Inhaltsverzeichnis für 651 in Computeractive

Not all photos from the past need to be restored. I’m quite content for several blurred 1970s pics of me wearing bright yellow flares to stay blurred. But I’ve got many others that have scratches where smiles should be, or look like they’ve been sitting in sunlight since the moment they were taken. I’ve managed to repair most of them using the new wave of AI tools – all free – that Robert Irvine recommends in his excellent Cover Feature, and will tackle loads of shaky videos next. It’s another sign of AI’s breathtaking (and sometimes unsettling) potential. Expect to read much more about this technological revolution over the next few years. By the way, you may remember in Issue 647 that I mentioned a little surprise in 2023. Well,…

SKY REJOINS BROADBAND CODE OF PRACTICE Sky has rejoined Ofcom’s voluntary ‘Code of Practice for Broadband ISP Speeds’ (www.snipca.com/44906), meaning it will have to give customers more information about their estimated speeds and make it easier for them to cancel a contract for free if a fault can’t be fixed. The company withdrew from the code during the Covid pandemic reportedly because of the restrictions imposed by lockdowns. GOOGLE TO BLOCK COOKIES FROM JULY 2024 Google has once again pushed back its deadline for blocking tracking cookies in Chrome. It now says it will “phase out support” for them in the third quarter of 2024. It initially planned to remove them by the end of July, then by the end of 2023, and more recently by the second half of…

I use McAfee antivirus software, so I nearly fell for a scam email that asked me to check whether my subscription was up to date. The message had a yellow button at the bottom saying ‘Restore Your McAfee’, but then I spotted some grammatical errors, such as “Your subscription of McAfee for your computer may ended soon”. Perhaps it had been automatically translated from Chinese or Russian? I was also dubious about the 70-per-cent discount it was offering me. I had a look online for similar scams, and found an image of the email at www.snipca.com/44874. Warn your fellow readers about scams at letters@computeractive.co.uk…

One point you missed in Issue 650’s ‘Question of the Fortnight’ on rising broadband bills (pictured) is that above-inflation increases are themselves inflationary. Every increased bill adds to the average person’s monthly spending, which is then fed into inflation statistics. This is what makes them deeply unfair and damaging to the economy. I’ve heard it argued that providers have to tie their increases to inflation in order to stay in business, but that overlooks the extra 3.9 per cent they whack on top of the increase. It shouldn’t be forgotten that they implemented this policy when inflation was around two per cent. Linking it to such a low rate of inflation wouldn’t have delivered large increases every year, so they had to add more. What’s truly audacious is that the…

On 26 November last year I bought a game for my granddaughter during Amazon’s Black Friday sale. A week later Amazon emailed me to say that because the game had been further reduced I was entitled to more money off. The email appeared to be genuine, quoting my order number and listing the items I’d purchased. I thought it was a little strange, but I later checked my bank account and Amazon had indeed paid £3 into my account. That’s obviously not an earth-shattering amount, but it was a lovely surprise and an unexpected Christmas Bonus. Well done Amazon. I was particularly impressed that they refunded me unprompted. I wouldn’t have known the price had fallen otherwise. Has a company impressed you with its customer service? Please let us know:…

OFFICE SUITE LibreOffice 7.5 www.snipca.com/44985 What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11, macOS or Linux One of our favourite free office suites has received its first big update for six months, which includes a raft of new features and enhancements. LibreOffice 7.5 further improves its compatibility with Microsoft Office, so you can import files in formats such as DOCX (Word), XLSX (Excel) an? PPTX (PowerPoint) with fewer formatting errors, and seamlessly share files you create in LibreOffice with Office users. It also boosts the software’s support for dark and high-contrast themes – to make it easier on your eyes when working at night – and gives its icons a more vibrant appearance. The Start Centre (the screen that opens when you launch LibreOffice) has a new Filter menu,…

Opera’s (far-from) Lucid mode After 25 years writing about tech, my ‘too good to be true’ sensors are more finely tuned than the London Philharmonic’s fiddles. So when I read Opera’s claim that its new Lucid video-editing tool transforms “your fuzzy holiday classics into crisp, clear content that the whole family can enjoy”, I was on it like a rat up a drainpipe. We were sceptical when writing about Lucid In Issue 649’s Browser Tips (page 43). Can it really turn VHS-grade online footage into stunning Blu-rays? Turns out that, no, it can’t. It makes about as much difference to video quality as I make to the fashion industry. I tested it on a variety of old TV programmes that had been uploaded to YouTube, including a classic sketch from…

