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If I was feeling clever I would’ve asked ChatGPT to write this, but that’s not what the tool is for. Forget the scare stories that AI will replace human creativity. Instead it will improve our lives in ways we are barely beginning to imagine. Robert Irvine reveals some of these in his excellent Cover Feature. He’s right that ChatGPT is by some distance the best AI program open to the public. What’s key is that it’s built for everyday users, not just IT experts or professional coders. It’s improving quickly too, with new tools being added all the time. I’m usually sceptical of technology that’s meant to be life-changing, but ChatGPT merits the claim. I think it’s going to become as big a part of our lives as Google, so…

A judge has dismissed a man’s attempt to sue Newport City Council to recover a hard drive containing a Bitcoin account now valued at £598 million. James Howells (pictured right) claimed that his former partner accidentally threw away the hard drive containing the cryptocurrency in 2013. He wanted permission to locate it on a landfill site owned by the council, or seek £495m in compensation. But the High Court agreed with the council’s request to reject the case. Judge Keyser KC ruled that there were no “reasonable grounds” for the claim, and “no realistic chance” of it succeeding at trial. Howells, 39, bought the cryptocurrency for almost nothing in 2009, but forgot about it when he put the drive in a drawer after he spilled drink on it. When the…

Amazon is planning to launch a satellite broadband service in the UK in a bid to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink. It has given documents to UK regulators that reveal it will seek access to British radio frequencies “over the next one to two years”. It’s part of the company’s Project Kuiper, which aims to deploy 3,000 satellites worldwide providing high-speed internet access to remote areas. Amazon told Ofcom that offering satellite broadband in the UK could help “close the digital divide” suffered by UK businesses and people in rural areas. The firm first plans to use terminals installed on buildings to connect to satellites. If this is successful, it wants to start offering a ‘direct to device’ service, which would connect phones to satellites. Regulators will consider Amazon’s proposal before…

As we explained back in Issue 651’s How To (page 35), Tails is a privacy-focused operating system that – once installed on a USB stick – routes all internet traffic through the Tor browser, letting you browse the web anonymously. When you log off, it doesn’t remember anything you’ve done online, though it does have a useful feature called Persistent Storage that keeps your settings, files and data the same across all your browsing sessions. This might not work if the partitions on your stick are corrupted, so the new version of Tails (6.11), released on 9 January, shows early warnings if it detects problems with your partitions (pictured). With luck this will give you enough time to recover crucial data before it’s lost. You can download Tails 6.11 from…

My New Year’s resolution is to finally ditch my SIM card for an eSIM. When did you explain which deals are best? Ian Harrison CA SAYS In Issue 697, page 62. I’ve just downloaded GlassWire (www.glasswire.com) because I want to check whether my neighbours are using my Wi-Fi. When was your feature on the program? Michael Redmond CA SAYS In Issue 691, page 62. With 2025 upon us, I need to decide what to do with my three Windows 10 computers. When was your ‘Windows 10 is doomed’ Cover Feature? Tony Aslett CA SAYS In Issue 693, page 50. Read all three articles on our 2024 Back Issue CD: www.snipca.com/53433.…

OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, has acted quickly to refund a reader. As we reported in Issue 701, Annette Deschenes thought her husband had paid $20 (£16) for a ChatGPT Plus subscription, so was shocked to see that £580 had actually been taken from her account. We thought it might be a tricky case to resolve because Annette’s husband was buying a subscription for his sister, who lives in Tunisia, and OpenAI is based in the US. Also, OpenAI hadn’t actually made a mistake in charging £580 because Annette’s husband had mistakenly paid for two years. Happily, however, OpenAI responded promptly to an email from us explaining the situation. It accepted that Annette’s husband hadn’t intended to sign up for two years and agreed to refund him. He did lose £10…

I need to print my family tree, but I’m struggling to fit it all on to appropriately sized sheets of paper that my family members can easily read. Is there a program that could help me? Yes, you can do this in Gramps, which is free from https://gramps-project.org. Go to the Family Descendant Tree section for options to set your paper size and choose your orientation (landscape or portrait). Choose ‘Scale tree to fit the size of the page’ to restrict it to one page only, or ‘Scale tree to fit page width only’ to spread it over several pages. Have a genealogy question for us? Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.…

