Table of contents for February 2018 in PC & Tech Authority

Tinkering. Sometimes you have to, sometimes you just want to. I think it’s fair to say that pretty much all PC & Tech Authority readers enjoy delving into the almost limitless capabilities of their PCs. It’s just who we are. In part, we do it to personalise a machine to suit our needs, whether it’s a simple theme change, or a registry edit to automates tasks that we each may do more of than other people. Or, we may need to fix something that just isn’t working the way it should. While this is thankfully rare these days within the highly evolved PC ecosystem, things can always be improved, and it’s the versatility and flexibility of the PC that makes this possible. Some tweaks we put off, but shouldn’t. Are…

1 GOOGLE DOCS GLITCH LOCKS USERS OUT OF PROJECTS Google was forced to apologise for a glitch that highlighted the dangers of relying on its Docs service, when it temporarily locked out users from their critical files. Users received a warning saying their documents were blocked due to “abusive content” after Google’s document scanning technology went rogue and declared the most benign projects as breaching the company’s terms. 2 MICROSOFT PULLS PLUG ON OUTLOOK.COM PREMIUM SERVICES Microsoft is once again shaking up its consumer email services, with the closure of its Outlook.com Premium service. New customers are instead being directed to the company’s Office 365 subscriptions. The free Outlook.com service – with ads – is set to continue, and current subscribers that have paid up will still be able to…

I’m not looking forward to The Crew 2 quite as much as I am Far Cry 2, but Ubisoft’s just announced a release delay for both games. Far Cry 5 has been pushed back to a March 27 release, while The Crew 2 has a more vague outlook of the first half of 2018. Here’s what Ubi had to say about the decision: “For Far Cry 5, the extra time will allow the team at Ubisoft Montreal to make some additional improvements that will bring the best, most ambitious Far Cry experience in line with the team’s original vision. We’re excited for fans to join the Resistance in Hope County, Montana against the Project at Eden’s Gate cult. Tune in to the Ubiblog to get the newest look at Far…

O&O DISKIMAGE 11 Anyone who’s ever experienced the shock of data loss, or had to spend hours recovering their system, will know the importance of backing up. Having a fall-back copy of both Windows – including all your favourite apps and painstakingly crafted settings – and your irreplaceable documents, media and other files is a no-brainer, but what is the best way to go out doing it? O&O DiskImage Professional provides you with all the tools you need for backing up both individual data such as selected files and folders, plus take drive images of entire partitions and drives. While’s it’s still not a tool for complete beginners, it does provide some hints and tips to guide you towards protecting your data, and the latest version attempts to make things…

The MSI GTX 1070 Ti Gaming 8G is another 1070 Ti that impresses with its cooler and build quality, along with its competitive pricing. Its overclock mode is set at an impressive 1683MHz base clock and 1759 MHz boost clock. The MSI 1070 Ti uses the stalwart Twin Frozr V cooler that is used across almost all of MSI’s high end graphics cards, so it’s no surprise to see it used here. The card is built like a battleship with a solid back plate and additional metal heatsinks for cooling the components. There’s also RGB functionality for the MSI logo on the side, though its usefulness is limited with a clashing set of red LEDs present on the cooler shroud. The MSI features the standard set of video ports which…

The iPhone X is one of the most talked about phones in years and, for once, it isn’t because it’s simply the latest Apple handset. It’s because it heralds numerous firsts: the first time Apple has used OLED technology for its phone screens; the first time it has removed the home button, after a decade; the first time the firm has used facial recognition as a means of authentication. Perhaps most controversially, though, the iPhone X represents the first time Apple – or any mainstream phone maker – has hit the $1,500 mark for a base-model phone. The question is, who’s going to spend this much money when they could buy an iPhone 8 for $500 less? SPECIAL SCREEN The answer, as we’ve already seen, is hordes of people. And…

A side from the monthly sucking of funds from your account, there’s one problem with subscription-only software such as Adobe Premiere Pro CC: it’s easy to miss when a significant new version arrives. Don’t make that mistake with this latest incarnation, because it’s a belter: along with usability and collaboration improvements, there’s also much better support for 360-degree video. Let’s start with the usability and collaboration improvements. At long last you can now open more than one project simultaneously. Before, if you wanted to reuse assets created in one project within a new one, you would need to import the old project. This could get messy. Now just open both projects, then copy and paste between them. You can grab elements from the timeline of one sequence, and when you…