Wi-Fi RANGE EXTENDER? £70 from Amazon www.snipca.com/44937 Although Devolo has chosen to call this device a Repeater, it’s no different to what we’d more commonly refer to as a Wi-Fi range extender. It’s a sensible option if you’re looking to improve your Wi-Fi signal in just one or two rooms within your home, because it can take that signal from your router to an area that wouldn’t otherwise get it. “An effective way to make your Wi-Fi access parts your router cannot reach” If you know the Devolo brand, you might be surprised to learn that this unit doesn’t use the electrical wiring in your home to transfer data from one plug socket to another. Instead it simply boosts the Wi-Fi in a similar manner to many other extenders. This…

Winner of a Recommended award in Issue 649 (page 29), Serif’s new Affinity Photo 2 software has everything you need to edit and retouch images, create multi-layered compositions, beautiful raster paintings and so much more. It comes with hundreds of timesaving tools and a completely redesigned interface to make your editing experience more seamless than ever. You can choose from an enormous library of brushes, enhance pictures with Dodge, Burn, Clone, Patch and Blemish Removal tools, and make your work look amazing using a range of blend modes. In this competition we’re offering four Affinity Version 2 Universal Licences, worth £144.99 each. It covers Affinity Photo, Affinity Publisher and Affinity Designer on Mac, Windows and iPad. To enter, answer the question at www.snipca.com/44929 and submit your details. It runs until…

Google Opinion Rewards Free Android www.snipca.com/44945 iOS www.snipca.com/44944 Apps that let you earn money by answering surveys are typically an ad-stuffed waste of time, but Google’s app is one of the better options. It offers regular surveys tailored to your interests, which are easy to complete and pay up to 60p each. You can cash in your earnings as Google Play credit or via PayPal. Best For Earning money from surveys Bing – Search and earn Free Android www.snipca.com/44946 Microsoft is so keen to tempt you away from Google, that it will reward you for searching with Bing. Collect points from Microsoft Rewards as you search the web and answer quizzes, then redeem them for gift cards or donate the cash equivalent to charity. Your search points are synced across…

Improve your club reviews on Google One of the most effective ways to promote your club online is to encourage your members to write a Google review of it. These appear on Google Maps and in Search results (see screenshot 1) and are highly influential. Plenty of surveys show that most people check reviews on Google before using a business or joining a club. Add your club to Google Maps First, you need to make sure your club appears on Google Maps. Visit www.google.com/maps then search for the name of your club. If it’s not there, right-click the club’s location and click ‘Add your business’, then follow the instructions. It should take only a matter of minutes. It’s important to remember that the Google account you’re logged in with when…

The traditional way to digitise old photos is to use a flatbed scanner or all-in-one printer, and either the software it came with or a third-party program such as VueScan (www.snipca.com/44867). But if you don’t have access to one, and can’t afford to pay for a professional scanning service, you can digitise your photos for free using your smartphone’s camera. Google’s excellent free PhotoScan app for Android (www.snipca.com/44869) and iOS (www.snipca.com/44871) makes scanning photos incredibly easy and produces impressive results. It removes glare from glossy prints, detects the edges of images and crops them accordingly, and applies smart rotation to keep your pictures the right way up no matter which way you scan them. To use PhotoScan, hold your phone over a photo until it fits in the onscreen frame,…

Google’s ‘Prevent malware in ad content’ support page (www.snipca.com/44967) states that “any ad distributing malware is pulled to protect users from harm” and that Google uses malware-detection tools to identify rogue ads. In 2021, it blocked or removed more than 38 million ads for “misrepresentation”. However, the scale of current malvertising campaigns suggests Google needs to improve its detection software to keep up with the scammers’ increasingly sophisticated tricks. Its Safe Browsing technology, which is part of ‘Enhanced protection’ in Chrome, is catching some, but far from all, of these threats, and users are spotting the ads long before Google. You can help by reporting phishing pages at www.snipca.com/44969. Google is also planning to add a feature to Chrome that blocks all ‘insecure’ downloads. This will help combat fake ads…

Should I ignore Ubuntu Touch warning? Q Having read Nik Rawlinson’s How To feature in Issue 642 (‘Install Ubuntu on an old Android tablet’), I checked to see whether the 2013 Nexus 7 is suitable for an upgrade to Ubuntu Touch using the link you provided: www.snipca.com/43327. It said that it’s still in ‘development’ mode. Did Nik proceed regardless of the warning? John Croft A You’re correct – the 2013 Nexus 7 is currently listed as “still in development” on the Ubuntu Touch web page. In fact the entire Ubuntu Touch project is currently in a beta testing phase, so nothing is guaranteed to work – apologies if we didn’t make this clear. We did mention that the 2013 Nexus 7 is among the currently ‘unsupported’ devices, but that you…