How can I edit my camcorder tapes? Q I’ve got a lot of camcorder tapes I’d like to edit and save to DVD or USB stick. Could you recommend a free (or reasonably priced) program to help me? Tom Hanratty A Have you tried Microsoft Clipchamp? It’s probably on your computer already if you’re running Windows 11, but if not you can download it for free from the Microsoft Store (www.snipca.com/53422). It’s easy to use and has many of the standard video-editing elements, including a timeline on to which you can drag video clips (1 in our screenshot), a preview window where you can see the film as it comes together 2, and various cut and transition tools. Once you’ve mastered these simple features, you can transfer much of what…

What is it? POLED is a type of AMOLED screen, which is increasingly being used in mobile phones. First used for screens in folding phones and smartwatches, it’s now common on phones with fixed screens. This is because they’re becoming cheaper to make, and can be fitted with smaller bezels, thanks to their ability to bend around edges. As a result they’ve started to appear on lowcost phones, such as the Motorola Edge 50 Fusion (£280 from www.snipca.com/52997, reviewed in Issue 699, pictured). How does it work? All screens are built from several layers of material. In standard AMOLED screens, one of these layers – called the substrate – is made from glass. However, to produce bendy glass manufacturers of folding phones needed a flexible alternative. They settled on pliable…

FIREFOX Chat with Mozilla’s new AI assistant Mozilla has followed the example of Microsoft, Brave and Opera (and Google in the US) by introducing an AI assistant for its browser. It’s called Orbit (www.snipca.com/53389) and is currently in beta, so Mozilla has taken the sensible precaution of making the chatbot optional, rather than foisting it on Firefox users prematurely. You can try Orbit now by installing its extension from the Firefox Add-ons Store (www.snipca.com/53390). It requires permission to access your browsing data and tabs, so it can “generate summaries and provide real-time answers”. This is standard for an AI assistant, but you can stop Orbit collecting additional data for “error monitoring and performance tracking” by clicking ‘Agree to Essential Data Collection only’. Orbit appears in the top-right corner of the…

LIBREOFFICE CALC & MICROSOFT EXCEL Hide cells when printing spreadsheets When printing your spreadsheets you can hide the data in particular cells, which is useful if they contain sensitive information such as financial or personal details. To do this, select the cells then click Home at the top followed by the small ‘Number Format’ diagonal arrow at the bottom right of the Number section. Now click Custom in the Category box on the left (1 in our screenshot) and type three semi-colons (;;;) in the Type field on the right 2. Click OK to confirm. This will make the data disappear on screen, and it won’t appear when you print. To see what the cell contains, just click it and look in the Formula bar at the top. To do this…

Over the past two years, artificial intelligence has become inescapable, with virtually every big tech company dabbling in the technology. In many cases, such as Copilot in Windows, AI Overviews in Google Search and shopping assistant Rufus in Amazon’s mobile app, AI features have been foisted on us whether we want them or not, causing annoyance rather than amazement at their capabilities. These heavy-handed tactics make the success of ChatGPT all the more remarkable. With over 300 million weekly users (see www.snipca.com/53466), it’s by far the most popular AI tool you can choose to use, which means you can discover its many benefits for yourself. Despite the huge uptake, ChatGPT still has an undeserved reputation for being aimed at tech boffins; as one article asked: is it “just a new…

With ChatGPT’s web-search tool now providing a reliable alternative to Google (see page 53), OpenAI may next take on Chrome by launching its own web browser. The company has reportedly hired two developers who were ‘instrumental’ in making Chrome for Google and could help it create a browser with integrated ChatGPT (see www.snipca.com/53465). Rumours point to Operator, an AI agent framework OpenAI is set to release later this year as a strong indication it will launch a browser. The agent will go beyond the current capabilities of ChatGPT to perform tasks on behalf of users on computers and the web. We don’t know exactly what that browser might look like, and judging from what’s been reported, it’s still in the early stages. However, with several browsers now offering their own…

Many people don’t know how to wipe data from their old devices. According to recent research from the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (www.snipca.com/53379) – which upholds the data privacy of individuals – 29 per cent of Brits lack the skills to erase files from phones, tablets and computers. This matters because most of us don’t keep old devices once we’ve stopped using them, and this is particularly true of phones. A YouGov poll last year found that 42 per cent of people pass on phones to people they know, while 24 per cent trade them in to get money off a new device (www.snipca.com/53526). Why a factory reset isn’t enough The biggest mistake you can make when wiping your data is to assume a factory reset is enough. You should…