All the products recommended here have been tested as part of a PC & Tech Authority review, which includes comprehensive labs benchmarking. Many products here, too, are used by our editors on a daily basis and we prefer them over all others. PREMIUM LAPTOPS DELL XPS 13 Ultraportable from $1,599 Dell only needed to refine its brilliant XPS 13 design to keep top spot, and that’s what it does: it’s slightly quicker and adds more options, but it’s the edge -to-edge 13.3in display and compact chassis that lift it above the opposition. Oh, and it’s now available in Rose Gold. ALTERNATIVES APPLE MACBOOK PRO 13 (2017) The high price stops it from taking Dell’s top spot, but a nine-hour battery life, sleek design and – for a premium – the…

Cyber crime is on the increase, with the latest figures showing that there were an estimated 3.6 million cases of fraud and two million computer misuse offences in the year up to September 2016. This kind of crime includes phishing attacks, where people were tricked into giving away money, and unauthorised access to personal data from hacking. That’s an 8% increase, which saw the cost of fraud rise to more than $1bn. With a growing number of attacks coming from abroad, and with some orchestrated by foreign governments, protecting yourself online has never been so important. In this guide, we’ll take you through the best ways to protect yourself. Of course, the main starting point is to have dedicated internet security software. However, this won’t prevent all attacks, such as…

THE FIX If you want to decide which drivers you want to download and install, you can force Windows 10 to do this. The setting is a little hidden and, annoyingly, is not included with the general update settings. To find the options, press Windows+X and select System, then click Advanced system settings. In the dialog box that pops up, select Hardware and then choose Device Installation Settings. You’ll see a message that reads Do you want to automatically download manufacturer’s apps and custom icons available for your devices?. Choose the No option and Windows will no longer download driver updates for hardware automatically for any device, so you’ll need to remember to update drivers manually.…

THE FIX If you don’t like the way that Windows 10 handles window management, you can turn off the new features and go back to the Windows 7 style of working. Go to Settings, System, Multi-tasking. Turn off the When I snap a window, show what I can snap next to it option.…

THE DIAGNOSIS Fatal hard disk errors are usually easy to diagnose, as your computer will fail to detect the disk or Windows will not boot. A ‘kerchunk, kerchunk’ noise from a mechanical disk is another tell-tale sign. In this situation, there’s nothing you can do, and the old myth about putting your disk in the freezer won’t change anything. You’ll need to buy a new hard disk, restore a backup of your data, and reinstall Windows. If you don’t have a backup and you’ve lost some important files, you’ll need to send your disk to a recovery specialist; be warned, this can be expensive. If your hard disk is working, it doesn’t mean it won’t break soon, and there are some audible tell-tale signs of impending disaster that you can…

THE DIAGNOSIS Cables inside your computer are generally well held in by friction, but vibration and general use can work them loose over time. If you’re getting intermittent faults or find that a device isn’t always detected, a loose cable could be the reason. THE FIX Power down your computer and take the side off the case. Trace all of the cables coming from the power supply and push them into their sockets. Use only gentle force so you don’t cause any damage. These cables will include two power leads for the motherboard, power cables for hard disks and optical drives and, potentially, a power cable for the graphics card. Next, move to the SATA data cables. These connect at one end to the motherboard and, at the other, to…

THE DIAGNOSIS If your computer can’t find the right boot hard disk, it’s overly noisy or you get a ‘checksum error’ when you turn it on, your BIOS may not be set up correctly. This is particularly true after you’ve had a motherboard battery failure (see below). THE FIX Restart your computer and enter the BIOS. Your motherboard’s manual will tell you which key to press, but Delete, F2 and F10 are all common choices. Every BIOS has a slightly different layout and modern ones have a graphical interface that you can control with a mouse. However, most have similar names for settings, so you can follow our advice, but you may have to refer to your motherboard’s manual for the exact instructions. First, check your boot device priority, which…

In the December issue our Labs was all about tablets. In the intro I wondered if the honeymoon was indeed over for tablets, and asked you what use they have in the real world. Amusingly, I did not foresee the irony at play here, that these letters would sit on a page at the bottom which we are spruiking our tablet editions... Here are some of your replies, thanks to all for writing in! BEN PHONES, PHABLETS AND TABLETS Personally, I am fruitlessly searching for an Android tablet that has a screen size of about 13in so I can properly surf the net and read magazines on it. I also want to be able to write on the screen to take notes, preferably with the option of converting my handwriting…