Are ‘restocking’ fees legal? LEAD CASE Q I ordered a Dell computer from an eBay seller, paying £339.29 plus an extended warranty for £66. I used my credit card for both transactions. The computer wasn’t what I expected so I returned it under the Consumer Contract Regulations (CCRs). The seller has refunded me what I paid for the computer, but they’re withholding the £66 I paid for the warranty as a fee for “restocking” the computer. Is that legal? James O’Connor A No, it isn’t legal. The computer and warranty are two separate products, and the seller isn’t allowed to mix up the refunds. James is entitled to the full £66 back because, under the Supply of Extended Warranties on Domestic Electrical Goods Order 2005, customers have 45 days to…

EaseUS Todo Backup Home www.snipca.com/44983 Price: $39.95 (£32) a year or $59.95 (£49) lifetime licence Free trial period: 30 days What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11 EaseUS recently released new 2023 editions of the Free and paid-for Home editions of its Todo Backup software, so now is the perfect time to decide which one is best for you. The same updates have been applied to both programs, but these aren’t particularly exciting, other than faster backup and restore speeds, and the option to back up Outlook data to the EaseUS Cloud storage service. You get a generous 250GB of free online storage in either version, so it’s not an incentive to pay for Home. Todo Backup benefits from a streamlined interface that makes backing up files, folders…

WHAT THEY SAY Microsoft on the future of cars “Differentiation is critical when options abound. Brands that invest in knowing their customers and providing specialised experiences throughout the customer lifecycle will excel, and we’re going to see a new emphasis on personalisation in the automotive space. No longer are buyers ‘stuck’ with the static experience delivered upon vehicle purchase.” WHAT THEY MEAN Yes, we know driving a car isn’t a static experience, but we had run out of other jargon to use.…

LAPTOP | £878 from Lenovo www.snipca.com/44845 When buying a laptop, you essentially have two choices. If you don’t mind sacrificing a bit of power, you can get yourself a slim, lightweight model, with an up-to-date processor that does everything, including managing the graphics. However, this arrangement takes its toll on performance, especially if you like to make the most of 3D graphics, perhaps by taking a Cessna out for a spin in Microsoft Flight Simulator. “Runs games at 1080p resolution and 44fps, which is excellent for the price” If you need more graphics muscle, you should look for a laptop with separate graphics hardware – and these usually more expensive. Bucking this trend, this relatively affordable laptop from Lenovo is built around the AMD Ryzen 5 6600H processor and comes…

What does it do? As phones have become faster, phone screen quality has also improved. Higher resolutions have made phone screens more detailed, while increased refresh rates make phones feel more responsive to touch. How does it work? A phone’s refresh rate is a measure of how often the screen is refreshed each second, and is measured in Hertz (Hz). As with TV screens, the on-screen image is redrawn numerous times a second as we interact with it, to provide us with the illusion of movement. What are the specs? The cheapest phones have a refresh rate of 60Hz, which means the screen is redrawn 60 times a second. Phones with the best screens may boost this to 90 or 120Hz, such as the 120Hz Google Pixel 7 Pro (pictured…

SMARTPHONE | £145 from Amazon www.snipca.com/44870 Not everyone wants to spend several hundred pounds on a smartphone only to worry constantly that it’s going to get damaged. The Ulefone Armor 16 Pro is a tough and sturdy model that you can keep on you while you’re working in the garage or garden, or out and about on adventure holidays, without having to wrap it in cotton wool. Its relatively affordable price only adds to its appeal. There are a few downsides, however. For starters, it’s heavy. The 5.93in screen isn’t particularly unusual, but the whole thing weighs a whopping 405g and its protective case makes it feel chunky in the pocket. It also doesn’t have the processing power you might expect, with a MediaTek Helio G25 chip that’s over four…

What is it? The Lenovo ThinkBook Twist (pictured) is a laptop with two screens. The main one is a 13.3in OLED panel. On the back of that is a second 12in screen, which uses the E Ink technology used by ebook readers. What does it do? A 360-degree hinge connects the double-sided screen to the keyboard. You can use it in laptop or tablet mode, but also rotate the screen horizontally on its central axis, choosing between the OLED screen for Windows work, or the E Ink screen for reading and an increased battery life. What’s the catch? Lenovo expects the cheapest version to cost $1,649 (around £1,338) when it’s launched in June. So can I do without it? Yes. It’s a novel idea but we think you’d be better…