We’re delighted to announce our lowest-ever price for Norton 360 Premium. For just £19.99, you’ll protect 10 devices for two years. Available both for new customers and existing Norton users wanting to renew. WHAT YOU GET ✓ Real-time malware protection ✓ Secure VPN ✓ 75GB PC Cloud Backup PLUS Monitors the dark web for your personal information Norton is made by NortonLifeLock Inc – a standalone company dedicated to consumer cyber safety. It has always performed strongly in Computeractive antivirus tests, so we highly recommend it. 10 devices for two years NOW ONLY £19.99* Normally £179.99 Buy it from our Software Store at www.snipca.com/33247 * while stocks last…

1080p High-definition video: 1920x1080 pixels. 32bit/64bit A measure of how much data a PC can process at once. Most older computers are 32bit, more modern ones are 64bit. 3G/4G/5G Technologies that deliver faster mobile broadband. 4K Video with a resolution of at least 3840x2160 pixels. AMOLED An alternative technology to LCD for creating flat-panel displays. API Application Programming Interface. A system built into a program so that other programs can work with it. Aspect ratio A measurement of the shape of a screen. Traditional PC screens are 4:3. Widescreen displays are 16:9 or 16:10. Bandwidth A measure of how much data can be transferred through a connection at one time. Beta A version of software that’s being tested. Beta versions are often released so problems can be ironed out. BIOS…

£3 Great Western Railway ‘UK Annual Pass’ I travel on GWR trains once a week, so my eye was caught by an advert on Facebook promising a ‘UK Annual Pass’ that would give me unlimited travel for just £3. I smelt a rat – how could it possibly be so cheap? Out of curiosity I clicked the link and it took me to a page asking for my personal details. It was made to look like the official GWR site, but I wasn’t convinced. I asked a GWR official on my next journey and they confirmed it’s a well-known scam that’s been around for about a year now. I hope other passengers aren’t fooled. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

I had to chuckle at Google’s pathetic response to the US Government asking it to sell Chrome (Issue 701, page 9). The company proposed that users be allowed to change their default search engine once a year. Well, thanks for your generosity, Google – I’m truly grateful! There should be no default options on devices. All the options should have equal prominence, with simple information explaining what they do. Let people make an informed choice rather than being funnelled toward Google’s services without realising it. The regulators need to be careful, though. There’s no point in breaking Google’s monopoly only to create another one controlled by a different tech giant. If Apple or Microsoft step into Google’s shoes, cutting similar deals with manufacturers to become the default, we’ll be back…

In 2023, my son bought me a Bosch lawnmower, which in late summer developed an intermittent starting fault. It was still under warranty, so Bosch collected it for examination, but they couldn’t find any fault and returned it. I wasn’t happy, and told Bosch that if the fault reappeared in 2024 I would be out of warranty. Unsurprisingly, it did stop working again. From reading Consumeractive over the years I’ve learned that if a product has an inherent fault, companies are allowed only one repair or replacement (but not both). I quoted this law to Bosch, and told them that I would accept a repair with a report that confirmed and identified the fault. Days later, I opened my door to find that Bosch had delivered a completely new lawnmower.…

SCREEN-CAPTURE TOOL ShareX 17 www.snipca.com/53506 What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11 The Snipping Tool feature in Windows 11 is a big improvement on the Windows 10 version, offering more ways to capture the contents of your screen, including the ability to record videos. However, it still pales in comparison to the features and flexibility of ShareX, which – unlike rival screen-capture tools such as SnagIt and FastStone Capture – is completely free to use. ShareX 17 expands and refines the program’s capabilities to make taking screenshots even easier and produce better quality results. For example, when you capture a ‘scrolling’ screenshot of an entire web page or lengthy document, choose ‘Scrolling capture’ in the Capture menu to make it ignore the bottom 50 pixels. This means images…

SOFTWARE WARNING! Bing caught cross-dressing as Google Microsoft is so pleased with recent AI improvements to its search engine Bing that it’s desperate for you to try it – even if that means tricking you into thinking you’re using Google instead. Many people spotted this just after Christmas, while searching for Google on Bing, using either Edge or Chrome. It produced a results page that looked strangely similar to Google’s home page, rather than the usual Bing results page. I mean, just look at that image at the top (see screenshot 1). If that’s not a deliberate attempt to copy Google’s famous doodles, then I’m a pink squirrel called Colin. There’s no mention you’re using Bing apart from ‘Promoted by Microsoft’. What happens is that as the page appears, it…

