Table of contents for 581 in Computeractive

For my 12th birthday, back in 1985, I got a black-and-white portable telly. The screen was tiny, and you had to twist the aerial into bizarre shapes to get a decent reception, but it allowed me to escape into my bedroom to watch my favourite shows uninterrupted (mostly Doctor Who and The Krypton Factor). Bliss! I loved that telly, but by today’s standards it was less smart than a Mastermind contestant who scores zero points with 20 passes. Many of us now use our computers as bedroom TVs – gone are the fuzzy-screened portables. But you can do more than just watch BBC iPlayer on catch-up. As Nik Rawlinson explains in our Cover Feature, by adding a TV tuner you can watch Freeview channels live. And by installing Plex or…

Scammers are sending text messages that try to trick people into thinking they’ve been in contact with someone who has tested positive for Coronavirus. The message contains a link to a fake website that asks for personal details. Fraudsters can use this information to gain access to steal money from victims’ bank accounts. It looks genuine because it appears to come from an official who’s working on the NHS’s contact-tracing app, currently being tested on the Isle of Wight. The public were warned about the scam by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), which said it was further evidence that fraudsters are modifying their tactics to exploit changes in the response to the pandemic. The fake message reads: “Someone who came in contact with you tested positive or has shown…

Chrome now lets you organise your browser tabs into coloured groups to make it easier to keep related tabs near each other. Google, which runs Chrome, added the feature in version 83 of the browser, launched on 19 May. To use it, right-click a tab then select ‘Add to new group’. Next, click the circle that appears in the tab and type a group name in the box. You can also choose a colour. Once you’ve created a group, add another tab to it by right-clicking it, then selecting ‘Add to existing group’ and choosing the group. In our screenshot above, we’ve named our group ‘Cornwall – places to visit’, and coloured it blue. Tabs in a group will be underlined in the same colour. Google says it’s rolling out…

Buy a face mask, guv? Those Coronavirus scams keep coming. The latest one I received was a phone call from someone saying that the Government had just announced that everyone had to now wear face masks. He said I should press 1 to buy a mask. The number he was calling from was the local code, but I read online that they’re using ‘spoofing’ techniques to make it look like they’re local. Presumably, people are more likely to trust what they think is a local caller. There may come a time when we all have to wear masks, but I doubt the Government would approve them being sold over the phone. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

I agree with your comment in Issue 580 (page 6) that it’s better for Microsoft to delay the May 2020 Update to fix flaws, rather than stick to an arbitrary schedule. I’m glad the company has made this sensible decision. But I’ve got an even better idea: why doesn’t Microsoft simply scrap the update completely? The past few months have made everyone reconsider their priorities. It’s made me realise how much I miss the pleasures of life that previously I took for granted, such as meeting my friends in the pub, or walking in the countryside with my grandchildren. At no point did I think these weeks of isolation would be brightened by having to deal with a potentially troublesome update. As we slowly and rather nervously come out of…

We had a Nest thermostat installed professionally about 14 months ago. The Wi-Fi chip on the display unit then failed, rendering it slightly more dumb than smart. After a brief online chat with an agent in Poland, Nest sent a replacement display unit. On receipt, I installed the new display. The Wi-Fi was now fine, but for some reason the new display unit refused to connect to the Heat Link boiler switch. This led to more toing and froing online as I sought help, but without success. Without any hesitation, Nest arranged for a new Heat Link and (second) display un nit to be sent to us. I indicated that I wouldn’t be confident wiring up the Heat Link unit. “No problem”, said Nest. Providing we use a local ‘Nest…

SYSTEM TOOL PowerToys0.18 www.snipca.com/34907 What you need: Windows 10 It’s not often the same program makes it on to this page twice in just a few weeks, but Microsoft’s PowerToys is progressing at such an impressive rate that we couldn’t ignore this latest release. Version 0.18 adds two new tools (Keyboard Manager and PowerToys Run) to an already impressive collection that includes tools to resize images, organise your desktop into zones and rename files. Keyboard Manager lets you change the function of any keys on your keyboard (a process known as remapping). It’s also incredibly easy to use. Just select the key whose function you want to change, choose what you want the new function to be, then click OK. Previously we’ve used SharpKeys (free from www.snipca.com/34908) to perform a…

