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When readers have emailed me to say that they’re biding their time before upgrading to Windows 10, one of their main reasons for delaying is that they’re waiting until there’s enough good software to run on it. Well, I think that time is now. Since August’s Anniversary Update we’ve had a flurry of brilliant programs – new and updated – that improve the operating system’s built-in tools. In our Cover Feature (page 50), Jane Hoskyn reveals the software she has installed – all for free – and urges you to follow suit. I’ve taken her advice, and have spent the past few days testing the health of my hard drive (with HDD Guardian), zapping old files (with FolderShredder) and recovering long-forgotten passwords (with CredentialsFileView). I realise these aren’t the kind…

WATCH OUT FOR… New ‘Microsoft Support’ scam What’s the threat? Hackers are bombarding PC users with fake warnings that their computer has been infected by ‘Exploit. SWF.bd Virus’ and that their data will be erased from their hard drive. Messages pop up on screen urging people to call a ‘Microsoft Support’ number within five minutes. If you ring it, you’ll speak to a scammer who’ll try to persuade you that he/she needs to access your PC to remove the virus. Symantec’s Siddhesh Chandrayan, who discovered the scam, said that it’s triggered when the victim visits an infected website. When the message appears a warning tone plays, adding to the sense of impending doom. It’s one of the more complex tech-support scams seen this year. This is because its creators programmed…

It’s become an urban myth that computers double in speed every two years. The idea is based on Moore’s Law, named after Intel’s Gordon Moore, who noticed in 1965 that the number of transistors per square inch on silicon chips had doubled every year since their invention, and predicted that this would continue. A decade later, he wasn’t quite so optimistic, and revised it to two years. Since then, he’s been roughly right – but that doesn’t mean doubling the number of transistors has always meant chips could do twice as much work. In recent years, we’ve seen the evolution of PC processor chips split into two directions. While GPUs, designed specifically to handle graphics tasks, have become vastly quicker, CPUs haven’t really kept up the pace. Buy a top-end…

Samsung 850 Evo 500GB £145 from Insight www.snipca.com/22370 This SSD achieves excellent performance and reliability using Samsung’s 3D triple-level cell (TLC) technology. Part of the capacity is devoted to a single-cell (SLC) mode to improve write speeds, which, along with the usual compromises with storage amounts, leaves you with 465GB. In our tests, the 850 Evo beat everything else in its price bracket and many costlier drives. Samsung 850 Pro 512GB £204 from Amazon www.snipca.com/22373 Our test machine actually took slightly longer to boot Windows 10 from this drive than the cheaper Evo (above), but in more demanding tasks it led the way. It’s rated for 150TB of writes, much higher than cheaper drives, and guaranteed for 10 years. Samsung 750 Evo 500GB £130 from Amazon www.snipca.com/22374 The 750 Evo…

Lexmark’s catalogue says this chunky office-style colour laser printer costs £499, but dealers actually only charge about £130. By our reckoning, the original markup must have made the price of restaurant wine seem reasonable. Anyway, that makes it less than half the price of other all-in-one laser printers with sheet-fed scanners, such as Canon’s i-Sensys MF724Cdw and Dell’s H825cdw (see our reviews, Issue 475). “While it lacks Wi-Fi, this chunky printer is pretty fast and well equipped” So why is this a business-quality printer at a consumer-level price? One downside for home use is that it lacks Wi-Fi, so you’ll only be able to use it cabled directly to a PC or – via the Gigabit Ethernet port – to your router. Nor, unlike some all-in-one models, does it offer…

Installing an SSD (solid-state drive) inside your PC, and making it the drive Windows starts up from, is a very effective way to reduce loading times for games and software, and make your system feel faster in daily use. But if you don’t fancy undertaking an internal upgrade, the USB 3.0 (and faster) ports found on all recent desktop PCs and laptops let you take advantage of SSD speeds with external storage, and it needn’t even be expensive. This 240GB drive is cheap, and looks it, with a basic textured plastic case. Inside, however, is an SSD chassis much like the ones sold as internal SATA drives (see page 22), and with no moving parts it should be hard to damage. Adata claims read and write speeds of over 400Mbit/s,…

