the be responsive, meaning they look good
than a single router, and the price is Adata XPG SX8200 Pro if you find it a on big and small screens. A cheaper,
lower than any rival. bit cheaper. basic version is also available for £35.

ALTERNATIVE Zyxel Multy X ALTERNATIVE Crucial MX500 500GB ALTERNATIVE Incomedia WebSite X5
These two pillow-shaped boxes are As fast as an SSD can get in the v13 Evolution It may feel basic, but this
powerful enough for most homes and traditional 2.5in SATA format, this program outputs efficient HTML code
provide four Ethernet ports apiece. is a great-value upgrade. £52 from and responsive pages. £39 from
£255 from www.snipca.com/27309 www.snipca.com/30188 www.snipca.com/31179

1 – 12 January 2021 33
Computeractive 2019
Back Issue CD

LE NOW!
ON SA
CON
T
AL AINS
L
ISSU26
FROM ES
2019

Buy it now from Amazon at

www.snipca.com/33711
or search for ‘computeractive cd’ on Amazon
You can still buy our 2018 CD at www.snipca.com/30307
 Pull Out
& Keep

Workshops &Tips Issue 596

14 pages of easy-to-follow workshops and expert tips

35 Play music from your 40 Use Google PLUS
PC in your car Chromecast to control 44 Phone & Tablet Tips 47 Make Office Better
photos on your TV
38 Annotate screenshots 46 Make Windows 48 In the Club: Stream a
using Edge 42 Readers' Tips Better presentation

HOW TO...
Play music from your PC
in your car by Nik Rawlinson
and listen via a
What you need: USB stick, audio cable or adapter, depending on your choice smartphone app
Time required: An hour compatible with Apple
CarPlay or Android
Auto. But what if your car doesn’t

J
ust about any piece of music ever unimaginable just a decade ago. If you support either of these? Fortunately,
recorded is available on your haven’t yet digitised your vinyl and there are other options, and we’ll outline
computer. With a wide choice of tapes, read the How To we published in four of them here. As long as you have a
streaming providers and the ability to Issue 554. radio, as a bare minimum, and your
make digital versions of your CDs, In many cases, though, you’ll have to music is stored on your phone or a USB
records and tapes, it’s easy to build a leave it all at home when you jump into stick, you can enjoy the widest possible
library of a size that would have been the car – unless you’ve saved it online range of audio entertainment on the go.

Put your music music format. Again, we’d recommend

1 on a USB stick
This is the simplest
sticking with the most widely accepted
option: MP3. However, your manual
option, but it depends on having will list the file types with which your
a car with a USB port, which car is compatible, and should include
not all do. Even if your car does special arrangements for organising
have a port, it may be used only by album or artist. These are essential
for charging. This is often the if you want to be able to search for
case where the car has several specific tracks using the radio’s buttons.
such ports, only one of which If you’ve saved your music using a
will be wired to the radio. Check Select ‘Audio - MP3’ from the menu then Start to convert format that your car radio can’t read,
the manual or ask your dealer to your files using VLC you can usually convert it using the
identify the port for you if you’re media player on your PC. Alternatively, use
not sure which one to use. the menu. Select the appropriate format the free VLC media player, which you can
The manual will also tell you which from the ‘File system’ menu. download from www.videolan.org.
music and data formats your radio If you don’t know which format to Once you’ve installed and opened it,
can access. Getting this right is key to use, or your manual doesn’t tell you, press Ctrl+R, then click Add and select
successfully playing back your music. try FAT32. Give the stick a name in the the music you want to work with. Click
Start by identifying the data format, ‘Volume label’ box – this will identify the ‘Convert/Save’, then select ‘Audio – MP3’
which will determine the file system you stick every time you reconnect it to your from the menu to the right of Profile (see
need to use on the stick, then plug the PC – then click Start. When it’s finished, screenshot left). Click ‘Start’ to begin the
stick into your PC, right-click it in the close the Format box. conversion, then transfer the results to
Explorer sidebar and click ‘Format…’ in You now need to think about your your stick.

1 – 12 January 2021 35
 When you want to play your music,
plug the USB stick in your car and select
the USB option from your radio’s list of
sources. Use the on-device controls to
How I listen to music while driving
navigate the music on your stick. I’ve used all of these methods when I’m in somebody else’s car.
over the years. In my campervan, It would be easier to replace my
Use a Bluetooth adapter I use an FM transmitter; in my car, radio with something more up to
2 If you’ve loaded your music on
to your phone, or you want to
I use a Bluetooth adapter with a
phono cable and, in the car I sold
date, but what’s the point when
these inexpensive workarounds
stream from the internet, a Bluetooth recently I used a tape adapter. I are so effective?
receiver that connects to phono or 3.5mm only ever get to use a USB socket Nik Rawlinson
jacks in your car is a more convenient How do you listen to music in your car?
option. You’ll not need to think about Please let us know: [email protected]
audio formats or file systems, but you will
need the appropriate wired connection
in your vehicle which, as with the USB
port, isn’t always available. Again, check CONNECT DIRECTLY
your manual. You can pick up an adapter, USING BLUETOOTH
like this Mpow Bluetooth 5.0 Receiver, for
£12.99: www.snipca.com/36740. Of course, if your car radio has
If you have a port, you’ll need an Bluetooth built in, you can use this
appropriate cable. Most ports built into 1 instead of an adapter in just the same
the radio itself will be 3.5mm jacks, but way. Switch to your radio’s settings
wind back the clock a decade or so and screen and use the option to pair a new
cars commonly had a pair of phono device, then follow the instructions
sockets, which are separate from the in Tip 2 to launch the pairing option
radio but wired to it behind the scenes. on your phone. However, there’s an
Use these to connect your Bluetooth additional step: both the phone and
adapter. the radio will display a code on their
Note that if you have phono sockets in screens. If the codes match, tap the Pair
your car but you’re using an adapter with
2 option on each device to establish the
a jack, like the Mpow device mentioned connection. You’ll only need to do that
above, you’ll need a phono-to-jack cable, once. Now switch back to the car radio
such as this one from AmazonBasics screen and select Bluetooth from the
(pictured below), which costs £5.99: list of sources. Select the media you
www.snipca.com/36741. If you need a Your phone will search for any available want to listen to on your phone.
lead with 3.5mm jacks on each end, this Bluetooth devices that are within range
one costs £3.59 and is 1.5m long: www.
snipca.com/36742. Settings and tap Bluetooth, then scroll sources menu (as we’ve done in the photo
Most adapters have a built-in battery to the bottom of the screen and tap the below left), then switch to the preferred
that’s charged via USB – to do this you’ll name of the adapter when it appears. media player on your phone (which
need to bring it into the house. Once On Android, open Settings and tap includes third-party apps like Audible
your adapter is charged, connect it to the ‘Connected devices’, followed by ‘Pair (www.audible.co.uk) for audiobooks and
port in your car, turn it on and put it into new device’. Your phone (ours is called Pocket Casts (www.pocketcasts.com) for
pairing mode. Wonderphone 1 in our screenshot above) podcasts. Play whichever media you like
The method for doing this varies will start to search for nearby Bluetooth and it will stream to your radio.
depending on the adapter, but in most devices (T11 2 ) in pairing mode. When
cases you’ll press and hold the play your adapter appears, tap its name to Broadcast on FM
button, which will start flashing. Now
pair your phone. On an iPhone, open
start the connection.
Select ‘aux’ or auxiliary on your radio’s
3 Low-powered FM transmitters
broadcast a very short-range
signal, which won’t extend far beyond
your vehicle. As such, they shouldn’t
interfere with licenced broadcast stations
or radios used by the emergency services.
They can be set to broadcast on a range of
frequencies, letting you select one that’s
not currently occupied by an existing
station so that it doesn’t overlap with
your own broadcast. Once connected to
If your car has a 3.5mm jack or phono sockets,
You may need to buy a phono-to-jack cable, you can connect a Bluetooth receiver and use your phone or MP3 player, you can use
such as this one from AmazonBasics the radio’s auxiliary source to play your music it to transmit music on your selected

36 1 – 12 January 2021
 Play music from your PC in your car

COPY MUSIC TO A MEDIA CARD

Many cars have a media-card slot, either your computer, right-clicking it in
as part of the radio itself or in a discreet the File Explorer sidebar and selecting
location (commonly in the glove box). the appropriate format from the ‘File
If your car has one, make sure it’s for system’ menu.
playing back music. Some are instead You can then copy your music to it in
used to store the map for your satnav if it MP3 or another compatible format before
doesn’t have its own 3G/4G connection to ejecting it from the computer and using it
the internet. in your car. Select ‘SD’ or similar from the
Just as you did with your USB stick, you Sources menu on your car’s music system
need to wipe the card by connecting it to to listen to it.

frequency, which you can tune to using to a small number of pre-set stations, We’ve tuned this FM transmitter to broadcast
your in-car radio. and it also has Bluetooth built in. This to the car radio on 108FM
Again, these have the benefit of latter point is a significant draw because
working with any media format that your it means you can use it as a Bluetooth- on your iPhone, and in ‘Connected
phone can handle, and there’s no need to-FM converter by connecting your devices’ on Android). Tap the name of
to think about which file system to use phone to the transmitter by Bluetooth, the device on your iPhone or tap ‘Pair
either. Better yet, as with the Bluetooth then tuning into the transmitter using new device’ on Android, followed by
option explained above, track selection is your radio on the FM band. the device name once it’s been detected.
handled on the phone itself, so you’ll be On the opposite side of the transmitter, Alternatively, connect your phone to the
working with an interface you’ll already there’s a 3.5mm jack through which you transmitter using its 3.5mm jack.
find familiar. can connect to your phone’s headphone You can now play music in the usual
You can pick up a transmitter like this socket, if it has one, and a reader for manner on your phone and it will be
VicTsing model for £13.59 (www.snipca. memory cards of 32GB or less. There’s broadcast to your radio. If you drive into
com/36744, pictured in our car below). no denying that this is the most flexible an area where an existing station already
It has two USB ports – highlighted in option of all. occupies your selected frequency, re-tune
our photo – one of which can be used to Setting it up is easy. Start by plugging both your adapter and the radio to an
charge a device from your vehicle battery, the adapter into your car’s cigarette empty spot on the waveband – it’s 108FM
while the other is used for audio from lighter socket, from which it draws in our photo above.
USB sticks, effectively adding the USB its power, then use the dial to select a
socket that’s missing from many older frequency that isn’t currently in use in Use a tape adapter
cars.
You can easily select any frequency
your area. Tune your radio to the same
frequency. Now open the Bluetooth menu
4 Finally, perhaps the lowest-
tech option of all: a tape
on the FM dial, so you’re not restricted on your phone (you’ll find it in Settings adapter. A few years ago we would have
recommended this above anything
else, because almost every car had a
built-in tape deck and every phone
had a headphone jack. However, you’ll
need to be driving something at least 12
or more years old to have a tape deck,
and, increasingly, phones now come
without headphone sockets. If you do
have both of these available to you,
though, a tape adapter may be just what
you need.
It works by replacing the moving tape
inside the cassette with a magnetic block
that recreates the soundwave that would
otherwise be stored on the tape itself.
When you slot the adapter into your
cassette deck, the block aligns with the
playback head in the radio to read the
signal and send it to your speakers.
The only downside is that you may
hear the drive cogs spinning inside the
Some FM transmitters, like this VicTsing model, have USB ports for memory sticks and charging cassette when they have nothing to move,
devices but you soon stop noticing this.

Next issue: How To… Run Plex media server on your NAS drive 1 – 12 January 2021 37
 Workshop1
Take screenshots using
Edge’s new Web Capture too
What you need: Windows 8.1 or 10
Time taken: 15 minutes

E dge 87, which Microsoft released

in November, has a new ‘Web
capture’ tool that lets you quickly take
explain how to check that you have the
latest version of Edge, then show you
how to make the most of the tool. You’ll
screenshots of web pages, then also discover how to install a preview
annotate and share them within the release of Edge and try its new
browser. In this Workshop, we’ll full-page screenshot option.

STEP To use the new screenshot tool, you’ll need the latest
1
1 version of Edge. To check, open Edge then click the
menu button (three dots 1 ), ‘Help and feedback’, then
4
About Microsoft Edge 2 . If you don’t see these options, it’s
probably because you have the old version of Edge – Microsoft
switched to a newer version based on Chromium in early 2020,
which you can install from www.snipca.com/36864. As you can
see, ours is 87.0.664.52 3 and Edge tells us that it’s up to date 4
(don’t worry if yours has slightly different numbers after ‘87’ –
3
Microsoft regularly releases small updates for each release). If
you’re running 86 or earlier, Edge will start installing the update
and prompt you to restart your browser.
2

STEP To open the new screenshot tool, either click the STEP If you want to fine-tune the selected area, you can do

2 menu button followed by ‘Web capture’, or use the

Ctrl+Shift+S keyboard shortcut. When you do this, the
3 so by clicking and dragging the eight circles around the
edge of the box. When you’re happy with it, you can
web page will dim, indicating Edge is ready for you to take a copy your screenshot to the Windows clipboard by clicking the
screenshot. Create a box around the section you want to capture Copy button 1 . Once you’ve done this, you can paste the image
by clicking and dragging your mouse 1 . If the area you want to into other applications, such as Word, Paint or an email. If you
capture is larger than what’s currently displayed, drag your have Windows’ clipboard history tool switched on (press
mouse to the bottom of the window. As you do this, the page Windows key+I, System, Clipboard and turn the ‘Clipboard
will start to scroll, allowing you to capture a bigger area. history’ slide to On), you can take multiple screenshots, then
browse them by pressing the Windows key+V 2 .

38 1 – 12 January 2021
 1

1 2 3 3

STEP Instead of copying the screenshot directly to your STEP As well as letting you annotate your screenshot, this

4 clipboard, you can click ‘Add notes’ after selecting your

screenshot. A new window will now open, displaying
5 window also provides options to share and save it.
Click ‘Share’ 1 and you’ll see options to export your
your screenshot. If you want to highlight a specific area, click screenshot to various Windows apps, such as Mail and
the Draw button at the top 1 , then annotate the screenshot. You OneNote 2 . Edge will also look for nearby wireless devices that
can change the colour and thickness of the pen by clicking the it can share files with, such as other computers on your
down arrow next to Draw 2 . If you want to remove any network. If you just want to save the screenshot as a file, click
annotations, select Erase 3 , then drag your mouse over them. the disk icon 3 and the screenshot will appear as a download in
your browser. Press Escape to return to the browser.