The crew responsible for PC PowerPlay, PC & Tech Authority and Hyper believe we have the savviest, most tech literate readers around, so that’s why we’ve decided that the Australian PC Awards should revolve around your decisions. On March 22nd, 2018, PCPP, PCTA and Hyper will be hosting the first annual Australian PC Awards, an event to shine a spotlight on the best the tech and gaming world has to offer, but before we can announce the winners, you have to choose them for us. Starting February 7, 2018 you, the most passionate and influential tech readers in Australia will be able to head to the URL below to vote on the best products in the marketplace and potentially win yourself some great prizes. Here’s how it works: the editorial…

JAIMIE, LEADER COMPUTERS: “We sell a lot of Thecus NAS at Leader, and the ones that get rave reports from our SMB customers are the Windows based models with Storage server built in. Very versatile models with the flexibility and familiarity of a Microsoft environment instead of Linux. They even have a separate 60GB SSD that hosts the Windows environment!” JOHN, TI COMPUTERS: “We think the Synology DiskStation DS218+ is the best home NAS for most people. It’s the fastest model we’ve tested. It has a modern dual-core 2.0 GHz Intel Celeron processor and 2GB of RAM, which you can expand to 6GB. With unencrypted write speeds between 102 MB/s and 109 MB, the DS218+ supports media playback through its own apps or Plex Media Server, supports RAID 1 drive…

Simply visit www.apps.pcauthority.com.au and enter the unique Access Key for this issue of PC & Tech Authority, along with your email address. The access key for this issue is: qYfmnHbbpy. You can then view the current apps and download, install and register (if required) them. That’s it, simple. We hope you get good use from the apps! REGISTRATION FOR THESE APPS CLOSES ON 01/03/18 TROUBLESHOOTING AND CONTACT INFO We have general help information on the PCTA Apps site (www.apps.pcauthority.com.au). If you are having trouble using the Access key or are having issues registering the Apps please contact us via feedback@pcauthority.com.au. Please note that we can’t help you with any issues you might have using the apps themselves, but each app has specific contact information for the company providing the app,…

2D TESTS Desktop PCs and laptops are tested using our own custom bench testing suite, which has been carefully designed to test all aspects of a system and rate them in a way that’s useful to you. Our benchtesting cover three main tests: a typical video editing test, a demanding 4K video editing test and a multitasking test that stresses all aspects of the system. We look at the time it takes for each test to run, which is then compared to our reference PC to produce a normalised result. This score is shown on a graph, and to help you understand just where the PC we’re reviewing sits in the grand scheme of things, we will often include other system’s scores. On occasion we will run publically available bench…

The Asus 1070 Ti Strix Gaming is the most feature packed variant in our test. It’s no surprise that it comes with the highest price, too. It has the joint highest overclock of the bunch, along with the MSI card, with a 1683MHz base clock and 1759MHz boost clock. The Strix cooler is very effective with a huge surface area. When you pick it up you know it’s a serious piece of kit with its excellent build quality and rigidity. It’s a 2.5 slot card, which you may need to take into consideration if space is limited. It delivered the coolest temperatures of the roundup and was second only to the MSI in fan noise, though the difference is minimal in reality. The Asus comes with unique features including a…

Zotac doesn’t have a huge market presence in Australia compared to other parts of the world, but that’s changing. The Zotac GTX 1070 Ti we have on hand is the sole mini card of the 1070 Ti launch, and also the only one not to offer an overclock profile -- though of course you can manually overclock it if you wish. The little Zotac is obviously ideally suited to a small form factor build. It’s also the cheapest card in the test by quite a margin. The Zotac Mini comes in at just 211mm in length, meaning it should fit in the vast majority of cases. It comes with the standard Nvidia-specified 1607 MHz base and 1683 MHz boost clocks. There’s a standard set of three DP 1.4 ports, one…

Most printers are bundled with tiny cartridges containing a smudge of ink, forcing you to buy a full expensive cartridge that’s worth more than the printer you just purchased. Epson has heard our collective frustration with that business model and come up with the EcoTank concept for their latest range of ink-jet printers that includes 2-years’ worth of ink in the box. With the “Expression ET-3700 EcoTank All-in-One Supertank Printer”, Epson ditched cartridges and simply includes a few bottles of ink. Included with the ET-3700 is enough ink to print 11,200 colour pages. To compare, Epson’s high capacity ink cartridges yield approximately 1,100 colour pages. The EcoTank printers can do ten times as many pages before needing a refill. The ink reservoirs and bottles are keyed do you can’t accidentally…