Most people looking for a new tablet will typically think of an iPad or Android device. Windows enthusiasts now have a third option, with the release of this low-price laptop-tablet from Chinese manufacturer Chuwi. The Hi10 X1 is fairly chunky compared with Apple and Android rivals with similar-sized 10in screens. It measures 164x245x10.1mm (HxWxD) and weighs a hefty 610g. This is due in part to its aluminium frame, which ensures the device looks stylish and will survive the odd knock. In fact, the build quality is exceptionally good for the price, making it feel like a premium product when you pick it up. “A low-cost Windows tablet that’s ideal for basic work on the move, but struggles with more demanding tasks” Along one edge you’ll find two USB-C ports and…

Find out which other products we liked. Buy our 2024 Back Issue CD: £19 from www.snipca.com/53433 LAPTOP Dell Inspiron 14 Plus £699 from www.snipca.com/51831 Tested Issue 683 PRICE DROP This laptop has the same processor (Intel Core Ultra 7 155H) as our previous favourite (Acer Swift Go 4), but manages to squeeze more speed out of it. It also comes with 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD and a 14in 2240x1400-pixel screen. Excellent value overall. ALTERNATIVE Acer Swift Go 14 Still a fast and powerful laptop, with a great 14in screen. £809 from www.snipca.com/49733 ANDROID TABLET Honor MagicPad2 £500 from www.snipca.com/53150 Tested Issue 700 With a larger screen (12.3in) than the Galaxy Tab S9 (below) and a similar performance for less money, Honor’s MagicPad2 is a superb new tablet. The OLED screen…

ANDROID & iOS Read transcripts of WhatsApp voice messages Sending someone a voice message in WhatsApp can save you the hassle of typing one and make your communication feel more personal – such as for a birthday greeting. But listening to voice messages isn’t always easy, especially when you’re in a noisy environment or a quiet but not private one. They’re also difficult to find later, because you can’t search their content like you can with text messages. To address these problems, WhatsApp has updated its app with a useful ‘Voice message transcripts’ feature. This converts audio clips into text, so you can read them when it’s not possible to listen, and search for specific voice messages later. To activate this new option, tap the three-dot menu in the top-right…

Once you’ve mastered the basics of ChatGPT, you can expand its capabilities using custom GPTs. Similar to extensions for web browsers, these add extra features to the chatbot, which perform specific tasks from within the main interface. GPTs are now available to all ChatGPT users (though only paid-for subscribers can create their own) and are available from the GPTs Store (www.snipca.com/53452) – click Explore GPTs in ChatGPT’s left-hand sidebar to access this directly. There are millions of custom GPTs to choose from, of varying quality and usefulness, sorted into categories such as Writing, Programming and Lifestyle. Popular tools include AI PDF Drive, which creates and extracts text from PDFs; Video GPT, which turns text prompts into videos; and Image Generator, which beats the image-creation limit for free users. To add…

Yes, but only if it’s very old. iPhones running iOS 7 – released back in 2013 – and earlier weren’t encrypted by default, so it’s worth encrypting those before passing them on. The same applies for Android phones running 5.0 – released in 2014 – and earlier. All phones released since then are encrypted, so a factory reset is enough. If you do have one of those ancient iPhones, encrypt your data by opening Settings, then tapping ‘Touch ID & Passcode’ followed by Turn Passcode On. Now create a six-digit passcode. On an old Android phone, tap Settings, Security, Encryption, then ‘Encrypt phone’. You’ll be prompted to plug in your phone to charge it as it encrypts. Now set a PIN, password or lock screen to access your encrypted files.…

If you’ve already installed the 24H2 update and are experiencing problems or anticipating them, you can uninstall it until Microsoft has fixed every bug. However, you must do so within 10 days of upgrading, before the old installation files are automatically deleted. Open the Settings app and choose Windows Update then ‘Advanced options’. Select ‘Recovery’ and click the ‘Go back’ button, then ‘Get started’. Follow the instructions to uninstall the 24H2 update and roll back to Windows 11 23H2. If the 10-day window has expired and the ‘Go back’ button is greyed out, you’ll need to perform a clean install of 23H2. Unfortunately, Microsoft is no longer offering this version on its website, but you can download an ISO file from www.snipca.com/53498 and install it using Rufus (www.snipca.com/53499).…