No.7: A TRULY MODULAR PC One of the great things about desktop PCs is that they’re basically collections of standard components, so you can buy one from any maker, then find bits elsewhere to swap or add. At least, that’s the theory. If you’ve tried upgrading in practice, you’ll know it can lead to hours of working out what’s compatible with what, checking sockets and connectors, removing one component so you can get at another, and shaving bits off the case with a Stanley knife. It shouldn’t be like this. Why can’t PC makers properly agree a whole computer format where everything fits, technically and physically, first time? It can’t be any more complicated than British bed linen sizing or metric kitchen cabinets. Every few years, someone does propose a…

Google Home Free Android: www.snipca.com/22381 IOS: www.snipca.com/22382 Not to be confused with Google’s new voice-activated speaker (also called Google Home), this is the new name for the Google Cast app. As well as letting you set up your Chromecast, the app now tells you which of your other apps can ‘cast’ videos to your TV. Three Free Android, iOS and Windows Phone: www.snipca.com/22383 If you use the Three mobile network on Android, you may have noticed that its app has a new interface. You can now see your remaining monthly data allowance and minutes on a graph, check your recent bills, chat with customer service and buy add-ons. Stephen Hawking’s Pocket Universe £5.99 IOS: www.snipca.com/22384  A Brief History of Time is probably the most renowned book by British physicist Stephen…

OUTLOOK.COM Attach files directly from Google Drive and Dropbox In Issue 487 (page 60), we explained how Outlook.com was being upgraded and what you needed to do. A new feature in the latest version is the option to attach files from Google Drive, Dropbox, Box or Facebook (you could only do this with OneDrive previously). First, you need to make sure you’re using the updated version. Go to www.outlook.com, then log in using your Microsoft (Outlook or Hotmail) account. If the top bar has Outlook Mail or Outlook Email on it (see top left of screenshot), you’re using the latest version. If you still see a blue header with Outlook.com on it, you’re still using the old version and won’t have access to the new features (your account should be upgraded…

Good old-fashioned PC programs don’t seem to be high on Microsoft’s list of priorities in Windows 10. The Start menu may be back, but it’s hardly the Start menu we knew and loved in Windows XP and 7. Instead of the All Programs list, there’s a long litany of apps you never asked for and rarely use. Don’t be fooled. Apps have not replaced traditional programs, and we don’t think they ever can. Sure, apps have their upsides – they’re easy to install and tend to use little memory. However, they lack the power and control that programs give you, especially when it comes to system and security tasks. If you want to create a digital-photo collage, for example, go ahead and use an app. But if you want to…

Our experts solve all your tech problems  Email us your problem and we’ll try to help: noproblem@computeractive.co.uk Q I am no longer able to perform backups on my computer. When I try I get a message that says the “task image is corrupt or has been tampered with”. I am running Windows 7 on an Acer machine, and I have an external 1TB hard drive. I have tried different ways to perform a backup, and different destinations, but all to no avail. Please help, as I’m still a learner. Doug Whyte A The message gives a clue as to the problem but there’s no way the average user could be expected to know what to do with this information, let alone a novice. But the problem relates to Task Scheduler,…

Q I use Word 2007 with Windows 7 and make a lot of newsletters with photographs embedded, using tight text wrapping. This works well and it’s possible to move the pictures to get them neatly in line vertically with the text. However, on sending the document by email, the images often float around, ruining the appearance. Is there a way to ‘freeze’ the final document, once edited? Ken Geddes A We’re assuming you’re sending the newsletter docs as email attachments. That is fine if the recipients use the same version of Word, but by the sound of it, they’re not. Different versions can render complex documents in different ways. Such problems will be exacerbated for anyone viewing your work with a non-Microsoft word processor. The solution is to turn the…