STEP If you enjoy using Edge’s new screenshot 3

6 tool, you can add a button for it to the
browser’s toolbar. To do this, click the menu
button, then right-click ‘Web capture’ 1 and select
‘Show in toolbar’ 2 . You’ll notice a new ‘Web
capture’ icon appears in the top-right corner of the
Edge window 3 . If you want to take a screenshot in
future, you can simply click this button, then repeat
the process as described in Step 2. 1

STEP Edge can also take screenshots of an entire web page

1 5 (no matter how long it is), but for now it’s only
available on Edge Canary. This is a beta version that you
can download from www.snipca.com/36865 and run alongside
the main Edge version. Once installed, run the program (it will
be listed in the Start menu as Microsoft Edge Canary), then use
the Ctrl+Shift+S shortcut to open the screenshot tool. When you
do this, you’ll see two options appear at the top – click ‘Full
page’ 1 and Edge will take a screenshot of the entire web page.

Next issue: Turn your PC into an Alexa smart speaker 1 – 12 January 2021 39
 Workshop2
Create an automatic photo
slideshow on Chromecast
What you need: Chromecast; Google Photos; Android or iOS phone or tablet
Time required: 20 minutes

I f you have a Google Chromecast plugged

into your TV, you can use it for much
more than just streaming programmes
you’re not casting anything. You don’t
even need the latest ‘Chromecast with
Google TV’ version of the device (£30
and films. In this Workshop, we’ll show from www.snipca.com/36851) to use this
you how to access its hidden Ambient feature – it works on all previous versions,
mode, which lets you display a slideshow including on the original Chromecast
from your Google Photos library when (released in 2013) we’ll be using here.

STEP By default, when

1 nothing is being casted

Chromecast will display
a series of photos from the 1
‘Recent highlights’ folder in your
Google Photos library. In our
experience, however, the photos
in this folder can be over a year
old. It’s therefore a good idea to
set a selection of photos as
favourites, then tell Chromecast 3
to use them only. In the Google
Photos app on your phone (or on
your PC at https://photos.google. 2
com), browse your collection and
tap or click the star icon 1 on
each photo you want to set as a
1
favourite.

STEP If you’ve already set

2 up your Chromecast
device, skip to Step 3. If
not, first download the Google 1
Home app on your phone or
tablet (Android www.snipca.
com/36852; iOS www.snipca.
com/36853). Once it’s installed,
make sure your Chromecast is STEP In the home screen of the Google Home
plugged into your TV and
powered using the supplied USB
3 app, tap the icon representing your
Chromecast device, followed by the cog icon
cable, then tap the ‘+’ button in (top right). In the ‘Device settings’ screen, tap
the Google Home app, ‘Set up ‘Ambient mode’, then Google Photos. If you’re happy
device’ 1 and follow the to let Google Photos decide which photos to display,
instructions to set up your leave the ‘Recent highlights’ option selected.
Chromecast. However, if you set a selection of photos as favourites
in Step 1, tap ‘Recent highlights’ (the blue tick will
disappear, meaning it’s no longer selected 1 ), then
tap Favorites to select it 2 . If you have favourite
folders in your Google Photos account, you can also
select these. When you’ve made your choices, tap the
left arrow 3 to return to the previous screen.

40 1 – 12 January 2021
 1

1
2

STEP If you have some substandard photos (blurry or poorly lit, for
3
6 example) in your Google Photos library, Chromecast will attempt
to filter them out so they’re not displayed on your TV. Although
you can’t turn this filter off entirely, you can set it to apply only to Live
albums (these are shared albums you can set up with friends and family -
4 read more at www.snipca.com/36850). To do this, change the ‘Personal
photo curation’ option to ‘Live albums only’ 1 . Just below this, you can set
STEP Chromecast can display additional the speed of your slideshow to between 5 seconds and 10 minutes 2 .

4 information alongside your photos. To

choose what you want to show, scroll down
the ‘Ambient mode’ screen to the ‘More settings’
section. Options include the current weather (in
centigrade, Fahrenheit or both 1 ) and time 2 , as well
as information about your Chromecast device 3 . If 3
you want to see details such as where photos were
taken and at what time, tap Show below ‘Personal
photo data’ 4 .

1 2

STEP You probably have a few portrait-oriented

5 photos in your collection. On your

landscape-oriented TV these will have STEP If you’d rather not show your personal photos on your TV, you can
large, unsightly borders either side of them. If you’d
prefer to show only landscape photos, scroll down to
5 choose to show generic photos instead. Swipe to the top of the
‘Ambient mode’ screen and tap ‘Art gallery’. In the next screen you
the Portrait Google Photos section and tap Hide. can select the type of photos (such as ‘Fine art’ 1 and ‘Earth and space’ 2 ).
Alternatively, you can tell Chromecast to display Click the back button 3 when you’ve finished. Chromecast also has an
pairs of portrait photos side by side (thereby Experimental option, which lets you show photos from your Facebook and
minimising the black borders). To do this, select Flickr accounts. The ‘Experimental’ name suggests it’s a work in progress,
the ‘Show pairs’ option 1 . but when we linked it to our Flickr account it showed photos flawlessly.

Next issue: Use Windows’ hidden tool to make photo slideshows 1 – 12 January 2021 41
 Readers’ Tips
TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT

Create hyperlinks in Word documents

Since my children acquired their first as a directory of utility
computer in the early 1990s, I’ve been companies showing telephone
fascinated by the seemingly magical numbers and contact details.
way technology achieves actions This gives me their details at
undreamt of by us mortals. Hyperlinks my fingertips.
are a typical example. Take a blank Microsoft Word 2
In PowerPoint this is easy: create a document and type a word, 1
shape, remove the border, colour it the for example Test. Right-click it
same as the slide background and and select Links or Hyperlink
‘hyperlink’ it to another slide in the (depending on your version of
same presentation, then move it to one Word). You may then need to The word you’re linking from will
of the corners in the slide. When click Select Link. A box will appear - now be underlined and highlighted
presenting the slideshow, clicking the scroll down this box and click the blue. Click it to go to the linked
‘invisible’ object in the corner of the document you want to link to ( 1 in document (you may need to hold down
slide changes it to the target slide. the screenshot). Next, click OK at Ctrl while doing this).
I find links useful in documents such the bottom right 2 . Patrick Wilmore

Patrick wins a copy of our 2019 Back Issue CD Buy it on Amazon www.snipca.com/33711

BROWSERS Enabled 4 , making sure you relaunch uploaded from my iPhone 7 appear in
Open sites on your phone by Chrome afterwards. OneDrive as both HEIC and JPEG files.
scanning QR codes Now, on any website, right-click a The HEIC format can be useful if you
Google Chrome has a hidden feature blank space and select ‘Create QR code’. import the files into an image editor
that lets you scan a QR code on any On your phone or tablet, use the camera that can handle it, such as Serif’s
web page to open it on a phone or tablet. app or a QR code app to scan the code Affinity Photo.
It’s not easy to find because it’s currently and open the page in your web browser. Peter Argyle
an ‘experimental’ feature hidden away in Ben Ward
the Flags page. In the address bar, type EMAIL
chrome://flags ( 1 in screenshot) and, in FILES Block trackers using Trocker
the search bar at the top, type qr code 2 . Transfer photos from iPhone Encouraged by your very
Click the dropdown menu next to ‘Enable to PC using OneDrive interesting article on how to stop
sharing page via QR Code’ 3 and choose As an iPhone user who often emails spying on users (Cover Feature,
exports photos to a Windows PC, I Issue 592), I thought of installing your
was interested in your advice to David recommended extension PixelBlock
1 Newland on converting HEIC files (Issue (www.snipca.com/36347). But then I
593, page 19). It’s worth adding that iOS came across one called Trocker (it stands
2 converts them automatically when you for ‘tracker blocker’), which I installed
4 export photos to a non-iOS platform. I instead (from the Chrome Web Store
3 use OneDrive to transfer files to my PC www.snipca.com/36684). When it’s
(much easier than iTunes). Photos installed, you’ll see a T icon with a red

Why I stopped using…

Met Office app And what I use instead... send me alerts before it starts raining.
A round of applause I now use Dark Sky (pictured), It costs £3.99 from the Apple App
please for Hally Hardie. which Apple bought earlier Store (www.snipca.com/36798), but it’s
In Issue 592 (Letters) she this year (see www.snipca. a one-off fee, not a rip-off subscription.
explained why she no longer com/36799). What makes it so If it does start requiring a subscription,
trusts forecasts from the Met good is the precision of its I’ll be looking for another weather app.
Office. I also found them forecasts. You can move forward Howard Dempsey
unreliable, so I uninstalled its minute by minute to see how the
app (www.snipca.com/36797) weather changes, pinpointing Tell us why you stopped using a website, app
from my iPad. specific locations. I’ve set it up to or program: [email protected]

42 1 – 12 January 2021
 Handy hints and tips from your fellow readers
Email us your tips: [email protected]

Reader recommends…
Honor MagicBook Pro
£850 from Amazon www.snipca.com/36122

I’ve always thought £1,000 was It sometimes does things before I’ve
cross in your browser bar (see screenshot too much to spend on a laptop, had time to think about what I need to
above). The advantage of this extension is but I could never find one cheaper that do next. Software, particularly image-
that it works not only in Gmail, but also ticked all my boxes. But then I read editing tools, respond quickly.
in Yahoo Mail, which I use. And it works your review of Honor’s MagicBook Pro I use its USB-C port all the time, and
in Edge too. According to one user’s (Issue 591, page 22) and was tempted even got 10 hours battery life out of it
review it works better than PixelBlock. – particularly by its large screen (16.1in). recently, better than the 9 hours 15
Maybe – I can’t comment. I’ve been using it for a month now, minutes you managed.
Jerzy Zarach and it’s easily the best machine I’ve David Chard
ever had. All the test scores you Want to recommend hardware or software
SECURITY mention in your review went over my to fellow readers?
Store passwords using head, so let’s just say it’s extremely fast. Email [email protected]
end-to-end encryption
I read your Workshop in Issue 591
(page 40) on using KeePass in
conjunction with Dropbox to sync
passwords across multiple devices. For
maximum security, I suggest using one of
the online-storage services that provide
end-to-end (E2E) encryption, meaning
your data is encrypted in transit and on
the server in such a way that only you
(not the server operator) can decrypt
the files.
I use Sync (www.sync.com), based in
Canada, which offers 5GB of free storage.
An alternative is Mega (www.mega.nz,
see screenshot below), based in New
Zealand, which offers 15GB for free.
Using Dropbox, OneDrive or Google
Drive doesn’t seem much of an
improvement on using a password
manager like LastPass, which stores your SOFTWARE home accounting easier for people in the
passwords on its own servers. That makes Use Quicken to manage your US, but I receive all the software updates
people like me uneasy! personal finances and pay for it annually (from $35.99 – £27
Anthony Sheppard I read Issue 593’s How To (‘Export – a year: www.quicken.com/compare). It
your financial data from Microsoft looks very attractive, and you can configure
Money’) with interest. Unfortunately, I it for whichever currency you want. It has
don’t use any of the programs you mention, helped me considerably to budget and
such as HomeBank (www.snipca. maintain an even keel with our spending
com/36352), though I’ve tried Microsoft and saving.
Money along with others in the past. Trevor Whitfield
I noticed you didn’t mention Quicken
(www.quicken.com, see screenshot TV STREAMING
above), except in terms of its QIF files. Get Sky Sports News on Now TV
About three years ago I decided to Just a couple of things I’d like to
update my copy of Quicken to ensure mention regarding the reviews of
my household finances are kept on TV-streaming sticks in Issue 593. First,
track now and in the future. I phoned the BT Sport App (www.bt.com/sport/
Quicken Inc directly (01 650 250 1900) app) is now available on Amazon Fire TV.
and spoke to a pleasant man in customer Second, if you’re a Now TV Entertainment
services who said I could pay for a customer and you use a Now TV device,
downloaded copy after he’d set up an you get Sky Sports News as part of your
account for me. package. It’s a great added bonus.
Yes, I know that it’s set up to make Lee Marriott

1 – 12 January 2021 43
 Phone and Tablet Tips
ANDROID & iOS start counting down to the ANDROID & iOS
Use YouTube’s new controls end. Tapping it a second Save Google Maps for
Poking at tiny on-screen buttons time returns to the original offline use
is a sure-fire way to lose your setting. If you’re heading
concentration. That’s not ideal when If you tend to get caught somewhere remote
you’re trying to focus on a video. So, up in a YouTube loop of with patchy network coverage,
Google has re-thought the controls in its recommended videos, it’s or you’re planning a post-
YouTube app, which is a free download easy not to notice that lockdown trip abroad and don’t
for iOS (www.snipca.com/36773) and several hours have passed want to use too much data
Android (www.snipca.com/36774). and you should already while paying roaming charges,
One of our favourite tricks, which was have gone to bed. To help save any Google Maps you’ll
already built in, is skipping forwards or you get your beauty sleep, need before you leave home.
backwards 10 seconds by double-tapping Google has introduced Search for the location you’ll
the right or left halves of the playback bedtime reminders. be travelling to, swipe up the
window. This has now been To set one, launch the card that overlays the bottom of
supplemented by a swipe-up gesture, app and log into your the map, then tap Download.
which switches to full-screen playback, Google Account, then tap You’ll see a preview of the area
and swipe-down to switch back to the Settings followed by General, and tap you’re about to save to your phone. If it’s
small player window with comments and the slider next to ‘Remind me when it’s not exactly what you need, pinch in and
related videos below it. And, if you’re bedtime’. Set the times during which out to enlarge or reduce it, then tap
wondering how much longer a video still you should be in bed, and (optionally) Download (see screenshot above). Your
has to run, rather than how far through it untick the box next to ‘Wait until I finish map will download in the background.
you’ve got, tap the timestamp and it will my video to show the reminder’ (see Once you’ve done this, even with no 4G
screenshot left) if you want it to interrupt signal you can continue finding your way
you, regardless of what’s playing. You can – Google Maps will use the downloaded
‘snooze’ a bedtime reminder when it map when you stray into the area that it
pops up, in which case it will remind you covers. When you’re back online, it will
again 10 minutes later. update the downloaded map when new
Related to this is the option that appears information becomes available so it’s
immediately above the bedtime reminders always relevant.
switch, which is ‘Remind me to take a If you want to delete your map and
break’. Once enabled you can set the recover the space it occupies on your
interval at which YouTube will nudge phone, tap your account icon at the end
you to go and do something else for a of the search bar, then tap ‘Offline maps’.
while. It might be just enough to stop Tap the vertical three dots to the right of
you getting square (or more likely the relevant map, then tap Delete on the
rectangular) eyes. menu that appears.