WARNING: JUNK AHEAD Junk offender: Soft32.com Programs that attempt to trick me into installing other programs make me angry. So, imagine how incensed I was when I discovered an entire website seemingly devoted to deceiving visitors into installing unwanted junk, via a vast library of dodgy downloads. Soft32.com might look like a legitimate download site, boasting 160,165 tools and games, including familiar names, such as the Opera web browser and Minecraft. And some of the site’s downloads are harmless enough – Audacity, for example, installs without any fuss. Try installing a tool called ‘Advanced Scan to PDF Free’, however, and its instructions will attempt to trick you into handing over huge swathes of private data – including all your browsing activity and details of what you’ve bought online – to…

PC ❘ £599 from PC Specialist www.snipca.com/34821 Six hundred quid is a relatively low price for a desktop PC, and if you resent spending any of it on multi-coloured LED lights, the Magma S1 will suit you fine. There’s not even a glass panel or grille, so the inside could be Blackpool illuminations for all you know. It isn’t. There’s just a tiny microATX motherboard, with little room for expansion beyond the components already fitted, and a lot of empty space. A basic, no-frills PC that copes admirably with demanding editing tasks and gaming You could at least use some of this space to add two more 2.5in and one 3.5in hard drives or SSDs, or even a 5.25in DVD or Blu-ray drive. Although the outside is largely featureless, the…

MOUSE ❘ £38 from Amazon www.snipca.com/34871 Microsoft’s Classic Intellimouse (£29 from Amazon www.snipca.com/34872, see Issue 538, page 24) is the Volkswagen Golf of mice, while this is the Golf GTI. It’s not cheap, doesn’t come with a lot of extras and won’t turn heads, but it’ll get you from A to B with a little bit of zip. For general use and casual gaming, this is just right Outwardly, it’s much the same wired right-handed asymmetric mouse as the Classic, with a domed top surface over a black plastic base. But instead of grey it comes in a choice of black or white, both with a graduated tint ‘shadow’ effect. Underneath, the Pro uses a different optical tracking system. The Classic has Microsoft’s BlueTrack, which projects a wider light beam…

PORTABLE PRINTER ❘ £190 from Amazon www.snipca.com/34860 Epson lists this under ‘Inkjet printers for home’, which is the one place you wouldn’t plan to use it. The point of it is that if your work takes you out and about–lockdown permitting–the WF-110W can go with you. Its built-in battery should last 50 colour or 100 black-and-white pages, and can be recharged with the supplied mains adapter or via USB from any standard power source, such as the socket on a train or in your car. Portable printer that’s ideal for printing receipts, quotes and short documents It really is pretty versatile. With Wi-Fi built in, you can connect the printer to the same router or hotspot as your laptop, or to the wireless network wherever you’re visiting, or set up…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2019 Back Issue CD: £15 from www.snipca.com/33711 LAPTOP HP Envy 13 (2019)  £900 from www.snipca.com/34674 Tested Issue 568] Thanks to eighth-gen Intel processors and dedicated Nvidia MX250 graphics, this sleek aluminium laptop offers a practical combination of all-round processing power and portability, topped off by 8 hours 30 minutes battery life – and the touchscreen is now excellent too. ALTERNATIVE  Dell XPS 13 Gets the most out of Intel CPUs, now tenth-gen, but there’s no GPU option and the cheapest sensible configuration is £949 from www.snipca.com/33309 DESKTOP PC Palicomp Intel Mercury  £600 from www.snipca.com/34223 Tested Issue 576 If you don’t need advanced gaming, your money’s well spent here on a six-core Intel i5-9600K processor overclocked to 5GHz. 16GB of memory and…

The day we can get rid of cables entirely can’t come soon enough in my book. Wherever possible, I transfer everything wirelessly simply because I rarely have the right cable to hand – and because I work with so many devices, running Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, that having the right combination with me at the right time would be a long shot at best. Where it’s not possible to use one of the strategies outlined here, I fall back on traditional online services using synced folders. How do you manage sharing files on multiple devices? Let us know: letters@computeractive.co.uk…

Xerox B215 £162 from Printerbase www.snipca.com/34776 Disaster struck within three days of lockdown – my printer broke. I was working from home, so needed a replacement sharpish. I flicked through some recent issues and found this Xerox model reviewed earlier this year (Issue 572, page 25), back when this Coronavirus bug had barely left China (feels like several years ago). My needs are simple: I need to print lots of black-and-white documents, sometimes hundreds a day. The B215 is a mono printer (ie, it only prints in black), so it was perfect for me. Your review says it prints 30 pages a minute, and I’ve found that to be accurate. Scanning is reasonably fast too – about 10 seconds for each one. The ink isn’t especially cheap, but I can…