Windows updates will be faster, promises Microsoft It will soon be much quicker to install major Windows updates to your PC, after Microsoft claimed that the size of the downloads will shrink by approximately 35 per cent. The company is working on a new system called Unified Update Platform (UUP), which only downloads the parts of Windows that have changed since the last update. Currently, you have to download each new update in full – a process that can slow down even the fastest computers. Writing on Microsoft’s blog (www.snipca.com/22515) Bill Karagounis, director of program management, admitted that Windows users had told him that they wanted updates to be more “seamless”. He wrote that the UUP will be implemented in the next significant update to Windows 10 – called the…

Tell us what’s on your mind Email: letters@computeractive.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/computeractive www.twitter.com/computeractive Twitter: @ComputerActive ‘Benefits broadband’: restrict it to job-hunting sites In the discussion about giving people on benefits cheaper broadband (‘Question of the Fortnight’, Issue 488), may I propose a third option? I think it would send out the wrong message to unemployed people if the taxpayer subsidised their internet, but I do accept that looking for a job is easier if you have online access. So how about providing discounted broadband to jobseekers, but as part of the package restrict the sites they can visit to those that help them get back to work – such as advice on creating a better CV. To me, that’s the right combination of carrot and stick. If we gave the unemployed limitless…

SYSTEM TOOL Synei System Utilities 4.00 www.snipca.com/22217 What you need: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8/8.1 or 10 Programs that claim to rejuvenate your PC aren’t always useful or even safe. But unlike SlimCleaner Free – whose faults we exposed in last issue’s Named & Shamed – Synei System Utilities is junk-free, lightweight and well worth a place on your hard drive. At just 10.03MB, this flagship program from Synei (pronounced “see-nay”) is half the size of CCleaner and a quarter the size of Glary Utilities, but it packs in dozens of tools. Version 4.00 adds a Force File Deleter for completely deleting files and folders Windows has locked; a Big File Scanner to track down space-hogs; and a powerful Task Manager that gives you control over all running processes, including…

Also known as the ZenPad Z500M, this 9.7in tablet is a direct competitor to the iPad Air for people who prefer Android or want to save £79. It makes an excellent first impression, with Apple-esque chamfered edges, slim sides, and a back panel (in Glacier Silver or Titanium Grey) that’s robust enough to support a design that’s slimmer than a phone. To underline its premium credentials, the button below the screen incorporates a fingerprint sensor for unlocking the tablet more securely. Screen quality matters in a tablet, and here the ZenPad lags behind the iPad – but not by much. It has the same ultra-sharp resolution, and while contrast and colour reproduction (covering 91 per cent of the sRGB range) fail to match Apple’s standards, the 3S 10’s panel is…

How often do you receive unwanted phone calls on your landline? It may even be registered with the Telephone Preference Service (see www.snipca.com/22183), which is supposed to stop that sort of thing, but doesn’t... not entirely. Cold-callers may include foreign call centres, pre-recorded advertising messages, ‘surveys’ (permitted by TPS) and machines that just hang up on you. You might even have a phone number that’s similar to a local taxi firm or takeaway. Halo, BT’s latest call-blocking landline phone, aims to end nuisance calls by a simple but effective method. It can also work with your smartphone to make life more convenient. In fact, at a time when some people are switching entirely to mobile phones, it could be a good reason to keep your landline. “Keep nuisance callers at…