What you need: 8GB or larger USB stick; Tails operating system; Balena Etcher Time required: One hour Tails is a privacy-focused operating system. Its name stands for The Amnesic Incognito Live System and it lets you go online anonymously (hence Incognito), making it harder for companies and scammers to track you. Then, when you log off, it forgets (hence Amnesic) everything you’ve just been doing, leaving no traces behind. Now in its 13th year, it’s just undergone one of its most significant updates, bringing improvements to its Persistent Storage feature that lets you save settings and files so they aren’t affected by the operating system’s Amnesic aspects, and can be reused every time you log in. Here, we’ll show you how to install Tails so you can browse the web…

FIREFOX Manage all your extensions in one place Firefox 109, released in January, is the first version of the browser to support Manifest V3, Google’s controversial new cross-browser extensions system, which has been criticised for making content blockers less effective. You can still install older Manifest V2 add-ons in Firefox, but the update ‘future-proofs’ the browser against the changes planned by Google. Mozilla says that Firefox’s version of Manifest V3 will differ from Google’s by allowing privacy extensions to continue blocking the same ads, trackers and other annoyances that they do now (see www.snipca.com/44838). On a more practical note, Firefox 109 also adds a new Unified Extensions button to the browser’s toolbar. This looks like a jigsaw piece (1 in our screenshot below) and clicking it lists all the add-ons…

iOS Make emergency phone calls more easily Apple’s latest update to its mobile operating system (iOS 16.3) updates the Emergency SOS feature to make it easier to call the emergency services on your iPhone. Previously, you needed to use a fiddly slider to start an emergency call, but the new ‘Call with Hold and Release’ option (1 in our screenshot below) lets you access Emergency SOS by holding down the power button and either volume button. Your iPhone will then begin a countdown and sound an alert. When you release the buttons after the countdown ends, your iPhone will automatically call the emergency services. Also new in iOS 16.3 is a Call Quietly option 2, which lets you make emergency calls without triggering an alarm or making your iPhone flash,…

WINDOWS 10 & 11 See the number of pages in Word docs With a few clicks in File Explorer you can see how many pages are in multiple Word documents. Place all the documents in a folder, then click the View tab at the top. Next, in the Layout section, click Details (1 in our screenshot below). Now right-click one of the headings above the files (Name, ‘Date modified’ etc), then select More. Scroll down the menu that appears, then tick Pages 2 and click OK. You’ll then see the number of pages appear on the right next to each document 3. WINDOWS 10 & 11 Move Sticky Notes to a new computer You can easily move Sticky Notes you’ve saved to a new computer using a USB stick. First,…

1080p Of the common types of high-definition video, this is the best quality: 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. 3GP A type of video file recorded by many mobile phones. AI Artificial Intelligence. Intelligence demonstrated by a machine rather than a human being. Often used to describe technology that can perform human-like tasks. Aspect ratio A measurement of the shape of a display. Traditional PC screens are 4:3. Widescreen displays are 16:9 or 16:10. Avatar A graphic or icon used to represent a computer user, either online or in a video game. AVI Audio Video Interleave. A type of video file. AVI is known…

Windows users have complained about a trial offer of Microsoft 365 that apparently doesn’t give them the option to decline. A user posted a video on Reddit (www.snipca.com/44995) of an offer titled ‘Access granted: We’re giving you a free trial of Microsoft 365 Family’, with ‘Try for free’ and ‘No, thanks’ buttons at the bottom. Clicking ‘No, thanks’ brings up a page titled ‘Confirm your payment options’, with a box to enter your payment details. The only button to press on the page seems to say ‘Start trial, buy later’. The user who posted the video said the message appeared “after a restart on a freshly installed” version of Windows 10. He said he had to sign up for Microsoft 365, but then cancelled immediately. You’ll like this… National Trust…

WORLD CUP HELPS iPLAYER BREAK RECORDS World Cup coverage helped the BBC iPlayer break its monthly streaming record for December. There were 92 million individual streams for the tournament, contributing to 700 million in December. Total streams in 2022 hit a record 7 billion, nine per cent higher than in 2021. Doctor Who was the most-streamed show, followed by Peaky Blinders. Over 5 million people watched the Queen’s funeral on iPlayer. VODAFONE STARTS SWITCHING OFF 3G Vodafone has become the first mobile network to start switching off its 3G network. It will begin turning off the signal in Basingstoke and Plymouth in February, before ending it across the whole of the UK by December 2023. The switch-off will also affect virtual networks that use Vodafone’s network, including Asda Mobile, Lebara…