MINI For lounge room gaming and streaming CPU + COOLING Intel Core i5 7500 w/ stock cooler $259 intel.com MOBO ASRock Z270M-ITX/AC Motherboard $179 asrock.com.au GPU Asus DUALRX480- 4G $338 asus.com.au MEMORY 16GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX Low Profile $185 corsair.com/en-au STORAGE Samsung SSD M.2 2280 NVMe 250G 960 EVO +2TB HDD (any) $178 + $50 samsung.com/au CASE Fractal Design Define S Nano $125 fractal-design.com PSU SilverStone SFX Gold 500W SX500-LG $129 Silverstone.com SOUND Your sound system What you paid for it DISPLAY Your TV What you paid for it KEYBOARD Roccat Sova $299 www.roccat.org MOUSE Roccat Kone EMP $99 www.roccat.org TOTAL: $1,841 BUDGET The perfect entry-level gaming PC CPU + COOLING Intel Core i5 7500 w/ stock cooler $259 intel.com MOBO ASRock B250 Gaming K4 Motherboard $145 asrock.com.au GPU…

Windows 10 Creators Update made themes easier to find and install, allowing you to change the look of your PC on the fly. A theme can include wallpapers, colours, sounds and cursors, although many are just background collections. To install a new theme, open Settings and click through Personalization to Themes, or simply download our selection using the links below. Cats are better than dogs. Fact. (Not actual fact. Ed.) So the Cats Anytime theme should naturally be your starting point. With ten pictures of mogs, in sinks, baskets and gardens, it’s pretty much the perfect theme for any desktop. To download the feline theme, type pcpro.link/280cats into your browser’s address bar. Check out Dogs in Winter for some of the perkiest pooches ever to grace a desktop. With terriers,…

Disk imaging software lets you store a complete copy of your hard drive, so you can quickly get up and running even if you need to completely replace the hardware. Most imaging tools also let you back up and extract files from an image, for all-round protection. Here, we’ll use O&O DiskImage Professional to back selected files to a NAS on our local network. Start by opening the Tools menu and clicking Map Network Drive, which opens Windows’ standard drive mapping tool. We’ll leave the assigned letter at Z, then click Browse… and navigate to a folder on the drive. Clicking Finish maps it, and our selected folder will behave like a locally connected drive. We can create an image of our whole hard drive – but we’re running this…

Passwords are still used to protect the vast majority of online accounts, so choosing secure ones is absolutely critical. If you use just a simple word, then it’s easy for the hackers to guess your login details or run a brute-force attack, cycling through a dictionary until they gain entry. Likewise, you should ensure that your password reset security questions are tough to guess, or a hacker may be able to gain entry to your accounts. CREATE SECURE PASSWORDS Your first job is to create a secure password that’s easy for you to remember. If you end up creating a secure password, but have to write it down on a Post-it note that you’ve stuck to your PC, something is clearly not working. Original password security guides suggested that passwords…

Thieves not only want to steal your kit, they also want the data and passwords stored on them. Preventing all kinds of theft, particularly when you take your kit out and about with you, is incredibly important. Following these simple tips can make a huge difference. 1 PASSWORD-PROTECT EVERYTHING Don’t use a smartphone that doesn’t have a lock code at the very least. Certainly, don’t run a laptop that doesn’t have a user password. This makes it too easy for people to get your personal files and, via your device’s web browser, view any online accounts that you’re logged into. 2 REMOTE TRACK AND WIPE Enabling, where possible, remote tracking and wiping is a good idea for all your devices. The former lets you find a stolen device, and is…

THE FIX Open the Start Menu and click Settings, then Accounts. Click the Sign in with a local account instead link. You’ll be prompted to enter your existing password, so do this and click Next. Enter your new local username, a new password and a password hint, and then click Next. Finally, click Sign out and finish to complete the change, and the next time that you log in you will have a local account only. You can switch back to a Microsoft account at any point in the future by going back to Settings, Accounts and clicking the Sign in with a Microsoft account instead link.…