BEST NEW APPS What you should install this fortnight

Craft Mahjong Calculator Pro

Free* Free* 59p
iOS www.snipca.com/36772 iOS www.snipca.com/36776 Android www.snipca.com/36775
Craft is an eye-catching note-taking app This attractive recreation of the classic Go beyond the calculator app built into
that lets you embed notes within each Chinese tile-clearing game could be just Android and get a host of additional
other for more structured note-keeping what you need to find a bit of peace. Every features, like loan calculators. It also
that should help puzzle is solvable, if you’re careful. There offers handy
you keep track of are daily challenges, 22 converters for
related notes. You board shapes to choose currency, distance,
can export your from and a selection temperature,
jottings as a PDF, of seven different tile energy, area,
sync them between styles. Although it’s volume and so
devices, and can free, it costs £11.99 to on. There are over
even add images remove the adverts. If 1,000 formulas
and videos – either this is a bit pricey for you can use,
as illustrations or you, there are plenty of with calculations
simply so you know alternatives to choose updating as you
where to find them. from Apple’s store. work on them.

*Contains in-app purchases

44 1 – 12 January 2021
 Brilliant things to do on your device

Scroll down the list of options instead be given the option

and tap Print. Now, rather to select which pages are
than going through the printed. Ignore this, and tap
rigmarole of selecting a the preview again to convert
printer, specifying how many the document to PDF.
copies you want and so on, Now tap the share button
long-press the preview of the for a second time (this time
printed page (see screenshot it’s at the top of the screen)
right). If you’re working with a and decide what you want to
single-page document, the do with the PDF, including
page will immediately be saving it to Files, emailing it
converted to a PDF, in which or adding it to an online
case, skip to the next storage account like Dropbox
paragraph. If you’re working (as long as you have the
with a multi-page document, you’ll relevant app installed).

BEST APPS FOR... Walkers

MapMyWalk
ANDROID Free*
Add live captions to videos iOS www.snipca.com/36779
Have you ever wanted to watch a Android www.snipca.com/36780
video without disturbing anyone If you’re bored of your regular walks, this
around you? Android 10 offers a handy app could help. We found dozens of new
built-in captioning option – although it circular and point-to-point walks in our
isn’t enabled on all Android phones. It local area (up to 40km in length). You can
works on all Google Pixel phones from track your progress on screen while the
the Pixel 2 onwards, as well as on several app measures your pace rate, bookmark
other models, but the only way to know your favourites and create challenges if
whether your manufacturer has enabled you need a target to work towards.
it is to give it a go. If so, Android will Best For Finding new walking routes
automatically provide subtitles for
whatever you’re watching by transcribing Footpath Route Planner
the audio track, even if there aren’t any Free*
subtitles built in. That way you can turn iOS www.snipca.com/36777
off the audio and carry on watching Trace a route with your finger and it will
without losing track of what’s going on. snap to roads and trails on this app’s
To start with, play a video. Now, press map. You can create routes for a variety
the volume button, then tap the Live of activities aside from walking, including
Caption button that – if you’re in luck – running, cycling and even canoeing. You
appears below the on-screen volume can follow the route on screen, but by
controls. Your phone will now transcribe upgrading (between £1.99 and £21.49)
spoken content in videos and (on Pixel you can also export it or have turn-by-turn
models) phone calls. Live captioning only directions.
works with English-language content, Best For Planning unfamiliar routes
but you can change several options by
opening Settings and tapping ‘Sound and Walkmeter
vibration’ followed by Live Caption. Here, Free*
you can obscure swear words (see iOS www.snipca.com/36782
screenshot above) and add annotations Android www.snipca.com/36783
for elements like applause and laughter. Track your walk, calories burned, distance
covered and more, and use voice control
iOS (for an £8.99 upgrade) so you don’t need
Create PDFs without to keep looking at your phone while you’re
using an app exercising. You can also use it for a range
There’s a lesser-known way to create of sports, including hiking, skiing and
PDFs from directly within iOS. Open kayaking, and analyse your performance
the document or web page you want to using stats, graphs and time records.
convert into a PDF, then tap the share Best For Analysing your walks
button (a square with an up arrow).
*Contains in-app purchases

1 – 12 January 2021 45
 Make Windows Better Expert tips for every version

WINDOWS 7, 8.1 & 10

WINDOWS 7, 8.1 & 10
Slow down Command Prompt
If you use Command
Prompt (click Start, Stop Windows switching networks
type cmd, then press
Enter) to show the contents of a large In Issue 595’s Cover
folder, you’ll find it displays all the Feature (see page 53)
information at lightning speed, leaving we explained how to
you to scroll through a lot of data to stop Windows switching from your
check it all. If you want an easier way to router’s 5GHz network (usually the
view the results, try adding ‘ | more’ to fastest) to its 2.4GHz network. You do
the end of whatever command you’re this by clicking the Wi-Fi symbol in
using. So, if you want to view all files in your system tray, selecting the 2.4GHz
your Windows folder, you need to type network, then unticking ‘Connect
dir c:\windows | more (see screenshot automatically’.
below).You can produce the ‘|’ character Another way to do this is to tell
(known as a pipe) on most keyboards by Windows not to look for other
holding down the Shift key and pressing networks while you’re connected to
the ‘\’ key. When the Command Prompt your 5GHz band. To do this, first make to this network’ option (see screenshot)
output fills your screen, it’ll pause and sure you’re connected to the network then click OK, followed by Close.
show ‘-- More --’. To display the next you want to stay on, then right-click As long as you’re connected to that
page, press the Space key, or to progress the Wi-Fi symbol in the system tray, network, Windows will no longer
one line at a time press Enter repeatedly. select ‘Open Network & Internet search for other nearby networks to
Settings’, then click ‘Change adapter connect to. Bear in mind that although
options’. In the window that opens, 2.4GHz networks are slower than 5GHz,
double-click your wireless adapter (this they have greater range. So if you have
will have a signal-strength icon next to a large house you may find Windows
it, showing it’s currently connected), clings on to a slow 5GHz signal at the
then click Wireless Properties. Finally, very edge of its range instead of
remove the tick from the ‘Look for switching to the stronger 2.4GHz
other wireless networks while connected network.

key+I), select Devices,

then Mouse and click the
WINDOWS 7, 8.1 & 10 ‘Additional mouse options’
Locate your cursor quickly link (depending on the size
If you have multiple of your Settings window, this
monitors – or just a will either be on the left or at
single, large monitor – the bottom).
locating your cursor may require you to In the Mouse Properties
frantically move your mouse around to window that appears, select
make it more visible. There is an easier the Pointer Options tab,
way. First, open Settings (press Windows then tick the box next to
‘Show location of pointer…’
(see screenshot left) and
click OK. The next time you
want to find your cursor,
simply press the Ctrl key. The
pointer will now be highlighted by a you’re using, press the Windows key+.
graphic similar to the opening credits of (full stop). A small window full of yellow
the classic BBC comedy Ever Decreasing gurning faces will appear – simply click
Circles (www.snipca.com/368290). the one you want and it’ll appear.
Note that emoji graphics will work in
WINDOWS 10 most Windows 10 apps as well as your
Use emojis in any app browser, but not in programs such as
No, we’re not huge fans of emojis Office and Notepad. For these, you’ll
either, but they can be useful if need to switch to the text-based emojis –
you want to inject a bit of humour or Kaomojis, as they’re known – by
into an email. If you want to do this, but selecting the middle tab at the top (see
can’t find the emoji option in the program screenshot above).

46 1 – 12 January 2021
Make Office Better Top tips for MS Office & LibreOffice

MICROSOFT WORD & EXCEL

Sync changes between documents

Copying text from one copy it. Next, open the
document to another document you want to paste
isn’t difficult - you can the text into, but instead of
press Ctrl+C (copy) then Ctrl+V (paste). pressing Ctrl+V select the
But what if the text you’ve previously Home tab in the toolbar, click
copied regularly changes (such as with the down arrow under the
a running total in a fundraising Paste button (this is usually at
document)? If you don’t like the idea the far left of the toolbar) and
of having to constantly re-paste the text select ‘Paste Special…’. In the
to keep it up to date, you can instead window that opens, select the
paste the text as a link. If the text in the ‘Paste link’ option on the left
document changes, the linked text in (see screenshot), choose
the other document changes in tandem. ‘Formatted Text (RTF)’ in the As box, then change the text you copied, then return
Open the document you want to click OK. to the second document. You’ll notice
copy text from, then highlight the text The text will now appear as normal. To the pasted text updates automatically
you want to copy and press Ctrl+C to test this, go back to the first document, (this can take a couple of seconds).

MICROSOFT EXCEL & LIBREOFFICE CALC date value (right-click, then select
Add or subtract days to/from ‘Format Cells…’).
dates in your spreadsheet It’s also worth pointing out that Excel
If you want to add or only works with dates back to 1900. If
subtract a certain number you try to run calculations on dates
of days to/from a date in earlier than this, Excel rather unhelpfully
Excel or Calc, you can use a simple throws up a ‘#Value!’ error message.
calculation function. In our example, we There is a solution, though – simply
want to add 15 days to the date in cell A2 switch to LibreOffice Calc, which has
(30/12/2020), so we enter 15 in cell B2, no such restrictions.
then use the formula =A2+B2 in C2,
which gives the result 14/1/2021. MICROSOFT WORD
You can also quickly add or subtract Find alternative words to use OUTLOOK
entire months using the EDATE formula, Microsoft continues to add new Launch Skype Meet Now
as illustrated in row 3 below. We enter features to the online version of directly from Outlook
=EDATE(A3, B3) in cell C2 (as shown in Word (www.office.com – as with Skype’s Meet Now tool lets you
the Formula bar in the screenshot below). Outlook.com, you need a Microsoft launch video calls with friends
This formula takes the date from A3 account to access it). The latest update and family, without the need for
(30/12/2020) and adds to it the number of adds a synonyms tool to help you find them to have a Skype account (see Issue
months in cell B3 (4), resulting in a date alternatives for certain words, much like 595, page 48 for more details). Thanks to
of 30/4/2021. If you want to subtract a that found in the offline version of Word. a recent update, you can now start Meet
certain number of months, use the minus To use it, select the word, right-click it, Now video calls from Outlook.com
symbol (so to remove four months from then select Synonyms (see screenshot (Microsoft’s web-based email tool).
this date, we’d type -4 in cell B3). below). Alternative suggestions will then To start a call, click the new ‘Meet
When using a formula to calculate a be shown in the pane on the right-hand now’ button on the toolbar at the top.
date, make sure you format that cell as a side of the window. A new tab will now open in your
browser. You may also see a permission
box asking whether you want Skype to
use your microphone and camera –
if so, click Allow.
A link for your meeting will be
displayed in the ‘Share link and invite
others’ box. Click the copy button (see
screenshot above), then email the link to
whoever you want to join the meeting.
Note that if anyone you send the link to
forwards it on to others, they too will be
able to join your meeting.

1 – 12 January 2021 47
 In The Club
Run a club or society? Here's how your tech can make it easier

Stream a presentation using Chromecast

M any businesses use PowerPoint to Once you’ve clicked
the Present button
create presentations for company
you’ll see a list of
strategy, marketing aims or finance controls at the bottom
projections. If you run a club, you can do
something similar to explain to members
what the club’s future plans are or to
present a photo slideshow. Here we show
you how you can avoid spending money
on Microsoft Office and wasting time
trying to connect your laptop to the
club’s TV by instead using Google’s
Chromecast streaming device.

Set up a Chromecast
Chromecast is a dongle that connects to
your TV and displays anything you send
– or cast – to it over Wi-Fi. The newest
model, Chromecast with Google TV, costs Create your presentation View your presentation on
£60 (www.snipca.com/36435), but using Google Slides your TV
Google also sells an older model for £30 To make the presentation, we’ll use You can view your presentation on your
(www.snipca.com/36434) that will work Google Slides – Google’s free online computer by clicking the Present button
fine for your needs. PowerPoint equivalent. Go to www. at the top right. It will open full-screen
To set up your Chromecast, plug the snipca.com/36801 and click the ‘Blank’ and display controls at the bottom (see
power cable into it and insert the dongle tile under ‘Start a new presentation’. screenshot above). Click a slide to jump
into a spare HDMI port on your TV (as Alternatively, click the Template link on to the next one. You can exit full-screen
pictured below), and then switch to the the right to see examples you can use. mode by right-clicking and selecting Exit
relevant input source using the AV/Input If you’ve created presentations before, Full Screen, or by pressing Esc on your
button on your TV’s remote control. Next, Slides should be familiar, but if not, it keyboard.
follow Google’s instructions at www. doesn’t take too long to get to grips with. When you’re ready to cast your
snipca.com/36802. You’ll be prompted to Each slide in your presentation will slideshow, click the down arrow to the
download the Google Home app on appear in a strip on the left. Adding new right of the Present button and select
Android or iOS to complete the setup and ones is simply a matter of clicking the ‘Present on another screen’. A box with a
will need to make sure Bluetooth is small plus sign in the top-left corner. list of sources will open. You should see
enabled on your phone. Click a slide to customise it. You’ll see your Chromecast listed, as long as it’s set
dummy text within the slide saying ‘Click up correctly and on the same Wi-Fi
to add title’ and ‘Click to add subtitle’. network (ours is called ‘Queen’s Gambit’,
Click either and you can then type your see screenshot below). Click its name,
replacement text. Click and drag on the and the slideshow will play on your TV. It
handles around the text box to resize or will be displayed simultaneously on your
move it. At the top you’ll see the usual PC screen, so you’ll be able to control the
formatting options that let you change presentation from where you are.
the font, resize text, and bold or italicise
it. Towards the left are buttons for adding
new text boxes, images, shapes, lines and
fills. To remove an unwanted box from a
slide, click to select it and press delete on
your keyboard.
It’s easy to construct a series of slides in
this way. The ‘Themes’ sidebar on the
right lets you customise the look of your
Plug your Chromecast into any spare HDMI presentation. Click on a preset to apply it Select the name of your Chromecast to cast
port on your TV to the entire project. your presentation to your TV

48 1 – 12 January 2021 Next issue: Set up a silent auction

What’s All the
Fuss About...
Project Latte
Microsoft wantsAndroid to wake up and smell the coffee

What is it?
Microsoft’s plan to make Android apps
run smoothly on Windows 10. It’s a
software subsystem that Android
developers will be able to use to convert
their apps so they work on computers as
well as phones and tablets.

What’s a subsystem?
Also called a compatibility layer, it’s a
computing method for allowing one
operating system to ‘translate’ programs
that were written in a different coding
language for another operating system.
Windows already has a subsystem for
Linux software.

Really? When did that launch?