Boggle With Friends iOS: Free www.snipca.com/34852 Android: Free www.snipca.com/34853 How many words can you make by tracing letters from one of the 16 cubes to the next? There are several versions of this family classic, but we’ve picked Boggle With Friends. Play online in real-time with friends and family or try the solo games. Best For Word lovers Scattergories iOS: Free www.snipca.com/34858 Android: Free www.snipca.com/34859 The rules are simple: you have six categories, one initial letter and a limited amount of time. Your job is to find one word for each of the categories, beginning with that letter. Play with family members and you’ll be amazed at how different the answers can be between the generations. Best For Getting the mind working Bingo iOS: Free www.snipca.com/34854 Android: Free www.snipca.com/34855 The…

You can’t beat a traditional cork pinboard on which to post club notices and articles of interest. Well, actually, you can: an online pinboard. And that’s exactly what Padlet provides. With refreshingly little in the way of gimmicks, it lets you (and your members, if you wish) post links, photos, videos and much more. Create a new board First, create a free Padlet account at www.padlet.com. Free accounts let you create up to three boards (with a paid-for account, starting at £10 per month, you can create unlimited boards). Select ‘Make A Padlet’ (top left), then choose a style for your board. Options include Map (this lets you place pins on a world map) and Backchannel (a conversation-style format, similar to text messages on a phone). In this example we’ll…

For the best possible reception, you need to connect your tuner to a roof-mounted aerial. However, this isn’t practical if your PC isn’t close to an aerial socket or you’re using a laptop that needs to be moved around. I bought the Hauppauge dual TV tuner we recommend in this feature below. This comes with its own portable aerial, which is roughly the length of a ballpoint pen and as thin as a cocktail stick. Although it may work for some, performing a channel scan in my location failed to find any broadcasts. I therefore switched to a much larger DigiTop Layflat Indoor Aerial (£24.99 from www.snipca.com/34785 – pictured), which is designed for use with a traditional TV set, and repeated the setup process. This worked much better, finding 68TV…

ENHANCE PRIVACY Control who can add you to groups Until recently, anyone could add you to a WhatsApp group without your consent, meaning you could find yourself on the receiving end of a flood of unsolicited messages. Thanks to an update last month, you can now control who can add you to groups. Like most of our tips here, the instructions for how to do this are similar for both Android and iOS app versions. Go to Settings (the gear cog icon at the bottom on iOS; the three dots, top-right, then Settings on Android), Account, Privacy, then Groups. Here you’ll see three options, with Everyone as the default. Selecting ‘My Contacts’ instead will mean that only people in your contacts list will have the ability to add you to…

If we’ve got you in the mood for more keyboard shortcuts, why not try creating some of your own? Most programs have tools that let you create shortcuts (for example, in Libre Office Writer, go to Tools, Customise, then the Keyboard tab). You can set up shortcuts to launch programs too. You’ll first need to create a desktop shortcut for the program (the easiest way is to locate the program in your Start menu, then drag it on to the desktop). Right-click the shortcut icon, then select Properties. In the window that appears, make sure the Shortcut tab is selected, click the ‘Shortcut key’ box, then press Ctrl and Shift (you can use Ctrl and Alt if you prefer), along with whichever key you want to use for your shortcut.…

Why is this Cortana feature missing? Q I found the ‘Windows 10 settings you must change’ feature in Issue 576 very informative and useful – thank you! However, fixing Cortana is still a problem. I followed your instructions just fine, until I reached the bit where you said to click ‘Manage the information Cortana can access from other services’. On my PC, this option just isn’t there. Also, the ‘Manage what Cortana can do, see and use’ is greyed out, and therefore inaccessible (see screenshot below). I automatically receive my Windows 10 updates, so that is probably not the problem. Cliff Watts A In both cases, this is actually good news – though we should’ve explained this possibility and its reasons. The first option is missing because your PC does not currently…