How do I get Wi-Fi in my cellar? Q I live in a 17th-century terraced town house. At street level and above, the signal from my Wi-Fi router is good. I’m contemplating moving my office down to my cellar, which is beneath my neighbour’s sitting room. From here, I can access her Wi-Fi but not mine. Is there a device that can resolve this? In a previous house, a Devolo system was set up that used plugs and mains wiring. I still have that equipment. Gill Wells A You’ve answered your own question very well. This is a case for powerline adapters. Your cellar may be geographically under your neighbour’s house, but the sockets in there will be on your electric wiring. So, as long as your wiring is modern,…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2015 Back Issue CD: £15 fromwww.snipca.com/21619 LAPTOP Asus ZenBook UX305CA £634 from www.snipca.com/22321 Tested: Issue 475 PRICE DROP This metal-cased ‘ultrabook’ looks much more expensive than it is. There’s no touchscreen or 36-degree hinge, just great quality all round and an ultra-sharp display. The M3 processor is adequate for most tasks, though not gaming. ALTERNATIVE Dell Inspiron 15 5000 If you need a full-size Windows 10 laptop with a DVD drive and a desktop PC-level i5 processor, this is a solid choice. £516 from www.snipca.com/21650 DESKTOP PC Palicomp AMD Avenger £500 from www.snipca.com/20927 Tested: Issue 479 AMD’s Athlon X4 880K processor gives this PC solid performance with money left for GTX 960 graphics and a very fast 128GB SSD as well as…

What you need: Print Conductor; Any version of Windows (XP to 10) Time required: 25 mins Windows offers several ways to print files, either from within the program that created them or by right-clicking the files in Windows/File Explorer. If you want to print a number of files in one go, however, you’ll end up having to browse for files and launch various programs. Free program Print Conductor simplifies this process by collecting the files you want to print (whatever the file type) and printing them in one go. It has a number of print settings to make your life easier. STEP 1 To download the program, go to www.snipca.com/22173 and click the blue Download button. Run the downloaded setup file to install and open it (it doesn’t contain unwanted…

Email us your tips: letters@computeractive.co.uk TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT Add more options to Firefox’s Reader View Sometimes it feels that Firefox gets forgotten when ‘experts’ talk about which browser to use, so I was chuffed to see Computeractive give it the thumbs up in Issue 487 (page 18). You mentioned that the new version includes Reader View, which declutters web pages, making them easier to read. I use it all the time – simply click the book icon in the browser bar. It’s a great tool, but somewhat limited in terms of formatting. For example, you can choose from only two fonts, and only three screen colours. I’m sure Firefox’s developers are planning to add more options, but until then I’m going to use the add-on Better Reader, which adds…

AGES 0-5 Fish School Free www.snipca.com/22385 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/22386 (iOS) This app contains eight activities that aim to teaches your toddler how to recognise letters, numbers and shapes – simply by watching fish. The games involve matching fish, identifying the odd fish out in the shoal, and playing with the fish by tapping them. AGES 6-10 The Foolish King £3.99 www.snipca.com/22387 (iPad) Based on a new children’s book of the same name, this iPad app teaches your kids how to play chess. It features a storybook, simple tutorials, tips on how to improve your technique and suggestions for when to use which moves. You can also play against the app. AGES 11-16 Solitaire: Decked Out* Free www.snipca.com/22388 (Android) Free www.snipca.com/22389 (iOS) Solitaire is one of the most popular games on…

Make your messages private Google Allo (https://allo.google.com) is an instant-messaging app (for iOS and Android) that lets you use Google search within your messages. For example, ask a friend if they want to go and see a film and Allo will automatically provide details about what’s showing at local cinemas. Among its other features is the secure and discreet incognito mode. This encrypts your messages so no one (including Google) can read them apart from the intended recipient. In incognito mode the ‘message received’ notification will not display your (the sender’s) name, nor will it show a preview of the message’s contents. To use incognito mode tap the New Chat icon (the speech bubble in the bottom left), then ‘Start incognito chat’ and select a contact from your list. The…

MailWasher Pro Format: Windows Website: www.snipca.com/22285 Price: ₣29.96 per year (about £27) Free trial period: 30 days My early-morning routine involves putting the kettle on, then checking my emails. Much as I always chuck two sugars in my coffee without thinking, I sift out the previous day’s spam and junk mail on autopilot. But wouldn’t it be nice to be able to skip this daily chore? MailWasher Pro claims to let me do just that. It’s meant to filter unwanted emails – including the messages missed by the spam checkers in the likes of Gmail and Yahoo – before they gatecrash my inbox. Having four active email accounts, I was happy to learn it supports multiple email addresses. It also has a recycle bin that lets you recover any email…