All websites where sexually explicit content can be found have until July to introduce “robust” methods to check that users are 18 or over. The new rules, from telecoms regulator Ofcom, aim to prevent children from easily accessing pornography online. Research suggests that on average children in the UK first see explicit online material at the age of 13. One in 10 children have seen it by the age of nine. The measures are part of the Online Safety Act, which passed in October 2023, and covers social-media services as well as porn websites. Ofcom has published acceptable ways a site can check a person’s age, including using information from a user’s bank or mobile network. They can also use software that scans the user’s face to estimate age. Melanie…

WATCH OUT FOR… What’s the threat? Scammers posing as BT staff are phoning customers to ask them to confirm their personal and payment information so they can upgrade their landline to digital. Some of them know your name and address, and use this to persuade you they’re genuine. If you refuse, they threaten to disconnect your landline, which they claim will also cut your internet connection. According to Which?, the fraudsters add a sense of urgency by claiming the deadline is fast approaching. In recent calls they’ve said you have to act before the end of January. The original deadline was actually the end of December 2025, but in May last year BT pushed this back to the end of January 2027. How can you stay safe? First, ignore all…

Can Cash Converters refuse refund for stolen phone? Q Last August, I bought an iPhone from the eBay page of Cash Converters. It worked well until it was blacklisted in early November. Apparently, the phone’s IMEI had been registered as lost or stolen. I paid using PayPal and it won’t give me a refund. Cash Converters and eBay said I was outside their 30-day guarantee period to get my money back. Currently, I’m out of pocket £570, with no one admitting fault. Is there anything I can do? Lindsay Rice A Yes, Lindsay should report the sale to Action Fraud (www.actionfraud.police.uk) and tell Cash Converters that she’s entitled to a full refund under the Consumer Rights Act. Under the law, Cash Converters shouldn’t be selling any lost or stolen phones,…

Q My wife would like to be able to monitor her heart rate and keep a record of the data for health reasons, rather than fitness. Devices like the Fitbit seem to be aimed specifically at checking athletic performance, and we wonder whether this would be suitable. My wife has had her heart properly monitored by her GP, but for peace of mind, she’d like to have something that can continuously monitor this. A We can’t recommend that you rely on a smartwatch or fitness band to gather information for critical medical purposes, but they are certainly suitable for keeping tabs on your heart rate. We think a fitness band is a better option for your wife than a smartwatch because they can be comfortably worn all day and night…

Winner of a Recommended award in Issue 699 (page 28), Anker’s MagGo Power Bank is a high-quality portable charger that comes with Qi2-certified 15-Watt wireless charging to ensure your devices are fully charged faster than ever. For example, it charges the iPhone 15 from 0 to 50 per cent in just 44 minutes. It also has a USB-C port, meaning you can charge devices using wires. Its smart screen shows all the information you need, including battery percentages and full-recharge times, so you can keep tabs on your device’s charging journey. Like all Anker products, it offers the tech experience you want with zero restrictions. It works with magnetic phone cases, and has a stand that keeps your phone at the perfect viewing angle so you can watch your screen…

WINDOWS 10 & 11 Block new Outlook app from being installed Microsoft is automatically installing the new Outlook app on Windows 10 computers. It’s part of the optional update that was released on 28 January, and will be included in the compulsory ‘Patch Tuesday’ security update on 11 February. It claims the new-look Outlook is easier to use because it replaces all the confusing options in Windows, including the Mail and Calendar apps, with one single tool. But many users think it looks like an online tool rather than a downloadable program, and complain it’s too slow and lacks the features they liked in the previous ‘Classic’ version. Thankfully, the developers of the junk-removal tool Bloatynosy have updated it to block Outlook from being installed. The program is still a…

Email us your problem and we’ll try to help: noproblem@computeractive.co.uk PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT Why can’t I watch live TV on my Fire Stick? Q Various ongoing problems with my TalkTalk YouView box caused me to switch to BT for broadband. I then bought an Amazon Fire TV Stick. I realise that I can’t get the benefits of a Freeview tuner through a Wi-Fi-only device like this, but I’m very disappointed that I cannot get live BBC TV – only iPlayer. Is this likely to change or not? I wasn’t aware of this when I bought the thing. Judith Ellis A Actually, you can watch live BBC (and other) broadcasts on Fire TV Sticks, but how to do so isn’t all that obvious – especially to the generations of us…