It was announced in 2016 and since June
2019 has been available to Windows
Insiders. Called Windows Subsystem for apps for Windows will be both apps on your computer. But the apps
Linux (WSL), it creates a virtual Linux reasonably easy and worth their effort. It aren’t downloaded to your desktop.
kernel in Windows. You can run Linux failed previously with Windows Phone. Rather, you ‘mirror’ your phone’s screen
tools by typing commands into on your PC, which makes the process
PowerShell, which is Microsoft’s long- What happened? unreliable and clunky. Also, it works only
term replacement for Command Prompt. Back in 2011 it launched a tool for on a small range of Samsung devices (see
Android developers to build apps for the which ones at www.snipca.com/36355).
Hold on – what’s a kernel? new Windows Phone system. Some
A program that sits at the heart of an developers responded, but most didn’t. But Project Latte will make
operating system, controlling everything As a result, Windows Phone struggled to things easier?
it does. It’s one of the first programs to gain a following, and never challenged Yes, because you’ll be downloading the
load when you boot your computer, and Android or Apple’s iOS. Microsoft axed it apps to your computer then running
stays permanently in your memory so it in 2019. Then there was Project Astoria, them from there, just as you install apps
can handle interactions between your another plan to help developers move now from the Microsoft Store. Big
software and hardware. Android itself is Android apps to Windows 10 Mobile. questions remain though: how many
based on the Linux kernel. Microsoft announced it in 2015, but developers will use it? How well will apps
cancelled it a year later. designed for small phone screens work
Where will the apps be on bigger PC screens? Would Microsoft
available? Could it succeed this time? like to use the logo we created (above)?
Through Microsoft’s App Store (www. Possibly. Windows Phone had a fraction And where does the name come from?
snipca.com/36888). But it all depends on of Android’s market share, so developers
whether the company can persuade had little incentive to build apps for it. Ah yes, I was wondering
Android developers that converting their Windows 10 in contrast runs on over a about that…
billion computers worldwide. That’s a lot Perhaps it’s a nod to the latte’s familiar
of users developers would reach. combination of coffee and milk. Is
Windows the coffee and Android the
Can’t I already use Android apps milk, exquisitely blended to make a
on my PC? frothy new computing experience? Or
Sort of. You’re thinking of Microsoft’s maybe it’s Microsoft’s way of
Your Phone app (available from Microsoft’s acknowledging all the delays it’s suffered
You can access Android apps on your PC Store at www.snipca.com/36889, getting Android apps on to Windows.
using Your Phone, but it’s far from perfect pictured left). This lets you open Android Better latte than never, you see.

1 – 12 January 2021 49
3-6-1-6-6-7-5-1-3

COVER FEATURE

SOFTWARE
YOU SHOULD
NEVER
INSTALL
They promise the world, but not all programs have your
best interests at heart. From rip
rip-offs
offs to security risks,
Jonathan Parkyn names the tools you need to avoid

I
t’s always tempting to pack your PC came bundled with something you harvesting your data or smuggling
with software, whether it’s tools you bought. unwanted programs on to your computer
think you need, programs that claim However, overloading your computer without your consent.
to offer brilliant features, or software isn’t a good idea. For a start, all that Microsoft has done a pretty good job of
you feel obliged to install because they software can seriously eat into your sharpening Windows’ toolkit over the
storage space – unnecessarily so, if you years and you might be surprised to find
never or rarely use them. Installed just how many tasks your PC can carry
WHAT YOU CAN DO programs also often add processes that out without the need for extra programs.
run in the background, sapping system And, when you do need to turn to a third-
• Stop paying for software that you can resources and slowing your PC. party option, there are so many brilliant,
get for free in Windows Then there are those deceitful tools that trustworthy free tools and mobile apps
• Ditch expensive OCR tools for claim to be free, only to insist you have to that we’ll make sure you never need to
superior, free alternatives pay to actually use them once they’re splash out on rip-off software or dodgy
• Install graphics drivers without the installed. Some tools can even present a programs ever again.
unwanted junk threat to your security, either because Over the next few pages, we’ll show
• Avoid paid-for software that’s they’re out of date and vulnerable to you precisely which programs you should
available free elsewhere hackers, or because they come from steer clear of, why, and what to use
dodgy software developers, intent on instead.

50 1 – 12 January 2021
 SOFTWARE
YOU SHOULD
NEVER INSTALL
SOFTWARE THAT CLAIMS TO BE FREE – BUT ISN’T
With software, there really is such a thing
as a free lunch. Search online and you’ll
find hundreds of genuinely brilliant,
genuinely free tools for all kinds of tasks,
from LibreOffice to Paint.NET and
beyond. Sadly, you’ll also come across
tools that claim to be free but are, in fact,
just keeping their real costs hidden –
conning you into installing them before
hitting you with a socking great bill.
Others try to convince you that you need
to pay for advanced features, when free
tools are just as good. Then there are the
rip-off merchants that try to palm off
other people’s free software as their own
and make you pay for it.

Programs that claim

to be free but aren’t
Most fake freebies follow a familiar
pattern. First, they lure you in with the Driver Booster does a good job of finding out-of-date drivers, but demands payment before
promise of carrying out a task for free, updating them
then send you into a blind panic by
uncovering problems you need to updated driver is available as an optional Recoverit, which is offered as a free
urgently fix, while simultaneously Windows update (this is a new feature in download from www.snipca.com/36761.
refusing to resolve anything until you Windows). Allow Recoverit to scan for your lost
cough up some money. To do this, open Settings (press the files and it may well locate them. The
Driver Booster is a case in point. If Windows key+I), go to ‘Update & trouble is, locating them is about all it’ll
you’re looking for a tool to help you keep Security’, Windows Update, then ‘View do – unless you pay, of course. Having
your hardware drivers up to date, IObit’s optional updates’. Tick the ones you want tantalised you with the prospect of
Driver Booster will probably appear to download, then click ‘Download and restoring your files, you’ll find that
towards the top of your search results. Go install’ (see screenshot below). Alternatively, clicking the Recover button throws up a
to www.snipca.com/36760 and, sure go to the manufacturer’s support pages to prompt to buy the Pro (£45) or Ultimate
enough, the tool claims to “update more download and install the latest driver (£53) versions, along with a stress-
than 3,500,000 device drivers and yourself. inducing message urging you to “recover
components for top PC performance”, Data-recovery tool Recoverit pulls a as soon as possible to prevent the files
while the huge Free Download button similar trick. If you’ve accidentally from being overwritten”.
clearly suggests that the tool is free. deleted some important files or discovered It may come from Piriform, developers
Guess what? It isn’t. that your digital camera’s memory card of the popular CCleaner (which has been
Once you’ve navigated your way has somehow eaten all your holiday known to pull a few tricks of its own –
through IObit’s cunning installer, you’ll snaps, you may find yourself turning to see page 56), but we’d recommend
be invited to run a scan to check for Recuva (www.ccleaner.com/recuva)
out-of-date drivers. Do that and, if you’re instead should you need to claw back lost
lucky, Driver Booster may even offer to data, not least because the free version is
update a token driver or two for you. But completely free, with no strings attached.
at this point it will also present you with
a message telling you to “Upgrade to PRO Don’t pay for software when
edition” (see screenshot above) to update free tools are just as good
all your remaining out-of-date device Some brands try to cling on to past
drivers the tool has identified, effectively glories to convince people their software
holding you to ransom unless you pay is still relevant. Take WinZip. Years ago, it
(£57 a year). was the best tool for compressing and
The truth is that Windows 10 will apply decompressing files using the ZIP
most of the driver updates you need via format, while the ‘Win’ bit of its name
Windows Update. This usually happens somehow made it feel like a semi-official
automatically and there’s little need to Windows accessory. Now owned by Corel
mess around with drivers if all your and on version 25, WinZip is still going
hardware is behaving normally. If you’re strong. Its website (www.winzip.com)
experiencing problems with a specific The ‘Optional updates’ tool in Windows lets even suggests WinZip is “the world’s #1
component, however, you can see if an you install a wide range of drivers compression utility software”.

1 – 12 January 2021 51
 What it fails to tell you (until you’ve Only once you’ve
clicked the large Free Download button installed WinZip
and installed it) is that the free version is does it become
clear that the
limited to 21 days (see screenshot right). program is a
WinZip Standard costs £31 – and that’s 21-day free trial
not a one-off fee, that’s every year. What
it also fails to mention is that Windows
already has built-in support for the ZIP
format. To open a ZIP file without any
additional software, just right-click it and
select Extract All. And to add some files
or folders to a ZIP file yourself, right-click
them, then click ‘Send to’ followed by
‘Compressed (zipped) folder’.
It’s true that Windows lacks extensive
support for other archive formats (RAR,
7z, TAR and so on), but if you need to
compress or extract these, there are
several brilliant tools that, unlike WinZip,
really are free. PeaZip (https://peazip.
github.io) is our current favourite (see
Issue 594, page 18 for more on PeaZip).
Some of the very best software is premium subscription (currently £2.60
offered in both free and paid-for versions per month).
– security tools are a good example. And, What many don’t realise is that
if you really like the free version, it can be LastPass recently added both of these
tempting to stump up for the premium tools to the Free version (see screenshot
version and unlock all its extra features. right), so there are no longer many
Doing so, however, won’t always provide convincing arguments for most people to
the type of benefits you might expect. pay for the premium version – unless you
LastPass (www.lastpass.com), for want to take advantage of features such as
example, is a brilliant free way to manage its 1GB of online storage (which you can
your passwords. It used to be that certain easily get elsewhere) or Emergency
key features (such as syncing your Access tool (which lets you nominate
passwords across multiple devices and someone to be able to access your
sharing them with trusted family account if you forget your password or The free version of LastPass now provides all
members) required you to pay for a become incapacitated). you need from a password manager

Programs that rip off free software, then resell it

There’s an admirable and devoted ProFlightSimulator isn’t the only
community of software developers chancer in on the act. Several other
who put a lot of hard work into creating companies have seen FlightGear as
and maintaining free tools, such as their flight path to a fast buck, including
open-source software. And, as it turns VirtualPilot3D (www.virtualpilot3d.com),
out, there’s an equally devoted – but which also claims to be “the world’s most
significantly less admirable – community realistic flight simulator” and costs up
that likes to rip everyone off by taking to a whopping £200 for the Premium
other people’s free tools, rebranding Package.
them and selling them for their own This type of practice isn’t actually
personal profit. illegal. With open-source software, the
A good example of this is flightgear.org – see Issue 595, page 18). whole point is that anyone can download
ProFlightSimulator (https:// In fact, it’s worse than that – It’s actually and use the source code however they
proflightsimulator.com, see screenshot), a superficially tweaked copy of an outdated want. Big, profit-making companies,
which makes the bold claim of being version of FlightGear. The major difference, such as Google and Microsoft frequently
“the most realistic flight simulator ever however, is that, while FlightGear itself is incorporate open-source code into their
created”. That’s quite a boast considering open-source and free, ProFlightSimulator’s products. So, while ProFlightSimulator
the owners of the game didn’t actually owners will charge you £73 for their and co aren’t technically breaking the
create it themselves. ProFlightSimulator knock-off version (that’s more than law, their brazen attempt to rip off
is heavily based on another flight Microsoft’s latest Flight Simulator 2020 – someone else’s work to make money is
simulator called FlightGear (www. www.snipca.com/36806). unscrupulous and unethical.

52 1 – 12 January 2021
 SOFTWARE
YOU SHOULD
NEVER INSTALL
SOFTWARE OFFERING TOOLS YOU’LL NEVER NEED
From exaggerated claims to outright lies, Windows’
software companies use all kinds of tricks clipboard manager
lets you sync your
to persuade you to install their tools. We cut and copied text
wouldn’t blame you for falling for them across all your PCs
– after all, who wouldn’t want a faster,
more powerful computer? However, in
most cases you simply don’t need these
so-called essential tools. Windows will
often already do the job they offer to do,
while others can actually slow your PC.

Tools you don’t need because

Windows does it better
In the bad old days of computing, you
needed to spend a fair chunk of time
looking after your PC and maintaining
the smooth running of Windows. One
regular chore was making sure your hard
drive was optimised by consolidating – or you have and treat it accordingly. So, turn on ‘Clipboard history’. If you don’t
defragmenting – the data stored on it. there’s really no good reason to install already use one to log into Windows.
And, while Windows has always included Defraggler – or any other third-party you’ll be prompted to sign in with a
a tool for defragmenting drives, Disk defragmenting tool. Microsoft account before you can enable
Defragmenter never had much of a Windows hasn’t only improved how it the ‘Sync across devices’ option (see
reputation for being fast or easy to use, looks after your hardware – it also does a screenshot above). Once it’s all set up,
which is why many people turned to better job of tidying up after itself. You’ll anything you copy will appear in your
simpler alternatives, such as Piriform’s still find plenty of software offering help clipboard manager, which you can open
Defraggler (www.snipca.com/36784). where it’s not needed, though - none by pressing Windows key+V on any PC
That has all changed, however. These more so than registry-cleaning tools, (you’ll just need to be signed in with the
days, Windows 10 defragments your hard such as Auslogics Registry Cleaner Free same Microsoft account).
drives in the background automatically, (www.snipca.com/36785). As regular A recent update to the beta version of
so you no longer even have to think about readers will know, we think such tools the Microsoft-owned SwiftKey app for
it (though that hasn’t stopped Piriform are a waste of time, not to mention Android devices (www.snipca.com/36786)
peddling Defraggler). potentially hazardous. You’re very could soon pave the way for seamless
If you want to check Windows has unlikely to notice any performance boost, copying and pasting between Windows
done this job, click Start, type defrag, and if the tool deletes a registry entry you and Android devices, too, potentially
then press Enter – you should see a need your PC will soon start playing up. eliminating the need to install tools such
window similar to the one in our Not all of Windows’ built-in clean-up as Pigeon (www.snipca.com/36787).
screenshot below, with ‘Scheduled tools are enabled by default. To make sure
optimisation’ set to On (this means Windows regularly deletes temporary Bloated drivers you don’t need
Windows is taking care of things for you). files and other junk, open Settings, then All hardware components and
Also be aware that solid-state drives go to System, Storage and click the slider peripherals require drivers – small pieces
(SSDs) aren’t affected by fragmentation at the top to turn on Storage Sense. Click of software that tell Windows what the
like older mechanical hard drives, and ‘Configure Storage Sense or run it now’ devices are and how to use them.
defragmenting an SSD effectively for more options, including running a However, some hardware manufacturers
shortens its life. The good news is that clean-up on a more regular schedule (by see it as an opportunity to clutter your
Windows 10 will (once again, default it runs weekly). PC with additional tools that you have
automatically) detect what type of drive Windows’ twice-yearly Feature updates little or no use for.
bring with them a selection of new Take graphics card manufacturer
capabilities, some of which add functions Nvidia. You don’t have to be an avid
that you previously needed a third-party gamer to find yourself overloaded with
tool for. The October 2018 Update, for driver junk. Even the company’s budget
example, added a brilliant clipboard graphics cards, such as its £40 GT710,
manager, which lets you save multiple require the installation of a GeForce
items to your clipboard, as well as share it driver that weighs in at a massive 618MB
between computers. This effectively (see screenshot on page 55).
removes the need for third-party Why is it so big? Because in addition to
clipboard managers, such as 1Clipboard the driver, Nvidia’s download comes with
(http://1clipboard.io). Again, Windows a raft of other software, much of which
Windows optimises your hard drive on a leaves this feature disabled by default, so you’re never likely to need, including a
weekly basis, so you don’t have to go to Settings, System, Clipboard and program called 3D Vision Photo Viewer

1 – 12 January 2021 53
 READER OFFER! ADDAA
DISC FOR
£6.95

Buy Windows 10 Pro

for just £39.99
In this new Reader Offer, we’re selling Windows 10 Pro for just
£39.99 (1-PC, unlimited lifetime licence)!
That’s just £10 more than Windows 10 Home, and is an 82%
reduction on Microsoft’s full price of £219.99.
To buy Windows 10 Pro, visit www.snipca.com/34720 and
click the red Buy Now button on the right. If you have
any questions about your purchase, please email Daniel Booth,
Editor of Computeractive. You can reach him directly at
[email protected].