EE ADDS MORE PLACES TO 5G NETWORK EE has added 19 more locations to its 5G network, including Basildon, Llanelli, Preston and Slough, bringing its coverage to 60 per cent of the UK. It aims to deliver 5G throughout the country by 2028. Its 4G network currently reaches 87 per cent. For the full list of new locations visit www.snipca.com/44886. PLAY AMAZON MUSIC ON SKY Q AND GLASS Amazon Music is now available on Sky Glass, Sky Stream and Sky Q, providing access to songs, albums and playlists. The free version lets you play playlists; Prime members can play tracks in shuffle mode; while Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers can listen to any song on demand. You can open it in the Apps section, or by saying “Hello Sky, open Amazon…

Google has added a third way to open the options for wiping your browser history – by typing clear browsing data into Chrome’s address bar then clicking the ‘Clear browsing data’ button that appears (see screenshot 1). This brings up the menu in screenshot 2, letting you delete history across a range of periods – from the last hour to ‘All time’. There are also options for clearing cookies, as well as cached images and files. This is a handy method for opening the history-wiping settings, but it’s not quite as fast as pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+Del. Another way to get there is to click Chrome’s top-right menu (three vertical dots), then select ‘More tools’ followed by ‘Clear browsing data’. Brave is the only other browser to have all…

I’m thinking of buying the £199 Geekom MiniAir 11 mini PC. Can you tell me when you reviewed it? Anthony Macwhirter CA SAYS We gave it four stars in Issue 641, page 22. When did you explain how to locate ‘phantom loads’ around your home? Paul Saunders CA SAYS That was in Issue 644, page 35. I want to save money by switching to a mobile virtual network operator, but can’t find your feature on how to do so. Clarissa Jones CA SAYS You’ll find that in Issue 632, page 60. Read all the above articles on our 2022 Back Issue CD: www.snipca.com/44660.…

Naomi Ward’s case against games manufacturer Electronic Arts (EA) and game-streaming service Steam (https://store.steampowered.com) - see Issue 647 - is rare because it may end up involving tort law, not consumer law. Soon after Naomi’s son bought EA’s game FIFA 23 from Steam, EA told Steam to ban him for cheating while playing it. Naomi then bought another copy of the game and an Xbox for him to play it on, costing nearly £500, only for EA to later admit it had made a mistake and her son hadn’t cheated. Despite this, Steam didn’t refund Naomi for the cost of the original game. Naomi then wondered whether she might persuade either EA or Steam to give money to cover the cost of the Xbox and the second purchase of the…

I’m trying to find a death record for my great-grandfather James Douglas, who was a seaman. He was mentioned in the 1891 census, but his wife was listed as a widow in 1901. He may have died in 1894 in Saint Andrew, Jamaica. How can I confirm this? You can try the ‘Jamaica, Civil Registration, 1880-1999’ collection on FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org), or the Jamaican Register General’s Office at www.snipca.com/44717. If he died at sea near Jamaica, his death should have been reported by the Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen to the relevant office for England and Wales (www.gov.uk/general-register-office), Scotland (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk) or Ireland (www.snipca.com/44718). Also search for death notices at www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. Have a genealogy question for Chris? Email letters@computeractive.co.uk with ‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.…

What’s the best alternative to iTunes? Q Is there an alternative to iTunes? I love my iPhone 7 and iPad Pro, but hate using iTunes. All I want is to add a few albums or videos to my devices. Vince Vincent A The Apple iCloud app for Windows is a good tool for quickly transfering files to and from your iPhone and iPad. Once installed on your computer, it adds an iCloud folder to File Explorer, letting you sync files from your PC via your iCloud account. You can then access these files on your iPhone and iPad. To install the Apple iCloud app, go to www.snipca.com/44788, click the blue ‘Get in Store app’ button, then click Open Microsoft Store. In the window that opens, click Install. Once installed (it…

James Parker was Blackpool’s very own Robin Hood. He nabbed £21m worth of credits after discovering a glitch in a cryptocurrency-trading website, and then gave much of it away, buying cars for strangers, handing out gift vouchers, and tipping taxi drivers ridiculous amounts. However, it wasn’t Parker’s lavish handouts that alerted police to the scam. Nor was it his association with co-conspirator Stephen Boys (pictured), nicknamed ‘Rodney’ after the Only Fools and Horses character. It was when another co-conspirator, Kelly Caton, rang police to report her daughter had stolen 15 Bitcoin worth £75,000 from her! As Lancashire Police noted, Caton lived in a council flat. Where would she get £75,000 of cryptocurrency from? Parker died before he could be prosecuted, but Boys, Caton and two others all received jail sentences.…