I’ve spoken to more of my neighbours in the past two months than in the previous eight years of living on our street. It’s been one of the more heartening side effects of lockdown. Back in March, a couple opposite us who were missing their weekly pub quiz invited residents to their own digital quiz. What started with just three couples has quickly grown to 25 households competing every Saturday night for the top prize: a pristine toilet roll. In between rounds on capital cities, Oscar winners and anagrams, we talk about life under lockdown, and chuckle about how it took such anti-social measures to make everyone want to be sociable again. After the quiz, we return to our WhatsApp group to continue chatting. “I can’t match Jeremy Paxman’s unforgiving…

Microsoft has stopped manufacturers building new computers that run the 32bit version of Windows 10. It means that in future all new PCs and laptops will run only the 64bit version, starting with machines that come installed with the Windows 10 May 2020 Update (version 2004). The decision doesn’t affect any existing 32bit computers you may be using. None of your programs will stop working. Microsoft said that it remains “committed to providing feature and security updates” for 32bit machines. You’ll still be able to buy 32bit computers until the current stock runs out, though they’ll be running a version of Windows 10 prior to the May 2020 Update. Microsoft announced the move in an update to its page explaining the minimum hardware your computer needs to run Windows 10.…

MILLIONS SEE CORONA LIES ON YOUTUBE More than a quarter of the most viewed videos relating to Coronavirus contain “misleading or inaccurate information”, according to research published in the British Medical Journal. A study of the 69 most popular videos on 23 March showed that 27.5 per cent gave incorrect advice or spread conspiracy theories. In total, they had been watched 62 million times. YouTube said it’s committed to removing misinformation. NHS STAFF GET MORE FREE DATA & TEXTS Dozens of the UK’s smaller ISPs and phone networks are now offering free data, texts and support for NHS staff, several weeks after their bigger rivals agreed to do so. Help will also be given to vulnerable people, such as those who have been unable to pay their bills during the…

What’s the threat? There’s been a sharp rise in the number of emails that try to blackmail you by claiming to have recorded you watching porn online. Action Fraud said that in April it received 9,473 reports of a ‘sextortion’ scam that threatens to send “self pleasure video footage” of you to all your contacts unless you pay a ransom using the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. It attempts to scare you into action by quoting a genuine password for one of your online accounts. The scammers probably bought this from one of the lists of stolen passwords advertised on the dark web, and not by hacking your computer. There are several versions of the email. One of them reads: “Well the last time you went to see the porn material websites, my…

‘Breathtaking arrogance’ of spies banning ‘racist’ blacklist I don’t know what annoyed me more about the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) decision to ban the words ‘blacklist’ and ‘whitelist’ because they’re supposedly racist, or offensive, or inappropriate – or whatever we’re meant to say these days. Maybe it was simply just how daft the decision is. Following their logic, it would be racist to call any day a ‘Black Monday/Tuesday etc’ because ‘black’ supposedly has negative connotations. Fine, but what about Amazon’s Black Friday sales, or being “in the black” (ie, having money in your bank account)? Both these uses of the word ‘black’ are positive, I’d say. Or perhaps it was more annoying for them to claim that ‘deny list’ is easier to understand than ‘blacklist’ because it’s more…

What are my rights if returned items are lost in post? Q I sent my£599 iPhone back to the online retailer Smart Cellular (www.smartcellular.co.uk) for repair under guarantee using the courier firm CollectPlus (this cost £9). However, although CollectPlus says it was delivered, Smart Cellular says it wasn’t. I’m only insured for £300 by CollectPlus, so can you help? Harry Barnes A Just as we were raring to go with this case, Harry phoned us to say that Smart Cellular has found his iPhone and is now repairing it. However, it acted only after he wrote to the company and threatened to take them to the small claims court. This is great news, but it’s still worth explaining what his rights would have been had Smart Cellular continued to claim…

Map your ancestors’ movements Back in Issue 553 we explained how to create a places database - a record of where your ancestors were born, lived and died. If you did this, you can use the information to produce a chart of your family’s movements over time, whether they were intrepid travellers visiting far-flung lands or simply content to stay within the boundaries of the county they were born in. Connect life events on a map Most family-history programs offer basic mapping tools, including My Family Tree (www.chronoplexsoftware.com – click Family, then Places) and the full version of RootsMagic (www.rootsmagic.com – click Tools, then Mapping). The latter lets you plot individual places on a map and create a simple filter to display only places a specific person visited. Family Tree Maker…