JUST SO YOU KNOW…

We have a limited number of Windows 10 Pro codes for
this offer, but we should have enough to satisfy the high
demand we anticipate from readers
 SOFTWARE
YOU SHOULD
NEVER INSTALL
(alongside a preview pack of 3D content Graphics card
– more bloatware), a program called drivers often come
with unnecessary
GeForce Experience (a screenshot and
junk that just takes
video-capture tool) and more. Not only up hard-drive
does all this take up valuable hard-drive space
space, but it can also slow your PC
because many of Nvidia’s tools are
designed to constantly run in the
background.
There is a solution, though. A clever
free tool called NVCleanstall (www.
snipca.com/36788) lets you slim down
your Nvidia driver installation, by
allowing you to select only the
components you want to install. The tool
will detect your graphics card automatically letters and other printed documents into
and selecting the Recommended option digital files, and allows you to copy and
will deselect everything except the paste chunks of text into other documents.
essential graphics and audio drivers (see Until recently, you’d need a scanner
screenshot below). NVCleanstall is, and some OCR software to carry out tasks
appropriately, a portable tool, so it won’t like these. OCR programs aren’t cheap,
add any unnecessary bloat itself. either. OmniPage, an OCR veteran that
Also guilty of overloading users with has been around since the 1970s, costs
bloatware are printer manufacturers. Buy £79 for the Standard edition (www.
a Canon PIXMA TS3350 all-in-one, for snipca.com/36789), while Easy Screen
example, and you could easily end up OCR (https://easyscreenocr.com) costs
installing half a dozen new programs in £12 per month. The good news is that you
addition to the basic driver, including don’t need to buy dedicated OCR tools
image-editing tools, such as anymore. In fact, you don’t even need a
Easy-PhotoPrint Editor and PosterArtist scanner. All you need is a phone or tablet
Lite, totalling almost 500MB. It’s easy to with Google Photos installed.
assume all this is necessary, but there are Last year, Google updated its Photos
better alternatives that won’t take up app with the ability to search and copy
nearly as much room, such as free text from pictures, putting the power of
programs like Paint.NET (www.getpaint. OCR in your pocket. You’ll need to have
net) or Gimp (www.gimp.org). the latest version of Google Photos
installed (Android www.snipca.com/36790;
Expensive tools you can replace iOS www.snipca.com/36791).
with free mobile apps To digitise a document, just take a
Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is photo of it with your device’s camera –
the posh name for being able to turn ensuring the document is evenly lit
images into editable text. This is all but and as straight as possible – then open
essential for anyone running their own it in Google Photos. The app will
home office, as it lets you convert receipts, automatically register that the image
contains text and present you with a
‘Copy text from image’ option. Tap this, Ditch expensive OCR software and use the
and you’ll be able to select and copy the free Google Photos app instead
text as you would in any document (see
screenshot above right). includes a heat-mapping feature that lets
From there, you can paste the text you identify weak areas of coverage in
anywhere you need it – into another your home, but it costs £38 (www.snipca.
document, for example, or an email. This com/36792). If you are eager to create a
also works with screenshots. And, better heat map, we suggest using an Android
still, if the text you’ve converted is in a app called WiFi Heatmap (www.snipca.
foreign language, Google Photos will com/36793).
detect this and offer to translate it for However, you’re far better off using a
you. If you’d prefer to do everything on free Command Prompt tool called iPerf
your PC (rather than online), the free (www.snipca.com/36807), which provides
PDF24 tool includes an OCR tool (see much more accurate results. The only
page 19). downside is that it takes a bit of getting
Another expensive PC tool you can used to (see Issue 595’s Cover Feature,
NVCleanstall lets you install only those happily avoid in favour of a free mobile starting page 50, for a complete guide on
components your graphics card needs to work app is Netspot. This Wi-Fi analyser tool how to use it).

1 – 12 January 2021 55
 SOFTWARE THAT TRIES TO TRICK YOU
Programs that gather your
personal information
EaseUS Todo Backup Free (www.snipca.
com/36808) takes a somewhat
nonchalant attitude to your privacy. This
is clear from the moment you try to
download it, whereupon you’ll see an
urgent demand for your email address.
While EaseUS states “we value your
privacy”, a quick scan of the company’s
privacy policy (www.snipca.com/36809)
reveals that it will use this to “tailor
marketing to your needs” – yes, that
means spam.
And that’s not all. If you install Todo
Backup Free, you’ll be automatically
opted into EaseUS’s data-collection
programme, effectively allowing it to
gather as much information about
your system and program usage as it
likes. You can opt out of this by accessing Untick this box to stop EaseUs Todo gathering information about your PC
the program’s well-hidden settings –
click the small down arrow top right, Software that installs
then select Settings and untick ‘Join unwanted tools
the Customer Experience Improvement Another trick that cunning software
Program’ (see screenshot above developers like to pull is to install
right). Then there’s EaseUS’s constant unwanted programs on your PC without
nagging to upgrade to one of its paid-for your consent. We already called out IObit
programs. Driver Booster (on page 51) for spuriously
Alternatively, you could just avoid all of marketing itself as free, but this serial
this hassle and opt for a less intrusive offender also pushes several ‘offers’ of
backup tool. If you have a USB hard drive, free trinkets during installation,
Windows can perform basic but perfectly including a ‘private’ web browser called Just say ‘No, thanks’ when Driver Booster tries
adequate backups with its File History Waterfox (see screenshot right), which to foist this browser on you during installation
tool – go to Settings, ‘Update & Security’, just happens to be owned by global
Backup and select ‘Add a drive’ to set marketing company System1. exactly where the Next button is usually
this up. Meanwhile, if you need another reason located on standard installer screens.
EaseUS isn’t the only company that to steer clear of MiniTool Partition Wizard CCleaner is such a persistent offender
covets your data. MiniTool’s Partition Free (see above), how about the easy-to- that Microsoft recently reclassified it as a
Wizard Free (www.partitionwizard.com) miss pre-ticked option in its installer, potentially unwanted program (PUP,
promises to organise your drive’s which will foist system-backup software www.snipca.com/36812).
partitions, analyse its performance and MiniTool Shadowmaker on to your PC. Sadly, even some of our favourite tools
generally optimise how it works – all for This dubious tactic has escalated in recent have resorted to this kind of junk
free. Except there’s a hidden cost – your years, with software developers finding trafficking in recent years. FileZilla
privacy. Run the installer and, unless you new ways to con you into installing tools (https://filezilla-project.org), a
have your wits about you, it’s easy to miss you don’t need. once-brilliant free FTP program, recently
the pre-ticked box that signs you up for Take CCleaner (www.ccleaner.com). started pushing pointless extras during
MiniTool’s Customer Experience The free version of the junk-cleaning tool installation. FileZilla does at least admit
Improvement Program, which gathers is infamous – ironically – for shovelling on its download page that its installer
information in much the same way as junk on to users’ PCs, and is still up to its “may include bundled offers”.
EaseUS does. Unlike with Todo, however, old tricks, despite widespread criticism. Nevertheless, we’ve stopped
there’s no way to opt out of this once the During installation of the current version, recommending FileZilla and now use
program has been installed. you’ll encounter a screen prompting you Cyberduck to transfer files between web
As we mentioned earlier, you really to install additional tools, including AVG servers and our PCs. Cyberduck costs £20
don’t need tools like this anyway. antivirus software. The aim is to snare if you opt for the Microsoft Store app
Windows is perfectly capable of those who quickly click through program version (www.snipca.com/36835),
optimising your hard drive, and its Disk installers without paying attention. It’s all though the standard version is free from
Management tool (you’ll find it by too easy to inadvertantly click Accept https://cyberduck.io/download – and,
searching in the Start menu) lets you when the button is deliberately crucially, it won’t attempt to clog up your
create and manage partitions. positioned on the right of the window, PC with rubbish.

56 1 – 12 January 2021
 SOFTWARE
YOU SHOULD
NEVER INSTALL
SOFTWARE THAT’S OUT OF DATE
Tools that have gone If you want
to copy
out of fashion multiple
Technology trends come and go, as do the files to a CD
programs associated with them. Not so or DVD over
long ago, optical drives were widespread time, select
this burning
and most people had some form of option in
disc-burning software installed. Now, Windows
however, the need for burning discs is
diminishing fast. That’s partly because
there are now easier, more practical ways
to store data – online or on relatively
cheap USB sticks and external drives.
Another reason is that discs are not
terribly reliable. Over time they can
develop what’s known as disc rot, where
the dye in the disc starts to deteriorate,
ruining any data stored on it. Even if you
still need to create the occasional disc,
there’s really no need to pay for an This is largely because the free version Old tools that pose a security risk
expensive burning suite like Nero of Reader doesn’t let you do much Installing certain old tools could put your
Platinum (£40 from www.snipca. beyond reading and printing documents PC, and the data stored on it, at risk. This
com/36794) or Roxio Creator (£70 from (despite its 169MB download size). year has seen Microsoft end support for
www.snipca.com/36795). Windows can now do this without the both Windows 7 and Office 2010.
Instead, you should use Windows’ need to install anything because PDF If you still have the installation disc
drag-and-drop burning tool. Simply support is built into Microsoft’s Edge they came on, or the original installer file,
insert your blank disc, click it in File browser. Edge also now offers handy there’s nothing to stop you from
Explorer then select ‘Like a USB flash additional tools for annotating, installing old programs on your PC, but
drive’ (see screenshot above right) – this highlighting and exporting PDFs. Simply there’s a good reason why you shouldn’t:
lets you copy and delete files from the open your PDF in Edge and a toolbar they are potentially unsafe. They won’t
disc over time. Alternatively, select catering for all these tasks will appear. receive regular security updates, which
‘With a CD/DVD player’ to carry out a Windows also includes a way to create means hackers can exploit vulnerabilities
one-time burn process that makes the your own PDFs from within any program and use them to install malware or
disc compatible with non-Windows – just print your document, photo or web remotely access your PC.
devices, such as DVD players. Next, drag page and select ‘Save as PDF’ from the As we explained in Issue 594
the files directly on to the disc icon in File Printer menu (see screenshot below). (page 62), Adobe Flash is another ageing
Explorer. If you want to burn an audio technology that’s about to stop receiving
CD, open Windows Media Player, updates. In fact, despite it receiving
right-click the tracks you want to burn regular security patches, in recent years
and select ‘Add to’, followed by ‘Burn list’, it’s been the target of numerous zero-day
then click Burn (top right). attacks (in which a vulnerability is
Another program that has fallen out discovered and exploited by hackers
of fashion is Reader (www.snipca. before the developer is aware of it). As of
com/36796). At one time, Reader (or 1 January 2021, Flash will no longer be
Acrobat Reader, as it used to be called) supported nor available for download (if
was found on pretty much every PC. But, you already have it installed, Windows
while the PDF format itself is still as will soon remove it automatically). If you
popular as ever, the original program spot a site offering it for download, steer
required to open and read PDFs is more Windows lets you create PDFs within most well clear because it’s likely to be a
or less obsolete. programs, including the Edge browser dangerous fake.

NEXT ISSUE On sale Wednesday 13 January

ON SALE
WED
13
Jan

STOP USING GOOGLE PLUS

• Don’t Buy The Wrong SSD

Switch to sites that work better and keep Make sure it works with your PC
• Use The Right File Formats
you 100% PRIVATE! For photos, video and audio

Subscribe to Computeractive at www.getcomputeractive.co.uk

1 – 12 January 2021 57
 Upgrade Your PC’s
Graphics Card
A new graphics card will
make games run smoother
and boost other programs,
particularly tools for editing
images and videos.
Will Stapley reveals how
to choose the right card for
your computer, and how to
install it without problems

R
egular readers will know that motherboard or integrated into the
2020 was the year I revived two processor. If you can plug your monitor
ageing computers of mine (a into a port next to your mouse, keyboard
desktop PC and a laptop) using and USB ports, it’s likely your PC has
faster hard drives and more memory (see integrated graphics (I’ll explain how to
Issue 582, page 62 and Issue 586, page check this in a moment). More powerful
60). These previous upgrades were, in PCs have a dedicated graphics card that
part, driven by the need to ensure my sits in a slot on the motherboard. With
kids had workable computers for their their own GPU and memory, these are
home schooling during the first typically much faster than integrated
lockdown. This time round, I’m carrying graphics.
out an upgrade for more recreational Although often associated with 3D
purposes – to allow them to play games, modern graphics cards can give
Minecraft (a relatively undemanding your processor a helping hand in other
game, graphically speaking). ways too. Whereas processors usually
Although my old desktop PC can just have between two and eight cores,
about run the game, a few months ago a graphics cards have hundreds. While not CPU-Z tells you the make and model of your
message popped up in Minecraft saying as powerful as the cores on your main PC’s current graphics card
that it would no longer work with any processor, they’re ideally suited to
graphics card that supports DirectX 10.1 running lots of relatively quick won’t. If you’re upgrading your graphics
and below, which excludes the AMD calculations and can help to speed up card to improve performance when using
Radeon HD3850 card inside my PC. video-editing tasks (such as applying a specific program, check its website to
Here’s how I chose and installed a effects or exporting your clips). see what card it recommends.
suitable and incredibly cheap graphics Additionally, by delegating work to your If you’re not sure which graphics card
card card – but first I’ll explain what you graphics card, your processor will be free your PC is currently using, you can find
need to look for when choosing which to concentrate on other tasks. out using CPU-Z (free from www.snipca.
card to buy. The program you’re using will need to com/36895 – scroll down, click the
support GPU acceleration (sometimes purple Setup English button on the left,
What does a graphics card do? called hardware acceleration). Although followed by Download Now). Run the
A graphics card’s main purpose is to more common in professional tools like tool, then select the Graphics tab and
generate images, then pass them to your Adobe Photoshop, there are plenty of free you’ll see your graphics card listed in the
monitor (usually via an HDMI or DVI programs that support this, including Name field (see screenshot above).
cable). It does this using what’s known as VLC (www.videolan.org), GIMP (www.
a GPU (graphics processing unit). gimp.org) and Paint.NET (www.getpaint. Choose the right graphics card
Most laptops and low-cost PCs use net). Most programs will work with Graphics cards range from as little as £30
integrated graphics – meaning the GPU is either of the two main graphics card to well over £1,000. If you’re not careful,
either on a chip attached directly to the brands (AMD and Nvidia), but some you could end up with a card that makes