Q I have five ‘empty’ files in the folder location C:\Users\Paul\ Downloads\Lyrics that Windows will not let me delete because it says they do not exist! This is not really a problem, but I am curious. Why is this happening, and how do I delete these apparently undeletable files? Rod Fisher A Some programs create empty, zero-byte files to serve as pointers to something else or for information purposes, because the file name itself contains information even though the file doesn’t. However, Windows Explorer (or File Explorer) can refuse to delete zero-byte files because they appear not to exist, or they have been ‘locked’ (but not released) by the application that created them. You can delete them using DOS-like instructions in a Command Prompt window. Click Start, type cmd then…

You see a folder with a grey minus sign on it A folder in your PC’s Dropbox folder displaying a minus symbol in a grey circle (see screenshot 1 right) means there is a Selective Sync problem. Selective Sync lets you choose which folders to synchronise to your computer, rather than syncing everything in Dropbox. To use it, click the Dropbox icon in the system tray, then the gear icon and select Preferences. Click the Account tab, the Selective Sync button, then tick only those folders you want to synchronise. However, this can cause problems. For example, you may decide to exclude a folder called ‘photos’ from syncing on one of your PCs. However, if you then create a folder called ‘photos’ in the Dropbox folder on another PC, it…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: Glary Utilities Dustbin men seem to leave as much rubbish as they take away. You know when they’ve been, because your garden is covered in litter and dirty footprints. Well, Glary Utilities is the dustbin man of PC programs. Over the last week or so, I’ve installed dozens of programs - some of which were good enough to end up in this issue’s Cover Feature and Best Free Software - and my hard drive and registry are very messy as a result. I thought the free version of Glary (www.glarysoft.com/glary-utilities) would help me clean up, but it left me with the PC equivalent of a litter-strewn front path Grubby Glary Glary’s installer contains a tick box that says: ‘I agree to install Malware Hunter’. Malware…

Can PC shop raise price of repair? Q My local computer- repair shop told me my laptop needed a new motherboard. I agreed to a price of £200 for the installation of a new one. When I picked it up, the shop said the actual cost of the motherboard was higher, so I was forced to pay £250. The shop said its terms state the price would be raised in such cases. Can they do this? Derek Palmer A They can, but Derek might be able to prove that the repair shop’s terms are unfair. What’s considered fair is a grey area, although this has been clarified somewhat in 2015’s Consumer Rights Act (CRA). But one area that remains ambiguous is when a company changes the price after a contract…

Q I have around 3,000 photographic slides, dating back to the Sixties, that I’d like to digitise. I’ve purchased a scanner (CanoScan 9000F, at your recommendation), but what software do I need to edit the photos, add metadata including data and description, and then burn them to DVD? I’m running Windows 10. David Cale A Canon’s own free software for the CanoScan 9000F includes basic photo-editing and file-management functions (www.snipca.com/22258). But if you’re after something more powerful, you can’t beat Hamrick VueScan (www.hamrick.com). It lets you scan your slides at high quality (and fast), add and edit metadata, organise the files and even keep your drivers automatically updated. It’s not free, though - the Professional version, which you’ll need for scanning slides and negatives, costs $69.95 (£57). VueScan includes colour…

Google has produced some excellent and affordable phones under the Nexus brand. Now, it’s extending the Pixel range – which previously included a very expensive tablet and a very expensive laptop – to a pair of very expensive smartphones. Is that a good move? We asked Google “Is the Pixel phone too expensive?” and in 0.54 seconds it found 653,000 results saying yes, it was too expensive. But let’s judge for ourselves “It’s pricey, but has a sharp screen, updates automatically and takes great photos” The Pixel phone itself doesn’t seem to have a name. It’s marketed as “Pixel, phone by Google”, which made us think “Your, grammar by Martians”. It comes in two colours, ‘Quite Black’, which is not very black, and ‘Very Silver’, which is quite silver. There…