THE FIX Fixing default programs is straightforward. We’ll show you what to do to set a new default PDF reader, but the same instructions apply to other applications, too. Go to the Control Panel and ignore the Settings app. Go to Programs, Default Programs and choose Set your default programs. Scroll through the list of installed applications and select your PDF reader. Click ‘Set this program as default’, and you’re done. If your default changes again, you’ll need to repeat this step.…

THE DIAGNOSIS Power supply units (PSUs) often go with a loud pop and an acrid smell pouring out of them. They can also break with a whimper, and a PSU can just stop working without any real signs of damage. Common to both scenarios is that your PC will no longer turn on. With a laptop, you can usually tell if the power supply has gone, because you won’t see a light on the external box. Try changing the cable that plugs into the wall first; if you get no luck, you can just buy a new adaptor from the manufacturer. For desktop PCs, before you rip out the PSU, try changing the power cable, just in case the fuse in that has blown. Diagnosis beyond this is a little…

THE DIAGNOSIS A motherboard fault is one of the hardest to detect, as the symptoms are often the same as for other problems. Typically, if there’s something wrong with your motherboard, your PC will either not turn on, or you’ll just get a black screen. Given that replacing the motherboard is a fairly significant task, it’s best to rule out other problems first. Following our advice in this feature, you should check your RAM, power supply unit, graphics card, processor and monitor. If none of these fixes your issue, then you may well have a motherboard problem. THE FIX First, try opening the side of your case and removing all the expansion cards (bar the graphics card, if you have one). You’ll need to unscrew the retaining clip and then…

THE DIAGNOSIS If your monitor won’t turn on but you can hear your PC power up, you’ve got one of the most irritating problems. Without the display, you can’t see any error messages or get any help. The fault can be with your monitor or your PC. Check that your monitor has a power light first. If it doesn’t, try switching power leads. When the monitor turns on, try plugging it into a different PC, such as a friend’s computer. If it doesn’t work there, try a different monitor cable. If you’ve still had no luck, you’ll need a new monitor. If the monitor and cable are fine, the problem is with your PC. THE FIX A loose connection inside your PC’s case could cause a problem. While the case…

THE DIAGNOSIS For some reason, PC manufacturers have never seen fit to make a BIOS with persistent storage. Instead, there’s a battery that keeps your BIOS settings stable. When this runs out of power, you’ll most likely get a ‘checksum error’ message when you turn on your computer. You’ll also see a message asking you to configure your BIOS settings manually.. THE FIX This problem is very easy to fix, as all you need to do is change the battery, and it’s a simple and inexpensive job. Practically every motherboard we’ve seen uses a CR2032 battery, which cost $5 for a ten-pack at almost any computer or electronics store. Open the side of your PC’s case and look for the motherboard battery. There are two types of holder. Most common…

THE DIAGNOSIS Front-mounted USB ports on a PC case are convenient but can cause problems, for example if they no longer detect inserted USB devices. Front ports can have problems with high-power devices, such as hard disks. To check, plug a low-power device such as a mouse into one of your front ports. If it doesn’t work, but your rear USB ports are fine, then the most likely cause is an internal connection issue. THE FIX Shut down your PC and then turn it off at the mains socket. Press the PC’s power button to discharge any residual power and then touch the unpainted part of a radiator to discharge any static build up. Remove the side of your PC’s case and look for the USB cable, which will plug…

THE DIAGNOSIS USB ports (front and rear) that won’t recognise any device most probably have a problem with corrupted drivers. THE FIX The solution is to get Windows to redetect your hardware. First, save any open files and shut down all open applications. Type ‘device’ into the Start menu and run the Device Manager. Expand the Universal Serial Bus section and look for anything with ‘Host Controller’ in its name, as these are the devices that control your PC’s USB ports. Right-click a USB controller and select Uninstall, then click OK in the dialog box to confirm. Make a note of which one you’ve removed. Repeat for all USB controllers. When you remove the USB controller that your keyboard and mouse are connected to, they will no longer work, and…

THE DIAGNOSIS If Windows Update won’t run, then your computer may become unstable and crash regularly. If you go to Control Panel, Windows Update and see that it’s stuck downloading updates, even after leaving your computer for hours, then this is your problem. THE FIX First, we advise giving updates time to install, as big updates can sit part completed for quite a while. However, if your updates have been stuck for more than an hour or so, there’s something wrong. One of the first things to try is to repair corrupt system files. If Windows still won’t download updates, the issue is likely to be with file corruption elsewhere. The easiest way to try to fix such problems is with the Windows Update Troubleshooter (bit. ly/WindowsUpdateTroubleshooter). Download and run…