60 1 – 12 January 2021
little difference, or spend a fortune on
one that you’ll never use to its full
potential.
If you’re primarily upgrading to play a
specific game, make sure you check the
game’s website to find out its minimum
system requirements. For example,
Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 2020
requires at least an AMD RX 570 (£189
from Scan, www.snipca.com/36915).
You’ll also need to make sure the rest of Check how powerful your PSU is before you Some graphics cards – like MSI’s Nvidia 1030 –
your PC’s components (processor, upgrade your graphics card are silent, due to metal fins that dissipate heat
memory and so on) meets the game’s
minimum requirements. Make sure the card fits site). They can vary from 30dB (similar to
Gaming aside, if your PC currently uses If your PC was built in the last 15 years or whispering) up to 60dB (an electric
integrated graphics, even a cheap so, it will have one or more PCIe x16 slots toothbrush). If a quiet PC is important to
graphics card should boost video-editing on its motherboard, meaning it’ll be you, look for a graphics card with passive
speeds and other programs that support compatible with even the latest graphics cooling. These use a bank of small fins to
GPU acceleration. Look for a card that cards. Again, you can use CPU-Z to check dissipate heat and don’t generate any
has at least 2GB of memory, because this. Select the Mainboard tab, then check noise, but you’ll only find them on
video-editing programs will require this the Version in the Graphical Interface relatively low-powered graphics cards,
when performing functions such as section. If this says PCI-Express, you’re in such as MSI’s Nvidia 1030 (£70 from
applying effects. luck. However, if you’re attempting to www.snipca.com/36918 - pictured above).
When shopping around, you’ll find the upgrade a PC from the early 2000s, it
same AMD and Nvidia graphics cards might say AGP (similar to PCIe, but Supply enough power
rebranded by various manufacturers around four times slower). You can’t use All components in your PC are powered
(including Asus, Gigabyte and PNY). a PCI Express card in an AGP slot, and by its PSU (power supply unit). Usually
While the core components remain the although you might find a second-hand located near the top of a PC’s tower case,
same, these manufacturers will make AGP graphics card on eBay, most were this is the box that you plug the power
alterations such as using their own discontinued many years ago and we’re cable into. If you’re upgrading to a more
cooling system, adding more memory or not aware of any that have Windows 10 powerful graphics card, you may find it
overclocking the card to make it run faster. drivers. Upgrading to a PCI Express needs to draw more power from the PSU
graphics card would mean also buying a than your previous card. It’s therefore
Compare performance new motherboard and processor, so a best to check the power requirements of
You can spend an age trying to new PC might be a better option. your new graphics card before buying -
compare each card’s specifications, You also need to make sure there’s this will either be listed as the power
but you can save yourself time and room in your PC’s case to accommodate required by the graphics card itself, or the
effort by reading online reviews (such as the card. Tower-style PCs usually have minimum PSU it needs.
those on our sister site, Expert Reviews, enough room for any card. If you have a Next, open your PC’s case and look at
www.snipca.com/36917) and using smaller PC your choice may be restricted the sticker on the power supply. The PSU
performance-benchmark sites such as to those described as ‘low-profile’ cards. pictured above left is rated at 500W
UserBenchmark (https://gpu. If in doubt, measure the space between (watts). Most processors draw around
userbenchmark.com), which provides your motherboard’s PCIe slot at the top of 50-100W, with the rest of the
average scores based on tests run by your chassis, then check it against the components (hard drive, USB ports and
thousands of people worldwide. graphics card’s specifications. so on) combined usually requiring under
On UserBenchmark, search for your Some cards are double- or even 100W. This leaves around 300W spare,
existing card, click the Compare box, triple-width (usually to incorporate a which is more than enough for most
then search for the card you’re interested large cooling fan). Although these still graphics cards. If you want to check the
in buying and click Compare again. You’ll connect to a single PCIe slot, they’ll block total power draw of your PC’s
now see which card is listed as the best the slot next to them - so if your PC is components, try using the calculator at
performing (see screenshot below). already packed full of PCI Express cards, www.snipca.com/36920 (enter all your
you may have to remove one to fit the components, then click Calculate).
graphics card in. If your graphics card can’t draw enough
power from your PSU, your PC will crash
Keep things cool regularly, or even refuse to start. The only
Like your processor, graphics cards solution is to upgrade your PSU. These are
generate a lot of heat - high-end ones can reasonably cheap (such as this £40 500W
reach almost 90 degrees centigrade. Most EVGA model from www.snipca.com/36919),
cards use one or more fans to keep things but keep in mind that other aspects of
cool – and these can get noisy. Check out your PC may be similarly underperforming
the dB (decibel) rating of the graphics (the motherboard, memory and so on). If
User Benchmarks helps you compare the card you’re thinking of buying (this so, it might be worth considering buying
performance of various graphics cards should be listed on the manufacturer’s a new PC instead.

1 – 12 January 2021 61
 HOW I UPGRADED MY PC’S GRAPHICS CARD
That’s the theory out of the way, now it’s Will’s graphics card
time for the practical. My PC is 13 years upgrade improved
performance in Flight
old, so its processor – an Intel Core 2 Duo Simulator X
E6750 – is bound to struggle with some of
the more demanding modern games. But
that didn’t bother me. All I wanted was a
graphics card that allowed Minecraft to
run. A quick look on CeX (https://
uk.webuy.com) showed numerous
second-hand PCIe x16 cards for around a
tenner. I re-ordered the list by price, then
chose the cheapest that supported
DirectX 11: a 10-year old Nvidia GeForce
460 for just £12.

Results Shift+Z twice. relatively modest upgrade, and I

As expected, once my new graphics card Using my old HD 3850 graphics card, suspected my ancient processor would
was in place, the warning message on my I’d recorded frame rates of roughly 25- create a bottleneck. Sure enough, I didn’t
PC regarding Minecraft disappeared. 30fps (frames per second). With the 460 notice any improvements when exporting
However, I was also keen to find out if it GTX, this increased to around 45-50fps video in Shotcut (www.snipca.com/36925)
improved other programs. First, I ran (see screenshot above). While this isn’t a – both my old graphics card and my new
Microsoft Flight Simulator X - the one massive difference, my PC coped much one took one minute 30 seconds to
released in 2006, not the new 2020 better when displaying complex scenery. export the same short clip.
version (my PC is far too weedy for that). As mentioned earlier, graphics cards This may well change if I also upgraded
The program lets you monitor frame rates can also speed up video editing. However, if I upgraded my motherboard and
(the more frames per second, the two things tempered my expectations in processor – but that’s another project for
smoother the graphics) by pressing this regard. My new graphics card was a another time.

WORKSHOP Install a new graphics card

1
1 Turn your PC off at the mains,
then remove its side panel.
Locate your graphics card (it will
1
have video-output ports on rear of
the bracket), then unscrew it and
remove the power cable. Gently
wiggle the card until it comes
away from the motherboard - you
may have to push a small plastic
button to release the card 1 . 2 Line up the connectors on your new graphics card with the
socket on your motherboard 1 , then insert it – this usually
works best if you insert it at a slight angle, before pushing both
edges down. Make sure you don’t trap any wires while doing this,
and ensure the card is firmly in place before securing the bracket
to your case with a screw.

4 Replace your PC’s side panel,

attach the monitor, then switch
on your PC. You now need to install
the card’s driver. You can download
1 the latest AMD drivers from
(www.snipca.com/38922) and
Nvidia drivers from www.snipca.
com/38923. As we mentioned in 1
our Cover Feature (page 53),

3 You now need to connect your graphics card to your PSU -

typically using six-pin power cables. My GTX 480 has two
six-pin power connectors, meaning it needs to be connected to
Nvidia’s software installs unwanted
extras, so I used NVCleanstall
(www.snipca.com/38788) to only
d

my PC’s PSU using two separate power cables 1 . install the driver 1 .

62 1 – 12 January 2021
Your most popular ISSUE
580
programs of 2020
Discover which software your fellow
readers loved during the past 12 months

T
he pandemic changed how we all needs this info to improve your
lived last year, but it didn’t seem to “Windows experience”, but many of you removed it and other useless Nvidia
disrupt the flow of new and remain unconvinced. We’ll keep an eye updates using NVCleanstall, and urged
updated software. As always, you were out throughout 2021 for any new privacy you to do likewise. He’s still recommending
keen to master programs that let you settings you’ll need to change. it, as you’ll see on page 55 of our Cover
bypass Windows restrictions, but your Feature.
most downloaded software was actually a PowerToys
3 www.snipca.com/36202
revamped Microsoft tool. The reason we
know this is because our Snipca They sound like something you’d find in
7 AOMEI Backupper Standard
www.snipca.com/33955
URL-shortening service tells us how B&Q, but PowerToys are actually Backing up: we know we should do it,
many times a link has been clicked. It Microsoft’s collection of tools that add but it often feels like a chore. AOMEI’s
helps us know which programs you’d like new features to Windows. Microsoft software makes it easy though. In Issue
to read more about in the future. Here are launched them back in 1995, ditched 574 (page 35) we explained how it can
your top 10 from the past 12 months. them 12 years later, then resurrected make a bootable clone of your hard drive,
them in 2019. You emailed us to say you giving you a lifeline to your files if your
1 Edge
www.snipca.com/33864
wanted to know more, so we put them
on the cover in Issue 591. Microsoft plans
computer dies suddenly. All you need is
an external hard drive and a couple of
Last January, when the world was just to add new toys in 2021 – we’ll let you hours to spare. You won’t regret it.
learning about a deadly new virus know when they’re ready to download.
emerging from China, Microsoft
relaunched its Edge browser. Built using Ultimate Windows Tweaker 8 Plex
www.snipca.com/36042
Google’s Chromium source code, it’s
4 www.snipca.com/34089 It’s rare that we devote the cover to just
faster and more secure than its feeble When you were not telling Windows to one program, but Plex deserved it. The
predecessor. It also works with thousands ‘shut up’ (in the politest possible way), media server graced the front of Issue
more extensions. We liked it instantly, you were tweaking its settings using this 590, as we claimed it’s the “best ever way
happy that at long last Chrome had a powerful program. We recommended its to stream TV, films and music”. Many of
serious rival, and put it on the cover of new version in Issue 574 (page 18), which you agreed, downloading it and sending
Issue 580 (pictured above right). It’s been let you turn off Bing search results in the lots of tips since. Next issue we’ll explain
a big hit with you too. Start menu. It remains such a popular how you can install it on a NAS drive.
tool that we’ll explain it in more depth
2 O&O ShutUp10
www.snipca.com/35663
later this year. Watch this space.
9 Sordum Folder Painter
www.snipca.com/34927
Lots of you want Windows 10 to, well,
‘shut up’ – or at least stop spying on you.
5 InstalledAppView
www.snipca.com/34303
The summer gave us plenty of long hot
days to creosote the garden fence, but
In Issue 587 we explained how to use Another program that lets you do things some of you preferred to paint Windows
O&O’s bluntly named software to disable Microsoft would rather you didn’t. folders. Our Workshop in Issue 582 (page
settings that told Microsoft how you used Made by the ever-reliable NirSoft, 40) showed how Folder Painter could
your computer. The company insists it InstalledAppView shows the apps that change the standard yellow folder into
come pre-installed on Windows and lets different colours. Red for photos,
you easily remove them from your perhaps, and blue for videos. You can
system. We praised it in Issue 576 (page also add new icons for each.
2019’s TOP 10 18), just as the country went into

1 CrystalDiskInfo
lockdown. We expect many unwanted
apps were dumped during those first few
10 Quick Screen Recorder
www.snipca.com/35066
2 IObit DriverBooster weeks staying at home. One of the best ways to illustrate a
3 WinFi Lite problem is to take a screen recording of it
4 Get_iPlayer
5 WiFi Analyzer
6 NVCleanstall
www.snipca.com/34194
then email it to a helpful friend. This new
program makes it easier than ever – it just
6 Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder In Issue 575’s ‘Named & Shamed’ column takes a few clicks. It appeared in Issue
7 Glasswire Firewall (page 21) we learned that Jonathan 582’s Best Free Software (page 19), and
8 AdwCleaner Parkyn doesn’t play the game Zombie quickly became a reader favourite.
9 Everything Army: Dead War 4. But that didn’t stop Several readers have even emailed screen
10 LosslessCut Nvidia installing a 530MB driver update recordings to us to explain how their tips
to fix a bug in the game. Jonathan work. We’d love to receive more.

1 – 12 January 2021 63
 Problems Solved
Our experts solve all your tech problems

PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT

Can I clean up my right-click menus?

There are several items on my 2
Q right-click menus that I don’t
want, and items I do need are
out of sight. How can I remove items
from this menu? Hoping you can help!
Dave Howell

This is one of those everyday

A problems that’s annoying, but
for which there are two simple
solutions, one or both of which may
well work for you.
The first is to simply make use of
the little up and down arrows at the
top and bottom of your context (right-
click) menus. You may not have noticed
these but clicking one will scroll
missing options into view.
The other easy answer is to uninstall
any unwanted or redundant programs In ShellMenuView, select every entry for an unused tool and choose Disable Selected Items
that might have added options to your
context menus. For example, the one you want to remove before clicking themselves only when you right-click a
screenshot you sent us contained Uninstall (see screenshot 1 ), and then particular file type.
multiple right-click options put in confirm by clicking Uninstall again. It’s better, then, to turn to free
place by various non-Microsoft But note that we said that uninstalling software. Trusty old NirSoft has a pair
programs that you’ve installed on your unwanted apps ‘should’ remove right- of tools that can help – ShellMenuView
PC. If you’re no longer using these click entries. Sadly, some uninstallations (www.snipca.com/36605) and
tools, then uninstalling them should are cleaner than others – and it’s not ShellExView (www.snipca.com/36606).
also remove their entries in your uncommon to be stuck with digital There are two different tools because,
context menus. leftovers in your context menus. as noted, there are many different types
To do this, first click Start followed When that happens, the only way of context-menu entries.
by the Settings cog, and then Apps. Microsoft offers to clean up the mess is to We’d say most can be handled by
Next, on the right, scroll through the delve deep in the Windows registry, ShellMenuView, so start with that –
list of installed apps, then click to select where you’re able to manually find and not least because it deals with the
delete keys relating to particular simplest-to-remove items.
1 items. However, this is very It’s likely to display hundreds of
much not a job for novices. items, and initially this will feel
Indeed, so painful is this overwhelming. However, if you focus
endeavour that it’s one that on the labels in the Menu Name
gives even old-hands like column and then the file types they
ourselves the collywobbles. relate to (under the Extensions
This is in part because there column), things start to make sense.
are so many different types of For example, let’s say you never use
context-menu entries – from Paint 3D. Under ‘Menu Name’, click to
‘global’ items that always appear select every ‘Edit with Paint 3D’ entry
to contextual items that show and then right-click the selection
before choosing Disable Selected
In ‘Apps & features’ Items 2 . Now, you’ll no longer see the
you can find and
uninstall any apps ‘Edit with Paint 3D’ option in your
you no longer need context menus.