VIDEO DOORBELL | £100 from Very www.snipca.com/44894 A video doorbell is an attractive proposition for security-conscious homeowners, but many people are put off by the price of the hardware and the cost of subscriptions to store captured video footage. The DB2 from Chinese manufacturer Ezviz could be the perfect alternative to Amazon’s Ring or Google’s Nest Doorbell, as it’s cheaper and needs no subscription. “An affordable option with sharp footage and no subscriptions” It’s a battery doorbell so is wire-free and simple to install. It comes with two mounting plates, one flat and the other angled downwards, so you can choose the one that provides the best view. These screw on to your door frame, then the doorbell is clipped on. It needs removing to recharge, which is done using…

Find out what other products we liked. Buy our new 2022 Back Issue CD: £17 from www.snipca.com/44660 LAPTOP Acer Swift 3 14in £899 from www.snipca.com/44367 Tested Issue 648 Comes with a powerful 12th-generation Intel processor and 1TB SSD to make Windows tasks feel incredibly fast. Also has a decent 2560x1440-pixel IPS screen and comes with plenty of ports, including two Thunderbolt 4-compatible USB-C. ALTERNATIVE Lenovo Yoga 6 Gen 7 Also has a fast processor, long battery life and plenty of ports, but not as cheap as it once was. £799 from www.snipca.com/44950 ANDROID TABLET Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 £529 from www.snipca.com/42211 Tested Issue 634 Samsung has replaced its own Tab S7+ to become our favourite Android tablet. It’s fast with a stunning 11in screen, and has a longer battery life…

Pocket Free Android www.snipca.com/44933 Mozilla has updated its Pocket app for Android to make it easier to find interesting articles to read. The new Home tab includes recommended stories about your favourite topics, while the Saves tab lets you browse, filter and archive content you’ve saved. The iOS version will be similarly updated later this year. Rewind Free Android www.snipca.com/44935 iOS www.snipca.com/44936 Rediscover great music from yesteryear using this app, which highlights the most popular songs, albums and artists from years gone by and lets you listen to 30-second previews (to play whole tracks, you need a Tidal subscription). Rewind also includes news stories, reviews and charts relating to each year. ThingstoDuo Free Android www.snipca.com/44938 iOS www.snipca.com/44939 If you’re looking for ideas for things to do now the weather is…

MICROSOFT WORD & ONLYOFFICE Wrap text around a table When you create a table in Word any text you write on the same page appears separated from it, not wrapped around. You can change this by selecting the table, right-clicking it, then choosing Table Properties. Now click the Table tab (1 in our screenshot) and select the Around option 2 in the ‘Text wrapping’ section. Click OK and Word will wrap any text you’ve already written. If you want to move the table, simply select and drag it. Adjust the wrapping by dragging and dropping the table, or by clicking Positioning in Table Properties. To do the same in OnlyOffice’s Document editor, select the table, then right-click it and choose Table Advanced Settings. Click ‘Text Wrapping’ on the left, then…

There are few things more heartwarming than looking through old photos of family members and friends, particularly when the people in them are no longer with us. But these memories can be marred by the poor condition of those pictures that have become faded and damaged over the years. Digitising your precious photos by scanning them into your computer allows you to preserve them against further damage and loss, but it won’t fix wear and tear, or address problems with the original shots. Thankfully, it’s now easier than ever to restore your old photos without needing to pay for a professional retouching service. The same applies to vintage videos captured by old camcorders that are considerably lower quality than the footage shot by modern smartphones. This is because a growing…

Genealogy service MyHeritage offers several clever tools for bringing photos of your ancestors to life. Our favourite is Deep Nostalgia (www.snipca.com/44911), which uses AI to animate still images of family members and make their faces move realistically. Click ‘Upload photo’ to select a picture, then register for a free MyHeritage account. Your photo will be animated in your browser and you can download the amazing result as an MP4 video. To create more than five animations, you need to pay for a monthly subscription. Also worth trying is MyHeritage DeepStory (www.snipca.com/44914, see screenshot), which uses AI to add audio to your photos so your ancestors can tell their stories by speaking biographical information you provide, complete with matching mouth movements. Again, you can create and download up to five animations…