What can I use to turn photos into art? Q Can you recommend software to convert my photos into stylised paintings (such as Monet or Turner effects) at one click of a button? Keith Mutch A The free Paint.NET (www.getpaint.net) includes various effects that might deliver what you’re after. Load your image, then click the Effects menu at the top, followed by Artistic. We find the Oil Painting effect is the most impressive, though you need to move the sliders close to their maximum settings to get decent results. As you do this, your image will be updated in the background (click OK if you’re happy with it). It’s not quite as easy to use as Paint.NET, but Gimp (free from www.gimp.org) has a wider range of artistic effects to…

WHAT THEY SAY Shan Vosseller, eBay www.snipca.com/34886 “We’re scaling quickly and growing globally — and always with a customer-first, continuous improvement mindset. Just over two years ago, we kicked off the journey to create more choice for buyers, and build a more seamless seller experience with better seller economics by managing payments on our marketplace platform. We are approaching a significant milestone this July as we begin rapidly scaling the program globally.” WHAT THEY MEAN As we get bigger, so do our words.…

Q I was interested in your feature on video chat in Issue 579. I have an Asus desktop PC running Windows 10, and want to add a webcam with a microphone. With the computer industry having weaned us off cables in recent years, I was hoping to find a suitable unit that worked via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, but as far as I can see, all of your recommended products require a USB connection? Leonard Palmer A Considering how many of us now use a wireless mouse and keyboard – plus wireless networking and, for phones, even wireless charging – it does seem surprising that webcams still use cables. It’s for good reasons, though: Bluetooth is too slow, and Wi-Fi somewhat complex and expensive, to use for this job. The Wi-Fi…

Crafted from high-quality materials, Sennheiser’s new HD 450BT headphones have deep dynamic bass, delivering a rich, superior sound. At home while listening to a podcast or on the go with your favourite song, you can count on the new HDseries to be your ultimate companion for wireless audio – whatever you listen to. Thanks to active noise cancellation and a closed back design, the HD 450BT delivers captivating sound that you can enjoy without distraction – even in loud environments. They also capture every audio detail in exceptional sound quality, assured by high-quality wireless codec support, including AAC and aptX™ Low Latency. With a 30-hour battery life, they’re perfect for long journeys, and they can be quickly charged via USB-C. To enter this competition, email your home address to cacomp@dennis.co.uk with…

As we have mentioned, Wi-Fi Direct isn’t only supported by PCs, tablets and phones. A lot of other devices, including printers, also have the technology built in. The process for connecting them to your PC or phone varies between manufacturers. However, as our example, we’re working with an HP Envy 5030 printer that has a Wi-Fi Direct button on its integrated LCD screen. Tapping this displays the name of the wireless network hosted by the printer and its password. To switch Wi-Fi Direct features on and off, look for a settings icon (typically a cog, pictured) on your printer’s screen, or in its settings. Tap or click this. Click the Wi-Fi logo on Windows taskbar to open the list of available networks, then click the name of your printer’s Wi-Fi…

ANDROID Reprogram your buttons There are so few buttons on an Android phone that it seems a shame to devote two of them to controlling the volume when you can do that just as easily on screen. Buttons Remapper (free from www.snipca.com/34846, see screenshot below) therefore lets you reprogram what each button does – so you could, for example, use volume up to switch on the flashlight and volume down to quit an app if it became unresponsive. Some functions, like muting your mic, answering calls and performing sequences of tasks require a £1.49 upgrade. Although the volume control only has three positions – down at either end or resting–Buttons Remapper allows you to assign more tasks by catering for both long and short presses on either end, or a…

WINDOWS 7, 8.1 & 10 Make files easier to recognise It’s sometimes useful to mark a collection of files by adding set text to the end of each. So, if you’ve got a folder of holiday photos, you might add ‘_Holiday09’ to each. You can do this yourself in Command Prompt. First, open File Explorer (Windows+E), then navigate to the folder with your photos. Save a copy of the folder and its photos the first time you run the command, just in case you type it incorrectly. Now select the address bar (press Alt+D to do this), then type cmd and press Enter. A Command Prompt window will now open. Assuming the photos are JPEGs, type dir *.jpg and press Enter to make sure your photos are in there. Bear…