64 1 – 12 January 2021
 Email us your problem and we’ll try to help:
[email protected]

Why does Edge sign me out of Gmail?

Following your advice I recently
Q made Edge my default browser,
but since then I’ve experienced
two continual problems. One is that I
have to keep entering my email address
and password to open my Gmail. Second,
a message appears to make Chrome my
default. Can you help?
James Brown

With regard to your first

A problem, either intentionally or
unwittingly you have configured
Edge to clear browsing data when you
close it. That’s a legitimate choice for
the privacy-concerned, but it also has
consequences – such as wiping the Under ‘Clear browsing data’ select ‘Choose what to clear every time you close the browser’
cookies that Gmail (and other services)
use to log you in the next time. sites. Alternatively, to create an exception, Microsoft pages.
So, you can either switch off this option below the switch, to the right of the ‘Do The trouble is that these are in effect
or create an exception for Gmail. To start, not clear’ heading, click the Add button. adverts that the companies are choosing
open the Edge menu (click the three dots Now type www.gmail.com (or another to display when you use their services –
at the top right) and then choose Settings. relevant service address) and click Add. and there’s no way to stop them. We
Next, on the left, click ‘Privacy, search, And your second annoyance? Well, the think they’re ridiculous and we’re sure
and services’ and then, on the right, message you’re seeing is displayed by many millions of other users do too.
under ‘Clear browsing data’, click Google and it’ll appear at the company’s As such, we imagine the two companies
‘Choose what to clear every time you behest whenever you use Edge to visit will eventually stop showing these
close the browser’ (see screenshot above). one of its services, such as Gmail or the marketing messages.
On the next screen, on the right, next main Google search page. Until then, you’ll either have to put up
to ‘Cookies and other site data’, clicking In a silly tit-for-tat move, Microsoft with them or vote with your fingers and
the switch to move it to its Off position now sometimes does the same in reverse, stop using Google in Edge (or Microsoft
will disable this hiccup for all affected when users of Google Chrome visit services in Chrome).

How do I recover a corrupt DVD?

I wonder if you can help? I Typically, when an optical disc
Q have a DVD containing 50 or
so small video files, merged
A such as a DVD becomes
unreadable there’s not a whole
together in two separate titles using a lot that can be done other than physical
program called ConvertXtoDVD. repair. This is a simple consequence of
Unfortunately, I didn’t save the the usual root cause of the problem,
project. which is scratches – visible or otherwise
Somehow the disc has become – that cause the laser that reads the data
corrupted and neither my desktop to momentarily lose its focus.
computer nor DVD player can read Sometimes a vigorous buff with a cloth
its contents. is enough to remove whatever might be The SkipDr tool smoothes abrasions that
I’ve tried various rescue tools that causing the laser’s blind spot. But if this cause a DVD to skip or freeze
I found online but with limited doesn’t work then you’ll need to turn to a
success. Some tools can rescue grinding tool, like the SkipDr gadget (£35 methodically scrubbing off layers of
individual files but none can do all. www.snipca.com/36589) that we’ve plastic to allow the laser a clear shot at
Any help that you can give would be recommended on these pages a number the data-storing substrate. However, its
very much appreciated. of times over the years. It’s really little simplistic method is often effective – so
Iain McInroy more than a mechanical sander for DVDs, it certainly gets the thumbs up from us.

1 – 12 January 2021 65
 Problems Solved
Will 64bit Windows 10 help my laptop?
What’s
happened to
I’m tempted to upgrade my old You didn’t tell us the exact
Q Acer laptop to Windows 10. A model of your Acer laptop.

Windows 10’s However, it seems 32bit

Windows 10 would restrict me to
However, we can say that if
the machine’s documentation, or
colours? increasing the RAM to 4GB, from the
current 2GB. I fear that, even with a new
your own assessment, has led you to
believe that the machine would support
SSD, this might not deliver an acceptable a 64bit edition of Windows 10 then you
A Windows 10 update has performance increase. I’m considering should be reasonably confident in
Q changed the background
colours on my Start menu,
moving to a 64bit installation to allow
more RAM. The laptop’s specifications
proceeding.
Indeed, based on the specifications
resulting in many icons becoming show the processor is an Intel Core 2 Duo that you did supply, we also think
almost invisible. In addition, the T7500 running at 2.2GHz and the system the machine will run Windows 10
taskbar has lost its background type is ‘32-bit operating system, x64 64bit.
colour and some tiles have acquired based processor’. I believe this could It’ll make the best use of the processor
a new and different colour. How can support a 64bit Windows operating in your laptop and, as you note, will
I revert to the original background system but would it be a feasible and allow you to make use of more than
colours, please? cost-effective upgrade or should I install 4GB of memory (assuming the machine
Mike W Katny an SSD and increase RAM to 4GB? itself supports that – and on that point
Norman Hinchliffe we can’t be certain).
It sounds like you’ve got the
A October 2020 Update (also
known as 20H2). This has
Norman's laptop’s
specifications should
what Microsoft calls ‘theme-aware support Windows 10.
tiles’, which change colour to reflect The Pro edition
is discounted in
whatever theme you’re using. The Computeractive’s online
‘Light’ theme in particular can have software store by 82 per
the effect you describe. cent to £39.99 – visit
www.snipca.com/34720
To alter things, click Start followed
by the Settings cog, and then
Personalisation (see screenshot
below) followed by Colours. Next,
use the options in the right-hand
pane to customise how things look.
For example, under ‘Choose your
colour’, click to open the menu, then
choose Custom.
Next, under ‘Choose your default
Windows mode’ choose Dark and
under ‘Choose your default app
mode’ select Light. For more options,
including to set specific colours,
scroll down a little further.

Q: How do I delete all files and

programs from my PC?
A: Issue 550, page 65 – find it on
our 2019 Back Issue CD
To customise Windows 10's colours, go Buy it from
to Settings then Personalisation www.snipca.com/33711
K8P0V4L

66 1 – 12 January 2021
 Why can’t I control VLC’s volume?
I’ve installed version 3.0.11 of Double-click and reset
Q the excellent VLC media
player (www.snipca.
the entries for ‘Volume up’
and ‘Volume down’

com/36689). One point that seems to

be omitted is the ability to control the
volume using the keyboard’s up and
down arrows. This was a godsend
when watching films for its simplicity
in controlling the audio level. I am sure
that if anyone knows how to fix this
problem it’s Computeractive.
Robert Stalker

The default VLC keyboard

A shortcuts have not changed,
meaning pressing and holding
the Control (Ctrl) key while tapping
either the up or down arrow keys
should adjust the volume. In fact, the So, if none of these options are working screenshot above). These should be set
arrow keys on their own are sufficient then something is clearly wrong. VLC lets to Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down, under the
to do the job unless you’re using VLC to you customise shortcuts, so start by Hotkey column. It doesn’t matter
view a DVD (when these keys are checking what’s set. To start, open the whether your entries do say this, as it’s
reserved for menu navigation). You can Tools menu and choose Preferences. Next, not working – so try setting them anew.
also adjust the volume using the 8 and at the top, click the Hotkeys icon and Double-click ‘Volume up’ and, when
2 keys on your keyboard’s numeric pad, then, in the Search bar, type volume. prompted, press Ctrl+up arrow. Repeat
assuming it has one and that you have In the Action column are entries for for ‘Volume down’, obviously pressing
Number Lock (Num Lock) switched off. ‘Volume up’ and ‘Volume down’ (see Ctrl+down arrow as the shortcut.

Where do I type a Launch Safari by

tapping the icon

web address on featuring a blue

compass

an iPad?
I have an iPad and therefore
Q I do not have a browser address
bar. Wherever I type your snipca
addresses I have almost nil or very
mixed results. Any help would be much
appreciated.
Ben Whitelaw

The web browser on your iPad is

A called Safari. Apple removed the
text labels from the icon ‘dock’
at the foot of your iPad home page, so you
might not know which icon that is.
So, just in case that’s how it is on your
iPad home page, launch Safari by tapping
the icon that depicts a blue compass on a
white background (see screenshot). circumstances when it’ll disappear. address bar.
Once in the browser, the address bar is The first is if you swipe to scroll down In either case, the solution is to tap
at the top – just as it is in the Windows- a website. right at the top, where the address bar
based web browsers, such as Edge, The second is if you intentionally or should be. It’ll appear – and that’s where
Chrome and Firefox. accidentally enter full-screen mode, you type our snipca addresses (or any
However, there are a couple of by tapping the ‘aA’ symbol in the other web address).

1 – 12 January 2021 67
 Problems Solved
1
Why can’t I copy In LibreOffice
email

my logins?
addresses, the
usernames are
formatted as
hyperlinks
I have an annoyance rather than
Q a huge problem with LibreOffice
Writer. I have a list of all my
logins for the different websites and
services I use online. This document is
password-protected in itself, so is quite
secure. I used to be able to highlight the
information I needed and copy and
paste it into the relevant boxes to sign
in online. The answer to this is that 2
However, now when I’m about to
highlight the information I want I get a
A whatever entries you’re trying
to select are formatted as
floating yellow box telling me to ‘Ctrl- hyperlinks (see screenshot 1 ). Given that
Click to follow link: mailto:’, followed you’re trying to copy and paste logins,
by whatever it is I want to copy and many of the usernames will no doubt be
paste. I cannot then click and drag with email addresses – so that’s pretty much to
the mouse to highlight what I need. I be expected, because after typing one
know I can use the command Control Writer will format it as a hyperlink
(Ctrl)+Shift and arrow keys to highlight when you press Enter.
words but this is a faff. I have the latest The fix is simple. First, press Ctrl+A
version of Windows 10, and latest version to select the whole document. Now
of Writer. I cannot find anything online right-click any hyperlinked entry and,
to stop this happening from the pop-up menu, choose Remove Remove hyperlinks by right-clicking them and
Paul Gann Hyperlink 2 . selecting Remove Hyperlink

Can I choose where to install Flight Simulator 2020?

I’m interested in Microsoft
Q Flight Simulator 2020. My PC
is around four years old. It has
a small 128GB SSD as drive C, because
SSDs were still expensive when I
bought it. However, I also have a 2TB
hard drive as drive D, which has plenty
of space. Assuming that my PC meets
the game’s other requirements, would
it be possible to install it on drive D?
John Johnstone

Flight Simulator will install on

A to whatever is set as the
default drive. That is usually
Under ‘Change where
new content is saved’,
drive C, but it’s easy enough to change select ‘Local Disk (D:)’
– and a good idea to do so if your SSD is
nearing full. First, click the Start button
followed by the Settings cog. Next, on
the left, click Storage (see screenshot
right) and then, on the right, under
‘More storage settings’, click ‘Change
where new content is saved’. Finally,
under ‘New apps will save to:’, click to
open the dropdown menu, then choose
‘Local Disk (D:)’ (see screenshot far To select the drive on which to install Flight
right) and click Apply. Simulator, first select ‘Storage’

68 1 – 12 January 2021
 ?? WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN...
Screen settings on my desktop PC and laptop?
I’ve purchased a Dell monitor 1 2
Q that I have connected to both
my Dell desktop PC and an
older HP laptop, the latter via a little
dongle. I can switch between the two
machines by pressing a button on the
monitor. So far, so good.
However, when I’m using the on-
screen menu to explore the settings
I’ve noticed that some options that are Look in the Nvidia Control Panel for options to One of those options is to ‘Adjust desktop
available when I’m using the laptop manage the screen display size and position’
are greyed out when I switch to my PC.
For example, on the laptop I can use for the digital connection, is that some of side of the taskbar and choose Nvidia
the Positioning option to move around the settings can be managed on the PC, Settings. Then, in the Nvidia Control
what’s displayed on screen – but I can’t while with an analogue connection the Panel window (see screenshot 1 ), click
do that on the desktop PC. only option is to manage what’s displayed to expand the Display section. Here,
Why would this be, and what’s the is on the screen itself. you should find access to controls for
difference? Of course, this is a bit of a double- all the options that are greyed-out on
Kevin Brook edged sword because sometimes it is your monitor’s on-screen menu when
just quicker to control things via the it’s using a digital connection.
We don’t know which specific physical buttons on the display – but To alter the position, for instance, in
A models you’re using, but we’re
pretty sure that what’s going
that’s just how it is in this situation.
To take control of the greyed-out
the left-hand pane click ‘Adjust desktop
size and position’ 2 and then use the
on here is your desktop is connected to options you’ll need to fire up the control options in the right-hand pane to apply
the monitor digitally (via a DVI socket), panel for your graphics card. your tweaks.
while the laptop gets its images via an For Nvidia cards, for example, first Want to know the difference between
old analogue (VGA) cable. right-click the little Nvidia icon in the technical terms? Email noproblem@
The upshot of such an arrangement, notification area at the far right-hand computeractive.co.uk

Why do I get spam in Windows Live Mail?