The Tile was a chunky little plastic square that you could attach to anything you didn’t want to lose – car keys, memory stick, small child – and keep track of its location on your smartphone. At least, that’s how it was marketed. You could have been forgiven for thinking the Tile actually knew where it was. In fact no location-tracking equipment was built into it at all. Instead, it relied on communicating wirelessly with your phone at short range, via Bluetooth. “It’s clever and useful if you worry about losing things” The idea was that if you lost the Tile, your phone would show you on a map where it was last located, which, logically, was probably where it still was. If you went to that place and found…

No bigger than a chocolate bar, the Chromebit CS10 turns any HDMI monitor or TV into a computer. Pair it with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and you can browse the web from your sofa. It runs Chrome OS – Google’s lightweight operating system – and comes with 100GB of Google Drive space, free for two years. It comes with an extension cable and bendable HDMI connector for easy connections to hard-to-reach ports. To enter, email your address to cacomp@dennis.co.uk by midnight 6 December with ‘chromebit’ in the subject line. The Chromebit CS10 is available to buy from Amazon priced £89: www.snipca.com/22207. For more information visit Asus’s site: www.snipca.com/22206. You can also follow @ASUSUK on Twitter.…

What you need: Windows 10; USB stick (minimum 4GB) Time required: 40 minutes If, when you power up your PC, Windows 10 fails to start, your PC should automatically boot to a menu of troubleshooting tools for fixing start-up errors, returning to earlier system restore points and more. The trouble is, this menu doesn’t always appear when it’s supposed to. Here, we explain how to create a USB rescue drive that will let you boot to these tools and even reinstall Windows 10 if you need to. This method won’t delete any files stored on your USB stick.  STEP 1 First, right-click the Start menu and click System. Make a note of the Windows edition (Professional or Home), as well as the ‘System type’ (32bit or 64bit). Now download a…

 ANDROID, IOS & WINDOWS PHONE Tag your notes to find them faster Evernote is one of the best, free note-taking apps (you can use it for free on a maximum of two devices). One of its most useful features is the option to tag your notes with relevant keywords, such as ‘recipes’, ‘to-do lists’ and so on. This makes it easy to find any note you want by entering a search term. We’ll show you how to do this on Android (www.snipca.com/22406), but the method is the same on iOS (www.snipca.com/22407) and Windows Phones (www.snipca.com/22408). Open Evernote, tap the ‘+’ icon at the bottom right, then Text Note. Enter a name for your note at the top, then start typing your note in the main section. Use the panel of…

WINDOWS 7, 8, 10 Play photos on your PC as a slideshow Playing photos on your PC as a slideshow can add a nice touch to a birthday or anniversary celebration – and you don’t need to install software to do it. In Windows 7, open the folder with your photos, then click the ‘Slide show’ button at the top. In Windows 8 and 10, click the Manage tab on the Ribbon, then click ‘Slide show’. The photos will play in order and each one will be displayed for five seconds, although you can change this. Use the spacebar to play and pause the slideshow. Right-click any photo that’s currently playing within the slideshow to see options to shuffle (randomly re-order) the photos and to change the playing speed (see…

 Who are they? Mr and Mrs Clutterbuck, the retired Shropshire couple who power the internet, pedalling non-stop (except for toilet breaks) on a bike machine connected to the National Grid. Don’t be silly. Who are they really? Sorry. They’re actually neural networks from Google that have taught themselves how to encrypt the messages they send to each other. Remind me - what are neural networks? Computer systems designed to mimic how the human brain learns from trial and error. What makes them so exciting is that they can adapt their behaviour without human input. They have already learnt how to describe what’s happening in photos (see screenshot below), how to play chess, and how to detect early signs of cancer. But Alice and Bob are the first to develop a…