What are they? A typing mistake, according to Microsoft. It recently updated Word so that leaving two spaces after a full stop will by default be shown as an error. So how many spaces should you leave? Just one, Microsoft says. Its decision has reignited a long-standing debate between legions of one spacers and two spacers. It’s like a grammar Brexit, or “the great spacing debate” as Microsoft calls it. Is one space more common? Yes, and is widely accepted to be the correct form, particularly by those who write style guides for magazines, newspapers, governments and universities. It’s what Computeractive uses, and we’re always (well, mostly) right! Naturally. So why do some people prefer two spaces? They claim that it makes reading easier and faster, citing studies that show…

1 Kodi requires separate tuner software to watch and record live TV. There are several options, but we recommend NextPVR because it’s the easiest to set up. Install it from www.nextpvr.com. When the installer finishes, it will launch within your browser. Click Settings on the top bar, leave the username and password as they are 1, and click Login. 2 Click Devices 1 in the sidebar, then select your tuner in the list of options 2. Although we only have one tuner plugged in, we have five options: two cable (DVB-C) tuners, two over-the-air (DVB-T) tuners, and one IPTV, which is effectively TV streamed over the internet. If you see similar options, click one of the DVB-T tuners and, on the following page, click the blue Scan Channels button. 3…

We’re pleased that WhatsApp now lets you control who can add you to group chats, but what if you’ve already been added to a group you’d rather not be part of? If you choose to leave the group, the others will see a message such as ‘Jonathan has left the group’ - hardly ideal if you’d rather sneak out quietly. Currently, if you want to avoid offending anyone, your only option is to remain part of the group, but mute its notifications (as explained opposite). The sooner WhatsApp introduces a subtle exit option, the better.…

4K Video with are solution of at least 3840x2160 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. 802.11ax Wi-Fi standard with speeds up to 10 times faster than 802.11ac. Also called Wi-Fi 6. 802.11n A standard for wireless networks that allows for high transfer speeds. 1080p Of the common types of high-definition video, this is the best quality: 1920x1080 pixels. Add-on A program that adds extra features to your browser. Asymmetrical internet A connection where download and upload speeds differ significantly. Bloatware Unwanted software built into a new device. Blue light Light given off by PC and phone screens. Can disrupt sleep patterns. Butterfly switch Apple’s keyboard mechanism, so called because keys hinge in…

You can now watch BBC iPlayer shows at the same time as family and friends living in different homes. The BBC’s new Together tool lets you control the programme – play, pause, rewind and fast-forward – so everyone can watch it simultaneously. The broadcasts should be perfectly synchronised, so if you pause it on your computer, it will be paused for other viewers too. It also works with BBC Sounds podcasts. In a blog post (www.snipca.com/34895), the BBC’s R&D team claimed the service should be good enough so viewers can have “a video or voice call at the same time and react to the big reveals in a drama, or enjoy the punchlines in comedy programmes together”. To use the tool, first find a show or podcast you want to…

More than 300 scam websites have been taken offline after the public forwarded 160,000 suspicious emails to a new anti-fraud service set up by the UK’s top cyber spies. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) set up the Suspicious Email Reporting Service in April for the public to forward dodgy emails. Many of the sites closed were involved in Coronavirus scams, such as selling fake tests. Other sites impersonated official Government and TV Licensing websites. NCSC chief executive Ciaran Martin welcomed the “phenomenal response” from the British public. He said: “While cyber-criminals continue to prey on people’s fears, the number of scams we have removed in such a short timeframe shows what a vital role the public can play in fighting back”. The service will help police forces spot new…

Mozilla has updated Firefox to add alerts that warn you when you’re using unsafe passwords in its Lockwise password manager. To check your passwords, open Firefox then click the top-right Menu (three horizontal lines), followed by ‘Logins and Passwords’. You’ll see your passwords on the left. If they’re at risk, you’ll see one of two icons. Screenshot 1 shows the Website Breach alert, which appears if your login and password have been stolen. The ‘Vulnerable Password’ alert 2 shows if you’re using the same password as one that’s been stolen. The alerts were added in May when Firefox was updated to version 76. To check your version, open the menu, click Help at the bottom, then About Firefox. If it needs updating, you must restart it.…