I have a problem with Windows you wanted to hear, but it is the only
Q Live Mail, which I’ve been using
for years and in general has
answer we can offer.
However, we’re publishing your
worked very well. In the past few weeks query just in case any other WLM-using
I’ve been getting a lot of spam, so under readers have experienced this particular
the Junk dropdown list I've been glitch and have found a workaround.
selecting ‘Add sender’s domain to We’ll happily pass on any replies we
blocked sender list’. However, this receive.
seems to have no effect whatsoever.
I’ve tried various other things without ON SALE
success. Can you supply me with a fix
that might solve the problem?
Microsoft stopped supporting Windows Live
Mail in 2017, so new flaws won't be fixed Next Issue Weds
13Jan
Stuart Hillier
become ever more risky to use it, and • Why won’t 64bit Firefox
We’re afraid not. You may or prone to problems. As such, there’s likely load?
A may not be aware that support
for Windows Live Mail (WLM)
no fixing this or any other new quirk that
might occur from now on.
• How do I print a list of files?
• Why is my display
ended in January 2017, so it’s now four Whether or not this new hiccup has sometimes blank?
years beyond when Microsoft itself gave been caused by, say, a Windows 10 update ...And many more
up on it. Of course, the software did not is academic: Microsoft no longer supports
stop working overnight – and indeed will WLM, so it won’t ever be issuing fixes for Subscribe to Computeractive at
continue functioning in one way or any new flaws. www.getcomputeractive.co.uk
another for years to come – but it will We appreciate that’s not the answer

1 – 12 January 2021 69
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Problems Solved
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Should I ditch my old hard drive? missed off a vital part of the command –
Following your ‘Reclaim & reuse the word format. Then, at the end of the
Q your old hard drives’ feature in
Issue 591 (page 60), I decided to
command, you’ve neglected to include a
space. We know you said you also tried
give it a go. I removed the drive from an with a space but that’s academic, because
old BT YouView set-top box, and put it you’d missed off format. You also need a
into an enclosure I’d bought from Amazon. colon directly after the drive letter.
Following the instructions in your article, So, the specific command for you to
I connected it to my PC. Although the type – in full, including all the spaces, as
drive is displayed, I’m unable to access it shown in the screenshot above – is
– I keep seeing a message saying the drive format /FS:FAT32 d:. Once typed, press
Type this at the end of the PowerShell
is write-protected. I have tried two of command to remove write protection from Enter. If you’re still struggling, cut and
these hard drives, with the same result. Is your drive paste the command from our Pastebin
it possible to access and use these drives, account, at www.snipca.com/36619.
or will I have to discard them? before it lets you in. We don’t have the
Mike Lavall space here to detail that convoluted What’s up with Google Lens?
process but there’s an excellent step-by- Using my Samsung Galaxy S10
It’s certainly possible but, step guide on the Instructables website, Q phone I’ve been trying to follow
A depending on the specific boxes
and drive models, the process
at www.snipca.com/36618. the ‘Copy and translate text in
your photos’ Workshop, in Issue 592
might be reasonably straightforward or Why can’t I format as FAT32 (page 40). For this to work it appears one
quite a tough job. in PowerShell? needs Google Lens installed, but try as I
If indeed a drive is merely write- I was interested to read your might it won’t install from the Play Store.
protected, then it should be pretty easy
– as you can use PowerShell to remove
Q answer to Roger Cutler’s
problem in Problems Solved,
Google Photos is installed and up to date.
Am I missing something?
the block. First, connect the drive to your Issue 592 (page 68). I too have had the Michael Finlay
PC and then press Windows key+X to same problem with my in-car audio
open the Quick Link menu and choose system not being able to read exFAT- The problem here is Google’s
‘Windows PowerShell (Admin)’. At the
prompt, type diskpart and press Enter.
formatted USB sticks. I tried to follow
your instructions to format my drive
A lack of clarity about which phones
the Lens app is compatible with.
Next, type list disk (note the space but could not get it to work, receiving Put simply, the company has never explained
between the two words) then press Enter. only error messages. why Lens will work with some phones
From the displayed list (and using the My USB drive was shown as D, so I and not others. Indeed, it’ll work with
capacity figures listed under the Size substituted this for the X in the command some older smartphones but not some
column as your guide) make a note of the you published. I tried this several times, newer ones, which seems like madness.
relevant drive number. even putting a space between FAT32 and The situation is a mess but, sadly, it also
If you determine that your YouView D, but without success. Perhaps I am explains why you can’t download the
box’s drive number is 1, for example, doing something wrong? app: for whatever reason, Google has
then the next command for you to John Killoch deemed that it is currently not
type is select disk 1 before pressing Enter. compatible with your S10 – so the Play
If it’s drive 2, then the command would You helpfully sent us a Store will not offer you the option to
be select disk 2, and so on. Finally, type
attributes disk clear readonly (see
A screenshot (see below) of
your PowerShell window so
download it.
That may change in the future, but we
screenshot above) and press Enter. If no we can confirm that, yes, you’ve got a have no way of knowing if or when that
error message is shown, couple of things wrong. First, you’ve might be.
you should be in a position to return to
the instructions in our feature.
Otherwise, your drive has been ‘locked’
Type this full command when
by the manufacturer and will require reformatting exFAT drives in
special tools and quite a bit more work PowerShell

1 – 12 January 2021 71
 Jargon Buster
32bit/64bit A measure of how Delta E A measurement that GHz Gigahertz. A measure of MicroSD card A small type of
much data a PC can process at shows how the human eye how many instructions a chip can memory card. Can be converted to
once. Most older computers are perceives different colours. process per second. 1GHz is equal SD size using an adapter.
32bit, more modern ones are 64bit. to 1,000MHz.
DirectX A Microsoft technology MicroUSB A miniature version of
3G/4G/5G Technologies that required to run many games in Graphene driver Components USB, often found on smartphones,
deliver faster mobile broadband. Windows. in earphones that vibrate very tablets and portable hard drives.
quickly, reducing the power
4K Video with a resolution of at DisplayPort A new socket for needed to move the voice coil back MOV A type of video file that can
least 3840x2160 pixels. connecting monitors. and forth, creating better sound in be played using Apple’s QuickTime
theory. software.
Adobe RGB A wider colour space Driver A file that tells Windows how
than sRGB, extending into richer to work with an external device. Hardware acceleration Using a MU-MIMO Multiple-user
cyans and greens. graphics card to radically improve multiple-input multiple-output.
Dual boot To set up a PC with two video and games performance. Wi-Fi technology that increases
AMOLED Active-Matrix Organic operating systems, so that one the number of antennas that can
Light-Emitting Diode. An must be chosen each time it starts. HDMI High-definition media be used.
alternative technology to LCD for interface. A type of connection that
creating flat-panel displays. Most DVI Digital Visual Interface. A transmits high-definition video and NAS Network-attached storage. A
commonly used in smartphones, common type of display connector audio signals. hard drive attached to a network
tablets and smartwatches. that can carry a digital signal. that can be shared with other PCs.
HDR High-dynamic range. A
Aspect ratio A measurement of E2E End-to-end encryption. camera that takes more than one NTFS New Technology File
the shape of a display. Ensures that messages can be photo with different levels System. A file system used by all
seen only by the sender and of colour and contrast. These recent versions of Windows.
Benchmarking Comparing recipient. images are then combined to
software and products with an create a better-quality image. OCR Optical character recognition.
accepted standard. eMMC Flash storage commonly The process by which printed text
found in cheap laptops and tablets. Heatsink A block of metal used is scanned and converted into
Beta A version of software that’s It’s slower than a solid-state drive. to help dissipate the heat from a documents that can be edited.
being tested. Beta versions are computer chip.
often released so problems can be Emoji A small graphic that can be Open source Software that can
ironed out. inserted into a text message or HEIC High-efficiency image be modified by anyone, rather
email. container. Apple’s new default than just by the employees of the
Cast To send content from your image format for iOS. company that created it.
PC to TV. EXIF Exchangeable Image File
Format. A method for storing extra Hyperlink A clickable link that Overclock Make a processor
cd/m2 Candela per square metre. information, such as the date, time takes you to a new document or work faster to boost performance
Standard unit of brightness. and camera model, inside digital website. at the cost of it getting hotter and
photo files. requiring more power.
Clock speed The speed at which a IPS A screen technology. Monitors
computer processor can perform exFAT Extended File Allocation that use it have wider viewing Partition A large hard drive
operations. Measured in Gigahertz Table. Microsoft’s file system for angles and better, more accurate- can be split into two or more
(GHz). USB sticks and SD cards. looking colours compared with partitions or ‘virtual’ drives. Once
monitors that do not use this partitioned, each section is treated
Contrast ratio A measure of the Extension A program that adds technology. by Windows as though it were a
difference between the darkest extra features to your browser. completely separate, smaller hard
and lightest possible shades JPEG Joint Photograph Experts drive.
shown by a screen. Screens with FAT32 An old system used for Group. A common type of image
higher contrast ratios are good formatting hard drives, and still file created by most digital PCIe Peripheral Component
for watching movies or playing used for some portable drives. cameras. Interconnect Express. A faster
games. version of PCI - a slot on the
Firewall A piece of software Lossless Music file formats that motherboard for expansion cards,
Cookie A small text file stored on or hardware that prevents take up more space but provide such as for sound and memory.
your computer by a website. Used unauthorised access to a computer higher sound quality.
to store browsing preferences, over a network, such as the Phishing A form of internet
website log-in details and so on. internet. Macro lens Lets you take sharp, fraud that tries to trick you into
detailed, close-up photos of small revealing personal details.
Core Units on a processor that Fps Frames per second, objects.
carry out program instructions. normally used to indicate gaming Plug-in A small program that
performance. Metadata A set of data that gives adds extra features to software or
Defragment To reorganise the information about a file. to your web browser.
data stored on a hard drive so files FTP File Transfer Protocol. A
are stored in one piece and can system for transferring files MicroHDMI A miniature PSU Power supply unit. The box
be accessed quickly. Sometimes between computers. Often used version of HDMI often found on that supplies power to the rest of
shortened to defrag. when uploading websites. smartphones and tables. your computer.

72 1 – 12 January 2021
PUP Potentially unwanted SIM Subscriber Identity Module. Subwoofer A special type of USB-C A new connector that’s
program. A program that may The smart card used by all digital speaker designed to reproduce reversible, letting you plug it in
not be desired, despite the mobile phones. The SIM card deep bass sounds only. Even upside down.
user consenting to it being carries the user’s identity and on a stereo system, only one
downloaded. Examples include phone number for accessing the subwoofer is required because VGA Video Graphics Array.
unnecessary plug-ins, toolbars network. human ears cannot detect the An older standard socket for
and browser hijackers. direction of bass frequencies. connecting a monitor to a PC.
Source code Program instructions
QR code Quick Response code. written in a high-level language System image A backup of your Virtual machine A software-
A barcode that can be read using that are readable by people but not ‘system image’, which includes based computer running inside
smartphones and dedicated QR- computers. your operating system drivers, another PC. Often used to emulate
reading devices. PC’s settings, programs and files. another operating system – for
Speaker driver Cone-shaped part example, running Windows 7 as a
RAM Random-access memory. of the speaker that converts audio Temporary file A file created by a virtual machine inside Windows 10.
The computer’s working area, signals into sound waves. browser to store website data. In
used for data storage while the PC the days of limited main memory, VPN Virtual private network.
is switched on. sRGB A standard RGB colour temporary files were the only way Keeps all internet communication
space for use on monitors, to store large amounts of interim safe and private.
Raytracing Provides realistic printers and the internet. data that the application was
lighting in an image by recreating generating. Widget A small program such as a
how light behaves. SSD Solid-state drive. Storage calendar that runs on the Windows
that, unlike a hard drive, uses no Timestamp The time which an desktop.
Refresh rate Measured in moving parts. Faster but more event is recorded by a computer.
Hertz (Hz), the number of times expensive than conventional hard Write cycle The life span of an
per second that the image on drives. TN Twisted nematic. A common, SSD, based on how many times it
your monitor is redrawn. Slight cheap type of LCD. can write and erase data.
changes in the image each time SSID Service Set Identifier. A
it is updated combine to give the name used to identify a wireless USB 2.0/3.0/3.1 Faster successors ZIP file A file that contains
illusion of movement. network. to USB. compressed documents or files.

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 Easy when you
Know How
Finding himself with extra time on his hands,
Robert Irvine tries to…

Set up a free WordPress blog

H
i, I’m Robert Irvine. You may Robert’s blog is up
and rocking but
know me from such magazines as needs a bit of work
Web User and Web User Back to make it look
Issues Disc. With that title now retired, professional
Computeractive editor Daniel Booth has
kindly asked me to step into his brogues
and write this fortnightly column about
trying tricky tech things.

restrictive in its customisation options. which seemed a slight exaggeration at

WordPress.org, on the other hand, provides this stage.
“beautiful designs, powerful features and Back at My Home, the next step was to
‘Good job, looks the freedom to build anything you want”, create a navigation menu and choose
but you have to pay for your own domain some sections to appear in it. This was
great!’, proclaimed name and hosting, and upload the straightforward and the preview of my
WordPress software to your server. blog updated as I added each item. As this
WordPress, which Although I’ve attained a certain level of currently consisted of placeholder text
tech knowhow, I’m a notorious cheapskate, and a bland picture of some mountains, I
seemed a slight so I opted for the free WordPress.com. clicked the Edit button and entered my
exaggeration at this This also offers paid-for plans that include
a custom domain, extra themes and more
own words. I then chose ‘Featured image’
in the Page panel on the right and
stage storage space from £3 per month, so I
figured I could upgrade once I’d found
uploaded a photo of a (rocking) robin (see
screenshot above).
my blogging feet. My concerns about limited customisation
Signing up with WordPress.com was were allayed by the dozens of free themes
simple, although it did try to tempt me available from the My Site menu. I chose
with ‘free’ domain registration that a simple but stylish one called Exford
As I can no longer use Web User as an required paying for a plan (see screenshot (https://wordpress.com/theme/exford),
outlet for my knowledge of Windows 10 below). It also made the ‘Start with a which promised to “lend a sophisticated
privacy settings, Chrome extensions and free site’ link deliberately small, as if to air to your website’s content”, and clicked
1980s TV game shows, I decided to set up shame me into coughing up. ‘Activate this design’ to apply it to my
my own blog. I did have a Blogger blog After confirming my email address, I blog. And lo, it looked alright
many years ago, but I stopped updating was straight into the My Home dashboard. With plenty of widgets to play around
that after nobody visited. This guided me through the first step, with via the Customise menu, including a
Besides, if I’ve learned anything from which was to give my blog a name (Robert’s calendar, social-media icons and a video
the ‘Build a Better Site’ section of Web Rocking Blog!) and snappy tagline. “Good player, WordPress.com offered more than
User (which we affectionately called job, looks great!”, proclaimed WordPress, enough choice for a beginner. I felt
BABS), it’s that WordPress is now the best relieved that I hadn’t chosen the more
option for creating your own blog or advanced WordPress.org. You need a
website. But where to start? paid-for plan to install any plug-ins, but
I’d long been confused by the for a basic blog (which mine undoubtedly
difference between WordPress.com and is), these aren’t essential.
WordPress.org, likening them to the All that remained was to add some
Judean People’s Front and People’s Front content, then publish the blog by
of Judea in Monty Python’s Life of Brian. clicking ‘Launch site’. You can track my
On visiting the two sites, I now realised progress at https://robertsrockingblog.
that WordPress.com is aimed at beginners. wordpress.com.
It’s completely free to use and gives you a You can get a ‘free’ custom domain if you pay Need help setting up your own blog?Let us
‘.wordpress.com’ web address, but is for a WordPress plan know: [email protected]

74 1 – 12 January 2021 Next issue: Robert tries to silence a deafening computer

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