THE DIAGNOSIS Corrupt startup files are usually easy to spot as your computer will crash on startup and may enter a loop, starting, crashing and then restarting. But corruption with these files can also cause your PC to become unreliable, crashing at random. If you’ve already ruled out other components, then it’s worth trying to fix your system files. THE FIX Windows will automatically load the Startup Repair tool after two failed attempts to boot. If this doesn’t work or your computer boots but is unstable, you can manually repair your system by making a recovery drive. If your computer isn’t working, you can create the recovery drive using another computer running the same version of Windows. For Windows 10, you need a blank USB drive. The size you need…

THE DIAGNOSIS If your computer is slow to shut down, slower to boot up and, in some cases, freezes or crashes on startup, then the problem could be a Windows feature called fast startup. This is usually confirmed with a simple test: if you’re getting problems when you first hit the power button, but a reboot works, fast startup is likely the issue. THE FIX Introduced with Windows 8, but continuing in Windows 10, is a feature called fast startup. Enabled by default, it saves loaded device drivers and part of the main Windows system to your hard disk when you shut down. Fast startup is similar to the hibernation feature, but it closes your applications. The theory is that this feature makes your computer faster to turn on again.…

Optus will compensate more than 8700 of its customers who were misled about maximum speeds on certain NBN plans. The telco advertised a range of speed plans on its NBN services between 1 September 2015 and 30 June 2017, including a “Boost Max” offering which advertised maximum download speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) and maximum upload speeds of up to 40 Mbps (100/40 Mbps). However, due to technical limitations of the NBN’s fibre to the node (FTTN) or fibre to the building (FTTB) connections meant that the speeds advertised were not achievable. “Optus is the second major internet provider we have taken action against for selling broadband speeds they could not deliver to their customers,” Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims said. “Worryingly, many…

PC CASE GEAR INFINITY GAMING SYSTEM $4,399 • https://tinyurl.com/yaxjb8f8 This is the perfect gaming system. Once you get past the mesmerizing front facia, the innards of this beast are perfectly appointed. Despite being just a hexa-core compared to AMD’s octa-cores, Intel’s latest top of the line processor enjoys higher IPC and MHz which is lapped up by current games, especially with its 4.7GHz turbo clock. Sitting under a water cooler, enthusiasts can expect to push it to 5GHz and beyond. Married to this is the top performing graphics card of the moment. Capable of 4K gaming, expect smooth gameplay at lower resolutions with all details at maximum. 32GB of memory is very generous. It’ll go mostly unused with current titles but leaves room for future game title requirements creep or…

Melbourne to Adelaide in 50 minutes. Global mass transport that’s as fast as planes without chewing up fossil fuels and spewing out emissions. And all backed by the billionaire enthusiast who pushed electric cars to the forefront and wants to take humans to Mars. But is Hyperloop actually possible? Even the experts aren’t sure – some say it’s a matter of time and money (lots of money), but others say it’s nothing more than a highspeed folly. The latest to jump on the superfast bandwagon of the future is Virgin, which chucked enough money at leading developer Hyperloop One that it’s been rebranded – to the catchy Virgin Hyperloop One. But others disagree, citing concerns about the ability to maintain a low-pressure environment over long periods or the infrastructure required:…

Gigabyte’s GTX 1070 Ti Gaming 8G strikes a good balance of performance and affordability. It is positioned in the budget segment of the 1070 Ti market. Its overclock mode sets the card at 1632MHz base clock with a 1721MHz boost clock. It uses the well regarded Windforce 3X cooler which does an acceptable job, but it does feel a touch lightweight compared to the cooler found on the high end Gigabyte & Aorus Xtreme cards. The cooler is certainly capable enough, but does give up some surface area when compared to the Asus and MSI cards, which means a maximum boost clocks are a touch lower and noise levels are higher, though not as high as the Zotac Mini. The Gigabyte Gaming 8G comes with a good feature set, including…