I was interested in Issue 579 (page 9) to see a brief mention of the wartime film of MI6 agents working at Whaddon Hall (www.snipca.com/34581), because we lived there for some years. Contrary to what you may read elsewhere, this was the real Station X that formed the HQ of MI6 Section VIII – the communications division of the Secret Intelligence Service. Anyone interested in an insider’s account of what went on at Whaddon Hall, and its vital relationship with Bletchley Park, should read The Secret Wireless War by Geoffrey Pidgeon (available from Amazon: www.snipca.com/34879, pictured) as both he and his father Horace worked there at the time. It will be a revelation to anyone who thinks that the wartime story of Bletchley Park has been fully told. Len Teff…

We received an interesting question from reader Jim Burfield, who asked us why we take on cases where customers don’t have any legal rights. It’s a good point that we’re happy to explain here. Jim was referring to a case in Issue 579 in which Mike Chappell sought a refund from US software developer Digiarty. Mike had downloaded the company’s software WinX MediaTrans (pictured) in order to replace iTunes, but he didn’t like it. He then tried to claim a refund using the 30-day warranty, but Digiarty refused, saying this guarantee applies only to faults with the program. Digiarty was entitled to refuse this refund because once a customer has started to use software, they can’t claim their money back simply because they don’t like it. Why then, Jim asked,…

There are plenty of online resources for people searching for London streets that no longer exist, but what about Birmingham? Can you recommend any books or online resources that may help? Fred Ward Start with a general Google search for the street name and ‘Birmingham’ – this will reveal existing online resources like people’s posts on the Birmingham History Forum (https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum). Failing that, use its ‘Place related enquiries’ sub-forum or navigate to ‘History & Nostalgia’, ‘Neighbours & Streets’ to post a question for Brummies past and present to respond to. Have a genealogy question for Nick? Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.…

Like most people, I’ve been making lots of video calls in recent months. While they’re great for group catch-ups and virtual quizzes, they can also be exhausting affairs, with everyone speaking at once and the inevitable flurry of technical problems. I therefore wanted a less frantic way for my kids to share what they’ve been up to. My solution was to compile the best videos from my phone (it’s loaded with clips of us gardening, collecting insects and more) and send them to friends and family to view or discard at their leisure. I wanted to use a picture-in picture effect, allowing us to appear in a small window alongside the clips, explaining what was going on in them. To do this, I turned to OBS Studio (https://obsproject.com). This is…

I’d happily applaud any young person who uses their initiative to set up their own business from scratch. But it does kind of depend on what the nature of that business is. Take Joseph Connolly, for example. Now 20, Joseph set up his own web business, Superior Stresser (pictured), three years ago, when he was an enterprising teenager. He ran his website like a professional operation, offering “competitive pricing” and “24/7 support” for customers. The trouble is that Joseph’s customers were all hackers and crooks, and the competitively priced products he sold them (starting at a bargain £8!) were DDoS services designed to take down other people’s websites. So, no. In this case, I shan’t be applauding young Joseph for anything – apart from having the sense to plead guilty…

PC KEYBOARD ❘ £30 from Scan www.snipca.com/34863 Cherry is best known as the maker of the chunky mechanical switches used in many of the world’s most reliable, traditional-style computer keyboards, so it’s disconcerting to see its logo on a flat tile keyboard. But this isn’t just any flat tile keyboard, despite the affordable price. The KC6000 has a substantial metal plate under its matt plastic finish, so nothing creaks or squishes as you hammer the subtly concave key caps. It’s not backlit, which probably won’t bother you unless you like to type in the dark. Instead, the characters are clearly embossed in white on the black keys, or in black on the silver edition. The Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock keys have red LEDs to indicate when they’re…

What is it? Laptops have been getting slimmer ever since the first recognisable example, the British-made GRiD Compass (pictured), which launchedin1982 and had a full-travel mechanical keyboard and was 50mm (2in) deep. After 33 years of refinement by the computer industry, the Apple MacBook 12in, released in 2015, was just 3.5mm thick at its front edge, tapering to 13mm. Why are they good? Reducing its thickness makes a laptop easier to slip into a bag, and the process of miniaturisation also reduces weight (the GRiD Compass 1101 was over five times heavier than the 920g MacBook 12in). Considering that the point of a laptop is to be portable, that’s important. What’s the catch? It can go too far. The MacBook 12in used low-power Intel processors and was criticised for being…