Are you being watched right now? Probably not because you’re reading this! But the next time you go online your activity will be closely monitored. Every website you access employs trackers designed to see how you reached it, which bit of the site you interacted with, how long you stayed put and what site you leapt to afterwards. Using this information website owners build up a profile of you that is used to tailor the adverts you see. They sell this to tracking companies who will, in turn, re-sell your data (see box on opposite page). That’s why you end up seeing adverts for items you’ve just been looking at seemingly wherever you browse. The good news is you don’t have to put up with such tracking. Lightbeam, Privacy Badger…

Q I use KeePass Password Safe. I’m wondering whether it is safe to store the password-vault file in the cloud? Ken Warren A There’s no simple answer to this. In a roundabout way all your online passwords are already stored in the cloud, because ‘the cloud’ is really just a buzzword for the internet. If you use internet services, then the passwords you have to log into them are stored on the servers running them. However, these passwords will be stored in many different places by the companies running whatever online services you use. Putting all your passwords into a vault like KeePass obviously gathers them in one place. If someone breaks into your vault then you could be in deep trouble. However, to do that someone would first have…

Q Within the past month my wirless mouse’s pointer has become jittery. The drivers are up to date, and there is no such problem with the pointer when I plug in a wired mouse. I don’t really want to revert to a wired mouse. Any idea what might be causing this? Rex Moore A You’ve carried out the obvious troubleshooting steps, so that really just leaves wireless interference. As this is a recent problem, think about anything that might’ve changed around your home recently. Have you bought a cordless phone? Or perhaps you’ve set up other wireless devices? Many wireless gadgets share the 2.4GHz band used by Bluetooth, so something nearby could be causing a frequency overlap. If your PC is a laptop, take it outside, and preferably a fair…

Q I’m one of those rare people who carries a Windows smartphone, and have done for years. I like the interface, and it does everything I want. Well, it did. Up until recently I was able to use a feature called Kid’s Corner, which allowed me to restrict what apps were available to my son when I allowed him to play with the phone. Now, all of a sudden, this mode seems to have disappeared. Or at least, I can no longer find it. My phone did update itself recently, with what I guess is the Anniversary edition of Windows 10, but I’m really not sure. Am I going loopy? If not, what’s happened to Kid’s Corner? Kieran McKenzie A You’re certainly not going loopy because the Anniversary update did…

Q I’ve been a reader since your first issue, with every copy safely filed. I was flipping through some early issues recently when I saw mention of Freeserve. I’d totally forgotten about Freeserve, so it was a nice nostalgia trip. But it also made me wonder whatever happened to this company? Back in the 1990s Freeserve’s offer of free dial-up internet seemed revolutionary. But now, the firm’s gone. What happened? How did Freeserve make its money? Or did it not make enough to survive? Mike Hunter A Freeserve launched in 1998 when almost all internet users needed dial-up connections to get online, meaning they would use a modem attached to a telephone line. The modem would dial the number of an internet service provider (ISP) and modulate the computer’s digital…

2.4GHz Wireless networks working at this frequency have longer range, but are more prone to interference. 32bit A measure of how much data a PC can process at once. 64bit A technology that processes information in larger chunks. Most modern computers are 64bit. Add-in Microsoft’s name for tools that can be added to Office software. Add-on See Extension. ADSL2 A newer, faster type of ADSL broadband. AMOLED Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode. An alternative technology to LCD for creating flat-panel displays. APTX A codec that’s used to compress audio so it can be transmitted over Bluetooth with minimal loss in quality. Benchmarking Comparing software and products with an accepted standard. Beta A version of software that’s being tested. BIOS Basic Input-Output System. Essential software built into every PC that connects the…

Many’s the occasion when I thought that some gadget or other had developed a mind of its own. There was a period, for example, when my mouse pointer would occasionally go haywire. I thought my laptop had developed a fault, but eventually I realised my palms would sometimes rest on the built-in touchpad — so it was my physical ineptitude that was causing the cursor to do dance madly. Another time, my smartphone’s display would dim randomly. I spent days going through the settings, and trying different Google searches to find a solution. But that couldn’t have helped because the problem turned out to be a barely visible bit of grime splodged right on top of the phone’s light sensor. At certain angles my phone thought it darker than it…