Windows 10 has come of age. With the Fall Creators Update it lost its final layer of puppy fat, with ransomware protection, better battery life, a super-charged Photos app and OneDrive on Demand to free up precious storage space. These are just the headlines, though. Scratch the surface and you’ll uncover a wide range of hidden features and utilities. The secret is knowing where to scratch – which is what we reveal here. These aren’t tips and tricks: they’re practical, power user techniques that will help you do more, keep you safe and save you time. UPGRADE TO FALL CREATORS UPDATE Make sure you’re running the latest version of Windows 10: head to tinyurl.com/ydd4osh4 to download the upgrade assistant HACK WINDOWS 10’S SECRET SETTINGS STOP MICROSOFT SPYING ON YOU The whole…

Rather than manually copying files, we’re using Paragon Backup & Recovery to automate the process, and back up our Microsoft Office files to an external hard drive, connected via USB. Backup Recovery’s opening screen lets you create a single one-off backup, but we want to schedule the task so it repeats regularly, so we’ll click “Create backup job” to get started. This opens a wizard that walks us through the various steps involved in creating a backup. Our first task is to name the backup job, and optionally provide a description – the software suggests using the date, time and name of the source drive. Once that’s done, we need to create a backup set. This could be the whole computer, a partition, specific folders or, of interest to us,…

Using a shared network or computer can be disastrous, giving hackers an easy way to steal your private information. If you want to stay connected when you’re out and about, following some simple advice can help you protect your data. DON’T USE SHARED COMPUTERS Public computers can be exceptionally dangerous, and you can’t guarantee that the computer sitting in a library or in a hotel lobby is free of malware. Using that computer can make it easier for hackers to steal your data, using hidden keyloggers and the like. For that reason, we don’t recommend using shared computers anywhere. If you really have to use another computer, such as a friend’s computer, make sure that you use a private browsing session, so that your login details aren’t saved. Protect your…

THE FIX OneDrive can be stopped easily and prevented from running automatically. Right-click the OneDrive icon in the Notification Area and select Settings. Untick the Start OneDrive automatically when I sign into Windows box, and click OK. This won’t remove the OneDrive folder from Windows Explorer. To do this, you have to make a tweak to the Registry instead. Make sure you have a backup of your computer before you make any changes to the Registry. To run the editor, press Windows+R, type regedit and hit the OK button. Find the key, HKey_Classes_Root\ CLSID\{018D5C66-4533-4307- 9B53-224DE2ED1FE6}\. Change the System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree DWORD value to 0. If you have 64-bit Windows, you may need to change the same DWORD under the following key, too: HKey_Classes_Root\ Wow6432Node\CLSID\{018D5C66- 4533-4307-9B53-224DE2ED1FE6\.…

THE DIAGNOSIS RAM problems can be really annoying, and the effects can vary depending on the issue. When RAM has a major problem, your computer may not turn on at all, or the fans may spin, but your monitor will stay dark. This kind of error is comparatively rare and, usually, dodgy RAM will cause intermittent and seemingly inexplicable crashes. Fortunately, both kinds of problems are fairly straightforward to fix. If your computer doesn’t turn on at all, then you need to jump straight to the fix section below. If you’re experiencing random crashes, you need to run a memory diagnostic. Fortunately, Windows has a built-in tool that can help. Click Start and type ‘memory’, then select Windows Memory Diagnostic. In the dialog box that appears, click ‘Restart now and…

THE DIAGNOSIS It’s rare for a processor, or CPU, to break completely. When one does, your motherboard will usually make a beeping noise: check the manufacturer’s website or the motherboard manual to see what the beep code means. If your PC won’t turn on at all and doesn’t make a noise, then it could be the motherboard, so check the diagnosis opposite first. If you’re not having any luck, follow the guide below to remove your CPU and then turn on your PC; if it beeps, then it’s probably your CPU; if it doesn’t, the motherboard has most likely failed. FOR BOTH INTEL AND AMD COOLERS, MAKE SURE THAT THE FAN’S POWER CABLE IS PLUGGED INTO THE CPU POWER HEADER ON THE MOTHERBOARD THE FIX Replacing a CPU is straightforward,…

As the old saying goes, you are nobody without a name. It isn’t enough for Melbourne Storm to have a stadium, it has to be the Etihad Stadium. Apparently the marketing people believe that we will look more kindly on their brand if we believe they are supporting football. So, when bringing a new brand to market a few years ago, we had to give consideration to the URL that people would use to get to our site. This matters financially because there is an e-shop on there where you can buy the products. And every sale counts towards the bottom line. Unfortunately, at the time, the domain name “manfood.com” wasn’t available. I won’t say what it pointed to, but let’s just say it wasn’t something one would want to…