What was it? In May 2017, Essential Products, founded by Android creator Andy Rubin, announced anew device called simply ‘Phone’. It was the first device to have a notch for a front camera in an edge-to-edge screen, and dual rear cameras, one for black-and-white. Why did it die? The launch seemed well planned, with hardware in production to hit the shelves within a month. But the month passed, and Essential stopped responding to enquiries. Rubin asked customers to wait another few weeks. Many then had their personal data leaked in an email hack. The Phone finally arrived at $699 (£535 without VAT). Though attractive, it wasn’t waterproof, and reviewers found its supposedly drop-proof case dented easily, while the screen could crack even if not dropped. Perhaps its best feature was…

What you need: Windows; phone or tablet Time required: 30 minutes Wi-Fi Direct is a smart, fast way to connect two devices wirelessly and transfer data between them. What’s particularly clever about it is the fact that only one of the two needs to be compatible with the technology, meaning that you should be able to use it with devices of different generations without upgrading everything you own. Here, we’ll show you how to set it up to transfer files between your PC and an Android phone. Unfortunately, it isn’t supported in iOS, but Apple does have equivalent technologies, which we’ll also explore. We’ll also show you how to use third-party apps to achieve the same result. 1 Check whether you have Wi-Fi Direct Wi-Fi Direct is a way of connecting…

What you need: Google account; Windows 7, 8.1 or 10 Time required: 15 minutes Zoom’s meteoric rise in popularity has forced more established competitors to up their game. Skype now lets you chat with friends who don’t have Skype accounts, WhatsApp has doubled its group video call limit to eight people, and now Google has opened up its Meet tool to everyone (previously it was only available on paid-for G-Suite accounts). Better still, until 30 September, Google has lifted the 60-minute call limit, so you can chat with friends and family as much as you like. And with up to 100 people able to join a call, there’s room for everyone. This makes it a good alternative to Zoom, which has a 40-minute limit for users on its free plan.…

Bluetooth Like Daniel Booth (see Easy When You Know How, Issue 579), I hate my laptop’s touchpad, and so bought a wireless mouse. But unlike Mr Booth, I ditched Bluetooth after a couple of days. And what I use instead Every couple of hours my mouse’s connection would die. I went into Windows Settings and my Bluetooth option had disappeared. Then after a Windows update it appeared again, but disappeared once more hours later. This pattern repeated for a few days, so I abandoned Bluetooth, bought a USB-C-to-USB adapter (£9 from Amazon www.snipca.com/34781), and plugged my mouse’s USB receiver into my laptop (pictured). It works a treat. I’ve since found online that loads of people have problems with vanishing Bluetooth, often due to faulty updates. A USB receiver is the…

Poison Maps iOS: £1.99 www.snipca.com/34849 Britain is packed with things to see and do, and Poison Maps is one of the easiest ways to find them. Known as Points Of Interest, or POIs – hence the name POIson Maps – you’ll find mainstream tourist hotspots, cathedrals, castles, museums and more. When you’re ready to pay them a visit, tap one for more information, or to plot a route from your current location. Ventusky iOS: £2.99 www.snipca.com/34847 Android: Free* www.snipca.com/34848 The trend in weather apps has been towards bold, simple graphics, but Ventusky heads in the opposite direction. The beautiful interface shows wind direction, strength and temperature, initially in your current location, but also wherever interests you: just tap the map to move. Scrolling the times and date at the foot…

MICROSOFT EXCEL & LIBREOFFICE CALC Spot trends in charts using logarithmic scales Excel and Calc include charts to help you better visualise the data in your spreadsheets. However, if your chart spans a wide range of values, it’s hard to spot trends since the larger values will dwarf the smaller ones. In this example, we want to track donations to a club over several weeks. The cumulative total starts small, but grows significantly. To better understand this data, we must switch our line chart to a logarithmic scale, which adjusts the scale of the y-axis to show how donations have increased over time. To do this in Excel, right-click the y-axis of your line chart, select ‘Format Axis…’, then, in the pane on the right, tick the ‘Logarithmic scale’ box…

You might hope using a PC with a TV tuner would be a good way to avoid the £157.50 annual TV licence fee. Sadly, a TV licence is required if you watch or record live TV on any device – PCs and laptops included. So, what about if you only use websites to watch live TV? On page 55, we listed the UK broadcasters that let you view live channels on their websites, but solely using these to watch live TV won’t let you escape the licence fee. The same goes for streaming live programmes from services such as Amazon Prime Video and Now TV. When it comes to watching on the BBC’s iPlayer service – whether it’s live TV or a box set – using it on any device…